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US in another war

seventwofour

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I'd love to get Irish's take on this. The more I realize how complicated this world is, and given my pacifist beliefs, I think I'm a virtual isolationist when it comes to international conflicts. Some of the stuff I've read about the rebel groups says they have no real identity and may not necessarily offer a better option for the Libyan people. But I'm kind of a n00b on these things.

Thoughts on the whole Middle East clusterfuck, specifically the developments in Libya?
 
Not to quarrel but its not a war, its member states of the UN enforcing a resolution to enforce the no fly zone. This is an incredibly complex situation as Ghadaffi has been in power for 42 years and he is pretty much hated by everyone, even other autocrats.

The us is really just along for the ride on this one as britain and france are really the driving forces. It was a tough spot for obama but probably the best decision particularly if no one violates the "no ground troops" section of the resolution.

This is mainly to cut out communications and missiles which can take out planes and further the massacre of the civilians. All in all I think its the right move but its a very tough and deep issue.
 
I'd love to get Irish's take on this. The more I realize how complicated this world is, and given my pacifist beliefs, I think I'm a virtual isolationist when it comes to international conflicts. Some of the stuff I've read about the rebel groups says they have no real identity and may not necessarily offer a better option for the Libyan people. But I'm kind of a n00b on these things.

Thoughts on the whole Middle East clusterfuck, specifically the developments in Libya?

Don't too much about Libya, though I'm trying to educate myself as much as possible.

President Obama swears we're not going to get involved on the ground w/ this - right call, IMO. This is a textbook civil war, and the US/NATO getting in the middle of that will only further complicate the end result, even if we'd obviously bring around a regime change very quickly. That said, I personally hope the rebels pull it off - Gaddafi needs to go.

W/ regards to "who" the rebels are - that's often the cause of concern in civil wars. (US Civil War being an exception, obvs.) Reminds me a bit of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, which has become their national gov't since 2002. Not an uplifting analogy, I realize.
 
If Britain and France are driving this, how can we say "no" when they've supported us in Iraq and Afghanistan?
 
If Britain and France are driving this, how can we say "no" when they've supported us in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Exactly. That's why I didn't get Team Hilary's frustration with Obama moving slowly on this.
 
Not the same exact situation but I fear this could turn into a Somalia-type situation where Western forces got involved in a limited role, the country was taken by rebel fighters and then fell into even deeper turmoil and is now a international pain in the ass with the pirates (among other things).
 
So far, the stated goal of military intervention by the west is to stop Gaddafi from massacring his own people once he defeats the rebels. It doesn't sound like the US is going to be involved in any nation building.
 
CNN reporting that Gaddafi's compound was hit destroyed, I assume by the missile strikes over the weekend. Yet the party line is that he specifically wasn't targeted, it was the C2 node in his compound.
 
Put a sniper team in there and blow that psycho's head off. Take out his sons as well.
 
Seems the right thing to do, but how it will end up is unknown. I really was astonished that the Egyptian revolt was relatively bloodless.
 
I hope this will be just a brief dervish twirling at most. Qaddafi is nuts - although his bunga-bunga parties sound kinda like fun. I think the Western Powers have simply decided to use this opportunity to get rid of the crazy loon once and for all. The biggest difficulty is that the conflict is mostly tribal and Libya's political culture is, well, Neanderthal, at best, so it will be difficult to build anything resembling a civilized government there. I hope the Brits and French are up for it.
 
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