"I made it clear that Gaddafi had lost the confidence of his people and the legitimacy to lead, and I said that he needed to step down from power."
First off, champ, it wasn't YOU who make it clear, it was the Libyan people. You were relatively a johnny-come-lately.
Now then, if Gaddafi has to go, then get rid of him. Don't tell us he has to step down and then say you won't actually do anything about it. You have this thing called the CIA. I know you think it's icky, and you put one of your political hard boyz in charge of it to ensure that it doesn't act up, but you might consider letting them do their job in Libya. |
It's obvious that at no point in the past 42 years has Qadaffy lost that legitimacy, only now.
"We then took a series of swift steps in a matter of days to answer Gaddafi's aggression."
| You're trying hard to answer the charge that you were golfing and learning to samba at a time when the wheels came off in Libya. Compared to the typical European response, this WAS swift, but we all know you had your eye off the ball for a couple weeks here. |
"...a matter of days" was sufficient time for the rebels to take Benghazi, to roll across the coast, and to threaten Tripoli, then to lose their momentum and be rolled almost all the way back to Benghazi.
"Gaddafi chose to escalate his attacks, launching a military campaign against the Libyan people.
Yep. Said he was gonna kill 'em all, or at least all of them that weren't brimming with love for him. That was packed into one or two of those days...
"Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested, sexually assaulted, and killed. Supplies of food and fuel were choked off. The water for hundreds of thousands of people in Misratah was shut off. Cities and towns were shelled, mosques destroyed, and apartment buildings reduced to rubble. Military jets and helicopter gunships were unleashed upon people who had no means to defend themselves against assault from the air."
| Yes, all that happened. And we let Gaddafi's myrmidons get to the city limits of Benghazi before we stopped them. Better late than never, I suppose, but do you think the few hundred to thousand dead civilians on the coast highway would have preferred that you move a little sooner? |
Oh, certainly not without due deliberation. I'm sure they consider their pointless little lives well expended...
"In this effort, the United States has not acted alone. Instead, we have been joined by a strong and growing coalition. This includes our closest allies -- nations like the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey -- all of whom have fought by our side for decades."
| We had 30-plus countries help us in Iraq, yet you called George Bush 'unilateral'. Are we able to act only when France acts? |
Doing anything without a coalition would be unilateralism. You know how nasty that is.
"To lend some perspective on how rapidly this military and diplomatic response came together, when people were being brutalized in Bosnia in the 1990s, it took the international community more than a year to intervene with air power to protect civilians."
| That's because it was the Euros for about 11 months, and Bill Clinton for the remaining month that decided it. |
The fact that they let a genocidal campaign go on then isn't a justification to let one go on now...
"To brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and -- more profoundly -- our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. "
| Oh, so we ARE exceptional after all, are we? You're right, America will not turn a blind eye -- well, except Cambodia and Rwanda, to our shame. I'm glad, for one, that you won't add Libya to that list, though you were all for adding Iraq. Funny how being in the White House changes a man. |
We're not gonna turn a blind eye as long as we've got a coalition to give us cover.
"I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action."
| That's good for Libya. What about Syria, Yemen, Egypt and, ahem, Iran? |
And Sudan. Leave us not forget Sudan.
"We welcome the fact that history is on the move."
| It got right past you in Tehran. |
"The writ of the UN Security Council would have been shown to be little more than empty words, crippling its future credibility to uphold global peace and security."
| One of the reasons why GWB went to Iraq, in fact, was to enforce 17 such resolutions... |
"But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake."
| But that's what you're doing. Out with Gaddafi, in with -- well, who knows, but you previously told us that we 'and the international community' would have to 'help' whomever came next. Sounds like a 'kinder, gentler' regime change to me. Or bloodier, if the absence of US and European troops leads to a bloody post-civil war sorting out of interests in Libya, aided and abetted by al-Qaeda thugs. Part of our putting ground troops into Iraq was to dig out Saddam once and for all, but the other part was to maintain order afterwards. And that took a while. What will you do when CNN begins to transmit pictures of sectarian strife in Benghazi? What will you do if Tripoli begins to look like Mogadishu? |
If it doesn't mean regime change what does it mean? Qadaffy remaining in orifice will remain the same Qadaffy who's been been bemusing the world with his pretensions of sanity for 42 years...
"I have made it clear that I will never hesitate to use our military swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our homeland, our allies, and our core interests."
| You're always 'making it clear', which is why people around the world are challenging you. |
Hrmph. Just goes to show what you know. Look at all the times B.O. has acted "swiftly, decisively, and unilaterally"...
"Real leadership creates the conditions and coalitions for others to step up as well; to work with allies and partners so that they bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs; and to see that the principles of justice and human dignity are upheld by all."
| Sure hope you can cash that check from the Europeans. |
"Born, as we are, out of a revolution by those who longed to be free, we welcome the fact that history is on the move in the Middle East and North Africa, and that young people are leading the way. Because wherever people long to be free, they will find a friend in the United States. Ultimately, it is that faith -- those ideals -- that are the true measure of American leadership."
| That's positively...neo-con... |
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