Ross Douthat in today's New York Times on the war in Libya:
...the Obama administration has delivered a clinic in the liberal way of war.
Because liberal wars depend on constant consensus-building within the (so-called) international community, they tend to be fought by committee, at a glacial pace, and with a caution that shades into tactical incompetence. And because their connection to the national interest is often tangential at best, they’re often fought with one hand behind our back and an eye on the exits, rather than with the full commitment that victory can require.
(Click on title for link)
IN KOREA:
President Truman refused to allow Douglas MacArthur to bomb North of the Yalo River (China) as thousands and thousands of Red Chinese "volunteers" are killing American soldiers and marines in North Korea.
IN VIETNAM
President LBJ personally picks bombing targets in North Vietnam to prevent civilian casualties and refuses to impose a naval blockade on North Vietnam as American boys are being killed by North Vietnamese soldiers in the swamps of South Vietnam.
In IRAQ (First Gulf War)
President George H.W.Bush after pushing the Iraqi's out of Kuwait refuses, on the advise of his coalition partners and his liberal advisers (Colin Powell), to drive on Baghdad and leaves Saddam Hussein in power. His son President George W. Buch has to finish the job!
IN SOMALIA (Battle of Mogadishu... "Black Hawk Down")
President Clinton's liberal Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, refuses to give American forces sufficient armored vehicles for a "peace keeping mission" and American boys are dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.
IN LIBYA
Any strategy by President Barack Obama that leaves Moammar Gadhafi in power is a failure. He will comeback to haunt the United States ! Gadhafi will wait out the "no fly Zone" and after the coalition has lost interest he will still be in power. This is the man who is responsible for the killing of the airline passengers on Pan Am 103over Lokerbie Scotland and the killing of two American GI's in a Berlin nightclub. He has killed thousands of his own people and needs to be "taken out." Any strategy that does not do this is a failure and waste of American resources and possibly American lives. We have been here before !
As General Douglas MacArthur said:
"THERE IS NO SUBSTATUE FOR VICTORY"
UPDATE
Congressman Allen West of Florida a 22 year Army Veteran:
I am concerned that President Barack Obama has not provided a clear and defined mission for the United States involvement in Libya. From the very beginning, President Obama has had no clear direction for Libya. The time to take military action should have been two weeks ago, at the onset of this situation, when the U.S. may have been able to remove Moammar Qadaffi from power.
This Obama administration has not defined the end state. Is it as a humanitarian issue to protect civilians or is the objective to ultimately remove Moammar Qadaffi from power? If it is to protect civilians, isn’t the ultimate way to protect the people of Libya to remove Moammar Qadaffi? As a 22-year Army veteran, I can tell you that we cannot protect civilians or remove an oppressive leader from power from 30,000 feet in the air.
The United States must define who these “rebel” force leaders are and who is supporting their force with weapons, ammo, and resources? Finally, we can’t ignore the financial cost this no-fly zone will have on America- specifically the cost of using tomahawk missiles with no clear target.
We have seen operations without a clear objective before; the Balkans, Somalia, Lebanon, and we got caught up in civil wars, with no clear understanding of how to stop them. We have now opened up a new combat front with no clear objective or end state. I call on President Obama to explain to the American people what is the final resolution to the United States involvement in Libya.
