Gaddafi is Dead. Now What?

Gaddafi is Dead.  Now What?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

First allow me to establish that I am glad the world is rid of Gaddafi.  He was a tyrant and a terrorist.  “Sic Semper Tyrannis!”

It cost Americans a little over a billion dollars to send Mr. Gaddafi to his eternal reward where, no doubt, he is stoking the furnaces as we write.

But this is not the end. In fact, it is the “beginning of the beginning.”

I have never been totally satisfied that a democratic form of government will actually work in an Islamic country such as Libya, or Iraq or even Afghanistan, for that matter.  They are tribal nations. Even their religion has at least two separate factions, Sunni and Shiite.  Unlike Baptists and Methodists – they don’t seem to be particularly fond of each other.

There are a number of folks complaining that the US is taking entirely too much credit for ridding the world of Gaddafi. Frankly, when one considers that Obama decided to “lead from the rear” on this operation it does leave a distinct unpleasant taste in my mouth.

However, we did learn it was a US Predator drone that attacked the Gaddafi convoy accompanied by a French warplane. And even though it was a NATO Operation, it IS interesting to note that US taxpayers foot the bill for some eighty percent of NATO’s budget. And, believe me when I declare that I am not trying to excuse Obama’s crowing about the US involvement in the Libyan operation to lend assistance to the Libyan rebels in their now successful, overthrow of the Gaddafi regime.

The British and the French, I believe, should be getting a huge amount of praise and credit for their tireless efforts to bring about Gaddafi’s overthrow and eventual death.  My observation is that they are getting short shrift in the American media for their exemplary military effort, which, no doubt, saved the lives of many Libyan civilians as well as Libyan rebel fighters.

I tend to agree with a number of US Congressman and Senators that the Libyan operation could have been over much sooner had Obama released the full force of American military might on Gaddafi’s forces, thereby saving many more lives of innocent Libyans and bringing the conflict to a satisfactory conclusion much sooner with less casualties and deaths.

So now, as the dust begins to settle, we are beginning to see that we have a nation, essentially destroyed, and having never experienced Democracy clearly have no idea what to do in the weeks and months ahead.

Will the new Libya finally settle for the suffocation that will result if they choose to become an Islamic state, or, will they take the plunge and make an honest attempt at the establishment of a truly democratic government of some form for their new fledgling nation?  The latter will be the most difficult, no doubt. 

Libya has 140 tribes.  And every one of them will be seeking a share of influence in the new government.  How, exactly can that ever happen?

Libya has absolutely no experience with democracy.  They are used to kings and dictators and strongmen.  A transition to some form of democratic government will be a wild and wooly experience. It is going to cost the US a lot more money if we take it upon ourselves to go nation building again.  Frankly, Americans have had their fill of nation building in Islamic countries where the governments appear to corrupting the new government faster than the US can build it.

Many Americans feel certain that both Iraq and Afghanistan will quickly abandon democracy and revert back to some sort of dictatorship with another strongman in charge in order to pacify all the tribes.  Chances are very strong that Libya will do exactly that.

If that happens Europe will again be at the mercy of the Libyan government for the light sweet crude oil they prefer and that Libya has in abundance.

Now that practically every Libyan is armed, suppose they decide they actually liked their little war and make an effort to continue it within Libya or a neighboring country?  

How do we get their guns back?  We never will get all of them and I’d be surprised if we go anywhere near 50% of them back under lock and key in our armories.

These are extremely dangerous times in Libya.  It’s going to take a heck of a lot of American money to prop up some sort of democratic government   …   if ever.  America will have one chance to get it right.

J. D. Longstreet

Obama Answers to the UN -- NOT Congress

Obama Answers to the UN -- NOT Congress!
Obama Puts Congress In Its Place!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet


Did you notice that Obama asked permission of the United Nations to go to war against Libya – but he did not ask the US Congress, which has the constitutional power to declare war? Why?

We have been warning from the start of the Obama Regime that he was out to make the Congress superfluous. In other words – Congress doesn’t matter to Obama. That means the American citizen does not matter to Obama.

In Obama’s world, HE is OBAMA. He can, and does, rule by executive order – and -- through his Czars and the members of his Cabinet. What the heck does he need Congress for, anyway? Why, he just makes the laws up as he goes and calls them “rules and regulations.”

This time, however, Obama really rubbed Congress’ collective nose in it. By approaching a would-be world governing body, hat in hand, to ask permission for the greatest military power the world has ever seen, to swat another Middle Eastern fly, was not only humiliating to the American people, it also put the Congress in it’s place which is a notch BELOW the United Nations.

I have to ask: How much longer will the limp-wristed US Congress put up with Obama’s Napoleonic delusions before they impeach him? Watch this space for further developments!

Now, let’s look at the Libyan fiasco: As a US military veteran, I am totally against having US troops taking orders from a commander who is not a member of the US military. It opens the door to the possibility of all sorts of problems -- some that COULD, conceivably, lead to war crimes charges levied against US soldiers. That is just ONE of my concerns. It may be the most grave of all.

A question I have about the no-fly zone operation in Libya is: What, exactly, will US forces be doing there? I mean, of course, after we kick-in Gaddafi’s front door. Nobody seems to know – or, if they do, they are not telling us.

Ok. So here’s what we know – or THINK we know: We know the current commander is an American. We are told that may very well change, and soon. We know US bombers flew in from Missouri and took out an airfield or two. We know US naval assets fired a huge number of Tomahawk missiles at Libya’s SAM sites, radar sites and command and control node(s).

But we are being told that the US will not make an attempt to remove Gaddafi, dead or alive. Then, I have to ask, why get involved, at all, in what will surely be one very large odiferous MESS in Libya -- and very soon.

Even an old swamp rat, like yours truly, knows that if Gaddafi is not taken out, he is going to lash back months or years from now and needless deaths will occur due to his sponsorship of terrorism aimed at those countries taking part in this sound and light show in Libya today.

To be frank, dear reader, this operation seems destined to be another liberal-socialist-democratic-president-led screw-up … ALREADY!

Look. We have stated time and again… liberal-socialist democrats do not understand the military. They do not understand the implementation of military power. They cringe when told it is the job of the military to destroy other countries and other societies and to kill the enemy’s soldiers -- and when necessary -- the enemies civilian population in order to deprive them of the means to wage war and the WILL to wage war. Simply put – the US military’s mission is to kill people and break things.

Our liberal friends on the left find this unacceptable. Instead they actually believe they can talk the enemy into surrender and convince them to embrace our demands and quietly and gently acquiesce to our will.

Of course, that is total Bovine Scatology … but a good socialist-liberal democrat believes that. They will not, I repeat, they will not accept that you cannot negotiate with a country, or a stateless bunch of terrorists, when they don’t want to talk with you and have absolutely no intention of negotiating with you.

In their arrogance, the left’s extremely high self-esteem blinds them to the truth. The truth is -- the people they are trying to negotiate with find them fools and lackeys and gutless wonders, full of hot air and devoid of any honor at all. (We might mention that view is held by rather a large number of conservative Americans as well.)

Did you notice how the Commander-in-chief of American forces committed American troops to harm’s way in Libya and then jetted off on a tour of Central and South America? That speaks volumes of his interest in the mission and his concern for the welfare of his troops.

Already, America is involved in two wars in the Middle East. The war in Iraq is remarkable in that we captured the evil ruler of that country. He was tried and hanged.

After all the US dollars and blood spent there I see nothing to make me believe that Iraq will not revert, right back, to its former “strongman dictatorship” form of government as soon as the US military leaves.

Afghanistan is a tragic comedy. We are wasting blood and money on a lost cause. The tribal leaders there will suck up our cash as long as we are stupid enough to continue making an effort at so-called “nation building” in that moonscape of a country where robbing the enemy blind is down to a fine art. That country will change IF, and WHEN, the Afghanis WANT TO CHANGE -- and not one second before. It makes not one whit of difference how long we stay or when we go.

Care to guess what the Afghanis will do as soon as the last US deuce-and-a-half rumbles away over the horizon? You don’t have to guess. You know.

And now, simultaneously, we are in our third war in the Middle East. (I can remember when the big question was if the US military could successfully fight only two wars? Remember?)

America is in deep trouble. Obama (and his leftist, socialist, communist, domestic terrorist henchmen) is an albatross around America’s neck. If we are to survive as a viable country, we have to rid ourselves of this dead weight dragging us down into the depths of mediocrity at the polls in November 2012. It is a matter of survival.

J. D. Longstreet

Give the Peace Prize Back, Barack ... Alan Caruba

Give the Peace Prize Back, Barack
By Alan Caruba

As the Middle East begets one insurrection after another against the oppression that has been endemic to the region for centuries and as Japan faces the worst nuclear energy disaster since Chernobyl, the President of America and Commander-in-Chief is Absent Without a Leave (AWOL).

Barack Hussein Obama is the first President of the United States who received a Nobel Peace Prize just for showing up. It is a mark of how debased this once prestigious international prize has become. He should give it up.

In the past, the Peace Prize went to Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for negotiating an end to a Russian-Japanese conflict and to Woodrow Wilson in 1919 for his efforts to create the League of Nations. Its value began to fall off the cliff when it was given to Jimmy Carter in 2002 and Obama in 2009. In between, it was awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change in 2007.

It is an ancient axiom that power is lost when power is not exercised. Osama bin Laden seriously misread the U.S. when he referred to it as “a weak horse”, an Arab way of saying it could be attacked with impunity. George W. Bush responded by bombing the hell out of Tora Bora in Afghanistan and then by invading Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden has been in hiding ever since and his top lieutenants keep getting whacked.

Obama’s approach to foreign affairs has been to misunderstand and denigrate the role of America in a dangerous world. Daniel Henninger of The Wall Street Journal calls it “The Collapse of Internationalism” because the failure to lead has demonstrated the uselessness of the United Nations, its Security Council, NATO, the European Union, and the Arab League when it comes to facing down a psychopathic despot like Libya’s Quadaffi and, of course, the same was true regarding Saddam Hussein.

This is how big wars occur.

Recent history bears out the failure to take action against Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, against Adolf Hitler prior to his invasion of Poland, to anticipate the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, and now the inevitable acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran.

This is what happens when an administration’s policy makers are all “intellectuals” who have spun out hypothetical views of the world that have no relationship to history or present realities.

This is what happens when, despite our present financial woes, the most powerful nation on Earth has reduced its naval and air power, and asks its military to engage in nation-building while fighting our enemies. What is needed are entirely separate, highly trained units devoted to that task.

This is what happens when “foreign policy” involves wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on the United Nations and billions more in so-called “foreign aid” to nations that do not like us, nor support us in times of crisis and need.

Libya, said Henninger, “was a test case, and what we have seen is that a world in which the U.S. doesn’t unmistakably lead is a world that spins its wheel, and eventually the wheels start to come off.”

The U.S. is not, as Obama believes, just one more nation among others or that it is not the single most exceptional experiment in democracy and freedom.

Just as Americans must organize to resist and survive Barack Hussein Obama over the next two years, having come to realize how utterly incompetent he is, other nations are wondering what will occur without the leadership the U.S. has always provided in the past, including two world wars, several smaller ones, and the containment of the former Soviet menace.

The presidency is much more than frequent trips to the golf course, predicting the outcome of the NCAA tournament, and an ill-timed visit to Rio. It is a dangerous place filled with people like Quadaffi and others of his ilk.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit.

Obama Commits America to a THIRD War in the Middle East

Obama Commits America to a THIRD War in the Middle East
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet


Are there no grown-ups in the Obama White House?

In my lifetime, I have never seen a sloppier, more disjointed, seemingly CLUELESS bunch of amateurs roaming the halls of the West Wing in foggy bewilderment.

Even the Nixon White House, under siege, was far more professional. Their worldwide situational awareness remained at remarkably high levels even while the office of the President was crumbling. They were professionals. They were grown-ups doing grown-up work. And they never forgot it for one moment.

Obama, on the other hand, seems … unplugged. Let me see if I can explain.

If you have ever been in an automobile when it runs out of gas, you know how the engine will sputter, then roar to life, and the car will lunge forward for a bit, then sputter again, lunge again, and finally, when all the gasoline in the fuel lines is exhausted, stop entirely and roll to a pitiful and frustrating stop. That, it seems to me, is an apt description of the Obama White House.

It appears that Obama had one thing he wanted to do as President and that was to pass socialized medicine into law. He succeeded in doing that and now has no inkling what to do with the remainder of his time in office.

If you saw the old movie “The Candidate,” you may remember that chilling line at the end of the movie, delivered by the actor playing the candidate. Upon winning the election he asks: “What now?” THAT is the image the Obama White House portrays, not just to Americans, but also to the rest of the world.

The incapable and hapless Obama White House through their waffling, and what I suspect is pure lack of understanding of world politics, has allowed the events in Libya to overtake them.

Even an old arm chair general like myself and thousands of other military veterans all over the world know that in circumstances like those in Libya over the past 31 days, demand that action (if action is to be taken) must be taken sooner rather than later. A successful army strikes the enemy quickly with all the resources at its command and renders as much destruction as they are capable of in the first blow. It shortens the conflict and inevitably saves lives … on both sides.

Thirty-one days have elapsed since the lid blew off in Libya. Obama and his clutch of “yes men,” have all but hidden behind the potted plants in the West Wing to avoid having to make a decision on assisting the “revolutionists,” as the rebels now refer to themselves. They can hide no longer. They can defer making the decision no longer.

Even after events forced Obama to acquiesce to a no-fly zone over Libya, he simply could not do it alone. He needed cover; some would say Obama felt he desperately needed that proverbial “fig leaf.”

So, the President of the United States asks permission of the United Nations Security Council, on which sits China and Russia, to iniate and enforce a no-fly zone, which, by the way, is an act of war, over Libya. The fact that a US President asks permission of the UN for ANYTHING ought to shame every re-blooded American to cry out for the impeachment of the worst President in US history!

Kow-towing to the UN is bad enough, but now that the Security Council has approved it in a ten to nothing vote, our pitiful excuse for a president has committed the US to ANOTHER WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST AGAINST ANOTHER MUSLIM COUNTRY.

When the cruise missiles begin zooming in, just over the rooftops of Libya, and obliterating Gaddafi’s radar installations and command and control centers, the US will officially be committed to -- count them -- THREE wars in the Middle East.

Getting into a war is easy. Getting out is a “whole nuther matter.”

Had Obama not dithered, a quick raid early on in the Libyan revolution could have blunted Gaddafi’s drive to “cleanse” the country of Libya of those who disagree with his crazed mental machinations. Not anymore. Before you read this there is good reason to believe that American troops will be engaged with Col. Gaddafi’s troops in combat.

I cannot escape the belief that this is a terrible mistake and will cost American blood and treasure -- neither of which we have to waste on rescuing rebels we know little about. We have no idea what kind of government they intend to set up in Libya, or in that part of Libya they might eventually control after Gaddafi’s ouster.

The latest polls (at this writing) show, definitively, the American people are not siding with Obama on his late conversion to militarism. We are extremely tired of our crack military being used as an extension of the Peace Corp in nation building of ungrateful countries that will continue to suck up to America until the last American soldier’s foot leaves their soil and then, immediately, revert back to hating us -- with renewed vigor.

And YES – THIS IS ABOUT OIL! Americans are living on an ocean of oil, far greater than that of Saudi Arabia, and yet our less than brilliant government refuses to allow us to retrieve it -- forcing us to be dependent on oil from the Middle East and defending that supply of oil with the blood of US servicemen and servicewomen. Honestly, how much sense does THAT make?

The Libyan War is CLEARLY a war for oil. About that, there can be no question.

American does not need, nor does it want, a third war in the Middle East.

After thirty-one days without a decision on Libya, the liberal-socialist President of the left made one. And it was the WRONG one!

Make no mistake about it. Establishing a no-fly zone over any portion of Libya, is an act of war. To be successful, Gaddafi’s troops must be stopped. His tanks must be bombed. His artillery must be bombed. His airfields must be bombed, etc. You can bet there will be American soldiers on the ground in Libya within days, if not hours.

If this does not convince Americans that Obama is out of his league and totally unprepared to be President, let alone Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military force in history, then, I honestly don’t know what will.

America was in deep trouble yesterday. Today – we are in much, much, deeper trouble.

J. D. Longstreet

R.E.S.P.E.C.T Obama Gets None!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T Obama Gets None!
America Is Embarrassed Around The Globe!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet


The world no longer fears America. Obama has seen to that. We are, rightfully, seen as the paper tiger we were so often accused of acting like under former democratic presidents.

Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. He appears frequently on American and British television and radio, including Fox News Channel, CNN, BBC, Sky News, and NPR. He had this to say in a piece that appeared UK based “The Telegraph” on February 28th, 2011. Mr. Gardiner said:

“Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Now Washington appears weak, rudderless and frequently confused in its approach. From Tehran to Tripoli, the Obama administration has been pathetically slow to lead, and afraid to condemn acts of state-sponsored repression and violence. When protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the Islamist dictatorship in Iran in 2009, the brutal repression that greeted them was hardly a blip on Barack Obama’s teleprompter screen, barely meriting a response from a largely silent presidency.” (SOURCE)

I could not agree more with Mr. Gardiner. It has been painful to watch the stumbling and bumbling of the Obama Regime to get as far away from the Arab Melee in the Middle East while, at the same time, “appearing” to be on top of the situation at all times.

It was so obviously contrived that only a lock step “Obamanite” could actually BELIEVE anything coming out of the Oval Office, the West Wing offices of the Obama Minions, or the pitiful Department of State. Secretary of State Clinton appeared strained, saddened, and not a little embarrassed, to be the face of the Obama Foreign Policy.

What a MESS!

America wanted change in November of 2008. By golly – we GOT change!

As Mr. Gardiner points out in his piece in The Telegraph: “In contrast to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, President Obama fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation, with a unique role in leading the free world and standing up to tyranny. In his speeches abroad he has frequently found fault with his own country, rather than projecting confidence in American greatness. From Cairo to Strasbourg he has adopted an apologetic tone rather than demonstrating faith in America as a shining city upon a hill, a beacon of freedom and liberty. A leader who lacks pride in his own nation’s historic role as a great liberator simply cannot project strength abroad.” (SOURCE)

If I were in church and my pastor said those words, I would have to fight the urge to leap to my feet and shout: “AMEN!” Mr. Gardiner NAILED IT!

Obama has worked tirelessly to get as far behind the curve on the Arab rebellion in the Middle East, as he possibly can. As a result he looks weak, listless, frightened, indecisive, pathetic, and – dare I say it – cowardly.

He has waited until the outcome of each of the uprisings was a given, before he stepped up to the plate … every single time. I have to believe that was by design.

Now, the egghead intellectual elites will tell us he was “deliberating.” Making sure the US would come down on the right side of the issue for the sake of history, etc, etc … ad infinitum.

Simply put: That is pure horse hockey!

Look. The US should never, never, never, elect an intellectual (of any political party) to the office of President. Intellectuals do not make good leaders. They make fairly good thinkers, but that is about all they make.

A LEADER makes decisions, on his feet, on the fly, based on the best information and intelligence he has at the time … and he ACTS … NOW!

Obama is incapable of doing that. We saw evidence of that when he simply was not able to give the order to shoot the Indian Ocean pirates many months ago and the commander on the scene, a military man, finally gave the order. It HAD to be done and it had to be done THEN … and Obama could not do it.

Obama is certainly not a leader. Give him a script, a lectern, and a teleprompter, and he gives a performance (with his oration) that would make the great ancient Roman orators green with envy. But, placed in a political position where he must take responsibility for his words, his actions, and WHOA! He can’t do it. It is simply not in him.

Heck, when the FRENCH are tougher than the US on Libya, hey, you have to flinch, red-faced!

Mr. Gardiner nails it again with this: “The Obama administration’s timid approach to foreign policy is the last thing the world needs at a time of mounting turmoil in the Middle East, including the growing threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and Islamist militancy on the rise from Egypt to Yemen. US leadership is now needed more than ever, but has embarrassingly gone AWOL on the world stage.” (SOURCE)

That sums it up. Except to say … America will pay for this dilly-dallying by the Obama Regime. We will pay in ways we cannot imagine today.

Finally: I plead with the GOP … give us a conservative candidate for President with an actual possibility of winning in November of 2012. If we do not take back the office of President, America may not last until 2016! Yeah, it IS just that serious.

J. D. Longstreet