Stay out of Libya

... and while we're at it, get us out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Europe, and Korea. We have no business intervening in the rest of the world.

But to focus on Libya: This is a struggle the Libyan people will have to work out on their own -- and history suggests that the best solution is probably partition into three nations: Tripolitania (capital: Tripoli), Cyrenaica (capital: Benghazi), and Fezzan (southwestern Libya, capital: Sabha). The current struggle in Libya points directly to a secessionist movement for Cyrenaica. The history of the region indicates that it (like many Arab places) is highly tribalist. We cannot change that, and shouldn't even be trying. Peace and stability will come when people are satisfied with their own nations, regardless of how small we think they are.

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her (America's) heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. - John Quincy Adams, then-Secretary of State, 1821