Mission Accomplished [Reader Post]

It’s over in Libya.

As the civilian casualties mount and a coalition strike has killed 12 in Brega, including three medical students, Libyan rebels are in retreat.

Libyan rebels have called for a cease fire in the confluence of events.

– Barack Obama gave up on using force to remove Gaddafi.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told Americans on Monday the United States would work with its allies to hasten the day when Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, but would not use force to topple him.

In a nationally televised address, Obama — accused by many lawmakers of failing to explain the US role in the Western air campaign against Gaddafi’s loyalists — made the case for his decision to intervene militarily in the Libya conflict.

– US officials admitted that the least likely way for Gaddafi to leave was through military force.

– The US is withdrawing the aircraft it used for air strikes against Gaddafi.

– The US warned the Libyan rebels that they too could get bombed by the coalition.

As NATO takes over control of airstrikes in Libya, and the Obama administration considers new steps to tip the balance of power there, the coalition has told the rebels that if they endanger civilians, they will not be shielded from possible bombardment by NATO planes and missiles, just as the government’s forces have been punished.

Gaddafi forces have rejected the offer.

“They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities. …. If this is not mad then I don’t know what this is. We will not leave out cities,” said Mussa Ibrahim, the government spokesman.

Rebels had earlier called for the ceasefire after Gaddafi forces drove them back for a third day after sandstorms and clouds hindered NATO air strikes.

The consensus is that the rebel fighters need more weaponry.

U.S. political and military leaders said they’re unwilling to start providing arms and training for rebels fighting against Qaddafi. Mullen said there are “plenty of countries who have the ability, the arms, the skill set to be able to do this.” Gates said the U.S. doesn’t know enough about the insurgent groups beyond a “handful” of leaders.

“The rebels need more heavy weapons,” said Jan Techau, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels and a former analyst at the NATO Defense College. “They need simple stuff — not high-tech weaponry that requires extensive training and would be dangerous if it fell into terrorist hands.”

Indeed and that is problematic. More than problematic, in fact.

Because Obama and Clinton admit that they have no idea who the rebels are:

“Clinton didn’t say whether the opposition movement includes members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, though she suggested it is possible.

“The opposition has demonstrated a ‘commitment to democracy and to a very robust engagement with people from across the spectrum of Libyans,’ but ‘we do not have any specific information about specific individuals from any organization who are part of this,’ she said.”

Actually, there is some information as to who they are.

Statements of support for Libya’s revolution by al-Qaeda and leading Islamists have led to fears that military action by the West might be playing into the hands of its ideological enemies.

When US authorities admit there are “flickers” of Al Qaida in Libya, it’s likely worse than that.

As the Obama administration openly considers arming Libyan rebels to repel forces led by Col, Muammar al-Qaddafi, reports that “flickers” of al Qaeda may be present among the fighters has raised fears extremists could take advantage of an unwieldy situation to gain power in a new Libya.

Obama’s not-so-excellent adventure into Islamic democratization has not gone well. And this is not to be missed:

Watch the faces of the two CNN hosts as Scheuer touches the third rail of truth.

News sources are talking stalemate, but if Gaddafi stays, he wins. And each day it appears more and more that he stays. And without the US boots on the ground forcing him out, he does stay.

If nothing else, this exercise demonstrates once again, Obama’s protestations and efforts to the contrary, that the US really is still the only superpower and the only real conscience in the world. And if you want something done, you need America. Libya could be the worst of all outcomes- a temporary shielding a civilians in a Muslim country and a dictator surviving not only a civil war, but the half-hearted kinetic military action of a wanna-be tough guy President.

DrJohn

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