Fascinating interview with the Libyan leader’s 36-year-old daughter, Aisha, in Wednesday’s New York Times. This is one special lady: not only is Muammar Gaddafi the grandfather of her three kids, but she also served as a member of Saddam Hussein’s legal team.
“The opposition in Iraq told the West that when you come to Iraq they will
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared Tuesday that because Muammar Gaddafi’s residential compound serves as a command-and-control node for his military forces, it is a legitimate target for U.S. and NATO aircraft to attack. But the person who actually does the commanding and controlling? Not so much. “We are not targeting him …
James Dubik makes the same point Tuesday in a New York Times op-ed that I made this morning about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of targeting Gaddafi. He even used the same word: charade. Of course, as a retired Army lieutenant general, he’s leery of airpower’s power:
So far, we have chosen an instrument — airstrikes — that is
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Folks in the Administration say they can’t target Muammar Gaddafi — per this earlier post — because the U.N. resolution doesn’t permit it. But that kind of makes you wonder why the Brit defence boss, Liam Fox, speaks so freely about Gaddafi being a Hellfire helipad. The U.S. has sometimes viewed UN resolutions as rubber bands, able …
Charade is a French word, meaning entertainment. So is Target, at least when my wife shops there (“TAR-jay!”). But why are we engaging in such a charade when it comes to targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi?
“If the regime continues to wage war on its people, those who are involved in those command-and-control assets need to …
Time editor Michael Elliot weighs in on what he sees as President Obama’s muddled Libya policy:
I argued a couple of weeks ago that there is a profound illogicality at the heart of this policy. If a regime is treating its people so monstrously that military intervention from the outside is justified, then it is ludicrous to suppose that
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On Global Spin, I examine news from over the weekend that tribes in Misratah’s environs are being brought in to supposedly help bring an end to the city’s bloody siege. Tribal structures are important in Libya, but I reckon their capabilities and influence have been overstated.
…once again, the Navy has relieved the top two officers on a warship — in this case the USS Ponce — for poor performance. The ship recently participated in the attacks on Libya.
These stories are always distressing, but it’s also bracing to see the service hold senior leaders accountable. Something we don’t see a lot of any more.
Asked Friday in Benghazi what a “polical resolution” to the Libyan crisis would look like, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had a brief answer:
I think the political resolution is one that calls for Gadhafi to be one of three places: with his friend Hugo Chavez [in Venezuela], in the International Criminal Court [in the Hague], or with Hitler
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…speaking of Libya, colleague Ishaan Tharoor brings us up to date about a rare win for the rebels in the western part of the country, also at Global Spin…
Over on Global Spin, Time colleague Bruce Crumley notes Sen. John McCain’s visit to Benghazi on Friday. Talk about sending in the drones:
As an ardent and vocal backer the anti-Gaddafi rebels, it’s hardly surprising McCain made the journey to Benghazi to demonstrate his support of the opposition. Nor is it illogical he used that
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU1ukWWOFqg]
So we’ve got up to four AGM-114 Hellfire missiles hanging from a pair of Predators now flying over Libya. The advantage to piggybacking these missiles on drones is that they can loiter over hostile territory for hours, often without people on the ground aware that they’re circling …
The U.S. military has shied away from enemy body counts during wartime since Vietnam. Enemy attrition, not so much (attrition, noun — a wearing down or weakening of resistance, especially as a result of continuous pressure or harassment). So Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rolled out this new preferred …
