Gaddafi killed?

[Krazygrrl]

A question that should have been asked: Did the Libyan Colonel and his regime represent a "clear and present" danger to the USA. I would have to answer - no. In fact, Quaddaffi (or however he spelled his name) was relatively secular and hunted down Al Qaeda in Libya. In 1986, and again in 1988, he did represent such a danger, but not in 2011. The United States had no business, none what so ever, in launching military action in Libya. The USA had no business applying pressure to help overthrow the Tunisian and Egyptian governments either. Again - no clear and present danger.

How about Uganda now. Obama has sent soldiers to Uganda to hunt down a bunch of thugs. The Ugandan government has a large and powerful army, that is more than capable of doing the job. Does the Lords Resistance Army pose a "clear and present danger" to the USA? Of course it doesn't - more of Obama's questionable interventions...

The time has come to concentrate on doing what is right for Americans. The time has come for getting our economy back in shape. Jordan has a: Jordan First policy. We need an America First policy. What we don't need is more military interventions.

[Bigerik]

Of course not. Nor did Iraq, or even Afghanistan by the time we finally got there.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Krazygrrl

A question that should have been asked: Did the Libyan Colonel and his regime represent a "clear and present" danger to the USA. I would have to answer - no. In fact, Quaddaffi (or however he spelled his name) was relatively secular and hunted down Al Qaeda in Libya. In 1986, and again in 1988, he did represent such a danger, but not in 2011. The United States had no business, none what so ever, in launching military action in Libya. The USA had no business applying pressure to help overthrow the Tunisian and Egyptian governments either. Again - no clear and present danger.

How about Uganda now. Obama has sent soldiers to Uganda to hunt down a bunch of thugs. The Ugandan government has a large and powerful army, that is more than capable of doing the job. Does the Lords Resistance Army pose a "clear and present danger" to the USA? Of course it doesn't - more of Obama's questionable interventions...

The time has come to concentrate on doing what is right for Americans. The time has come for getting our economy back in shape. Jordan has a: Jordan First policy. We need an America First policy. What we don't need is more military interventions.

While I understand and largely agree with this sentiment, America has said time and again (truthfully, I think) that democracies don't fight each other and the world would be a better place with more democratic nations. We propped up Mubarek and his henchman for the sake of "stability" while cynically talking about democratic values. Well, our designated despot in Egypt appeared destined to fall to an internal (democratic???) movement. We basically chose to be on the right side of history without even sending troops or airpower to Egypt (or Tunisia). WTF is wrong with that?

Now we had Egypt and Tunisia democratizing (hopefully) and Morocco further democratizing with the canker sore of Libya in their midst. From a geopolitical perspective, we really didn't have a choice. Hell, even the Arab League invited us in. Zero casualities and approximately 0.1% of the expenditure of Dubya's folly in Iraq. What's not to like (except that a Democratic President got it done so efficiently with the help of the French, no less)?

[merrylander]

PanAm 103, what better reason.

[piece-itpete]

The big issue is, we simply don't know what's going to happen in those countries now.

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

The big issue is, we simply don't know what's going to happen in those countries now.

Pete

We need to come to terms with the fact that we aren't the world's puppeteer. At least Obama seems smart enough not to get tied down with the dreaded nation-building so often criticized (yet practiced) by the GOP.

[piece-itpete]

What exactly then is going on in Afghanistan?

Pete

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

What exactly then is going on in Afghanistan?

Pete

To the extent that it's nation building, Dubya did it for 7 years. Under Obama, it's more like a launching pad for drone attacks.

[piece-itpete]

The drone attacks explain the vast numbers of troops there

Pete

[simi]

We're busy killing the unknown enemy in Afghan... just like we did in Nam.. Only difference I'm seeing between the two police actions is one place was wet and miserable, and the other is dry and miserable.