Incredibly, supposedly responsible people like Senator McCain are suggesting that the U.S. establish Libya as a no-fly zone, seemingly believing that the inculcation of such a zone would be a relatively simple matter. Defense Secretary Gates, obviously not in favor of such an action, has explained in a Congressional hearing the serious ramifications of doing this, namely, that to do so would require taking out Libya’s air-defense system on the ground, another way of affirming such as an act of war.
Other officials are suggesting the same thing, caterwauling over the fact that strongman Qaddafi’s military and mercenaries are killing insurgent Libyans. What do they expect him to do in light of the fact that he’s protecting his own skin, not to mention retaining the power he has exerted for more than 40 years? These same officials seem not to realize that Iraqis (including military/police forces) have been killing each other by the thousands for the last eight years, with the U.S. unable to do anything significant about it, though having up to 150,000 troops at a time there since 2003.
This is not to say there shouldn’t be concern over the Libyans’ situation. It is to say that the U.S. is already invested too heavily in military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan to take on what would be a fight against a nation posing no threat to the U.S. Even if the UN or NATO should approve such action (not likely), practically the whole responsibility for what would be war would devolve upon this country. Neither France, Germany, nor England would want any part of this fight.
The Libyan situation is nothing like Afghanistan or Iraq, actually clear and present threats to the world when this country entered into the current wars. Afghanistan clearly harbored the terrorists responsible for 9/11 and the best intelligence agencies in the world agreed that Saddam had WMD in Iraq in 2002. There was reason for those actions by this country, but no such similar reason applies in the case of Libya, and most certainly not as a unilateral action. This nation, hopefully, has finally learned that it is not the world’s policeman.
The president probably should have kept his mouth shut, beginning with the uprising in Tunisia and certainly with respect to Egypt. Violence is now the order of the day in both places, not surprising since any kind of governmental structure was destroyed when the dictators were overthrown. Once the president speaks, he supplies false hopes having to do with aid from this country.
Reagan helped Afghanistan kick out the Russians in the 80s and Bush 41 helped the Kuwaitis kick out Saddam in the 90s, but in both cases the dustup involved countries invaded by other countries. The Middle East flare-ups amount to civil wars and this country would be ill-served messing in any of it. When people choose up sides and start killing each other, that’s nobody else’s business, as witness the U.S. Civil War.
It’s patently clear now that the radical Muslim agenda is to take over the world. Jihad will be waged in the streets, on battlefields, and through subversion/sabotage/terrorism throughout the world for the foreseeable future. In Europe and the U.S., the fight is taking the form of terrorism, many of its purveyors homegrown. In sheer numbers, the Muslims are taking over Europe, where the birth-rate vis-à-vis Muslims and Caucasians is heavily tilted toward Islamic control. Indeed, the birth-rate among whites is too small to maintain current percentages.
Thankfully, the Muslim population in the U.S. is relatively small and should be kept that way with respect to immigration. There are converts to Islam among those who believe themselves somehow disenfranchised, and these converts pose a risk, as has already been seen here and in Europe. Fighting suicide/homicide bombers is like fighting the Japanese kamikaze pilots in WWII. Those brainwashed young Japanese, though killed by the thousands, managed to kill Americans by the thousands…all in a cause that was known by Japanese leaders to be lost…just murdering for the sake of it.
Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail in Washington and keep this country from more entanglements in the Middle East. Whether right or not, Qaddafi blames al Qaeda for Libya’s problem. U.S. officials pooh-pooh this but it should be remembered that al Qaeda terrorists bombed a synagogue on the island of Djerba (only 160 miles from Tripoli), part of neighboring Tunisia, in April 2002, killing 21 people, mostly tourists from Germany and France. A word to the wise should be sufficient.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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