Comments on: War in Libya

By: Bob G

Bob G — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:43:45 +0000

Good article.

I doubt the no-fly zone can defeat Mohammar but it may prevent the defeat of his opponents. I doubt Barack will send in troops, no matter how compelling the rationale. He would become Bush III to his own supporters. Won’t happen, no matter what chaos ensues.

As someone said, a war like Iraq pushed by a Republic president will receive the condemnation of Democrats, while an almost identical war for almost identical reasons pushed by a Democratic president will receive the support of all Democrats and the condemnation of Republicans.

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:32:50 +0000

Belloc to the contrary notwithstanding, I favor leaving the barbarians to their unspeakable folkways unless we have a direct, compelling national interest in doing otherwise. Yes, Khaddafi is a murderous lunatic; yes, he is evil. But he lives in an insane culture. Brutality is the only way to keep order in that part of the world. And K. gave up his weapons of mass destruction and support of terrorism after we showed him our willingness to use force in Iraq. What replaces him will be worse because it will not only be insane and brutal, but chaotic and anarchic. No one will be in control, at least until one tribe emerges from the bloodshed strong enough to impose its will on the rest. And what evidence does anyone have (there is plenty of contrary evidence in history) that the strongest tribe will be any less brutal than any other Middle Eastern ruler(s).

By: Mike Walsh

Mike Walsh — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:48:58 +0000

Europe would not get off the dime when war raged in Kosovo –even when the phrase “ethnic cleansing” was being coined. But we’re expected to believe the now-unraveling coalition intervened in North Africa for humanitarian reasons? No. They only do things like this if there’s a strong incentive, i.e. a NIMBY issue. Which also explains why they intervene in Libya and nowhere else that an autocrat oppresses his people. Civil war in North Africa is producing a host of problems for Europe, not the least of which is boatloads of refugees. It’s like our policy with regard to Haiti: the US doesn’t really care who governs that sad little place, as long as Haiti’s problems stay in Haiti. Obama supplies American forces to provide a façade of internationalism –and everyone supplies “humanitarian” rhetoric– to make the effort seem less nakedly self-interested. The coalition’s great mistake was in thinking Gadhaffi was on the ropes, that they could wind this thing up in short order. They were wrong, and are scrambling to figure out what to do now.

By: carl

carl — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:05:51 +0000

The President has the tangible power of command. Congress has the intangible power to declare war. This is why Presidents routinely win this fight over the deployment of military power. The Armed Forces are bound under oath to obey his lawful orders. They do not first check to see if Congress has declared war before executing otherwise lawful orders. Unless and until Congress establishes boundaries on the power of command by impeaching a President who overreaches, the executive branch will continue to exercise the power of command with impunity. As it stands, the President does not need the authorization of Congress (and certainly not a legal non-entity like the UNSC) to commit American forces to war. All he has to do is issue the order on his own Constitutional authority.

carl

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:50:58 +0000

“First, is this a prudent exercise of American military power?”

As currently undertaken, the “kinetic military action” has a vanishingly small likelihood of success (minimally defined as removing Kadafy from power, i.e. life), so the answer has to be “No.”

IF we were actually trying to achieve success, then anything short-lasting seems clearly legal by precedent. But since we’re not, this isn’t going to end soon, so it will have to have Congressional approval within short order.

Finally, pretty much anything within reason that removes Kadafy from power, i.e. life, is just. The guy’s an evil monster. The world should be absolutely ashamed of having tolerated him this long. To me the famous Belloc quote applies here:
“We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.”