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In Libya France Is Suing For Peace
Sarkoleon thought he could to do a quick job grabbing Libya's riches. That turned out to not be possible. War is expensive. Fighting a stalemate in the desert is neither fun nor does it make for good headlines. Time to give up:
France's defense minister said it was time for Libya's rebels to negotiate with Muammar Gaddafi's government, signaling growing impatience with progress in the conflict.
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"We have … asked them to speak to each other," Longuet, whose government has until now been among the most hawkish on Libya, said on French television station BFM TV.
"The position of the TNC (rebel Transitional National Council) is very far from other positions. Now, there will be a need to sit around a table," he said.
Asked if it was possible to hold talks if Gaddafi had not stepped down, Longuet said: "He will be in another room in his palace with another title."
The French plan now: Gaddhafi will stay and the rebels will be pressed into a ceasefire.
But the French made the mistake to earlier invite the U.S. in on this war. The "liberal interventionists" in Washington, who have little to lose in this game but their reputation, will want to keep the war going:
Soon after, the State Department in Washington issued a message that gave no hint of compromise.
"The Libyan people will be the ones to decide how this transition takes place, but we stand firm in our belief that Gaddafi cannot remain in power," it said in a written reply to a query.
The Libyan people will of course not be allowed to decide. The chance of them deciding that Gaddhafi should stay is too high. Washington will prevent that.
I expect the war to continue for another few month with no decisive victory for either side. Only when the British and French together withhold their troops from continuing the war will Washington agree to negotiations. Even after that it will try everything to spoil any decent compromise.
Troops on the ground? That would change the picture. But I doubt that Congress will agree to allow for such. It seems as this war, like man other before it, will end with a whimper instead of a glorious bang.
Speaking of wars of choice, I’m getting the feeling the Obama administration is pushing the Bush/Cheney approach to war creation: Leon Panetta seemed to tie the US invasion of Iraq to 9/11, walking it back a bit after speaking to the troops.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday appeared to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq as part of the war against al-Qaeda, an argument controversially made by the Bush administration but refuted by President Obama and many Democrats.
SNIP
“The reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked,” Panetta told the troops. “And 3,000 Americans — 3,000 not just Americans, 3,000 human beings, innocent human beings — got killed because of al-Qaeda. And we’ve been fighting as a result of that.”
His statement echoed previous comments made by President George W. Bush and members of his administration, who tried to tie Saddam Hussein’s government to al-Qaeda. But it put Panetta at odds with President Obama, the 9/11 Commission and other independent experts, who have said there is no evidence al-Qaeda had a presence in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Afterward, pressed by reporters to elaborate, Panetta said: “I wasn’t saying, you know, the invasion — or going into the issues or the justification of that. It was more the fact that we really had to deal with al-Qaeda here, they developed a presence here and that tied in.”
Over the weekend, Panetta told US soldiers in Afghanistan that Iran is responsible for arming insurgents in Iraq and will not be allowed to continue doing so:
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the United States is very concerned about Iran providing weapons to militants in Iraq, as he prepares to meet with Iraqi leaders about the future of U.S. troops in the country.
Panetta told a group of U.S. soldiers in Baghdad Monday that the U.S. cannot allow the arming of Iraqi insurgents to continue, and will address the situation directly.
U.S. officials accuse Iran of supplying Shi’ite militiamen with weapons that killed most of the 15 U.S. troops killed in June. It was the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq in two years.
This is now getting repeated, so it must be a main talking point for Obama et al.
But, as with Bush/Cheney, where’s the proof. Leon? Oh, yeah…Bush/Cheney made shit up so Obama/Panetta/whoever can now make shit up. The Unitary Executive rules by fiat. Another way Obama is Bush III.
The other possibility on the war front is Pakistan. Given how the US is now dissing and undermining the Pakistani government (at times with good reason, perhaps), I get the feeling we will soon be told it is an “ungovernable” or “rogue” nation and will need to be invaded to protect the world from terrorists getting hold of their nuclear bombs.
There’s also more negative and more aggressive criticism of Syria’s government, so they may be on the menu for invasion.
And, there’s a new bomb scare that the MCM was playing up last week: Surgically inserted Belly Bombs and Boob Bombs (breast impants filled with explosive). Descriptions did not make clear how powerful the bombs could be while still having room for the detonators, etc. Sounded like pure Bush/Cheney scare tactics to me.
But, surely, Obama will not take on more than one at a time…right? Or, is this just part of his reelection campaign? He’s doubling, make that tripling down or more, on “changes” to SocSec and Medicare, cuts that “strengthen” the programs, and the public hates what he’s doing. So, perhaps, he thinks that be continually ignoring the public they’ll be ever so happy to reelect him? He’s also sounding more and more like a Republican, with budgets leading to growth during a recession/depression, etc.
I realize he does not work for the masses in the US; he has paymasters far up the wealth scale, but, really? Does he think he will get reelected? Or is he tryint to do as much damange possible before a Republican gets the presidency and perhaps has to deal with another Democratic Congress? Except his actions are undermining Democrats.
Stop the world, I want to get off!
Posted by: jawbone | Jul 11 2011 17:40 utc | 7
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