Libya finally forces Barack Obama's hand as he goes for broke

[pinboy3niner]

Source:The Guardian



Libya finally forces Barack Obama's hand as he goes for broke

After weeks pondering, prevaricating and posturing, the US wants Muammar Gaddafi's head. And it will fight to get it


Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 March 2011 20.52 GMT <4:52pm EDT>


With a boldness that the world had begun to believe he lacked, Barack Obama has gone for broke. The US wants Muammar Gaddafi's head. It will not rest until he is deposed and there is regime change in Libya. And it will fight to get it.

Obama spent weeks pondering, prevaricating and posturing, infuriating Britain and France, arch advocates of military intervention. He used public appearances to prate professorially about plans, contingencies and downsides. He allowed senior administration officials such as Pentagon chief Robert Gates to give full vent to their doubts and misgivings about a possible Libyan quagmire.

Obama is already fighting two wars in Muslim countries he did not start – in Iraq, now all but finished, and Afghanistan. He did not want to author another. He did not want another foreign distraction ahead of his presidential re-election bid next year. He did not want the cost, the corpses or the inevitable collateral damage – political and human.

...


Obama finally made his mind up. The US would intervene to stop him. And there would be no half measures. All steps short of boots on the ground, as the US under-secretary of state William Burns put it are now urgently contemplated, with a view to immediate implementation.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/17/libya-forces-barack-obama-hand

[old mark]

1. When did that happen?..nt

[loudsue]

2. News to me, too. I know the Libyan rebels will be grateful for the help,

and I'm glad they will have help. I just can't believe there is nothing for the wars our people at home are fighting for concerning our own right to free speech (collective bargaining). My tax dollars don't need to build our infrastructure back, or educate our kids. My tax dollars really need to go fight someone else's war.

This world is upside down.

[old mark]

6. Just read that we will send airstrikes, and the Brits will have "forces" there

by Friday...I imagine we will have some special forces types there, too, if they are not there already...
We can not let Ghadaffi stand any longer.

mark

[ananda]

3. see The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/17/libya-no-fly-zone-united-nations

[Glorfindel]

4. Oh, shit...just like Iraq. Not worth one drop of American blood

or one cent of American money. :puke: :puke:

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Oh fuck

We've never started something like this where it didn't end up requiring t roops on the ground.

[kratos00]

7. If the US is going to take military action

This is the type of situation where action is in line with our purported core principles. Supporting a popular uprising against a dictator fits in to what America is supposed to be about. Unfortunately 40 years of supporting the dictators or starting wars on trumped up justifications has destroyed any claim to legitimacy in these situations.

At this point wether we help or not our motivations will questioned and justifiably so.

That said I for one would like to see our military might actually used for a noble purpose for a change.

[sad sally]

10. Noble purpose? Another undeclared war? What next?

Saudi Arabia? Dubai? Why end there?

How will the United States pay for another military "intervention?" The rich sure aren't willing to pay for the ongoing ones and the rest of us have the taxes fairly well squeezed out of us.

[sabrina 1]

8. The Oil Corps were worried about losing their contracts

with Qadaffi. The Libyan people were not a concern for them. I am certain they were hoping he would survive.

But reality has probably set in. Once he started brutalizing his own people, even if he prevailed, they could see the writing on the wall. This time the world saw what was happening, they couldn't hide it in a small paragraph in the NYT 'Libyan Leader Survives Calls For Him To Step Down' that no one notices.

Not this time, the brutality was documented on a daily basis. So, even if he survives, pressure will be placed on governments not to deal with him. It will be like Iraq when the oil cartels were salivating over all the money they were losing due to sanctions.

It's more than possible that what looked like prevarication was really playing for time to find out who could replace him who would be friendly to the oil corps.

I doubt very much that the U.S. and there rest of the Western Powers would help the people of Libya if there wasn't something in it for them.

Regardless, Qadaffi is planning an all-out war on the revolutionaries, any help the West is planning to give them, better start right now. Or it will be too late for many, many people.

[meow mix]

9. finally something ill support him on...

about time

[xchrom]

11. We shall see. The only point to this would be to support

He Libyan people other wise it's bullshit.

[Baclava]

12. "Breaking News alert" - UN approves "all necessary measures" including no-fly zone

Here we go