Libyan Conflict –Some of Wars other Faces

Now that the decision has been made and the bombs have started falling, we now enter a new phase of the war. This one always starts after shots have been fired and the commitment is irreversible. This phase is more on the home front than the battle front. This is when politicians, looking to make political currency (and take advantage of getting their names in the papers or on TV) start asking questions that might have been far more appropriate before someone locked, loaded and fired. This morning I read 3 different articles in which various politicians (2 Democrats and 1 Republican) began questioning the monetary cost of the war and asking of the United States should be spending that much “in a recession”. –I guess the Libyans should have waited to get rid of Gadhafi until we had the deficit under control.

I was disappointed to see this pointless blather about the costs was heavily picked up on FOX News, who ran cost charts showing how much is being spent on cruise missiles and on the overall effort. They ran them about once an hour all day.

Another favorite tactic is to question the leadership. President Obama now catches criticism no matter what he does. In the Libyan situation they said he waited too long and “dithered” before committing US forces.

Now listen, you all know that I am anything but a big fan of this President, but everything I have read indicates he did it right. He took this seriously from the start. He met with both political and military leaders, they evaluated the situation, made recommendations, checked to see what resources we had available, made a plan, got the UN to pass a resolution making the whole thing legal and then acted. All of that in about a week. Just how much faster should he have acted?

And now, on top of that, some of those same politicians are also complaining that he should have gone to Congress for permission first. Congress first? Really? Do you have any idea how long that exalted body would have taken to give President Obama permission to act? Besides, the Constitution clearly gives the President the ability to act in a crisis situation without Congressional approval.

I can not think what must be in their minds. Once our troops are committed and in harms way –and make no mistake, they are in harms way over there, the attention of all good citizens should be on supporting the troops. We should not be undermining the effort right from the start by implying we just can not afford to do the right thing or that it is somehow illegal because the right procedures were not followed.

In another little operation that brought a smile to my face, it seems a cruise missile late Sunday blasted Gadhafi’s residential compound near his iconic tent. It was not known where Gadhafi was when the missile hit, but it seemed to show that he is not safe, even while the allies trade nuances over whether the Libyan leader’s fall is a goal of their campaign.

Oh, and just in case you have heard Gadhafi or one of his sons talking about how they surprised and disappointed they are about American participation against them because they liked President Obama and had starting seeing the US as a friend and ally, just watch this You Tube clip of Gadhafi speaking to the UN General Assembly just last fall....

Live Long and Prosper....