Posted on 04/04/2011 3:21:33 PM PDT by neverdem
Obama's Missionless War
If you don't have a mission, it's hard to know when it's accomplished.
If I recall correctly, we went into Libya — or, at any rate, over Libya — to stop the brutal Qaddafi dictatorship killing the Libyan people. And thanks to our efforts a whole new mass movement of freedom-loving democrats now has the opportunity to kill the Libyan people. As the Los Angeles Times reported from Benghazi, these democrats are roaming the city “rousting Libyan blacks and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa from their homes and holding them for interrogation as suspected mercenaries or government spies.” According to the New York Times, “Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.” We dropped bombs on Qaddafi’s crowd for attacking civilians, and we’re prepared to do the same to you! “The coalition has told the rebels that the fog of war will not shield them from possible bombardment by NATO planes and missiles, just as the regime’s forces have been punished.”
So, having agreed to be the Libyan Liberation Movement Air Force, we’re also happy to serve as the Qaddafi Last-Stand Air Force. Say what you like about Barack Obama, but it’s rare to find a leader so impeccably multilateralist he’s willing to participate in both sides of a war. It doesn’t exactly do much for holding it under budget, but it does ensure that for once we’ve got a sporting chance of coming out on the winning side. If a coalition plane bombing Qaddafi’s forces runs into a coalition plane bombing the rebel forces, are they allowed to open fire on each other? Or would that exceed the U.N. resolution?
Who are these rebels we’re simultaneously arming and bombing? Don’t worry, the CIA is “gathering intelligence” on them. They should have a clear of who our allies are round about the time Mohammed bin Jihad is firing his Kalashnikov and shouting “Death to the Great Satan!” from the balcony of the presidential palace. But America’s commander-in-chief thinks they’re pretty sound chaps. “The people that we’ve met with have been fully vetted,” says President Obama. “So we have a clear sense of who they are. And so far they’re saying the right things. And most of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors — people who appear to be credible.”
Credible people with credentials — just like the president! Lawyers, doctors, just like Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s No. 2. Maybe among their impeccably credentialed ranks is a credible professional eye doctor like Bashar Assad, the London ophthalmologist who made a successful mid-life career change to dictator of Syria. Hillary Rodham Clinton calls young Bashar a “reformer,” by which she means presumably that he hasn’t (yet) slaughtered as many civilians as his late dad. Assad Sr. killed some 20,000 Syrians at Hama and is said to have pumped hydrogen cyanide through the town: There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, as the ophthalmologists say. Baby Assad hasn’t done that (yet), so he’s a reformer, and we’re in favor of those, so we’re not arming his rebels.
According to the State Department, Colonel Qaddafi’s 27-year-old son, Khamis, is also a “reformer.” Or at least he was a few weeks ago, when U.S. officials welcomed him here for a month-long visit, including meetings at NASA and the Air Force Academy, and front-row seats for a lecture by Deepak Chopra entitled “The Soul of Leadership.” Ten minutes of which would have me buckling up the Semtex belt and yelling “Allahu Akbar!” but each to his own. It would have been embarrassing had Khamis Qaddafi still been getting the red carpet treatment in the U.S. while his dad was getting the red carpet-bombing treatment over in Tripoli. But fortunately a scheduled trip to West Point on February 21st had to be canceled when young Khamis was obliged to cut short his visit and return to Libya to start shooting large numbers of people in his capacity as the commander of a crack special-forces unit. Maybe he’ll be killed by a pilot who showed him round the Air Force Academy. Small world, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, the same CIA currently “gathering intelligence” on these jihadist lawyers, doctors, and other allies has apparently been in Libya for some time arming them, according to a top-secret memo on their eyes-only clandestine operation simultaneously leaked by no fewer than four administration officials to the press. A reader suggested to me that they’d misheard the Warren Zevon song “Send Lawyers, Guns And Money,” and were sending guns and money to lawyers. And, if some of the guns and money end up in the hands of “al-Qaeda elements,” I’m sure Janet Napolitano can have it re-classified as an overseas stimulus bill. In the old days, simpletons like President Bush used to say, “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.” This time round, we’re with us and we’re with the terrorists, and you can’t say fairer than that.
So this isn’t your father’s war. It’s a war with a U.N. resolution and French jets and a Canadian general and the good wishes of the Arab League. It’s a war with everything it needs, except a mission. And, if you don’t have a mission, it’s hard to know when it’s accomplished. Secretary Gates insists that regime change is not a goal; President Sarkozy says it is; President Obama’s position, insofar as one can pin it down, seems to be that he’s not in favor of Qaddafi remaining in power but he isn’t necessarily going to do anything to remove him therefrom. According to NBC, Qaddafi was said to be down in the dumps about his prospects until he saw Obama’s speech, after which he concluded the guy wasn’t serious about getting rid of him, and he perked up. He’s certainly not planning on going anywhere. There is an old rule of war that one should always offer an enemy an escape route. Instead, David Cameron, the British prime minister, demanded that Qaddafi be put on trial. So the Colonel is unlikely to trust any offers of exile, and has nothing to lose by staying to the bitter end and killing as many people as possible.
Meanwhile, the turbulence in the Middle East has spread to Syria, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, and beyond. In Egypt, an entirely predictable alliance between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood seems to be emerging. The “Arab Spring” turns out to be a bit more complicated than it looks on CNN, and a CIA that failed to see the bankruptcy of its own pension plan looming is unlikely to be a very useful guide to the various forces in play. For the Western powers to be bogged down in the least consequential Arab dictatorship’s low-grade civil war desultorily providing air support to incompetent al-Qaeda sympathizers may be an artful if expensive piece of misdirection.
Either that, or we haven’t got a clue what we’re doing.
— Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is author of America Alone. © 2011 Mark Steyn.
The first time this was posted didn't include the 2nd page.
Worst part of the whole sorry mess is that all of his statement is true.
I am against our Libyan combat policy, but I think Steyn is barking up the wrong tree when he demands a specific mission. Would he feel better if he was told that we’re doing it because Gadaffi has weapons of mass destruction?
I think it should be enough for Steyn to point out that we’re broke and can’t afford any additional crazy, wasteful wars.
I’ve enjoyed Steyn’s writing for years, but lately, it just makes me sad, anxious and feeling like wringing someone’s neck.
Basically Obama got suckered by Sarcozy to join him in safeguarding France’s national interests in Libya primarily with American military assets and personnel.Obama was looking for a way out by announcing the other day he was suspending military flights over Libya. Sarcozy told him no, you’re not. Keep em flyin’. Looks like Obama suspended the flights for about an hour and now we are back to protecting France’s vital interests.
He is one of the most prolific actual writers (and entertaining at that) of the conservative movement.
LOL! The absolute impeccable marvel of Mark Steyn!!!
Wow. Just wow. People could completely erradicate any type of "evening news" from their lives, and just read Mark Steyn, and their understanding of world events would increase exponentially.
BUMP, BUMP, BUMP
“I’ve enjoyed Steyn’s writing for years, but lately, it just makes me sad, anxious and feeling like wringing someone’s neck.”
That’s good! Too often, simply laughing at idiots or vile people douses our outrage and we do nothing else. If after reading Steyn you feel energized to take some action that’s great.
It’s the activists, the doers, that end up setting the rules. The left has learned that lesson much better than we.
From before Obama took office the media has raved about him being the smartest guy in the office ever; and turned a blind eye, unwilling to look at his experience, past, education, and lack of anything other than having Bill Ayers ghost writing a couple of books for him. Chicago politics are nortorious for corruption.
Obama is the front man (puppet) for the power behind him. Soros is involved. We know Soros is not for America at any level. Other than raping legally the systems in place.
Mark is a good writer, and he has a good way of framing current politics and how really detrimental and destructive all the things Obama has done for out country. There are always a few that are totally TRUSTING, and believe what they hear over the news sources. Still some do wake up and see the eminent perils and catastrophic collapse America is approaching at warp speed. It can happen and will IF we do not rise up and demand a return to former budgets, and the cutting of all gratuitous expenses and they are a multitude. Lots of unnecessary and non essential, and agencies non producing anything worthwhile. Not cut the essentials. See with clear eyes and not be swayed by personal interests. Too much to ask?
It is the only way to avoid the loss of America, and our form of government. Do what works, and stop doing what does not work.
God help us in this day, in Jesus name amen.
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