9 March 2011 Fearless Leader lives in Fractured Fairy Tale.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030803149.html

On Libya, too many questions

By George F. Will

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

“Today, some Washington voices are calling for U.S. force to be applied, somehow, on behalf of the people trying to overthrow Moammar Gaddafi. Some interventionists are Republicans, whose skepticism about government's abilities to achieve intended effects ends at the water's edge. All interventionists should answer some questions:

“The world would be better without Gaddafi. But is that a vital U.S. national interest? If it is, when did it become so? A month ago, no one thought it was…”

“Could intervention avoid "mission creep"? If grounding Gaddafi's aircraft is a humanitarian imperative, why isn't protecting his enemies from ground attacks?”

“Would it be wise for U.S. military force to be engaged simultaneously in three Muslim nations?



Cassi Creek: Will is far from my favorite columnist. However, in this instance I agree with his position.

There is no clear picture we can display of the expected outcome of this ugly and brutal civil war. We have backed Kadhaffi previously and placed him in both enemy and ally column as it suited his and our purpose. He will attempt to hold power until he sees absolutely no chance that his delusional view of life can be continued. If he self-destructs, it is very likely he will take as many victims with him as possible.

We, the U.S. have no real interests in Libya except oil. The outcome of the current power struggle is best left to others to determine. We don’t know who will become the dominant leader(s) of the various tribes and resistance groups opposing Khadaffi. We are unlikely to have sufficient intelligence resources in place to provide us with accurate and reliable information to base new policy upon. We are best advised to sit back and watch the new Libya shake out of the older Libya.

We have a right wing contingent in D.C that wants to provide weapons to the anti-Kaddafi forces. I am adamantly opposed to arming tribal forces and other such groups. The chance of anti-aircraft weapons winding up in the hands of black marketeers, arms dealers, and ultimately in the hands of Islamic terrorists is extremely high. Excluding the terrorists from the equation the possibility of our weapons being used to down our aircraft or to down civilian aircraft, accidentally or intentionally is too high to risk. I also have no desire to use taxpayer monies to give Libyans weapons that they will stupidly and carelessly shoot into the air in celebration or in braggadocio.

We have no ground forces that can be used to invade Libya for military or for humanitarian purposes. Even medical and other relief missions require high levels of security. Our troops are simply spread too thin already to allow involvement in another foreign war which the nation neither wants nor can afford. Until we are willing to re-institute national service in the armed forces, the teavangelists, teahadists, and other theocons and neocons will have to content their selves with the two “Splendid adventures” we have ongoing in the lands of Islam. It is too bad that they can’t point to Iraq and Afghanistan and trumpet the glorious victory they wanted to use to prove American exceptionalism and to justify their attempts to return to Crusading “against the Moors, Turks, and other targets of the teavangelists.

I’m opposed to engaging our military in Libya. There are European nations, which have greater need to deal with Libya than do we. They are closer, and have much longer relationships with Libya and the other rapidly changing nations of North Africa than does the U.S. While they would be happy to allow us to expend our money and personnel by acting as the mediators and resource for humanitarian aid missions, we should be equally happy to allow them the chance to alter the outcome of this latest war. If there is insufficient glory and political advantage for the EU or its component nations, they have only to wait until the Arabian Peninsula states decide that it is time to leave the 11th Century and tell their rulers so.

Just as we have been warned about becoming involved in a land war in Asia, our military leaders proscribe any such action in Africa. What covert operations we have ongoing in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and South Asia should be quietly carried to completion and those troops brought home along with those who currently serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our Fearless Leaders of the right and religious right have outlived their era. It’s time they realize how badly they have fractured the myth of American exceptionalism. Shut the book on that tale.







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