Posted on 03/06/2011 8:54:20 AM PST by Christus_Rex
As Libya's bloody conflict rages on, important lessons for U.S. foreign policy are emerging from the past month's Middle East turmoil. Starting with Tunisia, the Obama administration has seemed repeatedly surprised by anti-regime demonstrations, unsure of the stakes for America and its allies and unprepared conceptually and operationally to deal with the consequences.
In Egypt, there was contradictory, unhelpful White House rhetoric when silence would have been prudent - and in Libya, silence when strong American words (and actions) were amply warranted.
The truth is, while regional turmoil ignited nearly simultaneously in several countries, the causes of the uprisings require intelligent analysis of what's going on in each nation, not trying to cram it artificially into a preconceived narrative.
We haven't seen this emerge. In Egypt, Obama had at least four different official positions before Hosni Mubarak finally fell. His wavering damaged American credibility throughout the region, particularly with other governments that considered themselves friendly to the United States.
In Libya, one likely scenario is that the country descends into continuing civil war, with no clear winner or loser for some time. Just as Al Qaeda or other terrorists have established operating bases in failed states like Somalia, we risk a similar environment now on what was once called the Barbary Coast, literally on "the shores of Tripoli" of the Marines' Hymn.
Rather than standing by and allowing chaos to mature, we should be taking active steps, such as recognizing an alternative Libyan government, or even securing Tripoli's port and airport, to prevent it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
lol so true
“Bolton supported the Vietnam War and enlisted in theMaryland Army National Guard, but did not serve in Vietnam. He wrote in his Yale 25th reunion book “I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy. I considered the war in Vietnam already lost.”[14] In an interview, Bolton discussed his comment in the reunion book, explaining that he decided to avoid service in Vietnam because “by the time I was about to graduate in 1970, it was clear to me that opponents of the Vietnam War had made it certain we could not prevail, and that I had no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from.”[15][16
“... we should be taking active steps, such as recognizing an alternative Libyan government, or even securing Tripoli’s port and airport...”
I would be willing to loan him a uniform. They can insert him and any of his ilk that would accompany him.
“Do we fully understand our interests, and the pluses and minuses of precipitous regime change? This is the grand strategy question, one too complex to be answered in a few words. But I am not reassured by Obama’s reactive handling of the crisis.”
Obama may be a fool, but those pulling his strings know exactly what they are doing: playing into the hands of radical islamists who want to take over the ME and establish a Kaliphate.
“They weren’t asleep. We were. The White House was funding the muslim brotherhood. Sending Code Pink and William Ayers to help with ‘organizing’ and other nefarious plans to install radical islam across the middle east.”
You are absolutely correct. NOBODY is that naive, and the alternative hypothesis is exactly what you say, it’s deliberate.
As tehy say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Excellent picture, says it all.
Thanks.
Starting with Tunisia, the Obama administration has seemed repeatedly surprised by anti-regime demonstrations, unsure of the stakes for America and its allies and unprepared conceptually and operationally to deal with the consequences.No, it's just that Obama is working to establish the world caliphate.
>Obama is a fool. An idiot who possesses Ivy League degrees, yet cannot apply what he’s learned in any meaningful or effective way. Obama will be known as the president that allowed the Middle East to be consumed by the Islamists, betraying Israel, and losing key allies. IMPEACH OBAMA AND SAVE AMERICA!<
Honestly??
You can’t really think that Obama didn’t want this to happen. I agree he may not have seen it coming and was completely unprepared for it. But when it did happen, he took total advantage of the crisis and helped to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
That terrorist organization is what sparked every other one in the middle east to start overthrowing regimes.
Obama for all intensive purposes helped orchestrate what they could never have achieved on their own. A fool no .. evil and against America’s best interest .. OH YEAH!
>They weren’t asleep. We were. The White House was funding the muslim brotherhood. Sending Code Pink and William Ayers to help with ‘organizing’ and other nefarious plans to install radical islam across the middle east.<
EXACTLY!
“And people like Bolton, claiming that Obama is simply a fool, are enablers. I simply don’t believe you if you say you think Obama is making “mistakes”.”
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Absolutely right, as I just said to my wife, if you had to take a multiple choice exam with four choices to each of 100 questions and you knew NOTHING about the subject you could not possibly make a zero. You need to be able to score 100 to be able to deliberately score a zero, you could not do it out of ignorance. Obama NEVER does the right thing, he is being told what to do to achieve the worst possible result for America. That leads me to ask what about those who actually claim to believe he is doing a great job? Are they that stupid or do they have evil intent?
Fact is his supporters say he IS being deliberate. He is being the anti-Bush. Whatever Bush would do, he does something different, or with a different intent. For instance his engagement with the UN is not to further US intervention but to give an excuse for not, or giving the impression of a reluctant dragon. Thus he rushes troops into Afghanistan with the intention of marching them up the hill and then down. The obvious intent is ultimate withdrawal from engagement from the Middle East but on their terms not ours.
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