Loading...
(changes every 15 minutes)
i am so cool that i am a bitch
Photo by AquaVelvet. Caption by .
Big Open Perma-Thread
Posted by
Ender on Apr 03, 2011 at 05:11 AM
This thread is just so we can blabber in a wider format, since new news threads aren't exactly being submitted these days. Talk about whatever you wish.
Comments
Post A Comment
Posting as:
Anonymous Coward. Please log in or register.
@Dick: "So Obama attacked a muslim country that had not attacked us. He must be a war monger. Where is the liberal opposition? Where is the senator claiming our attack has failed? What? Obama's a Democrat? Oh yeah, well never mind because it's ok then."
It's not like Obama came into office desperately trying to justify a conflict with Libya.
Seriously, dick, where didn't Bush screw up about or in Iraq?
He lied to take us into the conflict to begin with, and efforts to do so began on September 11, 2001. (Not even September 12.)
He failed to take the advice of commanders who advised sending in greater numbers of troops, whether because he wanted to justify ever-costlier armaments programs, throw shout-outs in the form of tax dollars to his homeboys at Blackwater, or both.
He dramatically underestimated the sectarian balance of the country in both scale and nuance, nearly fulfilling the fears of his father's administration that Iraq would become a failed state to quickly become dominated by Iran. (A problem that never has quite gone away, I might add.)
He continued to fail to listen to his commanders all the way to 2007-ish, when a Congress that was in semi-revolt forced an about-face.
Do I need to continue with this basic thread on the topic of Afghanistan?
Now, as to Libya: Obama has used American power in a limited way, and made it clear to our EU/NATO allies (who are now standing revealed as our dependents) that it's time they began applying a higher percentage of their GDP to "defense", which has sadly become a euphemism for "commercial enforcement". (I'm not against nation-states using their militaries in their own economic self-interest on the face of it, but let's start calling it what it is, so we can better determine when it's truly warranted.)
He's gotten a fair amount of goodwill amongst the Arab masses at a time when their monarchies and regimes are falling and public opinion there will be a more important factor than it has been. His expenditures have, thus far, been a comparative bargain. And he has not put American boots on the ground, or if he has, it's not been in a significant number. (I'm acknowledging the rumors that we have, just to be ahead of the game; such has obviously not been confirmed.)
If you can't see those differences, I can't help you.