Sunday, March 06, 2011
Wishing for a strong horse
Apparently even Arab rebels are getting tired of Barack Obama:
Rebels called on Thursday for a no-fly zone, echoing a demand by Libya's deputy U.N. envoy, who now opposes Gaddafi.
"Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes," shouted soldier-turned-rebel Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then U.S. President George Bush.
We only notice indecisiveness when there are choices to be made.
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Mar 06, 10:52:00 AM:
I think that Unionized teachers and their Union leaders want a zero tolerance so they do not have to use any discretion in how they handle their classes
By 
victoria, at
Sun Mar 06, 03:01:00 PM:
Really, those are the people we should be listening to? They want to take the guidance from a "Shoot from the Hip" jackass who got us into the quagmire that is Irag and Afghanistan? I am not a big supporter of Obama but I prefer him to Bush any day.
By Neil Sinhababu, at
Sun Mar 06, 03:09:00 PM:
I'm with victoria. "Thing shouted by rebel leader" isn't exactly the gold standard of foreign policy advice, even if it's coming from a guy who I hope wins.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Mar 06, 04:02:00 PM:
I think y'all miss the point, which is that the fellow didn't call for Obama, who everyone knows (thanks to that oh so magnificent and influential Cairo speech) is currently President and currently in a position to do something and theoretically supports these kinds of uprisings. That's a little bizarre, and deserves some explanation. The obvious one is that Bush (whichever) is associated with strong action against Arab tyrants, and Obama is not. And this despite that Bush is supposedly despised from the Maghreb to Mesopotamia. Huh. An insight into regional priorities.
"quagmire that is Irag and Afghanistan"
Calling Iraq a quagmire at this point is rather like calling Russia the Red Menace. It's not 2007 anymore. Try to keep up.
And, if you'd recall, Obama is the one who stepped up our investment in Afghanistan, even going to far as to appoint General Petraeus and supply an "Afghan surge" in deliberate repetition of Bush's final Iraq strategy. Same commander, same policy. But there will be a different result.
By , at
Mon Mar 07, 05:55:00 AM:
The so-called "quagmires" in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the extent that they actually are that, have been created by the resistance of the American (and international) Left to oppose the WOT and the assertion of American power. That she must use the term "quagmire", a bit of agiprop left inherited for a similar resitance to the VietNam war, should give away the game.
The problem in these theaters are hardly the faults of GWB, nor are they the direct result of our necessary engagements abroad. It is fortunate that folks like "Victoria" cannot see this. I suggest that she reflect o the meaning of her moniker.
By , at
Mon Mar 07, 07:30:00 AM:
Oh, yes, let's listen to the rebels who support um.... Bush '41? Let's ignore General Mullen and Secretary Gates. By all means, let's engage the US in another military operation. With all the US air force bases near Libya (not) we should have no problem policing a no-fly zone in a country TEN times the size of Bosnia and FIVE times the size of Iraq.
And while we're at it, let's provide weapons to the insurgents. That worked so well in the past when we armed the "good guys" in in places like Iran ( backing the Shah against Mossadegh), Iraq (backing Saddam in the Iraq -Iran war) and Afghanistan (backing the Taliban in the Afghan-Soviet Union war) to name just a few.
