This article examines the motivations for the Obama administration to get involved in the Libyan war. It aims to apply ethical realism as a theoretical framework to assess the Obama administration's intervention in Libya. Thus, the first part of this article explores ethical realism. The second part examines how, and under what circumstances, the Obama administration decided to intervene in the Libyan conflict. Then, it explains the reasons for the administration's decisions to intervene. Finally, it applies an ethical realist approach to evaluate the Obama administration's intervention in Libya.