Nope…not a movie with Kevin Kosner….but rather a statement of reality on the war with Libya…..
When the bang-bang began, the American people were told that this was a temporary thing….that we were only helping NATO nations enforce a UN resolution…how noble…..if that is true why is the US doing most of the bombing? We were told by just about everybody in the Obama Admin that America’s involvement would be a matter of days and NOT weeks or months……,seems I have heard that from another president….Clinton when he spoke of Serbia and Kosvo and if I am not mistaken…we still have troops there…..(In case the American memory is as short as I believe it to be)….Bosnia and Somalia started off as humanitarian efforts and look where that went……
If you believed the Prez then explain what this means…….NATO is once again refusing to take command of the ops part of this situation….mainly because of the objection from Turkey!
So, sports fans….what part of temporary is the actions by the Americans? Unfortunately the only way to get rid of Qadafi is that someone will have to get down and dirty….who will step up to take the lead?
France? Could be….Sarkozy needs help in an upcoming election for he is sadly behind the Nationalist candidate, LePen……..Does the UK want to lead this endeavor? Good question and my commenter Quin could have the answer…..if he would like. The Arab League is about as worthless as tits on a boar….they are out! Who will be the hero of North Africa?
For humanitarian reasons? Every act of military aggression by the United States is routinely justified as a humanitarian effort to rescue a population under duress. Such was the case in the 1993 incursion into Somalia and the Bosnia intervention and air war against Serbia later in the decade. The invasion of Afghanistan was promoted in part as a crusade to protect the Afghan people against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and the US government and media packaged the Iraq war as a mission to remove a leader who gassed and killed his own people and bring the blessings of democracy to the Iraqi masses.
Personally, I think the US is screwed! Why? Is this not the way all our wars have started? We started this, we played a major role in the onset and we will be stuck in yet another Arab country……..we are SCREWED!
Rubbish! Sorry, but that’s what I think. The US is doing a lot (MAYBE – just maybe – the majority) ‘cos they have most of the f*cking planes and missiles! In proportion to the amount of armament and other facilities the US has at it’s disposal, it’s doing no more and probably LESS than many others – most notably the UK and France.
Yes well we did the same thing in the two I mention…..because we have so many planes and such we are NOT the f*cking policemen of the world…that is my opinion……are you saying that no one else has armament? If that is the case maybe they should have stayed home……but above that…this is a windfall politically this will help…….I for one am weary of it falling on the shoulders of the US…..I know that is no one fault but ours…..but it is still damn tiresome…….
No one else (no ally at least) has as much armament the US has (and the US annoyingly “controls” a lot of what we DO have in NATO). The US CREATED this situation by aiming to be the arms dealer for the whole goddamned world! And now you don’t like the fact that your politicians and arms manufacturers succeeded. The US ALWAYS starts these things (often behind the scenes), but is reluctant to join in until way too late – as in WW2 when you just sold us all the weapons and LENT us the bloody money to do it. If the US had stood up and backed “free” Europe in the beginning, WW2 would probably never have happened.
However, that’s just history from different viewpoints and we could argue all day. As far as I’m concerned, the US is part of NATO (perhaps it should pull out and withdraw into its own corner of the world, but that too is another question), but as things stand it has a responsibility and, since you own most of the spy planes, satellites and so on and ALWAYS want to be in charge (whatever Obama says, since he does NOT generally speak for the military elite) YOU as a nation are stuck with the situation you’ve got yourselves into.
There are a lot of “allies” who take the same view that homeland Brits took in WW2 (and have mostly stuck to ever since) – Americans are fine except that they are “overpaid, oversexed and over here!” We would, most of us, like to see the US “but out” of much that goes on in the world, but that ain’t going to happen, so you have to live with the situation “as is”, the same as we do. Your previous interventions and CIA interference is in part responsible for at least some of the sh*t that goes down around the world (how much, none of us can even guess, but it always turns out to be more than we thought).
You, just like the UK and others, are concerned by the ever increasing military and economic power of places like China and it is very definitely NOT in the US’s interest to think that she can avoid playing her part, because, if the NATO alliance falls apart, then the EU WILL arm to the teeth (as many here want to see) and you as a nation may suddenly find that the US is number three or four in the world. THAT wouldn’t be good for any of us!
I am not disagreeing with you at all….just like I said personally am damn weary of that……and believe me there are plenty here that would like to see us butt out as well….but as usual we, the people, have NO say in this at all…….defense contracts are BIG money and for that reason we will always be in the position we are now……yes, we are stuck and I will continue to bring to light all that I believe is BS….the American people need to remove their heads from their collective asses…….by the by…..no offense intended….
Now there I DO agree. If America would readily join in, but as an EQUAL partner in NATO, then much of the heartache for all of us would be avoided. However, the reality is that your political system seems to create extremes in ALL things. Either we are all dragged (sometimes at least reluctantly) into something we hardly care about (as in Iraq) for the sake of solidarity, or the US seems to hang back and is reluctant to “go for it”, but still seems to me to want to control the situation.
Sadly (and I don’t mean to be rude here, just saying what I see), It seems that we either get the GWB gung ho, cowboy attitude that drags us along, or the Obama sit on the fence and be all coy about it attitude. Neither stance is good for any of us.
Incidentally, just to make you green with envy, we’ve (as you may know) just had a budget in the UK and, though the opposition don’t like it (naturally), there’s f*ck all they can do about it except whine. Strong government (for good or ill) created by a strong electoral and administrative system. 😈
I could not agree more…..this American exceptionalism is pure crap! We go to war and want everyone to agree with us……and I am sure that we use some sort of leverage to get cooperation……it is not rude but accurate…no offense taken…….whining….that is the oppositions thing….no matter who sits in the Big Chair……