Former President Ronald Reagan nailed it when he called Col. Moammar Gadhafi the “mad dog of the Middle East.”

But while our sympathies should clearly be with the citizens trying to overthrow him, the U.S. should not become involved in another shooting war in the region.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called Friday for the U.S. to establish a no-fly zone under U.N. auspices to “stop the violence unfolding in Libya.”

Citing human rights disasters that have unfolded over the past 30 years, Kerry said, “The United States and its allies in NATO and the Arab world must be prepared to prevent a massacre …”

Kerry also cited the first war against Iraq as evidence the U.S. should intervene sooner rather than later.

In 1991, as the U.S. was routing the Iraqi army, President George H.W. Bush actively encouraged the Iraqi people to “take matters into their hands to force Saddam Hussein the dictator to step aside.”

When various groups, including Kurds in the north and Iraqi Shiites in the south rebelled, Saddam Hussein used attack helicopters and troops to butcher his own people.

There is clearly a parallel here: that desperate dictators are willing to use their armies to hold down their people.

But the comparison ends there.

The Libyan people willingly took up the torch of freedom passed to them by fellow Arabs in Tunisia and Egypt, where repressive governments were toppled largely by a peaceful but forceful citizenry.

The U.S. did not promote this rebellion and we have given no promise of military support.

The U.S. military, according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, sees enforcing a no-fly zone as a costly and dangerous commitment that could last for years.

Gates told Congress that such an operation would begin with an all-out air assault on Libyan aircraft defenses, and then could only be maintained by around-the-clock effort from aircraft carriers and European air bases.

Which brings us to the point. There are other nations in the region with air forces, namely France and Italy, and Egypt and Saudi Arabia have sophisticated air forces, thanks to U.S. aid.

This is a worthy cause, but the United States is already involved in two wars in Arab nations, Iraq and Afghanistan. We should not allow ourselves to be drawn into a third.

[email protected]

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.