The aftermath of the 2011 intervention in Libya remains one of the deepest regrets of my presidency. At the time, the decision seemed justified by the circumstances before us. Muammar Gaddafi’s decades-long rule was coming to an end, and we believed our intervention would help protect innocent lives and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
But history does not judge decisions only by how they begin. It also judges them by what follows.
And in Libya, that is where we failed.
We helped remove a government, but we did not do enough to establish a stable path forward for the Libyan people. We underestimated the vacuum that would emerge, the power of militias, the depth of political divisions and the weakness of the institutions left behind.
Sometimes I look at Libya and ask myself: How did we convince ourselves that removing one man would be enough to secure the future of an entire nation?
As an African American, there is another question that weighs heavily on me: How could we intervene so decisively in the affairs of a fellow African nation, yet fail to show the same urgency when it came to rebuilding what was left behind?
As president of the United States, I had a responsibility to protect American interests and respond to the concerns of our allies. But leadership is not simply about satisfying the people who elected you or standing alongside governments that share your immediate objectives.
Leadership is also about having the courage to consider what your decisions will mean for people who will never have a seat at your table.
The Libyan people have paid a terrible price for the failures that followed. Political chaos, militia violence, displacement and weakened institutions left a nation struggling for years to find its footing.
I cannot change what happened. But I can acknowledge what it taught me.
Before you destroy an old order, you must have the humility, patience and responsibility to ensure that something better can take its place. Removing a leader may end one chapter, but it does not automatically build a future for the people left behind.
If I could go back, Libya is one decision I would ask myself to reconsider.