Tag Archives: Libya

Political Rants

Staying power.

Anxious to report on an “end game” in Libya, the press have amped up coverage on that conflict, though not their capacity for clear-eyed criticism. I heard one story in a news report this week about a squalid refugee camp on Libya’s border with Egypt for guest workers from other African countries, undefended by any kind of perimeter barrier, low on supplies, being neglected by the rebels who control that area. That was one item that indicated some kind of journalistic curiosity and a willingness to go beyond the press release (even if it is hard and messy).

Now, President Obama has pointed to the Libyan intervention as an example of what the NATO alliance was capable of. I am inclined to agree – it took combined force from the world’s most powerful militaries to drive Gaddafi from the seat of power… after 4 months of god knows what. I think the administration would be well-advised to avoid any bold statements of success based on this experience. This is Iraq war II; this is Bush lite. There may well be many negative consequences that will fall out of the rebel’s eventual victory, as well – I guess we will have to see.

Speaking of the nation’s second longest war ever, it seems as though someone – perhaps us – wants us to stay beyond the deadline agreed to by Bush as he was walking out the door. Certainly the U.S. military command has made its opinion known that they would like to see us stationed there for some time to come. Perhaps permanently. I have to think that if the top brass are saying it, they are mostly reflecting what they have heard in the corridors of power. Our leaders of both parties have a habit of hiding behind their generals, making strategic or even political decisions seem like they are the stuff of battlefield tactics. There is an institutional bias towards staying in a country we’ve invaded. Forward basing in the Middle East has always been a priority, and will remain so as long as most of the world’s energy lies beneath its sandy landscapes.

What can we do? More than throw up our hands. We need to make it clear to Obama that it’s time to leave Iraq, and Afghanistan for that matter. Ten years is enough – nay, about ten years too much. Out. Now.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Creeping terror.

This hasn’t been a good week for the Libya enterprise, despite all that has been said and done to push it along in the right direction. Seems like mission creep is taking hold a lot faster than anyone might have guessed possible. It’s been reported that Obama has signed off on a finding to provide arms to the Libyan rebels and that C.I.A. operatives are on the ground and active in support of those forces. No surprise that the C.I.A. is there (it’s the rare nation that has never been the dubious beneficiary of Agency visitors, either invited or not). But that we would learn about it a little more than one week into this campaign is curious. And the word is that they have brought in close air support, including A-10 Warthogs and the like.  

A report by Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman on NPR’s Morning Edition was perhaps unintentionally illustrative of how badly this can go wrong:

“If their defeat is to be prevented, it’s inevitable that they get weapons from somewhere else,” says Frank Anderson, president of the Middle East Policy Council, a nonpartisan think tank. In the 1980s, he worked with the CIA, training Afghan rebels to fight the Soviets.

So… how did that Afghan thing turn out, anyhow? We are talking about a force that has no training, little leadership, few weapons, and no strategic resources to draw upon. Our operatives would effectively need to be their arms and legs, telling them where to move and when to shoot. That sounds, at best, like a formula for perpetual civil war and a divided Libya. However much I sympathize with Gaddafi’s opponents, I honestly don’t see how they can defeat an organized force. I’m not saying it’s not possible – just unlikely, even with an assist from the Agency. So…. what the hell are we doing?

The trouble with Obama’s splendid little war is that, if we were going to save the people of Benghazi by establishing a no-fly zone, we should have simply done so and gone no further. The outcome would not have been ideal – it will not be no matter what we do at this point. But trudging into yet another war is a patently bad idea for this country. If we had a draft (or a requirement that taxes be raised to cover every new conflict), this would never have even begun.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Radiation vibe.

Okay, I borrowed the title from Fountains of Wayne – quite like that song, actually. Here’s what’s on my tiny little mind this week…

Japan is glowing. The story keeps shifting on the crippled nuclear reactor in Japan. One day there’s a pressure problem in reactor 1, the next it’s #3 that’s spewing deadly isotopes. This feels a lot like the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe in that bland assurances are followed by new threats and, later, more bland assurances. The troubling part is that all six of these reactors have had problems – with both Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, it was a single reactor. Add to that the multiple caches of spent fuel rods, the presence of plutonium in reactor #3, and the evident contamination of food, water, and soil, and this is, as Colbert has said, a “Disas-Turducken”.

Of course, we have similar reactors here, ludicrously close to major population centers, whose operating permits are based on equally ludicrous 50-mile perimeter population evacuation plans – eerily similar to the old Civil Defense evacuation plans that were on hand during the Cold War, when the entire population of, say,  Utica, NY was instructed to head to shelters in nearby Frankfort, NY, and stop by a McDonald’s on the way for refreshment (I am not making this up). I’m glad that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo is at least looking at the Indian Point plant a bit more closely. There is no realistic evacuation scenario for this, nor is there one for the Diablo Canyon plant, conveniently located on two fault lines in southern California. Some people talk like we’re married to nuclear power. ‘Til death do us part? Really?

Another War. This action against Gaddafi forces in Libya is no doubt partly the brainchild of humanitarian interventionists like Samantha Power and others. I can understand the rationale, but again – our military is an extremely blunt instrument. Once commenced, these operations create a life of their own. It probably is worth reminding people that the Afghan War is in its tenth year, and Iraq in its ninth. Our fearless leaders have found the formula for perpetual war – no conscription, borrowed funding, and a lot of bloviating. My hope is that, in this case, Obama is as good as his word that he will back away from the fighting quickly… because lord knows, the American people seem unmotivated to stop even those conflicts they no longer support.

luv u,

jp