Should America intervene militarily in Libya?

**GeoffP** · 03-20-11, 03:52 PM

Plan A: rocket-skates to Uganda.

Oh, yeah.

**Captain Kremmen** · 03-20-11, 07:54 PM

I think that the US actually have a plan this time.
Can anyone guess what it is?

**Dywyddyr** · 03-20-11, 07:54 PM

Blow shit up?

**GeoffP** · 03-20-11, 08:02 PM

Boost CNN's ratings?

**Captain Kremmen** · 03-20-11, 08:03 PM

Chuckle.

No a real plan, with tactics and stuff.

**GeoffP** · 03-20-11, 08:03 PM

That is a real plan. Help the US economy by pumping advertiser money through CNN.

**Dywyddyr** · 03-20-11, 08:11 PM

Blow shit up tactically?

**S.A.M.** · 03-21-11, 07:36 AM

I don't know if this has been discussed here but apparently, the anti-Gaddhafi rebels in East Libya are also the Islamic extremists which the US has been targeting

Eastern Libya has been described by U.S. diplomats as a breeding ground for Islamist extremism. In diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, the region’s young men were said to have “nothing to lose" by resorting to violence. Sermons in the local mosques are “laced with phraseology urging worshippers to support jihad," one diplomat reported. U.S. officials declined to discuss the make-up of the anti-Gaddafi forces in eastern Libya, and U.S. intelligence agencies declined to comment publicly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_837894.html

Is the US fighting on both sides in the War on Terror? Its no surprise to me that the anti-American elements are also the revolutionaries. But if the US is also assisting the Islamic extremists, where does that leave American policy?

**Captain Kremmen** · 03-21-11, 09:40 AM

Before this is finished, lots of people on both sides will be dead.

I would have thought that if any lesson had been learnt from Iraq and Afghanistan, it would be this.

Before you start a war, you must know what your objective is.
You must know what would make it a success.

If your objective is regime change, you must be sure that you are not replacing bad with worse.

This looks likely to turn into another conflict with no definite objective, no exit strategy, and tens of thousands of corpses.

**GeoffP** · 03-21-11, 11:52 AM

Ding ding! Called it.

**Captain Kremmen** · 03-21-11, 02:01 PM

I hope I'm wrong.
I hope that in three or six months time someone says to me:

"Hey Kremmen. You miscalled that one. Big time.
Ghaddafi is gone. Barely any civilians died. Arab countries think the West is fantastic.
And democratic elections are coming up any time soon"