My RedState colleague and good friend Victoria Coates recently wrote a post calling for a humanitarian intervention in Syria on behalf of the opposition and civilians who are being killed daily by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. She writes: “In dealing with Libya and Syria, consistency need not be the hobgoblin of little minds but can rather be the hallmark of a consistent and coordinated foreign policy. | Read More »
This weekend brought good news for those who have lived under the oppressive regime of Moammar Qaddafi for all or part of his 42 year reign of terror, as the dress-wearing perma-Colonel and his regime have been largely overthrown after a months-long civil war. As has been noted across the international affairs-sphere over the course of the last 24 hours, the toppling of Qaddafi’s | Read More »
As the two houses of Congress debate resolutions that run the gamut from authorizing and limiting President Obama’s Libya action to defunding the Libya war altogether, and as the NATO begins to complement its ineffectiveness with internal discord, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is questioning her former legislative colleagues’ patriotism. “Who’s side are you on?” she demanded today, lashing out at Congress while on an | Read More »
In an apparent effort to save face via the provision of ex post facto permission, the U.S. Senate is considering a bipartisan resolution that would authorize Obama to continue prosecuting his war in Libya for up to a year, albeit with a specific prohibition against the employment of ground troops. The sponsors of this resolution are, as may be expected, John McCain (R-AZ) and John | Read More »
Last week, at House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) request, the Obama administration provided a brief (32 pages plus classified addenda) overview of its activities in Libya, its conversations with Congress about them, and its rationale for not needing Congressional approval to continue this war ad infinitem. The full document (minus the classified annexes) is available here in pdf form. Here are a few highlights. 1. | Read More »
Let me begin with a moment of candor: I’d honestly be surprised if a majority of the American people even know that America is at war in Libya. I’d be far more surprised if any significant number of Americans know that our self-declared unitary executive has disregarded his legal requirement to secure approval from Congress in order to continue his war beyond the already-passed 60 | Read More »
On the heels of the Obama administration’s declaration of its readiness to go to war Kinetic Military Action on both sides of the Libyan civil war comes a report that the rebels have requested a cease-fire from the Qaddafi government. According to Bloomberg: Libyan rebels called for a cease- fire as forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi drove them back for a third day after sandstorms | Read More »
For today’s open thread, here’s John Stewart breaking down President Obama’s very angry Monday address on the Libya Kinetic Military Action. h/t to Dan McLaughlin for the title
In Barack Obama’s Monday night address on Libya, which took place well over a week after he began waging offensive war on Libya, the president touted the fact that the U.S. military, which had been responsible or the vast majority of military action to that point, would soon be handing off the mission to allies and, apparently, fading into the background to let those allies | Read More »
Courtesy of The Cold Equations, here is a handy cheat sheet for dictatorial longevity. Country Prior relations with the US Nuclear weapons program US treatment of country Status of leader Egypt Allied Not significant Pressured ally to step down Permanent vacation Libya Moderately warm lately, despite past difficulties Abandoned under US pressure Bombs away Probably on his way out Syria Strained to hostile Not a | Read More »
Dan Nexon has pretty effectively summed up the “Obama Doctrine” as the “Humanitarian-intervention-against-militarily-weak-fossil-fuel-producing-countries-in-strategically-important-regions-that-are-also-located-near-many-large-NATO-military-bases-and-are-run-by-dictators-who-kind-of-piss-us-off-and-have-no-powerful-allies Doctrine.” That seems to sum it up pretty well. The only thing I’d add is that it also includes both parts of Obama’s key campaign refrains, Hope and Change. As in, we’re going to hope that change comes to Libya in the form of a new, non-Qaddafi government; we’re going to hope | Read More »
You might have heard that President Obama (finally) gave a speech about the shelling of Libya he ordered well over a week ago. Or, you might not have; he’s been trying pretty hard to keep our involvement in it out of the public eye, despite the US having the leading role in every phase of this “kinetic military action” except (1) decision-making, and (2) actually | Read More »
Exactly a week ago, Kevin Baron of Stars and Stripes wrote the following about Libya and the Obama campaign administration’s “plan” there: The U.S.-led coalition is slowing its bombing campaign over Libya and pushing the boundaries of a no-fly zone westward toward Tripoli, but it will not provide close air support for opposition rebels, its commander said. There is no sign, however, that a handoff | Read More »
Update by Jeff 3/20/11 22:15: According to Jake Tapper, it now appears that SecDef Gates is warning against setting any goals for this action whatsoever. How’s that for clarity and sound military strategy? Update by Jeff 3/20/11 18:10: The muddling continues, as it’s being reported that SecDef Gates, who initially opposed any action in Libya, is now opposing any action that would specifically target Qaddafi. | Read More »
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