President Obama Greets Qaddafi At The G8 (2009)

 

During the G8 Summit in 2009, President Barack Obama greeted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Sky News did a segment criticizing a simple handshake. A simple gesture can be a pathway to better relations. The major disappointment of the Obama administration was that it would later call for regime change in Libya. President Obama was responsible for attacking a prosperous African country. Sky News asserts that Qaddafi was arming terrorist organizations, but the US, UK, and France used terrorist to depose Qaddafi in 2011. Libya was no threat to the security of the United States of America. President Barack Obama promised a new era in foreign policy that differed from that of the Bush administration. The Iraq War, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the drone strikes in Somalia caused much discontent among the American public. The NATO invasion would cause the migration crisis forcing many Africans to flee to Europe. The motivation for the attack on Libya was based on energy. Oil was a natural resource that the US wanted to obtain. President Obama after leaving office would admit that the invasion of Libya was an error.