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A new kind of defeat for America
NY Post ^ | April 6, 2011 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 04/07/2011 1:34:15 AM PDT by Scanian

President Obama has announced that America would stop attacking Col. Moammar Khadafy's forces in Libya. He instead hopes that others can force out Khadafy -- or that the dictator will leave through economic and diplomatic pressure.

It will apparently be up to NATO to finish the war-- without direct American combat participation. The relieved Obama administration had never quite explained what the mission was in the first place -- or for whom and for what we were fighting. Was the bombing to stop the killing, to help the rebels or to remove Khadafy?

Were we enforcing just a no-fly zone, establishing a sort of no-fly zone with occasional attacks on ground targets or secretly sending in American operatives on the ground to work with rebels? Did the Obama administration go well beyond the Arab League and United Nations resolutions by trying to target Khadafy for a while and ensure that the rebels won? If so, did anyone care?

Was the administration ever going to ask for congressional approval -- at a time when we are running a $1.6 trillion annual budget deficit and have about 150,000 troops committed in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Was Libya a greater threat to our national security than Syria or Iran, or a greater humanitarian crisis than the Congo or Ivory Coast? Are our new allies, the rebels, Westernized reformers, Islamists, or both -- or neither?

The abrupt abandonment of hostilities after about two weeks has set a US military precedent. True, America once lost a big war in Vietnam. It also decided not to finish a war with Islamic terrorists in 1983 after Hezbollah operatives blew up 241 US military personnel in their Beirut barracks. In 1993, a few months after the "Black Hawk Down" mess in Mogadishu, President Bill Clinton quietly withdrew US troops

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ivorycoast; khadafy; libya; nationalsecurity; noflyzone; obama; syria; threat
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1 posted on 04/07/2011 1:34:22 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Scanian
Headlines. Stop. Another problem? need another headline. Continue ad infinitum until the next ‘election’. Whatever that means.
2 posted on 04/07/2011 1:38:21 AM PDT by allmost
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To: Scanian

That must have been some good letter.


3 posted on 04/07/2011 1:43:48 AM PDT by Gene Eric (*** Jesus ***)
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To: Scanian

Obama’s foreign policy - political onanism (google it)


4 posted on 04/07/2011 1:49:51 AM PDT by BuckyKat
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To: Scanian
The dynamics of the war changed. Have you notice the "refugees" invading Italy? Not one woman or child no older people and they are not carrying anything. There are no blacks who are the most persecuted because of their skin color.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2700514/posts

For some reason I don't think they are refugees.

5 posted on 04/07/2011 1:58:12 AM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric cartman voice* 'I love you guys')
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To: Steve Van Doorn

To me EVERY young Arab male is a terrorist-in-waiting. And the women and kids have to be suspected as their tools.


6 posted on 04/07/2011 2:02:28 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Scanian

hey look Ma, no bawls!


7 posted on 04/07/2011 2:06:30 AM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: Scanian

Hillary was saying yesterday that air strikes alone wouldn’t be enough for the rebels to win. What do you suppose she was getting at?


8 posted on 04/07/2011 2:06:54 AM PDT by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/15/08 and why?)
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To: Scanian
Pre-planned abandoning of the fight.

0 can point to his 'plan' and say he achieved his goals, withdrew as planned, therefore he is a superior commander-in-chief.

Fortunately, most superior commanders-in-chief don't start out with the plan to quit.

This was less a lite version of Reagan attacking Libya for killing Americans than it was a repeat of Clinton's bombing some irrelevant targets in Iraq when things got a little hot for him.

9 posted on 04/07/2011 2:29:56 AM PDT by Quiller (When you're fighting to survive, there is no "try" -- there is only do, or do not.)
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To: Scanian

NATO did not resolve some technical blocks which prevent us from supporting this mission. No one pushed-back to have these issues resolved so we withdrew.

In a greater context Libya is not a regional issue. This is a matter of Libyan national interest so I see no big deal in withdrawing. It’s not in our interest to defacto involve ourselves in civil wars.


10 posted on 04/07/2011 2:39:01 AM PDT by Justa
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To: Scanian

At the outset of hostilities in Libya, Obama should’ve done something he never seems to be able to do... and that’s to STFU and stay out of it. Unless a threat vs. American national security exists... IT’S NOT OUR FIGHT!

Now... as he does with everything else Obama touches, the situation is FUBAR.

This is what happens when America elects goofy leftist village idiots with no executive experience to the White House.


11 posted on 04/07/2011 2:43:26 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Imagine.... a world without islam.)
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To: allmost

Bump.


12 posted on 04/07/2011 2:59:05 AM PDT by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: ScottinVA

“IT’S NOT OUR FIGHT!”

So true, so true.

And one more thing that we can’t afford.


13 posted on 04/07/2011 3:12:36 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Justa

Correct.

Let the Arab League take care of them.


14 posted on 04/07/2011 3:13:58 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: allmost
so what was this all about???

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

15 posted on 04/07/2011 3:30:28 AM PDT by expatguy (Support "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" - DONATE)
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To: expatguy

Weaken the will, then win through attrition.


16 posted on 04/07/2011 3:33:54 AM PDT by allmost
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To: Scanian

Did we suffer any casualties - besides our national credibility and several hundred million dollars?

Anyone hear anything?


17 posted on 04/07/2011 3:40:38 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: Scanian

One thing has been brought to the fore-—our so-called allies in NATO have no military capability worthy of the name.


18 posted on 04/07/2011 4:10:44 AM PDT by Flintlock
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To: Gene Eric
Maybe it had a large, untraceable campaign donation with it.
19 posted on 04/07/2011 4:10:47 AM PDT by lucky american (If you think the Libs care about your health.....LOLOLOL)
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To: Flintlock

Two weeks ago I read a Daily Mail article claiming that the RAF had only EIGHTEEN (!!) fighters available for duty in the Mediterranean.

And not enough pilots to fly them.

We have gotten our “allies” spoiled to the point of uselessness.


20 posted on 04/07/2011 4:13:16 AM PDT by Scanian
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