The pontificating talking stallers in the west squander the time for action AGAIN

And with it any goodwill between the west and the Libya uprising no doubt.

Gadaffi's forces will have crushed rebellion within 48 hours

If we never planned to help them at all we should have shut the hell up.

Or better yet said nothing to begin with.

The hope among Middle Easterners that sprang up with Egypt has been thoroughly crushed.

The message absolute rulers will get from Libya now is that if you slaughter enough of your own people, even right in front of the international media, you can stay in charge.

Fuck it, let them sort it out themselves. It's not the West's responsibility.

This.

Good thing the French did not take that attitude in North America in 1777..........

I told you guys that the Colonel wasn't down and out yet. Nobody has the balls to fight a civil war against him, thats why Hillary says they are "weighing all options". Option 1 is do nothing and let these rebels that want to overthrow the country fight their own battles.
The UN certainly isn't going to do anything.

You've played this card before.

The French were acting in their own self interest, to fuck with England.

Thats the attitude the Brits took in the 1860s. If they had stepped in and helped our Rebels, it might have stop the horrors visited upon innocent civilians in the south by Lincoln.

Why bother propping up a resistance just so they can take over a country and accept Western money (that could be put to much better use) and become just as bent as the dictator they just ousted? That's what will happen and you should know that, history buff.

Even the Libiyan resistance isn't unified in the opinion that the West should do something to help them. That should tell you something.

Simple fact is Gaddafi has the superior power and enough of the infrastructure still on his side, unlike Moburak.

As much as I despise Gaddafi, if there is not enough support to oust him arse right to intervene?

He has a horrific fashion sense, but other than that I admire Gaddafi.

Oh and for a quick Beck Bitchslap,
"Peace is expensive. You can't afford it." -Me.

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette REALLLLY disagree! The decision to send French help ended up finishing off their already struggling economy in the late 1700s.

We would be acting in our own self interest in Libya as well.

To help the rebels gain power where the new govt. owes us some favors.

Foreign Policy 101

The French could give two shits about America--apart from that it cost England money, hurt England, and tied up its army and navy.

Anywhoo, the best, most awesome part of it is that our novice President sat on the sidelines until it looked like the revolution was a sure thing, then spoke out against Khadaffi. Then, after the tide turned against the revolution, he sat on the sidelines again and allowed Khadaffi to put down the rebellion. So now we've got a leader in charge of an oil nation in the Middle East that not only knows we don't like him (even as an ally of convenience), he has a history of terrorism and knows the US will do nothing to oppose him.

Well done Obama! You've managed to completely undo the progress the Bushes and Reagan made in making Libya play nice with others.

Yep. Because y'all were so friendly to the west all these past years.

Shit in one hand and wish in the other, and see which fills up the fastest.

Too bad. Nice try, though! Obviously if enough of your countrymen supported you, Quadaffi would be gone and this would be over by now.


[/QUOTE]

It is more likely that the United States would be astounded by the new Libyan government's ingratitude.

We happened to be fighting their arch enemy.

Former Air Force Chief of Staff General McPeak offers his opinion on the no-fly zone debate in this article.

Obviously this isn't a question of capability, but rather a question of political will. With the Obama administration at the helm I just can't see them committing.

It could still happen, but I am forced to agree that it's almost too late. Gadaffi is winning.

One minor comfort is that the very existence of a debate on the no-fly zone may have moderated his attacks on civilians somewhat.

You're like those chump fathers and mothers I see on that show Intervention. They keep on giving their druggie son more money, thinking "maybe this time he won't use it on drugs".

People in Africa love marks like you Dayton. They come with their hands open, promising change and pledging to work together, and then the country just ends up being another shithole run by another corrupt leader who had his own agenda in the first place, this time on the dime of the West.

Common Sense 101

This of course presumes that nobody in Africa is in any way capable of establishing a democratic state....

....not that I am in any way defending Dayton's nonsense.

It's too late now....

Personally I'd love to see it, but given the history of the region I am extremely skeptical.

I agree, but that is only because they are culturally less evolved so do not grasp concepts such as democracy easily. But I think it is important to keep faith that one day that will change rather than just writing them off. After all, Europe and America changed. Why not Africa in the next 100 years? Indeed, what we are seeing in the Arab and Muslim worlds right now would no have happened 30 years ago, so there is no reason that in years to come this will not happen over Africa.

We have to keep the faith.

UN Security Council presently debating the matter.

Sounds promising, as long as they don't use this as an excuse to hijaak and subvert the anti-Gadaffi movement.

EDIT: Or to bomb the fuck out of the place.

Its passed. France is said to be up first for bombing Libya.

I wonder what will happen if Quadaffi crushes the rebels before a single combat aircraft takes up station over Libya?

Is the U.S. and other nations going to put up combat air patrols over Quadaffi's own country that he now controls again?'

If President Obama does try to deploy U.S. combat aircraft over Libya, I see Secretary of Defense Gates doing what the Pentagon did when Clinton ordered a squadron of Apache attack helicopters deployed to a base near Kosovo for possible action against the Serbs.

The Pentagon, deeply worried that this would be the start of U.S. involvement in a ground war there deliberately delayed, and delayed sending the helicopters.

How long?

Despite the fact that the helicopters could fly from Germany to the forward base in Italy within a FEW HOURS.....the Pentagon took FOUR MONTHS to get the copters there.

If there is one thing the Democrats have taught us, it never too late to have some American troops die in vain. JFK and LBJ proved that.