“I cannot leave my country,” Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, said in a recent speech, “I will die a martyr.”

With that, Gaddafi announced that the protests in Libya are far from over, and that many more Libyans will have the same fate as roughly 2,000 already have ”” death at the hands of a tyrant.

While the protests in the Middle East have indeed enacted much change, with the Tunisian and Egyptian leaders already deposed, most of the protests in the region have been peaceful thus far, in large part because those governments have been unwilling to kill citizens.

Not in Libya. Instead, Gaddafi is desperately clinging to power, even going so far as to blame the uprisings on al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and coffee spiked with drugs.

Bizarre.

All this puts the United States in an interesting position. Thus far, President Barack Obama has been, if not completely silent, restrained in his comments about the situation. At most, his administration has publicly talked about putting sanctions on Libya.

This response has been found wanting by many. An open letter signed by a veritable who’s who list of neoconservatives (among them Max Boot, Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Cliff May, John Podhoretz, the list goes on) recommended a list of things that the U.S. could do, including establishing a “presence in Libyan airspace” and temporarily halting the importation of Libyan oil into America.

The two senior hawks of Congress’ deliberative body, John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) have begged Obama to establish a no-fly zone over the country, which could be a first step toward direct military action into the troubled nation.

“It is very important that we not just make statements about the massacre that is occuring in Libya but that we lead an international coalition to do something,” Lieberman said. “What is happening in Libya today reminds me what happened in the Balkans in the 1990s. We in the United States decided that we could not simply stand by and watch a government massacre its people.”

If Obama takes the advice of these false prophets, this country will have taken its fateful step onto the escalator to war, moving forward without taking a step, unable to turn back.

The temptation is certainly there. Libya has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the early ‘80s, with the U.S. even trying (and failing) to assassinate Gaddafi.
But what can be gained by intervening in Libya?

To do what the neoconservatives advise would accomplish effectively nothing. Gaddafi has built his trenches and is busy lobbing grenade after grenade toward his opposition. Halting Libyan oil imports and establishing a no-fly zone would be little but annoying flies to the homebody lounging outside.

Nay, these actions would inevitably lead to war, which this country can ill afford.

Question for the neocons: Why must America do a thing?

Stay out of these Arab conflicts. Quit meddling in faraway lands with people we don’t understand. Build our fortifications here at home. Let the sheiks, imams, monarchs, ayatollahs, Islamists, indeed all Arabs figure out their governments for themselves.

Why is that any of our business?

Gaddafi will increase his attacks on Libyan protesters, hoping to break their will, and Libyans will continue protesting, hoping to finally get out of the grip of a ruthless tyrant.

Time will tell whether Gaddafi or the protesters will triumph. For now, the U.S. must offer its hopes and prayers to the Libyan citizens, and nothing more. Let them determine their course.

Let Gaddafi have that which he so desperately wishes ”” the fate of a martyr.