I am cheered by Juan Cole’s explanations of what’s going on in Libya. He is a smart guy and knows the region a heck of a lot better than I do. If something really hinky were going on, I believe he would have sniffed it out.
However, now that the forces of liberty and democracy appear to be on the edge of a victory in Libya, what do we hear from Republicans in Congress? Nothing good about President Obama, of course.
I wonder if it will take more of less effort to make Obama look bad on Libya, than it took to make Reagan look good when he “cut and ran” in Lebanon? Prpbably more…
And good luck to the Libyan people!
The IMF, the World Bank, the oil companies, the bankers and financiers, and the rest of the “Shock Doctrine” folks look forward to the resolution of your conflict.
And then, you’ll need even better luck!
I see them circling Libya like vultures.
maha,
More like sharks.
In the words of Roy Scheider, the new leaders there should exclaim, “We’re going to need a bigger boat!”
This is one of those awkward times.
First, obviously – please, please, please let the Libyan people get something good out of this. Oh, *PLEASE* let them get a decent government and a shot at a good life.
But I’ll always oppose outside military force to get this kind of thing done. I’ll always remember Iraq (and Afghanistan, for that matter). So I’m always queasy about “good news” of this nature.
Still, I’ll repeat the thing I said first: I hope that the Libyan people get a good government, and a chance at a good life, out of this.
Well, in accord with the rest of you. The most we gain is another roll of the dice for the Libyan people. If no intervention had been made, we might have been reading about the executions of thousands of people, devalued to “rebels”. If the Libyan people’s chance comes to nothing, at least a voice cried out for freedom. As one of the characters in “Waiting For Godot” said, “That’s the way life is on this bitch of an Earth.”
How about just saying thank you Mr. President, for handeling the Lybian crisis so well.
A few people thought I was being maybe just a little bit too enthusiastic about wanting to overthrow Khaddafi. He was in power for around 40 years, and during that time has accumulated a long list of sins that have generally been forgotten. So I thought I’d just post a few things about him just to liven up the discussion.
Aside from the brutal repression within his own country (which is fully on a par with Saddam Hussein and North Korea’s Kim Jong-il) there is the issue of his continued support for foreign terrorism. He’s been doing this for decades, and it easily predates Dubya’s clumsy War on Terror. This link gives a good rundown on some of the more notable events:
http://212.150.54.123/documents/documentdet.cfm?docid=2
In my part of the world, I’m particularly incensed about Khaddafi’s support for terrorism in the Philippines. He has fed money and weapons to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), plus the Islamist Abu Sayyaf in the south of the country. This has caused great chaos in a poor country that can hardly afford it. I’ve seen what it does to people up close – military checkpoints all over the southern Philippines, the economy at a standstill, electric power permanently shut down, people afraid to go outdoors lest they get shot or kidnapped. Thanks to Daffy, the southern Philippines is in as bad a shape today as it was during WW II.
So if anyone says that it’s wrong for the USA or NATO to be giving weapons, training and air support to rebels trying to overthrow Daffy, my reply is that he should have thought about that before he did the same thing to the Philippines (and Chad, and Sudan, and a number of other places).
Daffy made no secret of the fact that he wanted his two sons (who are now in custody) to inherit the country. By all accounts, they are even worse than their dad.
So, I’m very happy to see the pig ousted from power. Now (and this is really important), after they string Daffy up from the nearest flag pole or tree, I very much want to see the USA and other countries keep the Hell out of Libya. Yes, it’s fine to supply them with some technical help, maybe international monitors should set up shop if/when they have elections. But any attempt to turn the place into a subsidiary of Koch Industries should be bitterly resisted by the Libyans. It’s their country, and only they have the right to run it.
but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower.â€
Really!… these sick bastards just can’t bomb enough.. It doesn’t matter who we bomb, or how many innocent people get blown to pieces..Just so long as the military industrial complex gets fed, and assholes like McCain get to play war…Bombing is fun! I guess it is regretable when jerks like Obama put the damper on a good unrestricted bombing spree.
Poor Johnny didn’t get his fill of bombing Vietnamese civilians. Now he’s got to rely on young proxies to satisfy his desire to kill. Life’s rough.
If old soldiers never die, but just fade away..how come McCain won’t fade away?..Johnny should be put out to pasture.. he’s a feeble old man who’s overstayed his welcome…Cindy should just give him a menial job in one of her beer distributorships so he could spend his remaining days oogling women, telling dirty jokes, and war stories. He’s a has been, and the sooner he goes on to his reward the better America is going to be.
http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/col-gadaffi–finis.aspx
The truth is usually somewhere between fantasy and propaganda.
Yesterday on NPR, a reporter stated that Joe Biden is visiting Mongolia, and the Russians and Chinese “just can’t wait to get their hands” on Mongolia’s vast coal deposits.The framing of that statement speaks volumes.
Modern wars and conflicts” are fought to get something (unobtainium?), not so much for freedom, except freedom to open new markets, and freedom to take what one wants.
“the Russians and Chinese “just can’t wait to get their hands†on Mongolia’s vast coal deposits.”
The Chinese “got their hands” on the natural resources of what used to be Tibet to the untold suffering of the people who had the misfortune of living there. I really wish we didn’t trade with China and other, similar, criminal states.
If Obama said tomorrow that apple pie was his favorite dessert, Republicans would come out 15 minutes later announcing that apple pie was the preferred dessert of socialists. Peevish, small-minded, just plain small – Republicans’ ‘colors’ should be making it harder and harder for any American to even think about handing over their government to any one of them.
I’m in agreement with you Tom, but it appears they now own our asses.