Free Republic

While the outcome of NATO’s intervention in Libya is still uncertain, the ongoing drift toward a negotiated solution is fraught with potentially debilitating problems for the Western alliance. Ousting Qaddafi remains a possibility, and could have been achieved much earlier with swift and decisive action, but the prospects for a clear NATO victory are now quite uncertain. The collapse of NATO’s resolve came in several stages, with the seeds planted right at the outset of the military action. First, President Obama signaled hesitancy and weakness by waiting until Qaddafi’s forces had nearly taken Benghazi , the rebels’ key stronghold, and...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2007 – An early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would endanger the United States and imperil the global war against terrorism, Vice President Richard B. Cheney told members of a pro-Israel advocacy group here today. The United States and Israel “are the prime targets of a terror movement that is global in nature and, yes, global in its ambitions,” Cheney told American-Israel Public Affairs Committee members at a group conference meeting. “The leaders of this movement speak openly and specifically of building a totalitarian empire covering the Middle East, extending into Europe and reaching across...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gray Davis, lashing out at Republicans, yesterday said a budget deadlock will prevent Caltrans from paying contractors after July 20, jeopardizing nearly 200,000 jobs as well as highway projects and public safety. At the same time, Davis suggested that Republicans may be winning the budget battle and predicted that one legislative house, presumably the Senate, will pass a budget with no tax increases."Republicans view a tax increase as some form of leprosy," said Davis, "and they don't want to touch it." The state has been without a budget since the fiscal year began July 1. Davis said...