military action against Libya

Good news for Obama is that the vast majority of Americans support his actions in polling.

The March 21 poll was conducted just days after the United States joined other countries in conducting airstrikes against Libya to enforce a United Nations no-fly zone. The U.N. passed a resolution calling for a no-fly zone in response to reports that Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi had attacked Libyan forces opposed to his government.

The 47% of Americans approving of the action against Libya is lower than what Gallup has found when asking about approval of other U.S. military campaigns in the past four decades

Disapprove 37%

no opinion 16%

Quote:

Indecision and tentativeness on the part of the leader confuses everyone, including those willing to accomodate him.

Yeah, but Obama's not the leader of the free world! He's just the leader of OUR nation.

This is another case of damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we were more heavy-handed on this it would likely spark a negative response amongst some parties, which would then have to be dealt with....

Hardly an ideal situation. I get the impression that there were serious worries last week that the rebels were totally useless and Qadaffi really was going to slaughter a ton of people. If we hadn't stepped in, that certainly would have been the case - at least, things were trending that direction and since then we haven't seen any real cohesion on the part of the rebels.

I imagine Obama sitting there and asking himself, how much are a thousand lives worth? Ten thousand? If we do nothing, what will be said about us - who could have stepped in, but didn't? I know there are a million counter-arguments but the decision must have been an agonizing one in the face of the facts on the ground at the time.

I wouldn't want Obama's job, for nothing. Never.

Cycloptichorn

I suspect G.W. Bush went through a similar agonizing process after 9/11, but you weren't very sympathetic then.

We shall soon enough see what the verdict of history saya about your hero.

[Bush wasn't my hero and neither is Obama. I remind you again that I was and still am against the decision to go to war in Libya, and I believe that it will end quite badly for us.

Cycloptichorn

Cycloptichorn wrote:

[Bush wasn't my hero and neither is Obama. I remind you again that I was and still am against the decision to go to war in Libya, and I believe that it will end quite badly for us.

Cycloptichorn

And you think that won't seriously injure Obama in the political arena, or that the prospect of it hasn't done so already ????????

Obama is doing his best to salvage the situation by vowing the keep our ground troops out of there. If he is able to successfully do that, there's a good chance that we won't see much lasting effect from it;

You appear to make some rather fine distinctions here. I think Obama has already been badly injured in the public mind. Even some of his fawning admirers on the Nobel Committee are having second thoughts.

Do you believe that any of GW Bush's critics were hypocrites as well?

You rather freely accuse others of being imprisioned by their own political prejudices. Do you believe there is any possibility that you might have succombed to a bit of that as well ? Or are you, by definition, immune to such human foibles?

Allied warplanes are bombing ground forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to prevent them from killing civilians in rebel-held cities, a top U.S. officer in the campaign in Libya said Wednesday.


The provisional government for the rebels in Benghazi has been pleading for the coalition to do more than attack Gadhafi's air defenses, saying his heavy armor was wiping out its lightly armed opposition soldiers.

Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber said the American-led coalition has begun targeting Gadhafi's artillery, tanks, mobile missiles and the "beans and bullets" that he supplies to his forces.

I really don't see how he can last much longer. He has to know he's out-numbered, out-gunned, out-missiled...out-everything. Surely we can take him out. He's one little pervert against the world!

So when is BO going to start bombing Yemen? There are a bunch of al queda there all in one place. Nice target. Isn't that who BO said we were at war with?

Air power cannot force him to leave. And the rebels clearly are not going to be an effective ground force.

I can see a situation where 20 years from now the EU is still running this no fly zone to protect Libyan civilians, with Kadaffy still ready to pounce on the rebels if the no fly zone is withdrawn.