Because most of the ruling elite had their personal wealth stored in the form of GOLD in the Libyan National Bank. We were supporting the takeover of the Libyan Government by the Muslim Brotherhood and the bank would be at risk. Ghaddafi refused to relinquish control of the Libyan National Bank, and the rest is history.
Gold. Did you see the articles where Germany has been storing some of their gold reserves in the US and they asked for it back? The US said, “Maybe in seven years.”