As the war for Libya stretches into its fifth month next week, it’s easy to question the wisdom of entering into a conflict with as many caveats on it as this one. But there’s no questioning the gee-whizzedness of the Air Force’s initial strikes carried out by five bombers from bases in the United States. While that “quick symphony …
Libya
Obama’s Hypocritical, Probably Illegal Libya War Might Succeed
A lot of ink has been spilled (including my own) about whether the president is waging an illegal war in Libya, etc. etc. etc. Obama also got beat up for forging a coalition to attack Libya (Leading from behind!). He got attacked (by me and others) for advocating force in Libya while standing idly by and watching slaughter unfold in …
Bringing the U.S. Sailors Home from Libya
President Obama and his national-security team have said will be no “U.S. boots on the ground” inside Libya. Yet 13 U.S. Navy commandos remain interred on Libyan soil. There’s a growing push to bring them home after more than 200 years on the shores of Tripoli. It’s a strange tale: the 13, led by Navy Master Commandant Richard …
Votes Show that for Hawkish GOP, the Times they are A-Changin’
It used to be easy to cover the Republican party when it came to national security issues. For the most part, members of the GOP could usually be counted on to come down on the hawkish side of a debate or vote.
Toss in tens of thousands of casualties, ten years of war, billions of dollars spent, a new front opening in Libya, and a …
Droning On To a New Way of War
So the U.S. government — if not the military, then the CIA — is now using drones to kill suspected terrorists in at least six different countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Congress — the entity charged with declaring war, according to the Constitution — has basically green-lighted only the attacks …
So this Camel Walks into a Minefield…
There is one less camel in Africa.
Rebels in Libya have discovered a massive minefield laid by Qaddafi’s forces to protect their now-abandoned positions near the city of Misurata.
Al Jazeera is reporting that rebels have already found 550 anti-personnel mines in a suburb of the city.
What’s really sad is how the rebels found it. …
Lessons Learned in Iraq, Afghanistan Dictate That NATO Accept a Compromise in Libya
This from my Global Spin entry today:
As NATO’s war in Libya entered its 100th day on Monday, an end to the conflict may be in sight — but not necessarily a decisive one. Military and diplomatic signs point increasingly towards some measure of compromise by both sides in shaping an outcome that neither the regime nor the rebels
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Libya: Bombs Away! (A Little Too Far Away…)
More bad news from Libya, from Time’s Global Spin colleague Tony Karon:
The reason there’s a well-worn military euphemism – “collateral damage” – to describe incidents like Sunday morning’s air strike in which NATO admits it may have inadvertently killed Libyan civilians in a residential area of Tripoli is that they’re an inevitable
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Libyan Rebels’ Frustrations Mount
Steve Sotloff with the latest grim reportfrom the rebel stronghold of Misrata, Libya:
“Where is NATO?” the rebel asks, with no small amount of frustration. It is just after midnight, Friday, June 17, and he is holed up in Dafniyah, a hamlet west of the revolutionary enclave of Misratah on the coast of western Libya. Like all the
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Want Congress to Stop the War in Libya? Don’t Hold Your Breath
This week the House is likely to pass an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill that would cut off funds for the war in Libya. The vote reflects the momentum behind a coalition of liberal Democrats opposed to the war and Republicans who want to rebuke the White House for failing to seek approval for the war from Congress.
That vote, …
The White House Hopes You Don’t Google the War Powers Resolution
I wrote yesterday that the debate about whether the Obama administration’ s involvement in Libya is in violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution is mostly academic, since Congress is basically impotent to stop the President from directing the military to fight at his discretion. (Note: the resolution requires U.S. forces to begin …
Not New NATO News
A hat-tip to Defense Secretary Robert Gates for warning of NATO’s “dim, if not dismal future” unless its non-U.S. members starting funding their defenses more robustly. After 11 weeks of attacks on Libya, he noted, the allies are running short on bombs. “The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the …
The Gearbox
The U.S. military is the world’s pre-eminent military force — by far — and most of that is because of its people and the way they train and led. But they’re none to shabby on the hardware side of the house, either. I just cobbled together a menu of the weapons systems used in recent U.S. military actions for Time.com and it has …