What Obama Needs to Do With Libya (Tom Ricks: Send U.S. troops to kill Qaddafi)

Foreign Policy ^ | Monday, March 7, 2011 | Thomas Ricks

[kristinn]

SNIP

To help the president nudge the JCS in the ensuing discussion, here are the options he should ask to be put on his desk:

1. Best option: Give the Libyan rebels the aid they need to win. This may be no more than some secure communications gear and a couple of thousand rocket-propelled grenades to deter Qaddafi's tanks and SUVs. (This may be already happening in some form.) Can we start flying discreet charter flights of stuff into some airports in the east? This needs to be ready to go ASAP -- like yesterday.

2. More aggressive, riskier option: It is not in the interests of the United States, or the Libyan people, to see Qaddafi put down the rebels. So if Option 1 doesn't work, what more do we need to do? I think here we want to think about direct action: Using Special Operations troops to corner and then capture or (if he insists) kill Col. Qaddafi. You do need tactical air on tap for this, both to finish off Qaddafi if he holes up and also to cover the extraction helicopters. This needs to be ready to kick off in 72 hours.

3. Third: And yeah, sure, let's look at what a no-fly zone would look like. This is my least favorite option, because it is a half measure -- which by definition is an act that is enough to get us involved but by itself is not enough to promise to determine the outcome...

SNIP

But it might be worthwhile to throw up a no-fly zone if only as a cover for Option 2, because it would have the effect of throwing sand in Qaddafi's eyes. So the NFZ also needs to be ready to go in 72 hours.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

His ilk scoffed at the notion that the tens of thousands of Kurd civilians Saddam Hussein killed were justification to invade Iraq. Now, they want us to believe that Libya needs to be invaded, because Q’Daffy is killing armed rebels.

[MasterGunner01]

Ah, that is a NO, Mr. Tom Ricks.

[Billthedrill]

I'll be looking forward to watching the bellicose Mr. Ricks don a pack, pick up a rifle, and head off to do the deed himself. Short of that, a word of circumspection might be in order.

What is the U.S. strategic interest? Is it to shift the possession of oil fields from one group who uses it in their interest to another that uses it in theirs? And count on the gratitude of the latter to...to do what? Sell oil on the world market cheaper? Are they really likely to do that?

Moral outrage is not a casus belli. If it were we'd have a very long list of people to kill. And I have a few suggestions along those lines myself.

[Buckeye McFrog]

if Obama takes his advice it will no doubt end just like Jimmy Carter’s helicopters in the Iranian desert

[robowombat]

Yes. Ricks is a decent writer but he is a bad tempered drunk and I suspect someone off stage owns him in some way so that he can be used as a liberal attack dog who ostensibly identifies with the soldiers and Marines. Not that the post Saddam chaos didn't warrant plenty of criticism but it was focused by Ricks and other on GET BUSH per and simple. Not much today on the continuing tenuousness of Iraq or really what a mess Afghanistan is. Critiques are printed but no OBAMA IS A MURDERER stuff that Bush got hit with all the time.

[ScottinVA]

Why not send our home-grown muslims to clean up the ME mess?

Or send units of HAG (Hussein's Army of Gays) to work alongside the muslim rebels in a spirit of cooperation.

[ScottinVA]

HAG (Hussein's Army of Gays)

Better yet... PHAG (President Hussein's Army of Gays)

[Col Freeper]

Dear Thomas,

NO to #1.

NO to #2.

NO to #3.

Thanks for playing.

[Ditto]

Dare not making wise cracks about him looking like a soft pudgy faggot because his hands are registered as deadly weapons with the police department.

Why? Did he have a fisting session with a bad ending?