Posted on 07/11/2011 7:34:08 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
BAGHDAD, July 11 (Reuters) - New U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that some NATO allies operating in Libya could see their forces "exhausted" within 90 days.
"The problem right now, frankly, in Libya is that ... within the next 90 days a lot of these other countries could be exhausted in terms of their capabilities, and so the United States, you know, is going to be looked at to help fill the gap," Panetta said, speaking to troops in Baghdad.
He did not say which countries he was referring to, or what the U.S. response would be to calls for help.
NATO warplanes have been bombing Libya under a U.N. mandate to prevent civilians from Muammar Gaddafi's forces, but the alliance is under mounting strain because of the cost of the operation and the failure, after more than three months, to produce a decisive outcome.
Panetta, on his first trip to Iraq since taking the Pentagon's top job on July 1, called on NATO members to do more the ensure the viability of the alliance.
His comments echoed those of his predecessor, Robert Gates, who stepped down at the end of June. Gates warned that NATO risked collective military irrelevance unless allies bore more of the burden for military spending.
"They're going to have to develop their defense capabilities. They're going to have to invest in that kind of partnership as well. We can't be the ones to carry the financial burden in all of these situations. Others have got to do it as well..." Panetta said.
"I'm a believer in partnerships but when you talk about partnerships, dammit you gotta be partners.
(Excerpt) Read more at af.reuters.com ...
Guilt saps the will sometimes.
Where is Rommel now that WE need him?
Reminded of what Biden said in the West interview
BIDEN: “Are you joking? Is this a joke?”
Should we ping Gadaffi so he knows the timeline, how long he needs to last? Or can we count on at least one of his thousands of agents to pass the “good” news on to the colonel?
Wow! NATO sure could meet and defeat the Russians! (sarc/off)
After 50 years of training and preparation, it’s exhausted after bombing Libya?
Now, let’s see, NATO has won the following wars: .................... (I’m thinking, just hang on)........
Thanks MinorityRepublican.
You are correct on all points. NATO has been used twice now for what it was set up to resist - a tool of political and military coercion.
Think you mean Monty. He chased Rommel across the Western Desert into Tunisia.He went in the direction they need to go today.
The NATO policy and bombings in Libya are such a cluster ####..... I have no problem in principle with getting rid of Gadhafi, but to undertake a military intervention in such a hare-brained manner, and now to be “exhausted” by it after 90 days, this reflects the imminent collapse of NATO as a meaningful alliance.
Don’t go in at all unless you have the means and the will to win. That should be the obvious lesson of many events over the past century, yet the Euros assumed that Gadhafi’s regime would just collapse as soon as they heard that France was mad.
Exhausted in 90 days....with allies like these, who needs enemies?
1. France and the UK call for a war against Khadaffi and browbeat the USA into shouldering most of the burden. The UN gives authority to use air power to protect civilians Khadaffi is allegedly massacring. Hillary says Khadaffi must go, along with the UK and France.
2. Obama gets cold feet and says 'Days, Not Weeks' then pretends that US military involvement has ceased. Bill Mahrer insists it's over and stop talking about Libya on his show. Germany pulls it's troops.
3. France and the UK use the UN resolution to hunt Khadaffi down with bombs. Other NATO nations start looking for a way out. It is revealed that the USA never drew down it's forces. Obama spins this by saying Khadaffi must go.
4. The Libyan rebels turn out to be ridiculous homos. They start cutting deals with Yemen and Sudan over oil sales they've absconded from Libya.
5. France declares that the Libyan rebels must make peace with Khadaffi as if this whole idea about starting a war with Libya isn't theirs. Panetta says that the USA will have to fill in the gaps when the UK and France soon pull out after exhausting themselves.
So, once again, America gets sucked into a faraway war on behalf of a French military failure to support a bunch of pussies who won't fight and want to let the USA shoulder the fighting against a divided country in 'police action' that Americans don't understand, don't want to be in, without Congressional approval, in order to prevent a 'Domino Effect' from sweeping the region?
Can we officially call this 'Obama-Nam', yet?
As a young man you know some history, hat tipped!!!
By his muzzie speeches he started the whole "uprising" in the middle East from Tunisia to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen and other places!!!
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