Libya, the cautionary tale
With Liberals, history started the day they were born, or in this case, the day they came into office at the White House – everything is new again. So, in regards to Libya they claim that they learned a lesson never before discovered in history, according to the Tribune;
Now, as Obama considers a limited military intervention in Iraq, the Libya experience is seen by many as a cautionary tale of the unintended damage big powers can inflict when they aim for a limited involvement in an unpredictable conflict.
“If Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of overkill and overreach, Libya is the reverse case, where you do too little and get an unacceptable result,” said Brian Katulis, a Middle East specialist at the Center for American Progress, a think tank. “The lesson is that a low tolerance of risk can have its costs.”
Though they succeeded in their military effort, the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies fell short in the broader goal of putting Libya on a path toward democracy and stability. Exhausted after a decade of war and mindful of the failures in Iraq, U.S. officials didn’t want to embark on another nation-building effort in an oil-rich country that seemed to pose no threat to Western security.
But by limiting efforts to help the new Libyan government gain control over the country, critics say, the U.S. and its allies have inadvertently helped turn Libya into a higher security threat than it was before the military intervention.
Yeah, I guess that never happened in Beirut in 1983 or anything, or on October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu. Who would have thought that we could do more damage without enough commitment to applying military force in a given situation. Or that we could place Americans in danger by not being serious about their security and the support we give them?
Yeah, well, I’m just worried what lesson they will teach themselves next.
Category: Terror War
Catchy expressions (e.g., Red lines and Arab Spring) are just that: catchy expressions. B. Hussein has so screwed up things that I have no doubt that we’re best off leaving the ME the hell alone for the next 10 years or so. This will allow the various peace-lovin’ adherents of Islam to return to their true calling: butchering one another. Eventually, some S. Hussein-like murdering, iron-fisted, vicious leader will emerge from the dog pile and establish some semblance of order.
The great lie is that democracy and freedom are desired by all people everywhere. As we see even in the USA, many people are content to be led around by the nose and to let others dictate their lives to them.
That was our biggest mistake in Iraq and Afghanistan, thinking we could instill democracy in them.
Spot on. As the saying goes, you can’t miss what you’ve never had.
If you don’t clean the shit out of the hole before you try building a swimming pool, all you’ll end up with is a septic tank.
Sort of like what our politicians did with Iraq and Afghanistan.
obamao makes Jimmy Carter look like a great international statesman…
And as always, Obama’s “victories” are paid in the blood, sweat and tears of our fellow veterans, along with the hard-earned dollars of the citizenry.
“I’m just worried what lesson they will teach themselves next.” I am worried also. Since Obama always does what is best for Obama’s personal opinion in the news, regardless of the lives it costs or the mess it makes for future Presidents and generations to fix, he does not look at history at all. He looks at his latest poll ratings, period. You would think a lame duck would at least have some balls. But Obama is looking towards his library and a posh lifestyle after the White House, making thousands on the speaking circuit at liberal universities and liberal enclaves nationwide. Obama is about Obama, not America, not American blood and loves, only Obama. No one loves him as much as her does when he walks away from the mirror in the mornings. His last best thought every morning and every evening is, “How did I look today?”.
Sparks, he hates his job. He LONGS to be out of the cloistered aura of the White House. He LONGS to be able to walk around unrecognized. He grumbles about work and goes out for hamburgers at the nearest burger shop.
He’s made it pretty damned clear he just doesn’t give a shit. What’s not to understand about that?
Most people would have been fired by now for the utter incompetence he’s shown.
These people scare the living shit out of me.
We had better be thankful this is a country with a strong system of checks and balances backed by a clearly-worded Constitution. In many other countries, this would-be king, Obama, would have already dissolved the legislature and replaced the Supreme Court with hand-picked cronies.
Obama has clearly grasped the reality that the first step to complete power is to seize control of national law enforcement which he has done through Eric Holder. It is only through Holder’s criminal complicity that Obama has been able to stymie the congressional investigations of his lawlessness.
What is truly shameful is how so many in the Democrat party are enabling the corrupt manipulations of this would-be tyrant, if not by outright support and agreement, then by their cowardly silence all in the name of “Party Solidarity”. Look at all the despots of the 20th Century and you will find that party solidarity business a key to their rise to power.