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Sr. WH Official on Libya: Obama 'straining' truth; "Huge gamble" may benefit al Qaeda
Monday, March 21, 2011 | Kristinn

Posted on 03/21/2011 12:55:43 PM PDT by kristinn

Well, that didn't take long. A "senior Obama administration official" is breaking ranks to call out his boss in Time magazine about Libya.

In an article published online Sunday night, Time writer Massimo Calabresi buries the lede by holding the bombshell quotes until the fourth paragraph, preferring to write about himself the first three.

The quotes have the official all but calling Obama a liar over his stated reasons for going to war in Libya. The article also has the official saying Obama is knowingly taking a "huge gamble" because al Qaeda has cells in Libya that could benefit from the the assault on Qaddafi's regime.

The ability for the U.S. to muster international force to prevent thugs from killing innocent people is important. But the president and some of his advisers are so eager to rehabilitate the idea of preventive intervention that they're exaggerating the violence they say they are intervening to prevent in Libya. “The effort to shoe-horn this into an imminent genocide model is strained,” says one senior administration official. That's dangerous. Americans deserve an honest explanation when their leaders take them to war. Moreover, the rhetorical focus on the crazy things Gaddafi might do obscures the debate America should have before intervening: does the value of preventing possible war crimes against Libyans outweigh the risks to America's national security that come with intervening?

Obama and his aides know they are taking a big risk. “It's a huge gamble,” says the senior administration official. The administration knows, for example, that al Qaeda, which has active cells in Libya, will try to exploit the power vacuum that will come with a weak or ousted Gaddafi. They also know that the U.S. will have to rely on other countries for the crucial task of rebuilding Libya and that the region may in fact be further destabilized by intervention. Outweighing that, the National Security Council's Ben Rhodes says, are the long-term benefits of saving lives, protecting the possibility of democratic change elsewhere in the region and—tellingly—ensuring “the ability of collective action to be a tool in circumstances like this.”

The thrust of the article is that the war in Libya will help the view of proponents in the administration to lay the predicate for future 'humanitarian' wars. However the important part is that the administration is knowingly risking aiding al Qaeda while 'straining' the truth about explaining the intervention to the American people.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2011; 201103; africa; alqaeda; arabspring; atrocities; benrhodes; calabresi; collectiveaction; fakehumanitarians; gamble; genocide; imminent; imminentgenocide; intervention; libya; nafrica; noflyzone; northafrica; obama; obamalies; protectiondoctrine; r2p; rhodes; risk; sahara; sahel
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To: KansasGirl

Because the UN runs our country now?

/s


21 posted on 03/21/2011 1:45:05 PM PDT by AliVeritas (Pray. For all the latest, check out: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/)
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To: kristinn

“The thrust of the article is that the war in Libya will help the view of proponents in the administration to lay the predicate for future ‘humanitarian’ wars. However the important part is that the administration is knowingly risking aiding al Qaeda while ‘straining’ the truth about explaining the intervention to the American people.”

Essential to point out there was an article last night in which it was broached that Samantha Powers convinced SOS Hillary clinton of the necessity to participate in the assault on Libya, and in turn the two of them apparently convinced Obama to reverse his course on the matter, and this against the wishes of all of his military advisers from the Pentagon, and otherwise.

Samantha Powers is an advocate of whatchamacallit R2P, or something that sounds like that, which is the “Humanitarian war”. IOW a Leftist agenda war using our military for their goals as I read it, therefore it’s not a wonder Obama is strained attempting to explain it to the American people as is reported in your article.

Samantha Powers is of Irish birth, and a all out Communist Obama nominated to the National Security Council, and is a trusted advisor to Obama. She is the one that was allegedly thrown under the bus for calling Hillary a “Monster” during the campaign in 2008, and was later quietly reinstated in the good graces of the Messiah. She seems to have much influence with him, perhaps not to the level of Iranian-American Communist Valerie Jarrett, but seemingly quite a bit.

A couple of cents worth from the RQSR.


22 posted on 03/21/2011 1:46:57 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: Cicero

Correct.


23 posted on 03/21/2011 1:48:25 PM PDT by AliVeritas (Pray. For all the latest, check out: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/)
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To: nhwingut

I don’t beleive boots will ever hit the ground. obama will cut and run if it gets too tough. And it will.


24 posted on 03/21/2011 2:15:29 PM PDT by Terry Mross (Find me one honest person in congress and I'll spare this nation.)
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To: Doogle

Kindergarten assault on a bag of m and m’s Too funny! Have to remember that one!


25 posted on 03/21/2011 3:44:02 PM PDT by refermech
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To: Doogle

ROFLMAO

That is pricelessly accurate~


26 posted on 03/21/2011 3:50:06 PM PDT by Danae (Anailnathrach ortha bhais beatha do cheal deanaimha)
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To: Danae; refermech

:)


27 posted on 03/21/2011 5:15:24 PM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: kristinn

bump


28 posted on 11/20/2018 11:02:59 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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