March 25, 2011

Krauthammer critiques "The Professor's War."

Scathing.

133 comments:

kent said...

"Well, let's see how that paper multilateralism is doing. The Arab League is already reversing itself, criticizing the use of force it had just authorized. Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, is shocked -- shocked! -- to find that people are being killed by allied airstrikes. This reaction was dubbed mystifying by one commentator, apparently born yesterday and thus unaware that the Arab League has forever been a collection of cynical, warring, unreliable dictatorships of ever-shifting loyalties. A British soccer mob has more unity and moral purpose. Yet Obama deemed it a great diplomatic success that the League deigned to permit others to fight and die to save fellow Arabs for whom 19 of 21 Arab states have yet to lift a finger."

O-U-C-H.

test said...

"If you go to take Vienna, take Vienna. If you're not prepared to do so, better then to stay home and do nothing."

Dead on point.

Peter V. Bella said...

Krauthammer is out of the loop. It is not war. It is the retronym KMA. The whole Obama doctrine- domestic and foreign is KMA. The whole Obama attitude is KMA.

The whole administration is infected with the enthusiasm of KMA. It has been KMA since the day he took office and it will be KMA until he leaves.

Get used to it.

vet66 said...

NATO reminds me of ACORN/NPR. O'Keefe should do an expose on them. As for the rest of NATO participants, it is politics and posturing as only politicians in Europe are capable of. Predictable that even with the lame retiring leadership of Obama the U.S. gets blamed anyway even as he does his best to cloak himself in reams of diplomatic paper.

What did the people who voted for Obama think they would get from a hollow, sheltered professor and community organizer? The world's diplomatic community are having a field day with Obama's fecklessness and inability to make a principled stand on anything.

Anonymous said...

NATO reminds me of ACORN/NPR.

Then you don't understand NATO. At all.

Scott M said...

None of the administration's approach to this action should be a surprise to anyone, whether they be supporter or detractor. What is surprising is Brazil's sudden reversal of support.

Jason said...

I call this war "The Air Strike of Alfred J. Prufrock."

Anonymous said...

What is surprising is Brazil's sudden reversal of support.

Why? It's become abundantly clear that other countries have gone out of their way to stick it to us because they can. The Olympics was a great example.

Anonymous said...

If you really want some alcohol flavored gloom and doom, read Fred Reed's latest column.

Only tangentially related to this topic. But, still related.

Fred... lighten up on the Padre Kino Red!

kent said...

What is surprising is Brazil's sudden reversal of support.

Osama bin Laden said: "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse."

traditionalguy said...

Wait a minute. The Kraut condemned a result that has Kafaddi still in power but in an imposed truce with rebels. And it looks as if our air strike policy is limited to keeping this impossible situation permanently in place. So Libya will not pump oil until further notice. Hello Brazilian oil. Now Obama is sabotaging the entire world for private gain Obama calls "redistribution". After this show , world governments will probably be the GOP's largest contributors for defeating Obama in 2012.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I disagree with Krauthammer.

Obama is showing enormous strength and personal courage by nut totally buckling under the immense pressure of those three warring women that want to actually take Vienna

I mean one of those women, Samantha Powers, took Cass Suntein away from Martha Nussbaum, so you know she's got a real killer instincts.

And Obama is standing up to her by taking his own decisions, and not being crowded into the womens' war.

Phil 314 said...

Tar baby

Scott M said...

Tar baby

Oh, no, you di'int!!! (snap, snap, snap)

Fred4Pres said...

The President was also stupid not to get Congress on board for this. Not only hypocritical (is Biden going to seek impeachment of Obama?) but an amazingly stupid move politically.

madAsHell said...

I believe I must extend my Obama Doctrine:

"Bush did it.......and they re-elected him for a second term."

roesch-voltaire said...

Egan has a good point: In his deliberative fashion, Obama ultimately saved countless lives in the short term, and will allow the rebels in Libya to own their revolution in the long term, if they can push ahead — a big if, of course. In the meantime, the economic and diplomatic noose will tighten around Qaddafi and the people he pays to kill on his behalf.

kent said...

Tar baby

Oh? He's finally switched to non-filtereds, then?

Good. That ought to shave off another year or two, easy.

rhhardin said...

Iowahawk's Sun Tzu meets Barney Fife pretty much covered it.

madAsHell said...

Didn't Co-President Hillary Clinton announce the start of hostilities in Libya from Paris??

When was the last time you saw the Secretary of State/Co-President announce the start of hostilities? Isn't that the President's job?

Wince said...

Anybody notice yesterday's Google tribute to magician and escape artist Harry Houdini.

As if by coincidence, Houdini's 103 year old stage assistant died this week.

Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926; his wife died in 1943. But Dorothy Young would live for decades, the last surviving stage assistant in those spectacles. She died on Sunday at 103 at a retirement home in Tinton Falls, N.J., her granddaughter Barbara Price said.

Too bad, Obama could have brought her on as an advisor to share some of Houdini's secrets for escaping from the trap Obama set for himself with his own campaign rhetoric and diplomacy.

Ironically, like the Houdini "Water Torture" Cell Gone Bad, he needs rescue.

Tank said...

Steve Sailer sees his (Zero's) options this way:

1) Lose to Crazy America-Hating Terrorist Moamar Khadaffy, or
2) Drop More Bombs.

So he will choose what's behind Door #2.

Luther said...

Fred lost me at ...Consequences sometimes arrive tardily. After WWII, Zionists had conquered Palestine and begun mistreating its people in the manner of white South Africans at their worst.

The Drill SGT said...

Marshal said...
"If you go to take Vienna, take Vienna. If you're not prepared to do so, better then to stay home and do nothing."

Dead on point.


The Army has a shorter version that since we are in the KMA phase of this debacle seems fitting:
Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell out of the way!

PS: His salute really sucks. He needs to get that right elbow both up and out. His current version looks like one of those hip things, all it needs is the head dipand chin tuck.

There has got to be a Marine Sergeant Major or Gunny assigned the the Marine Guard detail, or failing that a STRAC Army Signal First Sgt assigned to WHCA that could provide private lessions. That should have been done 2 years ago. What he's doing will be tough to unteach. I blame General Jones :)

Luther said...

Agree on the salute. But I'm actually surprised he even bothers, considering he couldn't be bothered to hold his hand over his heart for the National Anthem.

wv-artaki=he can be at times

The Drill SGT said...

When was the last time you saw the Secretary of State/Co-President announce the start of hostilities? Isn't that the President's job?

When the President sends American boys in harm's way (a naval term, BTW, John Paul Jones: “I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in harm's way.”, he owes it to the Nation and the families to explain why, from behind the desk in the Oval Office.

Every other President has known that.

Scott M said...

Obama ultimately saved countless lives in the short term

Only "countless" if you use the same math that gives you the number of jobs "saved or created". That's bloviation, even for you.

The population of Libya isn't a mystery. The number of people in Benghazi can be reasonably estimated. Even if you go that far and allow for empirical +/-, you can still get a pretty good estimate on how many people are in there.

What do you suppose the possible downside is if, as the President's own people have suggested, the good Colonel retains power even after a couple weeks of this?

RuyDiaz said...

"Never modest about himself, Obama is supremely modest about his country."

Somebody call the Secret Service. Krauthammer is killing President Obama.

David said...

Scathing, but a little out of date, since Nato has now "agreed" to "take over" the no fly campaign. Whatever that turns out to mean.

Obama may get lucky, and still come out of this smelling like Pete Rose. That could happen if Ghahaffi were killed or fled.

Otherwise, it's likely to be a bloody stalemate.

Lord help us if he tries this technique in dealing with Iran.

Chase said...

This conservative is not angry that the US led air/off-shore missile strikes against Libyan targets. The President may have done the right thing there.

This conservative, however, is furious that this American President consulted beforehand with Arab leaders, the UN and European Heads of State, but not with the American Congress.


What the hell is up with that?
Is it time to take the advice of his Vice President and begin impeachment proceedings against a President who would do such a thing?


Every day, in every way, it is apparent that we have in the Oval Office a boy in a man's job.

Simon said...

vet66 said...
"What did the people who voted for Obama think they would get from a hollow, sheltered professor and community organizer?"

Well, the liberals thought he was one of them. And as for the rest, I must confess that my view is rather cynical. I think that they thought they would get absolution for years of misguided racial guilt over the legacy of slavery and segregation, and they wanted to avoid having similar guilt over voting against the first black President. What else to make of it? They'll deny it, but you have to account for the legions of smart voters who saw through Obama's schtick yet voted for him anyway. These people weren't all dummies, and so you have to think that some psychological need was being met.

RuyDiaz said...

@ Seven Machos:

Brazil's U-turn should not surprise anybody--but not in a general way (sticking it to the United States), but in a particular way; they've made it clear that they'll pursue anti-American alliances wherever they can find it.

The las Brazilian President protected Hugo Chavez and aligned himself with Turkey and Iran. He had, at least, a 'soft spot' for Ortega and Castro(es). The current President is a former rebel leader. Nobody should be surprised they act this way.

Automatic_Wing said...

Scathing, but a little out of date, since Nato has now "agreed" to "take over" the no fly campaign. Whatever that turns out to mean.

Apparently NATO will only take over the no fly zone - easy to do since we've already destroyed all their airplanes - but they won't target anything on the ground, like Qaddafi's tanks. The "coalition" will be doing that, which I guess is us, the French and the British. At this point. We think. Really, who knows? Not Obama.

Carol_Herman said...

The real doozy was the report Qhaddafi wrote to Sarkozy he didn't want to "lose the friendship," because the next thing he threatened to do was publish all the billions in bank transfers.

The next thing you know, 112 Tomahawks land in Tripoli. And, all of Q-Daffy's comminications apparatus is degraded. I guess it won't be so easy to expose those bank transfers anymore, huh?

And, you're puzzled at what started this "fracas?"

Scott M said...

but they won't target anything on the ground, like Qaddafi's tanks. The "coalition" will be doing that, which I guess is us, the French and the British.

Plus...nobody else has the coolest combat plane ever flow, the A-10. The good colonel's 1970's soviet surplus tanks won't hold up well. Not really surprising given that nothing else really does either.

vbspurs said...

Holy kinetic smackdowns, Batman.

That was painful reading -- I am in favour of the KMA, but reading the sequence of events in black-and-white brings the frustration I felt at seeing our Vacationer-in-Chief in "action".

Cheers,
Victoria

Simon said...

Scott M said...
"nobody else has the coolest combat plane ever flow, the A-10. The good colonel's 1970's soviet surplus tanks won't hold up well. Not really surprising given that nothing else really does either."

That was the mistake in Independence Day, right? They spend most of the movie faffing around with computer viruses and F/A-18s, when all along they had the 57th Wing, what, forty minutes from LA at Nellis. Do you want your flying saucer sliced or diced?

vbspurs said...

RuyDiaz wrote:

The las Brazilian President protected Hugo Chavez and aligned himself with Turkey and Iran. He had, at least, a 'soft spot' for Ortega and Castro(es). The current President is a former rebel leader. Nobody should be surprised they act this way.

No, no no...this is a very bad misreading of Brazil's position.

Now, Ruy, forgive me if you're a Brazilian (even it would be "Rui Dias", in Portuguese), but that's not why Brazilians are inching away.

I don't know how to break this to Americans, but your short-term competitors are not in far-flung Asia, but in nearby South America.

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, with self-providing oil reserves, the only other major military power in the Americas (who build some damn good planes, at that), the eighth largest economy in the world, soon to become the 5th jumping over France/Germany, and all of this comes with a huge complex at always having been a second banana country in the New World.

Americans, if by now you haven't figured out that Brazil has you firmly in their sights, and continue to think it's due to some "left-wing" cause they're acting all snippy, they'll be dancing the samba past you in the United Nations, every day.

Cheers,
Victoria

The Drill SGT said...

Scott M said Plus...nobody else has the coolest combat plane ever flow, the A-10. The good colonel's 1970's soviet surplus tanks won't hold up well. Not really surprising given that nothing else really does either.

Oh, the horror. The Left will go bonkers if we go spreading those nasty DU shells around that pristine sand...

Think of those cancer clusters among dune rats :)

another Fukushima...

Scott M said...

There's your answer, right there. Just have the A-10 do straffing runs at their water desal and treatment plants. Problem solved in about fifty years.

Roger J. said...

Appreciate those looking at the bigger picture--from an operational standpoint
GEN Ham is CINC africa command and nominally in charge of US ops--but all of his forces (zero as it turns out) are coming from NATO and
and the European Command--totally fucked up

NATO: need americans to operate--or related needs alcohol to operate

RuyDiaz said...

Victoria;

It is not one or the other, but both: Brazilians have a giant chip on their shoulder when it comes to the United States, which makes them vulnerable to left-wing rhetoric and sympathetic to anti-American brutes.

Best;

P.S. I'm not Brazilian but Cuban.

vbspurs said...

Krauthammer wrote:

The president is obsessed with pretending that we are not running the operation -- a dismaying expression of Obama's view that his country is so tainted by its various sins that it lacks the moral legitimacy to ... what? Save Third World people from massacre?

To quote Kent, O-U-C-H.

Humanitarian action, for men like Obama, means parachuting Sean Penn into Haiti, not tomahawks raining down on Africans.

vbspurs said...

P.S. I'm not Brazilian but Cuban.

I'm fluent in both. :P

kent said...

Muslims beat, stamp effigy of Obama in protest...

Now, which is it, exactly, that we're morally obliged to shout out here, at this juncture...?

1.) "RAAAAACISSSSSSSSTS -- !!!"

2.) "CATNIIIIIIIIIIIIIP -- !!!"

kent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scott M said...

Humanitarian action, for men like Obama, means parachuting Sean Penn into Haiti

Should that happen, one would hope Sean Penn's parachute would be as effective as his rowboat was during Katrina.

Roger J. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Good stuff.

The one about the "Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights" is especially priceless.

If they want Khadaffy out without conventional forces, they need a Special Forces op for about six months (not unlike that with the Northern Alliance in A-stan).

The no-fly in Iraq gave us the gassing of the Kurds, the extermination of the Marsh Arabs (who were there since Biblical times), and the incredible runaround over inspections, so the Gospel According to El Rushbo, "Symbolism Over Substance", is especially prescient. It's what the Lefties always consider most important.

Maybe The Zero just wanted to wag the dog now that inflation is rising and his unemployment numbers are fooling no one. Maybe he just got bullied, as everyone says.

But now the 26th MEU is headed there and The Zero has said there will be "absolutely" no ground involvement, which leads us to verse 2 of the Gospel According to El Rushbo, "Everything Barack Obama says has an expiration date".

And I don't listen to him that often.

Say a prayer.

kent said...

I'm fluent in both. :P

Vicky is like Doc Savage, only with better gams. ;)

Roger J. said...

Miss Victoria and Senor Diaz--also medio cubano here--dad born in havana--in 1906

vbspurs said...

MadAsHell wrote:

When was the last time you saw the Secretary of State/Co-President announce the start of hostilities? Isn't that the President's job?

Ugh. Why is Obama President, tell me? He's a cipher who puts himself forward only at inappropriate times. Is it his frustration with the limits of the Office, a job that can't rain down candycanes and unicorns in the form of social programmes, at the jut of his jaw?

Obama sighed recently, it would be so much easier to be President of China.

The irony, no...the tragedy...is that the President of China would give anything to be President of the United States.

THE PRESTIGE. THE POWER. THE MONEY. It's unfathomable to most leaders.

Cheers,
Victoria

Scott M said...

If they want Khadaffy out without conventional forces, they need a Special Forces op for about six months

My brother happens to be just one of those guys. They had to report for roll call, ready to ship, last Thursday and were told to start growing their beards. The administration says, over and over, no ground troops.

Bold-faced lies.

RuyDiaz said...

"Miss Victoria and Senor Diaz--also medio cubano here--dad born in havana--in 1906."

There is also 'Cubanito KC', if I recall the name correctly. Professor Althouse is the Celia Cruz of the Midwest. (*grin*)

vbspurs said...

Rog, I believe you once mentioned it to me once, when we were reminiscing. Shame I don't have my blog going, as I have taken some really nice snaps of SoFla, recently. Have yet to go to Opa-locka, though, sorry!

vbspurs said...

Professor Althouse is the Celia Cruz of the Midwest. (*grin*)

AZUCAR! (Que arroz con mango)

...Yes, my beloved Ernie is Cuban. There used to be a Brazilian troll here, no? Although I doubted that he was.

kent said...

Bold-faced lies.

... and, speaking of which:

Barack Obama in 2009: “I Promise I Will Never Rush the Decision to Send You in Harms Way” (Video)

Roger J. said...

Miss Vicky and senor Ruy Diaz--grew up in miami (near corner of Flagler and 27th ave--Dad was the only spanish speaking doc in Miami and had a huge cuban clientele--intimately familiar with "old Miami" and the wonderful and vibrant Cubanos--long before 1959

Anonymous said...

These people weren't all dummies, and so you have to think that some psychological need was being met.

Does not follow. If you're not a dummy that means only that you're capable of thinking-- not that you're actually thinking.

Roger J. said...

Way OT (but we could spend the rest of the week talking about how fucked Obama is)

The Havana Sugar Kings were in the old international league (AAA baseball)--The now established practice of waving towels started in Gran Stadium in Havana--picked up in Miami and spread to Pittsburgh (terrible towels)

Its too bad Castro didnt get picked up by the washington senators--he was a damn good pitcher--no cuban revolution and a lot of good cuban ballplayers--alas

bagoh20 said...

Nobody knows if this is the best strategy or not, but it is definitely an Obama (Professor's) war. It is the U.S. military equivalent of voting "present". Godawfy is weak enough for this to work, even if it would be a disaster in other cases. Sometimes avoiding risk is very risky and sometimes it's just safer. Nobody knows here. Either way, Obama should own it as Bush did, and not blame his subordinates. He can still blame Bush, no?

vbspurs said...

Roger J wrote:

Its too bad Castro didnt get picked up by the washington senators--he was a damn good pitcher--no cuban revolution and a lot of good cuban ballplayers--alas

Holy crap, Roger. If you think Castro was an angry man not having been picked up by the Washington Senators, imagine the sociopathic rage if he had!

Anyway, Castro closing in Minnesota. Can't see it.

Scott M said...

It is the U.S. military equivalent of voting "present".

Well-crafted, sir.

mrs whatsit said...

Not only did the Secretary of State announce the start of hostilities, but she did so with authority, firmness and clarity that struck me as -- well, Presidential. ("We will not waver.") Then came the actual President a few hours later, phoning it in from Brazil and wavering like hell about how we didn't want to do this in the first place and we aren't going to lead it, we aren't going to stay long, we aren't going to go beyond the mission of protecting civilians (whatever that means in this context), we aren't doing this, we aren't doing that. He was about as Presidential as a high school salutatorian.

I have a son in the Navy. This kind of callous shallow carelessness about mounting a war -- oh we'll just CALL it something else and pretend we aren't in charge and who cares anyway, let's go to Rio -- makes me burn.

Fen said...

Okay. No ground troops. Use air assets to degrade the tyrant's advance. Fine.

What are we going to do if one of our plane crashes? Helplessly watch as they drag pilots through the streets?

RuyDiaz said...

"Miss Vicky and senor Ruy Diaz--grew up in miami (near corner of Flagler and 27th ave...."

The heart of what is now known as 'Little Havana'. I drive by that intersection several times a week.

Unknown said...

vbspurs said...

Professor Althouse is the Celia Cruz of the Midwest. (*grin*)

AZUCAR! (Que arroz con mango)

...Yes, my beloved Ernie is Cuban. There used to be a Brazilian troll here, no? Although I doubted that he was.


That was Ritmo Brasiliero, master of the non sequitur, formerly known as Montana Urban Legend.

He's since called himself several things, but still makes no sense.

vbspurs said...

I'm rarely on Flagler, myself, but I am frequently on La Calle Ocho (too many good Cuban eats to pass up there -- like Palacio de los Jugos!).

The Drill SGT said...

Fen,

we already set foot in Libya. F15E down.

TRAP team sent: 2 Harriers, 2 CV-22s for pickup (I assume with the gatling kits installed) and 2 CH53s with a rifle platoon on board.

What they really need for SAR are some Marine C130's with the gunship pallet installed and some A-10s.

USAF hates those A-10's till there is a war and they rediscover that an A-10 makes the best SAR protection bird. It can get down low and slow, circling the chute while convincing a bunch of unidentified arabs that they don't want to run toward the pilots.

virgil xenophon said...

facts, schmaks, reality, schmality, edutcher. With the left it's ALWAYS about the NARRATIVE, the DISCOURSE --haven't you learned that by now? "Good intentions" are ALL that matter. The tangle that is the human condition in the real world? That's for somebody else--we lesser mortals--to deal with..

The Drill SGT said...

Palacio de los Jugos

Comprende?

Is that like: Palace of the big Jugs?

Anne M Ford said...

No blood for oil!!! Get out of Libya now!!!

vbspurs said...

Is that like: Palace of the big Jugs?

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Jugos = juice. The kind you drink not the one who played with the Bills and offed his missus.

In Portuguese, it would be Palacio dos Sucos.

Go crazy. ;)

Unknown said...

Fen said...

Okay. No ground troops. Use air assets to degrade the tyrant's advance. Fine.

What are we going to do if one of our plane crashes? Helplessly watch as they drag pilots through the streets?


SF, SAS, GIGN are in-country and already pulled one pilot out, I hear.

PS 2600 sounds like the whole MEU. What's the strength for one? I know it's basically a reinforced BLT.

vbspurs said...

Just in case some Althousians are raising an eye at all this Cubano-Brazilian talk, believe it or not, it's on point regarding Krauthammer.

I read this some time ago. Krauthammer being asked about his origins.

My mother is from Belgium, left on May the 10th 1940, which is the day the Germans invaded, made her way through France, ended up in New York working for the Free French, translating American Army manuals into French for the Free French. Met my father in Cuba, long story, and she now lives in New York and in Miami

LAMB: How did they meet in Cuba?

KRAUTHAMMER: My dad at the time was running a diamond factor, which was producing industrial diamonds for the U.S. military. My mom was visiting her parents, who didn’t get into America, didn’t have a visa, but ended up in Cuba, as a lot of Jews did. And she met him at the Hotel Internacional and the rest is journalistic history and a lot of other history.

LAMB: Did you have any brothers and sisters

KRAUTHAMMER: I have a brother, born in Brazil, lives in L.A., a physician.


http://www.q-and-a.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1021

Cuba and Brazil. Mother lives in Miami. Uncanny!

The Drill SGT said...

Victoria,

Still waiting for some good old Royal Wedding pron

I see the Canadian PM has passed on his invite due to work requirements. Obama eat your heart out :)

Thorley Winston said...

This conservative, however, is furious that this American President consulted beforehand with Arab leaders, the UN and European Heads of State, but not with the American Congress.

I thought that Obama actually had consulted with the leadership of both the House and the Senate prior to beginning bombing. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong about this.

The Drill SGT said...

I thought that Obama actually had consulted with the leadership of both the House and the Senate prior to beginning bombing. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong about this.

As I understand it, he got French and British agreement on Tuesday, and told Congress on Thursday, after the orders had been issued and perhaps the B-2's were in the air, only hours from the time on target Friday early.

We used to tell Congress in advance, then only notify the French after it was too late for them to blow the operation.

Now we reverse things. French trusted, Congress not.

Scott M said...

Apparently because the Syrian president didn't go on TV and say he was going to "cleanse" them. Apparently our dear leader has an aversion to cleansing.

Fen said...

PS 2600 sounds like the whole MEU. What's the strength for one? I know it's basically a reinforced BLT.

I know it varies from each MEU. Not sure if the 22nd is MEU-SOC.

On the LAR side (for TRAP missions) it usually consists of four LAV-25s, 2 ATs, 1 C2 and an R.

But they are still ground troops. Not wise of Obama to declare "none" when there's a chance we'll see them in a firefight.

The Drill SGT said...

So is Obama gonna have a "kinetic military action' on Syria?

*** and if not.... WHY NOT? ***


Short answer no.

The important initial question is: Is this country an ally or an enemy?
That leads you to a fork: Dither, or Call for regime change.
Let's test the theory:

Israel: Ally, Call for RC
Iran, Enemy, Dither
Hamas, Enemy, Dither
Tunisia, Ally, Call for RC
Egypt, Ally, Call for RC
Libya, Enemy, Dither
Syria, Enemy, Dither
Saudi Arabia, Ally, ???

How's the theory?

roesch-voltaire said...

Shouting thanks for the link to Reed, I agree with some of his assessment and surprised you like this guy who sounds like a Marxist when he writes;
The looters came. In the past there had been an element of noblesse oblige, of concern for the nation, a sense among the upper classes that they ought to pay some slight attention to keeping the country alive while picking its bones. This changed. The country was now ruled by the tightly interlocking directorates of Wall Street, Congress, the upper reaches of the executive branch, and the big corporations, none of whose members had ever worked a night shift at Walmart

Scott M said...

How's the theory?

Incoherent. Your proof works perfectly.

J said...

When did the GOP and its spokespersons decide that the US was friendly with Kafaddi/Libya ?

Maybe at the same time Donald Trump entered the GOP prez race, and knowing they would score points for taking on Obama/HRC aggression, with a slight anti-semitic angle (Charles Snouthammer, pals of the Prophet) .

vbspurs said...

Drill Sgt wrote:

Israel: Ally, Call for RC
Iran, Enemy, Dither
Hamas, Enemy, Dither
Tunisia, Ally, Call for RC
Egypt, Ally, Call for RC
Libya, Enemy, Dither
Syria, Enemy, Dither
Saudi Arabia, Ally, ???

How's the theory?


In Libya's case, it's Call for RC, after having said we're not going after Qaddaffi. WITHIN 24 HOURS.

Everyone knows the key domino piece of the Middle East for the US is Israel. We look at the prism of the area through the lens of "maintaining Israel alive". The second key domino is oil, which is controlled by countries staunchly opposed to Israel's existence. There's another domino: the desire of the United States to stand for democracy and freedom around the world. This is also diametrically opposed to our actions in supporting certain dictators.

Most world powers like the US maintained a dizzying balancing act. But even saying that, I cannot think of a historical example where the most powerful nation hampered itself both by philosophy and policy.

And leadership.

cubanbob said...

vbspurs said...

A very quick and superficial understand of Brazil can gotten just by flying over San Paulo state on the approach to the airport.

The ramshackle farm is the Portuguese farmer. The efficient but dour farm belongs to the German. The efficient and aesthetic farm belongs to the Japanese farmer (Brazil has the largest japanese community in the world outside of Japan).

In the north of the country is Amazona and Rondovia. The jungle. On the Atlantic is Bahia which is beautiful and is also Africa.
In the south is Rio Grande Do Sul and Minas Gerais which might as well be a tropical Bavaria. German is still spoken in Novo Hamburgo. Brazil is the size of the United States and is countries within a county Some developing at faster rates than others. Some desperately poor others relatively wealthy.
Rio is both magnificent and horrifying but somehow the country just survives and slowly improves. The Brazilians say God is a Brasilleiro. Judging from the woman, they may have a point.

Speaking of la calle ocho: cafe con leche at Versailles made with evaporated milk.

The Drill SGT said...

Just a reminder that Obama is behaving somewhat like Albright did, and that Powell would have made a better first black president :)


Albright was an early opponent of the Powell doctrine that the United States should restrict its military interventions to situations in which its vital interests are threatened, and should always insist on using overwhelming force. In his memoirs, Powell recalled that he almost had "an aneurysm" when Albright challenged him to explain "What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?"

Scott M said...

"What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?"

LOL. I remember that and I remember looking for the nearest roll of duct tape to keep my head from 'sploding. Such a statement not only reveals ignorance of the military, but world-stage politics.

Hoosier Daddy said...

The good colonel's 1970's soviet surplus tanks won't hold up well.

I wish I kept a bookmark of the picture I saw of a knocked out Libyan tank cause I did a double take wondering what kind it was. Soviet/Russian tanks have an unmistakenable profile but this one I swear looked like a WW2 era Tiger tank.

Automatic_Wing said...

Speaking of Powell, do the Pottery Barn rules still apply (you break it, you buy it)?

Or does Obama have enough moral authority to bomb Libya back to the stone age and walk away as if nothing happened?

The Drill SGT said...

Scott M, conisder the impacts of the first part:Albright was an early opponent of the Powell doctrine that the United States should restrict its military interventions to situations in which its vital interests are threatened, and should always insist on using overwhelming force.

Albright (and I think by extension Obama), willing to use military force for vague feel good goals and doing so without the overwhelming crushing force that results in lower losses and short fights.

That's where we may be headed in Libya. Not enough to win and just incfrementally upping the ante and what we have proves insufficent.

ken in tx said...

The Air Force hierarchy hates A-10s. They were forced to take them by congress. They are slow and 'air-to-mud'- a dishonorable and undignified way to fight. The Air Force higher-ups see themselves as modern day knights, fighting one-on-one with enemy fighter pilots. They love fast airplanes. Ground troops love A-10s. They are one of the most effective ground support aircraft ever made.

Retired Air Force maintenance guy.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Here is that pic I was referring to.

On closer inspection I don't think its a tank but rather a self propelled gun (that's mobile artillery for you non-grognard, Birkenstick wearing granola eating pacifists).

The Drill SGT said...

an unmistakenable profile but this one I swear looked like a WW2 era Tiger tank.

saw the same shot and thought the same thing: Tiger Mark 1

Trust me, some old T72 may have trouble with current high tech forces, but it will still intimidate the piss out of guys with ak-47s if it rolls down the street.

The Drill SGT said...

They are slow and 'air-to-mud'- a dishonorable and undignified way to fight.

unless like I said earlier, the Fighter Jock is hanging from a chute coming down near a crowd of a-rabs... Then he'll buy drinks at the bar for all the A-10 SAR squadron

Scott M said...

They are one of the most effective ground support aircraft ever made.

I can remember, even in the late 80's, when the generally accepted fate of the A-10 was to be replaced by a dedicated marque of the F-16 line for close air support (CAS) missions. Then Desert Storm happened. Our ground troops loved the Warthogs, but not nearly as much as the Iraqis hated the "Devil's Cross".

You just have to love an aircraft that contains a titanium bathtub, shoots 11-inch long bullets of depleted uranium, and can lost almost half it's airframe and still make it home.

The Frogfoot, if memory serves, was the Soviet answer, but not nearly as effective and broke more often than it flew. Like most Soviet aircraft.

J said...

Now is the time for all American citizens to stand behind their Country and support ....... President Hillary.

Tomahawk time, mutha-f-er

vbspurs said...

Speaking of la calle ocho: cafe con leche at Versailles made with evaporated milk.

Every single Cuban tells me to have it this way, cafe con leche condensada/evaporada. But I have it with whole milk. Also, I'm a Bustelo girl, despite most CAs favouring Pilon.

Cubanbob, other than it being Rondônia and Minas is not really considered South -- spot on.

(I suspect you meant Paraná)

Every Althousian should read your comment. Hey, the better your average American can understand that Brazilians are a people apart in South America, and not some copy of Venezuela, Peru or Argentina, ...or God forbid, Mexico...the better.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Egan has a good point: In his deliberative fashion, Obama ultimately saved countless lives in the short term, and will allow the rebels in Libya to own their revolution in the long term, if they can push ahead — a big if, of course.

Then what? Gaddahfi was/is a known entity. Yes he's a bad guy and his people can certainly revolt and make an effort of removing him from power. But we have no clue who steps in after that. It could be the 1)the first Jeffersonian Arab, or 2) an Islamic extremist or 3) just another guy like Gaddahfi but without the flowing robes.

In all liklihood it will be either curtain number 2 or 3 and we (the West) can pat ourselves on the back for helping facilitate that.

I'm betting that wasn't part of Obama's deliberations before sending in the F-18s

The Drill SGT said...

You just have to love an aircraft that contains a titanium bathtub, shoots 11-inch long bullets of depleted uranium, and can lost almost half it's airframe and still make it home.

You left off the best part: and was built around a gun (GAU-8, 30mm) that is the size of a VW, but weighs double (2 ton gun). When the gun fires, you can see the A-10 stutter in mid-air from the recoils. It is the ultimate tank killer.

The Drill SGT said...

It could be the 1)the first Jeffersonian Arab, or 2) an Islamic extremist or 3) just another guy like Gaddahfi but without the flowing robes. read an interview with one of the local rebels who had set up an emirate. Turns out he'd been fighting in A-stan against us and was picked up and held in Bagram for a while before being released. Just your average Al-Jefferson

Hoosier Daddy said...

I'll say it again though. I find it amazing no one questions how a UNSC resolution zipped through with Arab League backing to establish a no fly zone to prevent a 'humanitarian tragedy' yet the better part of a quarter million Darfurians have been butchered and millions more displaced and the UN has done nada, nothing, squat.

Not to be conspiratorialist but something is rotten in Denmark.

Scott M said...

Now is the time for all American citizens to stand behind their Country and support ....... President Hillary.

I was watching the feed of the empty podium 30 minutes after she was supposed to speak and all the talking heads were wondering what the delay was for. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if she came out, frustrated, said she could no longer be a party to such confusion and lack of leadership and, as such, was resigning immediately and declaring her bid for the presidency in 2012.

Fun fantasy from a wonk's point of view, but you have got to think that Bill and Hillary have some fall-back contingency plan, like a codeword she can text to him that would set in motion her bid.

Jeremy said...

Dr. Stranglove weighs in.

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)


Not to be conspiratorialist but something is rotten in Denmark.

Two words:
1) “Oil”;
2) and “Somalia”


…to elaborate; Libya supplies Europe with considerable amounts of oil. The riots did not disturb the oil flow and hence the price. The CIVIL WAR has halted oil production and distribution, hence a spike in oil prices, both in Europe and worldwide. Further, Somalia, in civil war yields refugees, terrorism, and piracy for all its neighbors, but as its neighbors aren’t France and Italy, no one really cares. As Libya’s neighbors ARE Italy and France, and they don’t care for refugees, pirates, and terrorists just across the Mediterranean from them, “people” care about the unrest in Libya. Darfur, not supplying any oil nor providing any humanitarian crisis in the EU, does NOT generate the same amount of “concern.” It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just Realpolitik.

The Drill SGT said...

Scott Msaid...shoots 11-inch long bullets of depleted uranium.

I think you know better.

The rounds may be about 11 inches long, but the bullets are only about 4 inches long.

Now The M829A3 120mm main tank rounds have a DU dart that is a bit over 2 feet long :)

ken in tx said...

When the GAU-8 in the nose of an A-10 fires it actually slows the aircraft down considerably. It makes a noise that we used to call 'Dragon Farts'. Baradadaddap!

Jeremy said...

"This conservative, however, is furious that this American President consulted beforehand with Arab leaders, the UN and European Heads of State, but not with the American Congress."

Kind of like: Harry Truman in Korea, Lyndon Baines Johnson in Vietnam and George W. Bush in Iraq?

But keep in mind, Obama did have a classified briefing with some members
of congress.

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)




The important thing to remember you war-mongering Rightwing Death Beasts is that both the M-1 and A-10 fire Depleted URANIUM rounds, and hence are Weapons of Mass Destruction and their use a War Crime! Yhwh Above you People are so sad and lame…You salivate over these Phalli-centric, Death Devices! Is it no wonder that the whole world reviles us?!

Scott M said...

Correct. The word I should have used is "round" not "bullet".

Joe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)


Kind of like: Harry Truman in Korea, Lyndon Baines Johnson in Vietnam and George W. Bush in Iraq?

LBJ: did you miss the Tonkin Gulf Resolution? Bush ’41 the Solarz-Michaels Resolution, Bush 43: the AUMF?

Thank you for contributing, your efforts are almost always such that the Progressive arguments comes off looking bad.

The Drill SGT said...

LOL Joe,

You aren't going to be able to keep your game up if all he lobs are those easy ones :)

Unknown said...

Paul said...

So is Obama gonna have a "kinetic military action' on Syria?

*** and if not.... WHY NOT? ***


Drudge is asking the same question under the headline Is Syria Next?.

Jeremy said...

"This conservative, however, is furious that this American President consulted beforehand with Arab leaders, the UN and European Heads of State, but not with the American Congress."

Kind of like: Harry Truman in Korea, Lyndon Baines Johnson in Vietnam and George W. Bush in Iraq?

But keep in mind, Obama did have a classified briefing with some members of congress.


Liar.

HST's use of the UN left such a bad taste, nobody ever used it until Little Zero.

LBJ: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Dubya: Iraq War Resolution

And a briefing 10 days after doesn't count.

Hell, Reagan found time to brief leaders of Congress before the Rangers jumped over Point Salinas.

The Drill SGT said...

I don't cafre, Obama is Awesome :)

I highly recommend this.

The Drill SGT said...

I dont care enough to redo the links.

Jeremy said...

Drill Sgt - Jonah Goldberg is your BFF?

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)


Drill Sgt - Jonah Goldberg is your BFF?

Possibly in the circles you run in this may count as a horrific indictment and put-down, but to the rest of us it is merely a non sequitur. What difference would it make one way or the other if he is or isn’t?

The Drill SGT said...

Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Friday that Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard has been designated to lead the alliance's military campaign in Libya.

Bouchard is stationed in Naples, Italy, at the Allied Joint Force Command.

Bouchard's recent job was deputy commander of NORAD, reporting to an American general.

"He will be commander of the NATO operations, yet to be fully defined NATO operations," MacKay said.

Scott M said...

What difference would it make one way or the other if he is or isn’t?

He wrote a pretty damned good book describing the co-opting of language on one side and detailed the apathy on the other that let it happen.

Unknown said...

It's that "yet to be fully defined" part that's scary.

I can't imagine a correspondent asking MacArthur as he stepped off the landing craft at Leyte Gulf what he intended to accomplish and that was the answer.

Methadras said...

A British soccer mob has more unity and moral purpose.

Krauthammer just said hooliganism is vastly superior to Erkle's political model. Hell has frozen over.

Methadras said...

PETER V. BELLA said...

Krauthammer is out of the loop. It is not war. It is the retronym KMA. The whole Obama doctrine- domestic and foreign is KMA. The whole Obama attitude is KMA.


You know when I first saw this whole Kinetic Military Action phraseology, I had to sit and think about what that really meant. Turns out that insiders in the White House don't even know what that meant either. Then I found out later that when asked about this, they directed all questioning to the Dept. of War. Yes, these human clusterfucks actually think there is a Dept. of War (a Dept. that hasn't existed since the 1940's). Concurrently, I wonder, do these insolent fools actually think that there might be a Dept. of Peace. You know, the one created from the back of Leftard bumper stickers on Priuses?

So did these morons graduate from Potential Military Action to Kinetic Military Action?

The Drill SGT said...

Krauthammer just said hooliganism is vastly superior to Erkle's political model

I don't think he was endorsing the moral superiority of a soccer mob.

I read it as, "they are more organized, have a common purpose, and their belief in the cause is strong, though perhaps not particularly moral"

The Drill SGT said...

So did these morons graduate from Potential Military Action to Kinetic Military Action?

some must be graduates of one of these 200 programs in "Peace Studies"

http://www.gradschools.com/search-programs/conflict-peace-studies

cubanbob said...

vbspurs said...
Speaking of la calle ocho: cafe con leche at Versailles made with evaporated milk.

Every single Cuban tells me to have it this way, cafe con leche condensada/evaporada. But I have it with whole milk. Also, I'm a Bustelo girl, despite most CAs favouring Pilon.

Cubanbob, other than it being Rondônia and Minas is not really considered South -- spot on.

(I suspect you meant Paraná)

Every Althousian should read your comment. Hey, the better your average American can understand that Brazilians are a people apart in South America, and not some copy of Venezuela, Peru or Argentina, ...or God forbid, Mexico...the better.

3/25/11 12:52 PM

Thank you. I agree: Bustello Supreme. You are right: I had a brain misfire. I should have said Santa Catarina and to a great extent Parana and Mato Grosso. And as for the rain forest under populated areas Acre and Rondônia and in the northeast the states bordering the former Guyana's. Brazil will always be the country of tomorrow ( I can never get the tilda to work on my keyboard).

Every Latin country is unique and different from each other in various ways. But they all have some common elements in their cultures.
Uruguayans are not Argentines. And theres no love lost between Chile and Argentina or Argentina and Brazil. And Costa Ricans aren't Nicaraguans. You get the gist. But one thing they all have in common along with the entire Caribbean, scratch them hard enough and the anti-Americanism always comes out. It's inbred, they can't help themselves but usually it's rather mild and the most virulent Latin anti-Americans are usually the far leftists ( and the fascist rightists).

As for Krauthammer's dad working in 1940 Havana in the diamond business,a late uncle of mine learned to cut diamonds from the Dutch and Belgian Jewish émigrés in Havana 1940. Made a ton of money and bought one of the last classic yellow Packard convertibles off the line before the plant turned to war production. After the war with all the money he made cutting diamonds he went to every US Army surplus action and bought every staff car, jeep and truck he could lay his hands on and shipped to Cuba. Made a fortune. Invested in real estate. Not a good idea when the communist came.He always said the more Franklins and grants he had the better his ingles.

In some ways think of Brazil like China. Although a political whole the provinces/states are really are to a large degree countries within countries. North America (Qubec being the exception) is far more homegenized than any Central or South American country, especially the larger countries.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jp said...

I am occasionally seduced by Obama’s logic.
Thank you and Mr. Krauthhammer for helping me to think more clearly.

Anonymous said...

Drill Sgt:

Thanks for the link. A real hoot.

Cedarford said...

While I generally loved Krauthammer's snark - he is still on the side of the Neocon Empire. Which holds America is the one indispensible nation obligated to undertake a series of wars and "actions" to Save Humanity.

20 possible conflicts, each according the the Neocons a "potential Munich" unless we commit wealth and troops.

Obama is supremely modest about his country. America should be merely "one of the partners among many," he said Monday. No primus inter pares for him. Even the Clinton administration spoke of America as the indispensable nation. And it remains so. Yet at a time when the world is hungry for America to lead -- no one has anything near our capabilities, experience and resources -- America is led by a man determined that it should not.

I happen to agree with the notion that America should not have ever trapped itself in the "indispensible nation" garbage. That all other nations can just sit back because a Good President will eventually "Lead!" and only squander US lives and treasure in the process.

An argument for getting into a war not in our vital interests with no exit strategy should not be based on Krautie's belief that we have to because no one else has our capacities, experience in endless wars, and resources.

Resources? All those piles of cash in America lying around for elective wars?

Capacities? As in the US having the capacity to send a 340 million dollar warplane up at 2 million a mission while our bridges and cities crumple? While other nations on the free ride of US unilateralism get to sock their money into infrastructure and extra welfare goodies?

Unknown said...

So what is Krauthammer advocating--

Is he against the intervention altogether, or is this just a question of style.

What's up with the Napoleon quote? Waterloo? Imperial overreach? Napoleon replaced the French Revolution, right?

Thanks in advance.

Gary Rosen said...

Fudd, you still jacking off in the flophouse room over Shankman da Joooo??

By the way, maguro, it actually doesn't take much time at all to stalk C-fudd. He is so pathetically Pavlovian, you know a thread about a Joooo is going to draw him because he just can't help himself.