Who Is Responsible? Ctd

Larison seconds Douthat:

I don’t agree that intervention in another country’s civil war makes the U.S. part of Libya’s government, but it does mean that our government has made commitments to one political faction and has obliged itself to achieving their goal of becoming Libya’s government. That implicates the U.S. not only in what results from the escalation of the conflict, but also in what our newfound clients do with the weapons and power our government might provide them. The more entangled the U.S. becomes in another country’s civil war, the more that the U.S. is responsible for the behavior of its local allies. That doesn’t mean that the U.S. will actually have control over those allies, which puts the U.S. in the ridiculous position of having to answer for the misdeeds of its clients without having the authority to prevent them.