Maj. Gen. Suleiman Mahmoud, who defected Sunday called on the US to intervene in support of the rebels in Libya.Obama speaks of working with the international community; German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle speaks of working with the international community. What international community are they talking about ?
The UN ?The EU ? The Arab League ? Bwaaaahaaahaaaahaaaaa!! The EU calls for sanctions even as their energy supply is being shut down .Italy and Malta dissented .They don't show a unified front and do not have the military means to make an effective difference. The UN Security Council demanded an “immediate end to the violence”. OOOOOOHHHHH!! That of course caused an immediate end to the conflict.
One thought is reconstitute the UN 1990s Iraq solution of no-fly zones and sanctions .
Qaddafi and the future of Libya - CBS NewsQuote:
Although the United States is working diplomatically to facilitate democratic transition in Tunisia and Egypt, the situation in Libya calls for more urgent, possibly military, involvement. In the region, Qatar has appealed for urgent Arab League mediation and condemned the violence against Libyan civilians. Yet given the emirate's track record -- such as hosting indicted Darfur war criminal Omar al-Bashir at the 2009 Arab Summit in Doha -- the Qataris will probably not serve as a compelling moral voice. A more likely place for progress is the UN Security Council, which is meeting today to discuss the crisis.
One proposal that the council will probably consider is the imposition of a no-fly zone across Libya to halt Qaddafi's use of fighter aircraft and attack helicopters against civilians. This would be similar to the zone set up over northern Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era to protect Kurdish civilians. As in Iraq, a Libyan operation would require the United States to take the dominant role, backed by its European allies. In order to function under the UN's aegis, such an operation would also require Russian and Chinese approval, which might not be forthcoming. The European Union could be much more supportive, however, given its fears regarding potential energy supply disruption and the flow of economic migrants from Libya becoming a flood of asylum seekers. But for Europe as well as the United States, the presence in Libya of many thousands of their own citizens will prompt caution.
Who would supply the muscle ? The US .Who would violate the sanctions ? The Europeans. There's lots of money in oil... Even more when it's dealt under the table.
The US doesn't need North African sweet light crude. We are energy independent since we have instituted the drill drill drill policies ;since we have built new refineries ;since we are exploiting our abundant natural resources like natural gas ;since we have all these new nuclear plants going on line.
What ? We aren't ,we haven't ?
Ok... the President has announced a release from the strategic reserve and an end of the drilling moratorium... What ? He Hasn't ?
Oh well... bombs away. Why is the Libyan Air force not a pile of junk on the ground already instead of a killing machine against it's citizens ?