air strikes on Libya begin

Something very illegal going on here. Since when did tanks begin to fly(dozens were destroyed) and when did a personal home become a military target? We have declared war on this sovereign nation. How many soldiers has he murdered with the 100+ Million dollar apiece Tomahawks? This is going to come back to haunt us and probably in a catastrophic manner. My only hope is that it is confined to the DC area--it could use some cleansing. The Potomac could then wash the ashes of the POSs out to sea.

 

Is Neo Isolationism the answer?

I'm surprised that you have any rage left over for Barak Obama after G.Dubya's outrageous, illegal, and un American use of your country's armed forces in Iraq. Time will tell whether America's involvement in Libya's civil conflict is morally justifiable, but I am of the view that it falls within the same kind of parameters of international law that applied in the case of Kosovo. Just as the enforcement of a no fly zone in northern Iraq during GWII limited the worst of Saddam Hussein's atrocities against the Kurds, hopefully the No Fly Zone in Libya will limit the worst of Gaddafi's attrocities against his own people.

The United States has an unenviable reputation for supporting dictatorships throughout the world, and some, in recent years (G.Dubya, amongst others) have railed that the citizenry of the middle east hate The United States, "because they...(the citizenry of middle eastern states) hate freedom"...I think that many of the citizens of Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, et al....would be happy to be free of the regimes that oppress them, it is not that they hate freedom, just that they may seek the freedom that does not sit comfortably with the foreign policy of some western democracies. There are encouraging signs that the citizens of Egypt want genuine parliamentary democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of association. It will be interesting to see how the evolution of democratic institutions there develop....I am of the view that the popular uprisings against oppressive Near Eastern and Middle Eastern Regimes is redolent of the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1980's-1990's. Much will depend upon whether western democracies take chances with nascant Middle Eastern democracies, or go with the tried and proven support of dependable but repressive allies.

It is interesting that the revolts in Africa and the Middle East have been ignited by grass roots movements seeking genuine democratic freedoms...I doubt whether they would be keen to replace repressive secular regimes with repressive theocratic ones, regardless of the trumpeting of the Islamic Brotherhood. Ordinary people have achieved through the power of protest, what Al Queda have failed to do through violence and terrorism...it will be interesting to see how events unfold.

 

I bet he regrets saying this

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Fast forward to 5:30 to hear him talk about impeaching Bush.

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I agree. Notice the nations we "pick and choose" to "help." Yep...the uprisings in the world right now are not just spontaneous cries for freedom...they are well orchestrated movements that have been well planned for quite some time. Always watch the guy behind the curtain....he is a tricky one.

 

Other than we are taking out Qaddafi's assets Obama is clueless who he is backing.

 

Wow we've dropped 455 smart bombs and launched almost 200 Tomahawks - for a "no fly" zone. Funny how none of that stuff was for anything that was flying but was in direct support of rebel troops. This is a full blown air war!

 

C3 or not C3, that is the question....

Enforcing a no fly zone is somewhat more hazardous for the flyers enforcing it if C3 capabilities and infrastructure is left intact. I am sure that NATO flyers are appreciative that SAMs, Ground to Air RADAR tracking and Lybyan Air Space tracking and control facilities have been degraded by Tomahawk Missile and smart bomb strikes. That being said....quite a bit of ordnance has been used on destroying Gaddafi's conventional ground war capabilities also.

 

Correct; however, shoulder launched SAMs deserve attention also.

Spectre will be flying in the AO soon. Sprectre's mission purpose is close air support, air interdiction, force protection etc.

 

Puff the Magic Dragon on steroids! ...... Oh Baby that's hot.

 

What is truly sad is, I don't even know if America understands what is right or wrong, who is friend or foe. Are we standing with the right folks in the world these days? Is Israel still a friend of ours? We seem to be standing with every nation that is against Israel....does this make sense? Even the British have very serious doubts about their previous great friend, America. Libya, Egypt, friend or foes? The rebels in these nations...friends or foes? You tell me. Sad.

 

Although they received support as they received it indirectly; Al-Qaeda was not created by the CIA.
The Saudis funded them with $600 million per year. Funding by the US was indirect, or the US was stupid enough to give Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence Agency money and equipment to distribute which means we were clueless as far as who go the money.

If a 1000 SAMs went to Afghanistan, simply because they shot them at Russian Hinds Al-Qaeda probably got some.

During a war, guerrilla war, or conflict there are always many factions against a common enemy. After the dust settles, some of the factions kill off the others.
Afghanistan is an example; all the factions were united against the Russians and their puppet government. After the Russians were defeated in 1989, the various groups could not agree so the puppet government was not replaced until three years later. The end result was Afghanistan was devastated and various factions controlled different areas.