The U.S. went to battle in Afghanistan and Iraq for reasons of national interest – 9/11 and the determination by the top international intelligence agencies that Saddam had WMD, which he probably transferred to Syria from Sept 2001 through January 2002. These were not civil wars, as was not the UN-approved Kuwait dustup in 1991.
Abe Lincoln and the North aided and abetted by Jefferson Davis and the South conducted a civil war (Americans fighting Americans), with the Confederacy recognized by no other power as a government, though the South longed for Britain as an ally and fired the first shot at the North. No other country came to the aid officially of either side, though trade continued by individuals. There might have been allies except that no one could figure how the war would turn out and couldn’t afford to take a chance on being on the wrong side.
This is the same setup in Libya – a civil war, with Libya (Qaddafi) desperately needing and not getting allies. Obama, without consulting Congress, committed the U.S. to help the rebels, who have no leader and no identity, and thus no accountability responsibility. In effect, he attacked a sovereign nation that posed absolutely no threat to this country, never mind the angst a lot of people here and abroad have toward Qaddafi. This was an act of war. In both the Afghan and Iraq affairs the president not only consulted Congress but sought and acquired approval.
Obama, who wouldn’t know an M-16 from a Chevy tie-rod, seeks to govern by executive order and through the courts. After giving his “war on Libya” order, he conveniently left the country for a few days. The command center for the operation has been on a U.S. destroyer, though Obama has declared that no ground troops will be used, something no military man would ever divulge, and American planes and missiles have been used to kill civilians.
The Defense Department fought with the State Department over the issue, with Obama/Hillary (after weeks of position-changing) winning out over the military experts, who wanted no part of this new and probably endless conflict – at least until Qaddafi is killed, with the latest effort to get him apparently a failure. The conditions in Yemen and Bahrain and to a lesser extent in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are exactly like those in Libya and likewise no threat to this country. What will Obama do about them? He has said he intends to “handoff” the Libya matter to the Europeans and the Arab League after he’s done the dirty work. That won’t happen because they lack what it takes.
As for the Arab League, fuggeddaboutit. The only thing Muslims enjoy more than killing Americans/ Jews is killing other Muslims. After the League got in bed with Obama and the Europeans and the bombing started, however, the League decided that the whole thing was too violent and that their new “friends of the Evil West” had simply gone too far and were (GASP!!!) actually killing Muslims, apparently never realizing that bombs/missiles don’t always hit the intended targets, never mind that Muslim homicide/suicide bombers dispatch Muslims all the time…on purpose…just routine stuff!
So…will any Arab country actually contribute any effort in the Libyan matter? After all, the word is that the Europeans and Obama/Hillary wouldn’t lift a hand if the Arab league didn’t agree to the carnage. Now that the carnage has started (and no one seems to know what this country’s plan is), don’t look for much if any help from Jordan, Egypt or even the Saudis. In the first place, they don’t have much to offer, and in the second place, why bother as long as they can dupe the guilt-ridden westerners into doing ALL the dirty work.
An interesting if not morbidly hilarious aside has to do with Nany Pelosi’s sojourn in Italy, ostensibly to hold talks with Italian officials, including the defense minister, according to The Blaze of 21 March. Probably no one in this country would have known about this little vacation, except that she had to spend a brief time in a hospital, and the word got out. The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined comment.
Maybe Obama thought his reelection prospects needed a war of his own on his resume. One can only hope for his removal in 2012. His presidency is an anomaly without peer. Civil wars belong to the countries in which they are waged. If Qadaffi goes down, al Qaeda will have a new training-ground much closer to the U.S. than located farther to the east.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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