Talk about mission creep!
The Brits, the Italians and the French, seeing that the Libyan rebels are unable to seal the deal with Khaddaffi and preserve those lovely oil contracts have begun sending 'advisers' into Libya as ground troops to try and stem the tide and the rebels a victory, disregarding the ties of the rebels to al-Qaeda and Islamists.
President Obama, for his part is giving the rebels $25 million in foreign 'humanitarian' aid, but is explicitly excluding weapons - which is a ludicrous caveat, because the rebels are able to buy whatever they want from the Brits and the French.
Obama also is going to allow armed drones that could be protecting our men in Afghanistan to participate in Libya instead...and don't be surprised if ground troops are next, because the French and particularly the Brits have very limited resources and ground forces to take on Khaddaffi's troops.
I hear the dim echoes of crowds chanting 'No blood for oil' and wonder where all the anti-war protesters from the Angry Left went.
Or perhaps that sort of thing is a lot less anti-war than it was made out to be and has a lot more to do with how the people who organize and pay for the rent-a-mobs feel about who's in the White House and what party he belongs to.
If we're going to protect British and French oil deals, what's in this for us? Its not wrong or selfish to ask these questions. Its simply prudent to ask this.
ReplyDeleteYou correctly point out that the British and French have limited resources. We're in the same situation. In fact, with us this is even more the case. With our worn down military, massive national debt, and struggling economy we are in far worse shape than Britian or France are in. Wouldn't it make much more sense for them to be helping us secure our borders.
This was an insane idea to begin with. Given the oil deals, it would have made far more sense for the British and French to have either supported Khaddaffi or simply stayed out of it all together. Then when Khadddaffi's forces prevail, the oil deals are likely safe. Now even if the rebels should somehow win, how do we ensure that they honor the deals.
Its unlikely that British or French forces have the training or fire power to be able to compete effectively with a force of the caliber of Libya. America does not have the forces to be able to help much and the 25 million needs to be used to address Aemrica's issues here at home nor is that going to be enough to make a difference.
Britian and France don't help their "strategic competitor" of America for grins. Why should we help them for grins? What do we get for this? This assumes we have the resources to be able to help here. We don't!!
I'm reminded of the card game of poker. When a player does not have a winning hand, a player should fold before he bets any thing. Britian, France, and America should have folded straight away. Now that more cards are on the table and more bets have been made, it is even clearer that the Europeans and the Americans do not have a winning hand here. Its time to fold. Cut your losses and try to move on. As it stands now, these people will never stop trying to come after us. Its time to withdraw all forces to our borders where they have a fighting chance to defend our country.
Oil deals are in fact "lovely." Oil is important to any modern economy and to any economy wishing to become a modern economy. As such, nation states are justified in making deals to secure this valuable resource and they should be prepared and willing to go to war to preserve their access to this valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the British, French, and others had lovely oil deals with Khaddaffi, this war makes no sense at all, if it really is for oil. Why jepordize your just economic interests on this project? I think there are other motives for this besides economic interests that aren't being reported on.