Posts Tagged ‘Libya’

IS LIBYA A BIG WIN FOR OBAMA?

August 26, 2011

Remember when hostilities broke out in Libya about six months ago.  President Obama received conflicting advice.  The right told him to go into Libya with thousands of boots on the ground.  The left told him to stay out completely.

Obama ignored both extremes.  He carefully calibrated a middle way by building a coalition anchored by France and Britain, kept the U.S. out of operational control (executed in fact by a Quebecois General in Naples), offered no boots on the ground and said his main objective was the removal of Quaddaffi.

Boy, did Obama hit the jack pot.  The Quaddaffi regime is now collapsing in the ruins of Tripoli.  Libya is now ready for a new regime that will end 42 years of ruinous dictatorship.

Like his daring take-out of   bin Laden, Obama now adds the triumph in Libya to the scalps on his belt.

In 2012 the GOP will have a difficult time attacking Obama’s foreign policy.

Is Libya a big win for Obama?

What do you think?

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SHOULD WE BE STAYING IN LYBIA?

June 15, 2011

Yesterday our House of Commons voted to extend our mission in Lybia, deep in the fall, voted to recognize the rebels as the legitimte representatives of the country’s citizens and kicked in anothr five billion in humanitarian aid.

In addition we have 600 military personnel in the region, a frigate and 12 aircraft who engage in daily bombing.  In addition, the air war is being run from Naples by a French-Canadian general named Bouchard.

President Obama made clear he wanted aa light intervention into Lybia.  Harper seems to want as big a footprint as we can manage despite or deficit.

Originally we were supposed to protect civilians from Ghaddaff’s forces.  Now the mission seems regime change — kill or get rid of the dictator.

By the way if we are protecting cililians in Lybia why are we not doing so in Syria and Yemen where the carnage is even worse.

By the way also, do we know how many Al-Quaeda are mixed in with the rebels in Lybia?

What are we accomplishing in Lybia?

What is the exit strategy?

What do you think?

Why the hell don’t we just up and get out?

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SHOULD GADHAFI BE ASSASSINATED?

April 5, 2011

Remember when President Obama said Gadhafi had to go.

Well, he hasn’t gone yet.  Apparently he doesn’t plan to go anywhere.  So where does that leave Obama and the coalition.  Especially when you consider the Libyan dictator is decimating his opposition who are fighting among themselves.

Suppose Gadhafi hangs in there.  This would be a dreadful intolerable defeat for Obama and the United States.

So what are the options.?

Here’s one.  We know there are American secret service men on the ground in Libya.  What do you bet these intelligence experts don’t know exactly where Gadhafi is.  One smart bomb dropped on his lair and Gadhafi is gone for good.

Isn’t that the cleanest and quickest way to end Gadhafi and the civil war in Libya which could carry on for months.

Should Kadhafi be assassinated?

What do you think?


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DID OBAMA BUNGLE LIBYA?

March 29, 2011

What is as important as what Obama said last night in his speech is what he did not say.

Obama did not explain why it was important to save unarmed civilians in Libya and not important to save unarmed vililians being shot down in Syria and Yemen.

Obama did not explain why it was important that the U.S.  take the lead in libya, then turn around and hand over the lead to someone else.

Obama said earlier that Gadhafi had to go but he gave no explanation as to how this was to be done.

Obama gave no coherent explanation of what an exit strategy would  look like.

Has Obama bungled Libya?

What do you think?

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SHOULD THE COALITION GO AFTER GADHAFI PERSONALLY?

March 22, 2011

General Carter Ham. U.S.  c ommander in Libya says air attacks are likely to taper off.  He adds that he has no orders to capture, kill or oust Colonel Gadhafi.  The US is on ly over Libya to protect civilians from Gadhafi’s guns.

But wait a minute.  President Obama says Gadhafi must go.  So does Stephen Harper.  But what better way to get rid of him than to take him out.  Which is exactly what the British tried to do in one of the bombing waves.  The missile was intended to kill Gadhafi.  It destroyed a building in his fortified compound.

If Gadhafi is allowed to carry on he will be at the centre of a civil war that could go on for years.

What better way to make him go than to target him either for killing or capture.

Should the coalition go after Gadhafi personaaly?

What do you think?

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SHOULD OBAMA BE IN RIO?

March 21, 2011

Should the most powerful man in the world be traipsing around South America and enjoying the flesh pots of Rio de Janiero. Remember Obama is commander-in-chief, he heads the world most powerful economy, he is a world-class orator, he is president and head of state.
Remember too what is on his desk in the Oval Office.

He is running two wars against Muslim states, he has begun another war against Libya. Japan, one of great allies, is crumbling and he is nowehere to to be found when it comes to the debt crisis.

Is this anyway to run a railroad?

An official from the White House said this was a business trip. Do you know of any businessman who takes his wife, two little children and his mother-in-law on a business trip. Give me a break!

Obama is paid to lead?

Where is the leadership when he is on another continent?

Should Obama be in Rio?

What do you think?

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CAN LIBYA BE HELPED?

March 18, 2011

After a delay of several weeks, the United Nations has authorized military intervention to help the rebels and unarmed civilians in Libya.  Prime Minister David Cameron says NATO planes will be in the air in a matter of hours.   Canada is sending six CF-18s – last in action in 1999 in Serbia.  Also we are sending 200 air personnel.

But is it already too late? 

Col. Gadhafi is shelling and strafing the last of the tattered rebels in Tobruk and Bhengazi.  In fact I don’t think we even know who these rebels are – are they friend or foe.

No wonder President Obama is taking a hands-off approach and taking a lot of heat for it.  Some Republicans charge he can’t make up his mind about Libya.  But he has made up his mind.  He has decided to stay out.  U.S. wars in two other Muslim states are enough.

Fox news reports that Hillary Clinton is so upset with Obama’s dithering that she is pulling her hair out and is thinking about resigning.

Meanwhile Obama and his family are jetting off to Rio for a little R&R.  Is that politically dumb?

What’s the bottom line here.  What do you wager that after the no-fly zone has come and gone. the mad Col. Gadhafi will still be in power in Tripoli?

Should Canada be sending planes and manpower?  Why?  What strategic interest do we have over there?

Should the United States stay out?

Is there any chance at this late stage that Libya can be helped?  If not it’s a fool’s errand.

Can Libya be helped?

What do you think?

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SHOULD WE ABANDON THE LIBYANS?

March 12, 2011

At his press conference yesterday, President Obama made it clear the United States would not join France and Britain in a fly-zone to stop the slaughter in Libya.  France and Britain have made it clear they will not move without the United States.

Meantime, the Libyan rebels are being shelled, strafed from the air and driven into the sea. 

The fact is a huge majority of the people in Libya live within 15 kilometers of the Mediterranean coast, which makes the establishment and maintenance of a no-flyzone considerably less difficult than it was in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.

The United States says Gadhafi should go.  Should it not do something to hasten that along?

Should we abandon the Libyans?

What do you think?

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SHOULD THE MILITARY INTERVENE IN LIBYA?

March 3, 2011

As we speak, Colonel Gadhafi is in his redoubt in Tripoli, strafing his enemies with machine guns and vowing to stay put until the last drop of blood, his and thousands of Libyans.

Out side powers are now considering military intervention of some sort.   The one most spoken about is a no-fly zone.  This would mean that the anti-aircraft facilities in Libya would have to be bombed and destroyed.  Then the air space over Libya could be occuppied by NATO planes.  This would mean that Gadhafi could not bomb andd strafe his own people from the air.  A blood bath would be avoided.

Should the miliary intervene in Libya to stop a blood bath?

Would you favour establishing a no-fly zone over Libya?

What do you think?

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