“No boots on the ground” promise reconsidered
AndyFMF sends us a link to a CBS News article in which Gen. Carter Ham told Congress that President Obama’s promise that there would be “no, boots on the ground” in Libya is virtually meaningless;
Asked if the U.S. would provide troops, Ham said, “I suspect there might be some consideration of that. My personal view at this point would be that that’s probably not the ideal circumstance, again for the regional reaction that having American boots on the ground would entail.”
Ham also told lawmakers that Libyans government forces are hiding among the civilian population…that’s never happened to us before and its completely unexpected. So a strictly air campaign isn’t working out so well, I’m wondering what’s the recourse.
But we’ve known for years now that the president is not averse to telling lies he has no intention of keeping.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues
Time is running out for the rebels. Unless the French feel like like dropping the 1st REP on Tripoli the US is going to have to get involved on the ground or concede the rebels are screwed, NATO air power or not.
Shades of Kurdistan.
But then, we all knew Obama was lying about Libya; his lips were moving.
With all the love in the world for my air brothers and sisters, air power never won a war.
What will really suck is the POTUS buying off on our creating a zone of separation, a la BiH – but with both sides shooting at us.
I just can’t see an acceptable situation where the Colonel stays in power. He’s such a pariah at this point I’m not even sure the Italian’s will buy oil from him. The US and EU can’t let a nation like China come in and play sugar daddy on their doorstep. I honestly believe that at this point it’s become a “put up or shut up” type situation.
My guess is the White House will do the big sigh and acknowledge what everyone in the know already understood: NATO’s military power is the US armed services and if Qaddafi is going to be deposed it’s going to take a II MEF MEU and the 3rd Special Forces Group to get it done.
The long term impact, far beyond Libya proper, is that this is the final nail in NATO’s coffin with the understanding that multilateral warfare by a committee of second rate, politicking powers is not a viable option for the US.
Well, we all knew, back when the 26th MEU was told to pack their bags that there were going to have to be boots on the ground and we said so in the face of Bobo telling us all that there will be no boots on the ground. As Jonn said “you don’t put Marines off the shores of Tripoli without letting them loose”.
What bothers me more than anything is there is no plan that has been communicated at all. There is no goal whatsoever. To the leftists that will eventually come on this thread and tell us how Bush had no plan or goal in A-stan or Iraq, I would tell them that he had objectives in both cases that were stated before the commencement of hostilities. Here, we have war fighting by committee. A committee made up of……..who? They have no stated objective, no stated plan, etc. The President is under such immense pressure that he has to take the family on another vacation weekend, because being in the office more than 3 days a month is a bitch. He needs to get his nary ass in front of congress as well. Yeah, that’s right, while he’s off with the family, again, he hasn’t dealt real well with the budget, not getting approval from congress for his escapade in North Africa.
I was against this farce from the very beginning for precisely the reasons that have been unfolding right now.
Hey Bobo supporters; is this the Hope and Change we were promised? Are we supposed to Hope that leadership will show up? Or, are we supposed to be thankful for the Change that’s left over in our pockets after paying to put a couple gallons of gas in our car?
This administration could fuck up a free lunch line.
Almost every time the “international community” has responded to a crisis in the last century, America has been drawn in. Brittan is the only European country that could conceivably project any kind of power. The French Army hasn’t been really involved in any major action since Dien Bien Phu. The Wehrmacht hasn’t done anything since WWII. Spain, or Italy are equally hobbled. Turkey WON’T get involved, but even if they would, their Army is not really well trains by western standards. So what major European power does that leave? And the Arab nations really aren’t worth mentioning.
In war you need strong leadership. The kind of leadership, that apparently only America has been able or willing to provide.
Echoing what NotSoOldMarine said…time is also running out for us. This is like fighting a housefire from INSIDE the house. We are bleeding men, money, and materiel, with no end in sight. It’s been correctly pointed out that there really is no plan, to get in or out.
If somebody in a position of power and responsibility doesn’t grow a brain and a spine soon, this whole damn mess is going to end up in a heap.
Concur with #5, and it is what I have been saying for weeks. The objectives as stated by POTUS and UNSCR 1973 (end humanitarian suffering) are inconsistent with the POTUS’s desired end state (removal of Gaddafi). Neither are tied to national interest, the National Strategic Policy, or the National Military Strategy. Because of this, there is most certainly no plan at AFRICOM to support the mission, so no defined end state (HA or regime change?), no lines of operation, no decision points, no branches or sequels, etc., and everything ad hoc. If we put troops on the ground, what is their mission? Are we directly supporting rebels with whom we might only have the common goal of regime change? What is the post-Gaddafi plan? How much force are we willing to leverage? This whole thing is bound to get soldiers and Marines killed while increasing instability in the region.
You’re right, Bobo, and that’s why I have been against this from the get go. Same shit happened in the Balkans, where the rest of NATO decided for us and then we were supposed to take the lead. Yhere was no plan, outside of ending the genocide, so there wasn’t a very good work up for operations and we’re still there today, 15 years later.
I understand that little bobo is stressed and needs another vacation. It’s tough work dodging all those pesky responsibilities as POTUS.
My response to Rosie, Oprah, et al when they were screaming for intervention in BiH to end the killing was for them to grab a rifle, hop a C-130, and go express their moral outrage on some Serb themselves. No national interests, no threat, no need for the US military. Of course, soon enough, there I was in Tuzla.
Sigh, but fellas who didn’t see this coming. I’ve been making most of the same points myself. Nothing else to add, except another mission to siphon more of our scarce manpower to. Thanks Mr President.
By the way, out of curiousity El’ Presidente, how is Afghanistan going? I heard that Al Qaeda and their friends are advancing into Kunar and Nuristan. Care to comment?
‘Unless the French feel like like dropping the 1st REP on Tripoli”
It would have to be 2 REP… 1 REP got in a shit load of trouble for the ’58 mutiny in Algiers… And disbanded for their troubles.
There is talk of disbanding the Legion. They’ve had a history of supressing French uprisings & a significant number of them fought for Vichy in WWII. Rommel’s 90th Light Division was German Legionarres reflagged as a Wehrmacht formation.
Correction ’61 mutiny… ‘scuse my old-timers…