Gaddhafi Gets a Bullet: Congratulations President Obama

Well if no one else will say it, I will say it. Were it not for a singular military policy of President Obama, the news today that Muammar Gaddhafi’s life has finally ended would have never seen the light of day. As a matter of fact, the news today could have been about the hundreds or thousands of Libyan rebels being executed as punishment for being on the wrong side of a revolution when the world allowed the mad dictator of Libya to wage war on his own people.

When the US and its allies stepped in to provide material support and air cover for the Libyan rebels, Gaddhafi’s army was set to invade rebellious Benghazi, level it, and murder its citizens. That didn’t happen.

And where were the Republicans on this? As usual, either ignoring it completely or casting disparaging remarks on Obama’s policy, a policy that worked. A policy that worked without the loss of a single American life.

Senator Richard Lugar is famous for his immediate poor opinion of US involvement in the Libyan revolution. In March, when the conflict broke out, he is famously known for saying this. From CNN:

“I do not understand the mission because as far as I can tell in the United States there is no mission and there are no guidelines for success.”

To which we can now say, nothing succeeds like success.

Then there was The Newt on Meet the Press:

“I think that now the -- let me draw a distinction. I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Qadhafi. I think there are a lot of allies in the region that we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.”

Let me finish for him: “I would have allowed thousands of Benghazi citizens to die at the hands of a government that is supposed to protect them.”

Truth is, this has been a policy that worked a whole lot better than the removal of the Iraqi government.

And now I am listening for the plaudits and praise from Republicans over yet another Middle East success story. And what am I hearing?

Crickets.

No More Moammar?

It was becoming increasingly clear as the weekend progressed that the rebels in Libya were finally making significant progress. Now, as I write this, CNN is reporting that two of Moammar Gaddaff’s sons have been captured by the rebels. It seems to signal the beginning of the end for the 42 year reign of the Libyan dictator.

While no final battle is forming up yet - the rebels are reported to be waiting for reinforcements - people are already asking themselves what is to come next. And that’s a pretty good question.

Things didn’t work out all that well in Egypt. From what I see, it looks like they have just traded out a civilian dictatorship with a military dictatorship. But circumstances are no where near the same in Libya, are they? Egypt’s civilians practically invited their military to take over. In Libya, they are inviting their military into the fires of perdition.

Indeed, with the exception of the fact that the US military was there, this situation seems to be shaping up to look like the fall of Baghdad in 2003, with lawlessness, looting, and killing being the order of the day. And to make matters worse, the rebels are armed to the teeth now, having emptied armory after armory in their advance on Tripoli.

So from where I sit, this isn’t looking all that good. My suggestion is that NATO shift gears and become policemen.

And then there are UN peacekeepers.

All I know is, time is of the essence. This thing could end tonight. That means people need to be in place tomorrow.

Pissing off the Norwegians

I guess you just don’t want to piss the Norwegians off.

It seems that Norway is one country in the international coalition who is flying military planes over Libya to keep Moammar Gadhafi’s army from slaughtering civilians. I didn’t even know Norway had an air force. Or bombs.

But they do, and they have F-16 fighter jets to drop laser-guided bombs.

And I heard in the news today that rather than bomb the Libyan army per the stated mission of the coalition, Norway went the mission one better and bombed Gadhafi, although I couldn’t verify it in the print media, not yet anyway. It was announced on MSNBC a short while ago.

I have only one question:

Norway? The Norwegians are dropping bombs on Gadhafi? Norwegians?

When I think of Norway and Norwegians I think of scenes like this:

Not scenes of Norwegian F-16 fighter jets dropping laser guided bombs to decapitate the leadership of a sovereign nation. No, when I think of countries that do that, I think of my own country. We’ve never been any good at it, though. In response to the 80’s Libyan participation in the Lockerbie incident, Reagan ordered Gadhafi’s compound bombed and ended up killing Gadhafi’s 3-year old daughter. That’s the country I think of doing stuff like that, the good old USA.

Certainly not Norway.

Something must have pissed off the Norwegians and they went ahead and took off the gloves. Now when I think of Norwegians I am going to have to dredge up images like this.

France Shoots Down Some Tanks

Wouldn’t you know it? The first action in this UN-sanctioned “No-Fly Zone” over Libya, a resolution meant to protect civilian populations from being attacked by their own government was to shoot down some tanks.

In Libya, apparently, tanks can fly.

Obviously this isn’t just a no-fly zone.

To No-Fly or Not to No-Fly

Make no mistake I was thrilled to hear that Libya was going to be the next Middle East nation to throw off its dictator, and then horrified to hear that their dear leader was killing the insurgents with artillery and helicopters.

Shades of Russia in Afghanistan.

But when I heard President Obama speak today about our participation in a UN No-Fly Zone resolution a chill ran down my spine.

Shades of America in Iraq.

Shades of the Bush Doctrine.

A doctrine which says that America has the right to militarily interfere with the affairs of another country when nothing happening in that country is a direct threat to American security.

Yes, Moamar Gadhafi is a bad, bad guy and deserves nothing less than a firing squad for what he has done to his own people. But there are ways to help the Libyan people without violating the sovereignty of a nation. I will support my president, make no mistake. But right about now I want to remind my president of the words that came from his own lips when he sat in the US Senate, and another president was rattling his saber:

“The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Well-said Mr. President.