Wednesday - May 25, 2011

Still Not Working

Without any real discussion with the legislature or the American people, Obama started bombing Libya March 19th. It’s almost June. So it’s not quite 90 days, but “only” 66, yet there is no end game in sight, and no exit strategy carved in stone. I’m pretty sure there isn’t even any congressional approval yet; this is Obama’s personal military action. And it’s a pointless one at that; he’s not trying to be “gutsy” and take down Gadhaffi. He’s not feeding arms to the Libyan rebels so that they can win and “free” their country. He’s not even making sure the US Navy is leading the way; some euro-dude somewhere is literally calling the shots, and US forces are doing the grunt work. Our guys aren’t even paid mercenaries; the Libya adventure has cost the US taxpayer nearly a billion dollars at this point. And like Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, it’s become part of the new normal so quickly that it’s barely even news any more. Nothing to see here, move along. But in 3 weeks will things have changed one whit?

NATO warplanes pounded Tripoli for a second day, raising military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi while diplomatic efforts mounted to force his departure.

Six loud explosions rocked Tripoli late on Tuesday within 10 minutes, following powerful strikes 24 hours earlier, including one on Gaddafi’s compound, that Libyan officials said killed 19 people and state television blamed on “colonialist crusaders.”

A NATO official said the alliance hit a vehicle storage bunker, a missile storage and maintenance site and a command- and-control site on the outskirts of Tripoli. Government targets around the Western rebel outpost of Misrata had also been hit.

“We were quite active in the past 24 hours and will continue to be so,” the official said. “Striking fighting units and people trying to give the orders is having the desired effect.”

Libyan news agency Jana says NATO hit a telecommunications station in Zlitan overnight, causing “material and human casualties losses” west of Misrata.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed fears that Western states were being drawn into an Iraq-style conflict. “It’s very different from Iraq because of course in the case of Iraq there were very large numbers of ground forces deployed from Western nations,” Hague told BBC Radio on Wednesday.

France, Britain and the United States are leading the air strikes, which began on March 19 after the U.N. Security Council authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces as he sought to crush an uprising against his 41-year rule.

The three countries say they will keep up the campaign until Gaddafi leaves power. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday that the NATO bombing campaign was making progress and should achieve its objectives within months.

Sure it will. It’s been months already. Last time I looked, Libya had about 5 cities. The rebels seem to be in control of at least 2 of them. The rest of the country is sand. Empty. Desert. Bedouins and Tauregs; random rare nomads on camels. There is nothing there. How long does it take to blow up nothing? Look, if you want old Mohmar gone, take him out. Oh, it’s against US policy? Here’s your solution: this Zuma guy from Africa is coming to visit Gadhaffi next week. Put a tracking buy on him. Slave a satellite for a couple days. When he’s actually meeting with the sand rat, mark the location, then use your spy satellite and some high altitude UAVs to follow every vehicle that leaves that meeting. And have NATO drop a bomb on each one 10 minutes later. Odds are pretty good you’ll get him, with plausible deniability.

What happens to Libya once Mohmar is wall splatter? Who knows? Who cares? Not Obama. But at that point he can make a claim for another round of gutsy non-spiking of another football, and we can stop pissing away tax money by the ship load.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/25/2011 at 08:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • Military •  
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