Posted on 03/22/2011 6:22:06 AM PDT by gogogodzilla
The US's new war against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is the latest sign of its steady regional decline. In media interviews over the weekend, US military chief Adm. Michael Mullen was hard-pressed to explain either the goal of the military strikes in Libya or their strategic rationale.
Mullen's difficulty explaining the purpose of this new war was indicative of the increasing irrationality of US foreign policy.
Traditionally, states have crafted their foreign policy to expand their wealth and bolster their national security. In this context, US foreign policy in the Middle East has traditionally been directed towards advancing three goals: Guaranteeing the free flow of inexpensive petroleum products from the Middle East to global market; strengthening regimes and governments that are in a position to advance this core US goal at the expense of US enemies; and fighting against regional forces like the pan-Arabists and the jihadists that advance a political program inherently hostile to US power.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
ME list ping
How can anyone expect the military to know what is going on when the Commander in Chief doesn’t know himself.
This vacationing clown we have in charge now is clueless.
He ios playing at being President.
Excellent post. Caroline is on target. For more on this disaster, see
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2692484/posts
Watching the Obammunist talking heads try to justify him on TV is a Comedy.
The strategy is to contrive chaos. Chaos allows more options to break down nation states and build a global community. Chaos is in play at al levels and all venues (economics/diplomacy/domestic affairs/social and cultural). Obama Inc. is flooding the zone.
...less than two years for this clown at the helm, and effectively even less than that when the presidential election machine gets up and running. What i find particularly delicious, is to hear Louis Farrakhan chiding the Messiah, “who the k-hell do you... thingk you, Are?”. I told my wife this morning how awkward it must be to go from being the Messiah to being berated as a grade-schooler by the clown master himself, Louis Farrakhan.
THIS presumes we HAVE a foreign policy.. the author is being generous.
If we can be said to possess a foreign policy AT ALL it is called ‘Wag the Dog’.... real simple (simpleminded, rather!)
I think our strategy is simply poll-driven - Obama needed to drop a few bombs to look Presidential after appearing absent on Japan. Look at it from the perspective of “What gives Obama better MSM headlines for the next 48 hours?” and everything foreign and domestic that has been done over the last two years makes perfect sense.
Maybe that's while Mookle Moore is on his case, and why some of his international friends are trying to get his "Peace Prize" revoked (what a joke that is).
Maybe this is the moment... then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when the frightful march of Obama began to slow and our nation began to wake up...
Mullen's difficulty explaining the purpose of this new war was indicative of the increasing irrationality of US foreign policy.
Mullen is a sailor, he doesn't make policy, and I wouldn't even go so far as to state that the Obama Administration has a foreign policy. This cluster-f**k is coming from BHO and Hillary Clinton, so it's no surprise that there is no strategic rationale, or any other rationale.
I hope you’re right. Maybe this and certainly what’s happening with the unions and upcoming state budgets is turning people. Will this mean we’ll have the aging Hillery to contend with.. I think it’s a prospect that favors our side.
“In media interviews over the weekend, US military chief Adm. Michael Mullen was hard-pressed to explain either the goal of the military strikes in Libya or their strategic rationale.”
***************************
It is very simple to comprehend and define. Aid and assist whichever is the most retrograde jihadist movement and group operating in any given area. In Iran, passively assist the Islamic Republic’s purge of dissenters through silence and inaction. In Egypt where the choice is between a lukewarm ally and a hostile, anti-Christian Muslim Brotherhood radical faction, support the Muslim Brotherhood. In Libya, where the choice is between an obnoxious and deranged but relatively stable and aging dictator and Al-Qaeda inspired and organized insurgents, support Al-Qaeda cells and bases.
What is hard or complex about grasping this agenda? The plan is so simple that even a community organizer can understand it.
Yes, I think you’ve found the key to it all...
keyboard spew alert
If I had to pick the top three people whose opinions I trust on foreign policy, Caroline Glick would be one of them.
Obama knows exactly what he is doing.
Certainly seems so.
And check this little nugget......
-—COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi’s regime secretly provided information to Britain and the US on Islamic extremists in the east of Libya, according to leaked diplomatic cables and intelligence sources.
The names of hundreds of suspects were passed to the CIA and British intelligence.
There was a strong, shared concern between Gaddafi and the US and UK Governments about radical Sunni jihadist terrorists, including the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), Paul Pillar, a CIA veteran who negotiated with Libya over its nuclear program, told The Times.
Diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks paint eastern Libya as a fertile ground for radical extremism. One source told US officials in 2008 that for young men from Derna, a city east of Benghazi, resistance against coalition forces in Iraq was an important act of ‘jihad’ and a last act of defiance against the Gaddafi regime.
....In contrast, Dr Pillar maintained that the information was essential. Some regimes paint their local opponents as part of a larger terrorist picture but this wasn’t the case here. There have been an awful lot of Libyans in al-Qa’ida and among the violent resistance in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
Even among the rebels now hoping to overthrow the regime are radical Islamists who would be of concern, he warned. I think there’s a high chance for people who would alarm us having a major influence should Gaddafi fall.
another leaked cable said that Libya has acted as a critical ally in US counter-terrorism efforts, and is considered one of our primary partners in combatting the flow of foreign fighters. The cable, sent from the US Embassy in Tripoli on August 10, 2009, emphasised that the US-Libya strategic partnership in this field has been highly... beneficial to both nations.
Entire piece here, including dissenters of this view.
And guess when cooperation with Daffy stopped? 2009.
Please check out above article from the the Australian regarding Libya’s help in nailing jihadis, FWIW.
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.