Libya : Is War Imminent?

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Birthplace of Independent Conservatism

Following  weeks of dithering on just what to do in response to Muammar al-Qaddafi's crackdown on Libyan rebels, President Obama appears to be gearing up for war. Now that the United Nation Security Council has passed a resolution giving the green light to the use of military force to protect Libyan civilians Obama apparently feels he has the cover he needs to respond militarily.

Excerpts from FP:

Several administration officials held a classified briefing for all senators on Thursday afternoon in the bowels of the Capitol building, leaving lawmakers convinced President Barack Obama is ready to attack Libya but wondering if it isn't too late to help the rebels there.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns led the briefing and was accompanied by Alan Pino, National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, Gen. John Landry, National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues, Nate Tuchrello, National Intelligence Manager for Near East, Rear Adm. Michael Rogers, Director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Rear Admiral Kurt Tidd, Vice Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Several senators emerged from the briefing convinced that the administration was intent on beginning military action against the forces of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi within the next few days and that such action would include both a no-fly zone as well as a "no-drive zone" to prevent Qaddafi from crushing the rebel forces, especially those now concentrated in Benghazi.

"It looks like we have Arab countries ready to participate in a no-fly and no-drive endeavor," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters after the briefing.

Asked what he learned from the briefing, Graham said, "I learned that it's not too late, that the opposition forces are under siege but they are holding, and that with a timely intervention, a no-fly zone and no-drive zone, we can turn this thing around."

Asked exactly what the first wave of attacks would look like, Graham said, "We ground his aircraft and some tanks start getting blown up that are headed toward the opposition forces."

As for when the attacks would start, he said "We're talking days, not weeks, and I'm hoping hours, not days," adding that he was told the U.N. Security Council resolution would be crafted to give the international community the authority to be "outcome determinant" and "do whatever's necessary."

This may sound cold, perhaps to some maybe even cruel. The fact is this is not our problem, it is a problem for the people of Libya and the nations of the region. In other words let the nation states in the region react to this problem. After all it is in their sphere of influence.

It is time the leaders of this country recognize first, this issue is none of our business, and second, we are BROKE. Other than benefiting the Leviathan Military Industrial Complex we stand nothing to gain in the short term, and much to lose in the long term.

President Obama I am sure has his reasons for considering military action. Just as his predecessor had in Iraq. Iraq, as it turns out was a mistake. Military action in Libya will as well.

Read the entire article here.

Via: Memorandum


Update:

I just caught an article in The Daily Dish entitled The Imperial Presidency . A must read  for those who question President Obama's misguided judgement with respect to the Libyan situation. The author makes a strong practical case for a congressional vote on the matter.

Excerpt from the article.

But it seems clear enough: exactly the same alliance that gave us Iraq is giving us Libya: the neocons who want to see the US military deployed across the globe in the defense of freedom and the liberal interventionists who believe that the US should intervene whenever atrocities are occurring. What these two groups have in common is an unrelenting focus on the reason for intervention along with indifference to the vast array of unintended consequences their moralism could lead us into. I do not doubt their good intentions and motives. No human being can easily watch a massacre and stand by. Yet we did so with Iran; and we are doing so in Yemen and Bahrain as we speak, and have done so for decades because we rightly make judgments based on more than feeling.

A congressional vote is also important to rein in the imperial presidency that Obama has now taken to a greater height then even Bush. No plane should lift off, no bomb released, until the Congress has voted. I don't see why Obama should oppose this. He needs some Congressional support in an open-ended military commitment to ensure the protection of civilians in Libya.

Indeed we must reign in the Imperial design this President apparently has for himself.

More of The Imperial Presidency.