Libya Ceasefire Announced After U.N. Approves Intervention http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...utm_content=FeaturePhoto&utm_term=Daily+Brief It appears as if it's a good day today, the war out there may be coming to a close.
That remains to be seen. Libyan forces have regained much of the eastern territory claimed by rebels and were going to make a push into Benghazi, the last rebel stronghold. The rebels are/were far less likely to overthrow Gaddafi without western military support. All of the bromides about supporting the process of democratization are useless without some muscle behind it.
BENGHAZI, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi took advantage of international indecision to attack the heart of the 5-week-old uprising on Saturday, sending troops, artillery and warplanes to swarm the first city seized by the rebels . . . . . . "Where is France, where is NATO?" cried a 50-year-old woman in Benghazi. "It's too late." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/af_libya;_ylt=AncWUweUaMF902xsfD0yGuCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNidjVzNGRvBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzE5L3VzX3VzX2xpYnlhBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDNgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDZ2FkaGFmaXN0cmlr
Gaddafi 'has lost all legitimacy': UN March 20, 2011 - 1:24AM http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/gaddafi-has-lost-all-legitimacy-un-20110320-1c1q6.html Hopefully Gadafhi will accept the requests of the UN and step down.
The problem is that if we go and help the rebels against Gadhafi, then everyone gets mad that we stuck our nose into the arab mess again.....terrorists! But, if we choose to stay out of it......then everyone is mad that we didn't help, especially the lybian rebels.....terrorists! either decision the USA decides, will be the wrong one, because in the world's eyes, the USA can do no wrong, or do everything wrong. What percentage of oil is coming from middle east? A radio head said "the US buys a little over 10% of its oil from the middle east and most of our oil comes from home with the a majority of the rest coming from South and Central America. You do realize that the US gets exactly ZERO percent of its oil from Libya. Meaning that any decrease in thier production should have little impact on the US" So is it the greedy speculators that driving up the cost of oil then? Also what about our own oil here? I've heard that N. Dakota alone has enough oil to supply CURRENT demand levels in U.S. for up to 2-4 centuries.
Are you sure about the North Dakota claim? I'd like some evidence of that. We get most of our oil from Saudi Arabia, but the tension in Libya could spread into other oil producing countries. I think that around 72% of our is imported from foreign countries, 28% of it is produced in America. Those figures are probably a bit less now, due to the BP oil spill last year.
I am not sure, I've heard of the figure on a radio while driving. I hope someone will post the exact numbers or you can google and educate us Mike. I see what you saying about the tension spreading and directly or indirectly affecting us. But enough is enough, we need to stop our oil dependeny in the middle east. Time to pursue alternate energy or drill here.......
I found it, sounds like what you're saying is true. We're just reluctant to use it at the current time because perhaps the government doesn't think that this is the ideal time for that. They think that now is a good time to advocate for alternative forms of power, as you just implied. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
cease fire? lol just like the ceasefire right before the Tet Offensive in '68 right these people crack me up..dirty rotten bastards have they no honor
As of Tuesday, the coalition had fired at least 162 sea-launched Tomahawk missiles priced at $1 million to $1.5 million apiece and dispatched B-2 stealth bombers -- round-trip from Missouri -- to drop 2,000-pound bombs on Libyan sites. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in an analysis this month, estimated that the Libyan no-fly zone could cost $100 million to $300 million per week. The government already is operating on a series of stopgap spending bills for the current fiscal year amid the clamor to cut the budget, including defense dollars. The Pentagon has requested $553 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, plus $118 billion in war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile China, Russia & Germany not sending any troops. Does Obama has an exit plan? We're tired of our tax dollars used to policing around the world. Coaltion force my foot, is gonna end up being America in charge. I hope some of these shark politician take a business class b4 they head Washington.
LoL, Dennis Kucinich wants obama impeached over his Libya missile strikes. I hear Col. Gad...is going to continue to advance, well now what, ground troops???
Gaddafi ain't steppin down till a Tomahawk missile hits his earlobe. That would be quite a site actually..... Obama is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. There really isn't anything more to say about it. I lean more liberal and have been a fan of MSNBC for years. However, if you've watched Maddow lately, she is so far left it's kinda scary. Liberal Democrats need to understand that at some point, it is necessary to use all these defensive weapons we have built to protect democracy across the world. Also for the record, I don't miss Keith Olbermann on MSNBC at all. YES, we should take care of our own issues at home first, and NO, we will not try to take out every oppressive foreign leader that murders his own people. However, we should pick and choose carefully targets that can cause more damage to than others. This Libya conflict qualifies. Obama thought long and hard with his cabinet, and decided the benefits outweigh the negatives. The treehugging left will be mad anytime he fires a missile, even if we are fired upon first. They think if you send Kim Jon Il flowers, all of a sudden, he will become sane and stop being communist... Don't kid yourselves.... Soaring gas prices and the oil lobby are also a major factors here.... Then you have the Republican's who say he didn't move FAST enough.... I'll just stop there. Obama made the correct movements and come re-election time this whole situation will be viewed A LOT differently, as long as we don't end up with ground troops there after he vowed there wouldn't be. We cannot take on another full fledged war. This is why I believe Gaddafi has a major target on his forehead and is just gonna get offed at some point. If Obama is as smart as I think he is, he will make sure there isn't a U.S. license plate on the missile that does it.:smt045
basically...a good quote from the movie 'Battle Los Angeles,' says that as a leader, sometimes you have to make a decision to go left, or to go right. The outcome doesn't matter, just as long as you make a choice, period. Sometimes the choice is right, sometimes it's not. Like Royce said, Obama would have had detractors shunning him for NOT assisting in Libya, and would criticize his foreign policy from that angle. That's politics, lol. As for the ground campaign, that would only happen if NATO intervened and sent in multinational troop detachments.
I fully agree with you. So much of what goes on in Washington is dictated by politics rather than moral consciousness. Unfortunately, Obama has to weigh every decision in light of politics. I believe that he felt comfortable taking action in this case because the Saudi states support the rebel's cause against Qaddafi. The Arab states draw a strong distinction here versus Iraq. In the case of Iraq, most of the citizens did not oppose their dictator. This is not the case in Libya. As an aside I have wondered if part of the reason the Arab states are supporting the ouster of Qaddafi is his relationship with Africa. Qaddafi is despised by a lot of Libyans because of that relationship and that he has taken to even dressing in more African like garb rather than the traditional dress of Libya. Qaddafi has given billions to Africa, for mosques, irrigation projects and more. He is also a past president of the African Union.
Gadhafi descirbes the western coalition as unjust new crusade battle launched by Crusaders against islam and called for all islamist army to join him in this battle. Now Al Qaeda express support for Gadhafi. Hmmmm...... Isn’t the primary use of our military for defense of this country rather than humanitarian efforts. What is the critical US interest at stake here?
"Critical interest" is black gold, as always. The humanitarian catastrophe in Libya became too large to publicly ignore, as has occurred until now. Mugabe and name the rest have been murdering, slaughtering, maiming, destroying the lives and livelihoods of their citizens forever without so much as a peep from the West.
fixed:drinkers: I remember reading about Saddam's regime, brutally punishing Olympic athletes after they loss, to name a few stuff like that shouldn't be tolerated, and unfortunately many people have no way to escape. So, I kind of see why World intervention is needed, because if we were in their shoes, we would want the same sort of rescue and hope. Sadly, many of us are just spoiled from our own lives, and don't fully understand the suffering other civilizations go through everyday. Every time I have a bad day, I just tell myself that somewhere around the globe, someone is going through something worse. At least I have a chance of fixing my faults.
