Too little too late in Libya

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 20, 2012 | By Max Boot

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Obama repeated Bush's mistake, and the power vacuum has been filled by jihadists.

...There has been a crippling and dangerous lack of security in Libya since Moammar Kadafi was overthrown last year with the help of NATO airstrikes.

The Obama administration has waited to get serious about security in Libya. Good idea, but it's too little too late. Why wasn't such an initiative undertaken a year ago when Kadafi was overthrown?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Max Boot is a contributing writer to Opinion. He is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, an advisor to the Romney campaign and author of the forthcoming "Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare From Ancient Times to the Present Day."

[Lysandru]

I love Max Boot--but I have some quibbles.

First of all, the old Iraqi army had to be disbanded. Would we have left the Wehrmacht intact after WWII? We had to build a new Iraqi army. Secondly, the broke-ass Euros ain't gonna fund a meaningful pro-Western force in Libya.

[Hodar]

Not sure I follow. What prevents a Jihadist from joining any security force? Since the Jihadi are not governed by any conventional hierarchy of rank, and have no real affiliation with anyone - these tend to be individuals who group together for force their collective will upon others through acts of terrorism.

After all, terrorism at it’s heart is the act of using spontaneous violence to acquire political power that is far greater than the population of the group’s ability to attract. Since this is a mind-set, and not a political party - it’s quite likely that “infected” members can be spread through interactions with family, outside friends and acquaintances or simply be arrived at spontaneously.

Islam wants, and is, demanding Genocide based upon religion. Their motto is simple, Islam is submission.

[nuconvert]

I like Max Boot for the most part, but he isn’t always 100%.

I disagree on several points in trying to compare Libya to Bush’s handling of Iraq. There were certainly mistakes made by Bush in Iraq, but the ones he tries to point to weren’t them.

I agree that having a vaccuum in the middle east leaves it open for islamists/jihadists to take over...I’ve been saying that for quite a while.

[onedoug]

I believe soetoro got exactly what he wanted out of Libya: the murders of more Americans and the further rise of islamism.

He is an enemy agent, folks. And the sooner we realize it the safer we’ll all be.

[jerod]

"Obama repeated Bush's mistake"

It's obviously Bush's fault... Again!

[tflabo]

King BOZerO wanted the glory to brag about how he helped to get rid of a murderous dictator like Kaddafi and under the guise of the secular, democratic Arab Spring. Now Libya (plus Egypt) is a jihadist, dangerous wasteland and all we got is a dead ambassador, his team and egg on the face of the USA.

[blueunicorn6]

Dear LA Times: why in the world did Obama and Hillary work to topple the Gaddafi regime? Why? Because he’s a bad guy? Why aren’t we bombing Cuba, then? There’s something rotten in Washington, D.C., and the smell is coming from the Democrat’s foreign policy.