US Rear Admiral Peg Klein insisted Tuesday that there was absolutely no risk of “mission creep” in Libya, and that the US would abide entirely by the UN mandates with respect to the war.
“President Obama was very specific when he spoke about this recently,” Klein said. The admiral is one of a very select few who think this is the case, of course, as President Obama’s comments in Chile on Monday jumped back and forth between “support of an international mandate” and insisting that US policy was regime change in Libya.
Of course there were already accusations of “mission creep” on Saturday, just hours after the war began. The initial talk of a “no-fly zone,” then, quickly escalated into a massive air campaign aimed at destroying Libya’s military and possibly assassinating Moammar Gadhafi.
Even now, military officials concede that there is no “exit strategy” of any sort, and the goals of the war remain extremely ill-defined. With no concrete mission being articulated to the American public, it will be hard to decide whether that mission is expanding or not.
Ten years later, and a dozen of military bases all over Libya, we just will not be able to leave, as there will be sectarian war, civil war, stupid people resisting NATO occupation. We will just HAVE to stay on. After all, we CANNOT just cut and run. How will the "success" be defined? It will be whatever will fly at the moment in order to insure "one more year" of surge, unsurge, sidesurge. There will be teaching opportunity in Libya, though not here in US. And US will "not be involved"… It will be NATO, of course. Never mind that the Supreme Commander of NATO forces is by NATO charter ALWAYS US General that reports to US President. Will the world see it as US war? Of course, because it is now and it will be in the future.
US commanders=fools
sincerely,
Steven Dahl
American Citizen
Show me one instance that the mad men at the Pentagon have ever abided by the "rule of law "?
They have ALWAYS acted in their own selfish interests.
Murder and Assasination are their tools of trade. Daily killiing of innocents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are testimont to this.
all the creeps are executing the mission
What I find "creepy" is that there is even an AFRICOM with some bozo in charge of it. Is there one for South America too? Jesus! Clearly ancient Rome would have creamed their imperial togas had they the reach and arrogance of our present empire.
Oh, and another thing, when will Obama finally be nailed for sending us to war yet again?
Oh yes, the Romans would have LOVED to have their hands on the resources we can bring to bear around the world.
And yes, there is a military command that covers South America, and Canada, and everything in between. The entire world is divided into areas of responsibility and each area has detailed contingency plans for a host of events- so don't be surprised when we invade Venezuela with a well-coordinated assault from land, sea, and air; it will all have been worked out in details years before it happens.
This only reminds me of the discussions I've had with friends and others. I said that this only makes sense if America views all of the world as belonging to it. Evil and consistant.
Why would anyone believe a single word uttered by a US Military leader?
The mission creep was already in the works when that bright one decided to bomb Gadhafi's house (you know, the one that contained no communications equipment and wasn't a hardened military target?); somehow I don't think Gadhafi was directing his forces from his living room, and I don't think his back yard was a staging area for antiaircraft weapons- hence, not a valid target for the enforcement of a NFZ.
And note, too, that Gadhafi nailed US policy right on the head when he challenged Obama to answer: "What would YOU do if rebel forces were attacking YOUR capital?" Of course, Obama isn't going to answer, but there is no need to: of course the military would be called in to put down the rebels (naturally, by any means necessary) and wouldn't be a bit apologetic about it if some were killed.
Now, how about those home-grown rebels assaulting Washington calling for help- and the likes of Russia or China stepping up to the plate to enforce a NFZ over Washington? Think that would go over well?
People have to realize that sometimes rebellions are successful, sometimes they are not, but we can't be there to pick up the pieces every time it goes bad for someone. Live and learn- train your forces, re-arm in secret, plan Plan PLAN for next time, and then when you think you've got the stones THEN take on the government again. As much as I want to see Gadhafi out of power (now that I've seen how he is going to treat his citizens), I have to admit for the last twenty or so years I haven't even given him a thought since he's been more or less minding his own business on the world stage.