Who are the Libyan rebels?
I keep asking the question—and this article asks it, too. Unfortunately, the answer is: we haven’t a clue.
[ADDENDUM: Brian Fairchild says that we do know the answer, and it’s not a pretty one.]
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
Duh. They’re Muslims.
When Muslims kill Muslims, we need to stay out of their way. Kick back, relax, make popcorn.
rickl,
I’m opening a bottle of shiraz and drinking a glass to allahu akbar and the prophet. Simultaneously, I’m imagining young women in bikinis and fantasizing that I’m still 20 years old. 😉
Time and tide wait for no man.
That we “don’t know” who the rebels are affords us the moral luxury of letting them get blown away by a baddie we should have taken out in retribution 30yrs ago?
As it is, we and the Euros are doing a stupid, half-assed intervention by committee sans chairman, which costs us materiel, will not save the rebels, and will not kill Muammar.
We didn’t kill Muammar then and seem determined not to kill him now. So who’s going to win? Not the Euros/US, not the rebels, lots of whom are going to die,.
Baraq is opposed to regicide, being a ruler himself.
Oh what the hell, let’s get involved in another war, we’ll figure out what we’re doing after we’ve done it.
Let’s see how many is it now, Iraq, Afghan, semi-war on the Mexican border, overdue wars with Iran and Syria, maybe something with Yemen, Egypt and Bahrain depending on who overthrows those governments, am I forgetting some?
Has anyone figured out if Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are friends or enemies? Are the Texans still talking about succession; they were in 2009 (yes I know only 20% were in favor, but has the number gone up or down).
Thank goodness we have a professional like Obama at the helm.
Tom, did you see this article that Neo linked a couple of days ago?
Anti-American Extremists Among Libyan Rebels U.S. Has Vowed To Protect
ep, it’s Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and ? All going to get rid of their Muslim dictators and replce them with what? Surely not Muslim republics. What will the ME look like with a bunch of Muslim countries all resembling Afghanistan before 9/11? And some of them with oil money, as well. Not a pretty picture. And much like Afghanistan after the Soviets left, we will have assisted the jihadis in achieving their goals.
Great job Barack!
It should read, “Yep, it’s Egypt, …………”
Mark Steyn noted that it’s kind of odd to accuse the US of siding with thuggish tyrants in the ME. Is there an alternative? Is there anybody else?
The secular el Baradei is the target of rockthrowing in Egypt.
Anybody seen a Muslim Thomas Jefferson recently?
A most salient –and largely overlooked– fact is that the Europeans are taking the initiative. Ordinarily, this would be most uncharacteristic. Therefore, they must have a powerful motive. The obvious reason for intervening is to end the conflict quickly –no matter the outcome– in order to stem the Europe-bound tide of refugees.
I don’t care who they are if they aren’t Americans or the bombing is not clearly in our national interest. We should not be using our military servicemen and women for ill-defined, “humanitarian” missions that our Commander-in-Chief does not even want to command, “authorized” by the U.N. not the U.S. Congress, and clearly not supported by the majority of Americans, especially when we are engaged on at least two other fronts and our economy is in crisis.
As soon as America becomes involved in a civil war in a Muslim country, it becomes about us, not the rebels, freedom fighters, or other tribes or factions, or whoever they are.
Day Two and we already lost an F-15 (if it was shot down, they wouldn’t tell us, because it would be an act of war by Qaddafi and we’d have to do something about it). Seemingly not reported in the U.S. press: the rescue helicopter shot six Libyan civilians who were coming to greet the downed pilots. Because… how are members of our military supposed to know whose side any given group of civilians is on? This cannot possibly end well – unless Qaddafi just gives up and lets us tell him what to do, and that’s never worked before.
By about tomorrow, the “rebels” are going to hate us as much as they loved us yesterday.
Hey this seems familiar. Something like “We have to go to war to see what’s in it for us.” Hmmm
And liberals may turn out to just be people who never grasped the “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” concept.
Whether or not you agree with the intervention, it is obvious this morning that the Libyan endeavor has (predictably) become a grand clusterf**k. The rebels are done for. You know it’s serious when Baraq cancels his visit to Mayan ruins.
If the rebs have boats, we’ll have a new wave of boat people headed for southern Eurabia.
It’s not even clear who the members of the coalition are:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368693/Libya-war-Germans-pull-forces-NATO-Libyan-coalition-falls-apart.html
Fouad Ajami, the other great mid east scholar besides Barry Rubin, wrote on who the Libyan rebels are here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703858404576214611827641054.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama
There are no right answers, the best answer, intervention and occupation, is unacceptable considering our main objective is Iran, or should be, and Libya could be another tar baby.
The only good thing I see happening is that it giving Obama another opportunity to demonstrate his leadership ability. And the bodies keep piling up.
On March 23, 1992, we lost one of the greatest free market champions to ever grace this earth: F.A. Hayek. (thanks american thinker)
A couple of strategic thoughts:
1. What is the US long term interests with uprisings in nearly every arab country? We worry about the Islamists, but Saudi Arabia is as Islamist as it comes and it is worried about upheaval. The best might be a return to the constitutional monarchies setup after world war II.
2. There is no real Europe to speak of. Just like in Kosovo, each European power acts in its own interests (which often go back to the middle ages for their history). France and Britain have longstanding interest in North Africa, while Germany has no interest except commercial export sales. It is pointless to pay more than lip service to the EU as a political entity
When the dust of debate has settled, and settling it is, the verdict will be in: Obama, Clinton, Gates et al. will be covered in responsibility for this fustercluck. It will hurt them Left, Right, and Center.
“On March 23, 1992, we lost one of the greatest free market champions to ever grace this earth: F.A. Hayek.”
I read The Road to Serfdom in college, it became a keystone of my world view. Thanks for the reminder.