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Some NATO allies in Libya exhausted in 90 days
Reuters ^ | Monday, July 11, 2011

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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: libya; nato; panetta
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1 posted on 07/11/2011 7:34:09 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Guilt saps the will sometimes.


2 posted on 07/11/2011 7:36:30 PM PDT by Psalm 144 (We are not governed. We are occupied.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Where is Rommel now that WE need him?


3 posted on 07/11/2011 7:37:46 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: MinorityRepublican

Reminded of what Biden said in the West interview

BIDEN: “Are you joking? Is this a joke?”


4 posted on 07/11/2011 7:38:24 PM PDT by Son House (The Economic Boom Heard Around The World => TEA Party 2012)
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To: MinorityRepublican

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?


5 posted on 07/11/2011 7:39:25 PM PDT by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: Pollster1

Wow! NATO sure could meet and defeat the Russians! (sarc/off)

After 50 years of training and preparation, it’s exhausted after bombing Libya?


6 posted on 07/11/2011 7:41:44 PM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: MinorityRepublican
NATO is on its last legs. An alliance designed for a bipolar super-powered world, it has no longer a legitimate reason to exist. Unchecked it will morph into a tool of statism, the very project it was created to oppose.
7 posted on 07/11/2011 7:48:46 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: MinorityRepublican

Now, let’s see, NATO has won the following wars: .................... (I’m thinking, just hang on)........


8 posted on 07/11/2011 8:06:36 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks MinorityRepublican.


9 posted on 07/11/2011 8:06:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Yes, as a matter of fact, it is that time again -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: hinckley buzzard
EU needs a Oil deal no matter what and I guess Obama will take the hit on this Fiasco in the World.
10 posted on 07/11/2011 8:07:26 PM PDT by scooby321
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To: MinorityRepublican
NATO, “FUBAR” same as old botox rerun Panetta.
11 posted on 07/11/2011 8:08:00 PM PDT by org.whodat
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To: hinckley buzzard

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.


12 posted on 07/11/2011 8:08:32 PM PDT by Psalm 144 (We are not governed. We are occupied.)
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To: nkycincinnatikid

Think you mean Monty. He chased Rommel across the Western Desert into Tunisia.He went in the direction they need to go today.


13 posted on 07/11/2011 8:23:35 PM PDT by xkaydet65 (IACTA ALEA EST!!!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

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.


14 posted on 07/11/2011 8:35:08 PM PDT by Enchante (May 1, 2011: Death to Bin Laden, Death to Bin Laden..... al Zawahiri is next!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Exhausted in 90 days....with allies like these, who needs enemies?


15 posted on 07/11/2011 8:54:58 PM PDT by GenXteacher (He that hath no stomach for this fight, let him depart!)
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To: hinckley buzzard
NATO is on its last legs. An alliance designed for a bipolar super-powered world, it has no longer a legitimate reason to exist. Unchecked it will morph into a tool of statism, the very project it was created to oppose.

Excellent post and observation.
16 posted on 07/11/2011 11:39:01 PM PDT by fallujah-nuker (Pakistan delenda est)
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To: MinorityRepublican
Let me get this straight:

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?

17 posted on 07/12/2011 1:04:10 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: xkaydet65; nkycincinnatikid

As a young man you know some history, hat tipped!!!


18 posted on 07/12/2011 8:08:03 AM PDT by danamco (-)
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To: The KG9 Kid; MinorityRepublican
Can we officially call this 'Obama-Nam', yet?

By his muzzie speeches he started the whole "uprising" in the middle East from Tunisia to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen and other places!!!

19 posted on 07/12/2011 8:15:42 AM PDT by danamco (-)
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To: MinorityRepublican

20 posted on 07/12/2011 9:07:14 AM PDT by ScottinVA (A poster on a White House wall on 20 Jan 2013: "Malice doesn't live here anymore")
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