I say Qaddafi, you say Gadhafi, but some still refuse to call him a bad guy. Chavez, Castro, a bunch of tyrants and a few other dodgy regimes trying to curry favor with Iran oppose any foreign efforts to aid rebels in Libya, while others insist we need to establish a "no fly" zone right now.
As President Eisenhower once said
" In only two efforts of endeavor do the amateurs consider themselves more competent than the professionals -- in the field of military strategy and the ancient profession of prostitution."In the case of those now slamming Obama for not already having launched a military operation in support of Libyan rebels, those amateur Generals may well be more expert in prostitution than military operations, because if the President does decide to send in the bombers and fighters he'll surely be chastised as thoroughly as he was for hesitating -- and by the same people. For Republicans, of course, it would be a crime to make their base pay a dime for this, a sin to let NPR have a penny, but when it comes to another war, there will always be billions left to borrow and squeeze out of the serfs.
Make no mistake, establishing air superiority in Libya means attacking air bases, anti-aircraft and radar sites and that can easily involve civilian as well as military casualties -- and of course it will put our pilots in harm's way on yet another front. It will also give Qaddafi support from his friends at home and abroad who will portray it as an effort by the West to get at his oil and will feed paranoia in surrounding countries. I won't elaborate about our financial situation other than to point out once again, that it seems easier for the traditional armchair generals to borrow and spend for such a hugely expensive venture abroad than to dissuade them from swiping pensions from little old lady school teachers and shutting down birth control providers.
Of course yesterday's statement by the Arab League of support for intervention certainly does allay some fears that we'd be making things worse, but to me, that begs the question of why rich, well-armed countries like Saudi Arabia can't have a very large hand in keeping the Libyan tyrant from calling in air strikes on rebel strongholds. Certainly we and NATO allies need to show support for the end of Qaddafi's reign by the Libyan people, but do we really always need to be the Big Dog with the big guns and the bottomless pockets?
What has me flummoxed is the sheer lack of creativity in diplomatic circles. On one hand, it would be more helpful for the Arab League to clean up its own beach. On the other hand, if Gah-Daffy, Gawd-Daffy, or whatever he calls himself, needs a place to terrorize, I am sure his good buddy Berlusconi could find him employment as a taxi cab driver in Rome.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I would love to see that zombie deposed by his own people, but I mean his own people, not Captain America. I'm in favor of helping, but I'm wary of the kind of action that will draw us in for an extended period. Passing it off to NATO isn't much different either, as that entire area sees NATO as the US and the US as Israel.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a creative solution to offer, but I certainly don't and if our Government does, I'm sure it will be opposed by the armchair He-Men -- in between bouts of drinking and debauchery or whatever it is they do in Washington these days.
Captain,
ReplyDeleteI thought you would approve of the taxi-cab idea. Berlusconi and Gadflies-Demise-Daffy ... they deserve each other.
If American conservatives are calling for a no-fly zone over Libya, why does that have to reflexively mean an American effort?
ReplyDeleteThe Arab League has called for a no-fly zone, so why can't they send their own pilots into harms way and enforce it themselves?
Nothing good would come out of taking a fight to the Colonel.
ReplyDeleteStrange that these right wing kooks can demand we help the people of Libya while ignoring Sudan.
Doesn't look like their spin is working.
The Saudis have lots of US jets, for one -- and lots of fuel to fly them, but maybe they're afraid this revolution thing will head their wan next. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, we're real selective when it comes to opposing tyrants, aren't we?
"Do we really always need to be the Big Dog with the big guns and the bottomless pockets?" Well, duh, didn't the US make a huge deal about being the planet's globocop in a unipolar world after the collapse of the Soviet Union? And it certainly proved it with its international behaviour over the past quarter century.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Saudis stepping in, those feudal pirates have their own serfs to keep under the oppressive heel, so it would be unseemly for them to be openly funding a populist insurrection when its own peons are free falling into poverty.
That said, you're bang on in your assessment of Obama's diplomatic-military line. He's playing it right. Unlike the previous administration.
I agree with our dear Capt. I too would love to see this kook soundly deposed - by his own people. Seems this is a civil uprising where some of the people wish to redesign their political system. If enough people are in, they should be able to succeed. The last thing needed in an already unstable Middle East is Heavy Handed America.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Capt. Fogg. I think that our restraint is appropriate and that Libya needs to chart its own destiny. Our tendency to be the world's police dog is what has lead us into quagmires like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteWhen we list the government leaders who have coddled this vermin, please don't forget George W. Bush, who took Gaddafi off of the terrorist watch list in return for his granting deals to a couple of American oil companies. Blood may be thicker than water, but to these guys, oil is thicker than blood.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere I have a picture of smiling Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein's hand, back when we were giving him money and weapons.
ReplyDeleteAmerican's don't give a shit. All we know and all we care about is what Fox was excreting last night.
Don't get me wrong, I want Qaddafi to go and the rebels to win, but there are ways to support them that don't make it look like yet another American grab, shock, awe and all.