"Libya and the Left's Sickening Hypocrisy on the Use of Military Force"

[seeker_two]

Two big differences,
1st- It's actually working in Iraq and Bosnia, and things were improving in Somalia until Clinton turned it over to the UN.
2nd- We went into Somalia and Iraq with actual objectives, A- feed starving people, (the US expressed no interest in the local politics, that was the UN ) B- Remove Saddam Hussein. C- Make the Serbs quit murdering women and children.

What exactly do they intend to accomplish in Libya ? (Other than taking the focus off what a screw this administration is ? Hey, it worked for Clinton, right ? )

...and the Republicans were screaming about the nation-building then until it was their guy in the White House doing it?....besides, were we in danger of Bosnia or Somalia attacking us?......and have they become docile places since our involvement?....

Until we reduce one of the ME nations to ash and glass, they're not going to take us seriously.....and we don't need to put "boots on the ground" to accomplish that.....

[fightingquaker13]

Two big differences,
1st- It's actually working in Iraq and Bosnia, and things were improving in Somalia until Clinton turned it over to the UN.
2nd- We went into Somalia and Iraq with actual objectives, A- feed starving people, (the US expressed no interest in the local politics, that was the UN ) B- Remove Saddam Hussein. C- Make the Serbs quit murdering women and children.

What exactly do they intend to accomplish in Libya ? (Other than taking the focus off what a screw this administration is ? Hey, it worked for Clinton, right ? )

Tom has it right. Look, there are two reasonable views on FP. The first (my preferred option) is the realist one. You go to war only if it is in your national interest. The other is the neo-liberal view which says that that the actions of nations must be governed by international law in order to maintain the stability of the system and enforce a basic line of human rights (such as preventing genocide). Force is justified to enforce this.
Europe, particulatly underTony Blair, a true believer of the neolib position, sided with us in humanitarian interventions and supported the war in Iraq because Saddam thumbed his nose at the UN.
Fast forward to today. WTF is our interest in Libiya? I have no love for Quadaffi and would like to see him gone. But why is it our problem? Its the same argument I made against the Iraq war.  This a bad guy. So what? He has plenty of company in the ranks of heads of state. Let the Libiyans deal with him or not. Not our country, not our war and as long as the oil flows and Al Queda isn't given a safe haven, not our problem. Call me a bastard, but I'll kill fewer people and fill fewer American body bags than someone like W. or BO who want to bring democracy and human rights to the Middle East. If those in the Middle East want these things, good for them. I'll cheer them on. I just won't sacrifice a single Marine in a war where we don't have a stake. Blood for oil? Hell yes. Blood for fuzzy idealism? No chance in hell.
FQ13 who is going straight to hell, but at least I won't be taking uneccesary US casulties along with me.

[tombogan03884]

Part that pisses me off is that the side we are supporting is far more likely to give AQ a safe haven than Qadaffi, he's been through that crap before with the PLO and knows it is more likely to bite him on the ass than not.BO is supporting suspiciously unknown forces against a predictable prick who has maintained a stable govt. since 1968.
In other words, Obummer is helping to DEstabalize the region which can only lead to more bloodshed.

...and the Republicans were screaming about the nation-building then until it was their guy in the White House doing it?....besides, were we in danger of Bosnia or Somalia attacking us?......and have they become docile places since our involvement?....

Until we reduce one of the ME nations to ash and glass, they're not going to take us seriously.....and we don't need to put "boots on the ground" to accomplish that.....

Wake up and smell the coffee. The nations got built under the R's, Iraq has a stable Govt. The stated purpose was to remove SH, He's gone, Hung by an Iraqi court.  Mission Accomplished.
Bosnia/Kosovo, Stated objective, stop the Serbs from exterminating Muslims, that was by the way requested by most of the countries in the world. Milosivic is dead, most of his cronies, who are not dead are, or have been, tried and sentenced for war crimes, Serbs are no longer killing Muslims. Mission accomplished.
Somalia, Stated mission of Marine presence (The US involvement) was to organize the distribution of food. When the Marines left food was being distributed, mission accomplished. The Blackhawk down incident did not happen to US troops, it happened to an American unit serving under UN Command.
Afghanistan is Obama's war, he is the one who ramped it up. What is the objective ?
Libya, is another Obama war, What is the objective.
Wars are real easy to get yourself into, but when you don't know what the f*ck you intend to accomplish they are damned difficult to get out of.
Like say, Vietnam, another case where we thought we had to pull Frances balls out of a fire.

[seeker_two]

Afghanistan is Obama's war, he is the one who ramped it up. What is the objective ?
Libya, is another Obama war, What is the objective.
Wars are real easy to get yourself into, but when you don't know what the f*ck you intend to accomplish they are damned difficult to get out of.
Like say, Vietnam, another case where we thought we had to pull Frances balls out of a fire.

While I disagree with the rest (esp. since I was pointing out political hypocracy, not military accomplishment), I'm in full agreement with you on this....

[tombogan03884]

That line pretty much sums up my whole Foreign Policy 

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[jnevis]

Did you guys happen to notice that a Dem Rep from Ohio is saying that Obummer has overstepped his authority and possibly should be impeached for launching strikes in Libya?  Both parties are going after him for that but both are also asking "what took so long?"  Make up your collective minds!!!  Oh wait, it's Congress, they haven't done that in decades.