Posted on 02/28/2011 3:26:01 AM PST by Reaganite Republican
Col Gaddafi turned Libya into a haven for anti-Western radicals. Any group, no matter how bloodstained or discredited, could receive guns and cash, provided it claimed to be fighting 'imperialism.'
Col Gaddafi also served as paymaster and arms dealer to the IRA.
Libya gave the Provos weapons and explosives that were used over the years to kill hundreds of people and maim thousands more. In 1984, the Provos were militarily underarmed, underfunded and on their knees - then the rogue Libyan leader stepped in.
He also sent a host of Libyan extremists/martyrs to die fighting for the PLO and the liberation of Palestine. Their coffins came home to Tripoli with an official red carpet and heroes reception, complete with roses, prayers and chants expressing the pride of everyone as a result of these heroes' sacrifice.
All this made him a crucial enemy of the West, causing President Reagan to label him a 'mad dog' and order American bombers to strike Tripoli in 1986.
“But there wasn’t any hope of (Hitler) winning towards the end either.”
I don’t know...the Battle of the Buldge, from what I read, nearly lost the whole effort. He need to secure Romanian oil, and almost got it. At that point he may well have been back in business. Wars can sometimes turn just when one side thinks their work is about finished.
Sorry, but no way was Hitler going to win after 1943 (and probably from the moment he had decided to invade Russia).
Even if D-Day had failed, the Russians would have overwhelmed him in the end. The Battle of the Bulge was not that important to the overall result of the war. It was a pretty desperate gamble on Hitler’s part, and even if it had achieved in its unlikely aim of driving the western allies into the see, it wouldn’t have stopped the Soviets from overwhelming him on the Eastern front (which was the real epicentre of the European conflict, the western front was a mere sideshow in comparison).
The only real consequence would have been that the Russians would have owned a considerably heftier chunk of Germany and maybe other parts of Eastern Europe than would otherwise have been the case...
The majority may not be fundamentalists, but the fundamentalists and the military are the only groups cohesive and organized enough to grab power in a power vacuum, and Qaddafi has spent decades purging the military of potential rivals.
If I were Quaddify, I would shoot my tailor before I left.
LOL.
I'm still trying to figure out how he turned from a military strongman into a creepy old transvestite.
I suppose we will have to see. I’m optimistic that it won’t happen. In any case, at this stage, most alternatives are better than Gaddafy re-assuming charge, because if he does, he is not going to forget what the rest of the world tried to do to him, and he would probably think that as a pariah who managed to survive a rebellion in spite of almost universal global opposition, he would have nothing to lose in gaining revenge by going back to his old habits of supporting international terrorism. You can bet on that. Any new regime coming in to replace Gaddafy is much more likely to be amenable to being able to do business with the outside world in a fairly reasonable manner.
Things are too far gone for that to be possible with Gaddafy now...
He’s not going to be able to keep doing that forever. The noose is tightening and the rebels are closing in. He’s running out of resources and options. He is a dead man. I have no doubt about that...
Much as I’d like to see Qhadifi stay, the bottom line is he has only 5000 loyalist regular forces and that ain’t enough to push back or defend against 7 million citizens.
Quite true. The three biggest mistakes Hitler made were a) not waiting a couple more years (where the quality of his military machine, which was substantial, would have been buttressed by increased quantities), b) his sheer lunacy in taking the war to the Eastern Front (had he left Russia alone there is a chance the Third Riech may still be around ...starting a land war with Russia simply ended up leaching the German army because there was no way the Russians were going to surrender, even after many millions dead and the Germans just a few miles from key Russian cities ....you cannot win against an enemy who will not surrender, and who has large numbers, and then you add the Russian Winter into the mix and it is a cold version of Gehenna), and c) Hitler making certain asinine strategic decisions (according to some reports, he had syphillis and this ended up making him a tad insane). Anyways, had Hitler waited 5 more years, had he decided to not backstab Stalin and attack Russia, and had he let his generals (who, particularly at the beginning of the war, were brilliant) run the war effort, there is a good chance that Britain would have had its back broken, and that Nazi Germany would not be just some footnote in history with the only relevant modern note being some sotty neo-Nazi skinheads m@$turbating to Mein Kampf. The wisest thing Hitler would have done is to have allied with the Soviets - that act alone may have won the war for him.
Firstly, I think Hitler and Stalin were always going to go to war. Although their ideological differences are not as dissimilar as many people believe, they were intense ideological rivals for jockeying for the same constituents (socialist central statists).
Mein Kampf talks constantly about destroying bolshevism and going to war against the slavs in Russia, and I think Stalin probably realised it too. I think Stalin was playing for time and was planning to destroy Hitler himself before Hitler pre-empted him.
Yes, Hitler and Stalin in alliance could probably have conquered the world, but it was never really going to be on the cards...
He can survive for a long time because he has thousands of mercenaries from Chad and elsewhere on his side who have absolutely no compunction against shooting Libyans. The airforce is largely loyal to him and most of them have no problem shooting at their fellow Libyans, especially against the tribes from the East.
He can survive for as long as Premier Hussein sits with his thumb up his keister trying to figger out what to do next, and wile the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet seems to have vanished from the face of the Earth.
We should have had a carrier task force on this weeks ago, enforcing a no-fly zone, forcing Kadaffy into his bunkers and then bombing him into the loving arms of Allah with as many of those improve bunker-busters that we could deliver.
Libya has been under Kadaffy’s thumb for 41 years, the only government institution that exists is the oil ministry and I think the world has had enough of this. Unfortunately they expect the US to take the lead and that is clearly not going to happen. As a result, Kadaffy has an excellent chance of holding on and eventually re-taking the country.
But who then design clothing for Michael Jackson?
Oh never mind...
There is an embargo on Gaddafi, most of the oilfields are in rebel hands and his overseas assets are being seized. What is going to happen when he runs out of money or commodities with which to bribe people to support him?
He’s screwed. Its just a matter of when, not if..
There was a book I came across some years back that basically gave a 'what if' look at events in history, with one or two things made different. It was quite interesting (and terrifying) in regards to some of the things that may have happened had just a couple of facets or aspects shunted a little one way or the other.
I agree that “when” is the question of the day. I fear that without backup Kadaffy’s forces could slaughter thousands of Libyan civilians before he can be deposed.
If he is deposed at all. Libya as we know it could end up being split with Kadaffy and his family running the West and “Free Libya” running the East.
Worth watching closely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.