Cruise missile blasts Gadhafi's compound near tent

If the rebels can get their act together this will not be a "long war".

I just don't see the point of getting embroiled in another "war" in the Arab world. Won't be long before Libya is another reason for jihadis and similar to waqnt to strike back at "the Crusaders".

As long as the US quickly passes the lead on this operation to other NATO and UN countries it will lower the US presence and involvement. Arab countries such as Qatar and UAE should take a very active role as well. Remember, intervention was approved by the UN Security Council due to Gadhafi's military attacks on his own people. It can be expressed to the region as Western and Arab nations coming to the aid of Libyan people who are resisting Gadhafi.

Seems this invasion was planned a long time ago. Look up "Wesley Clark: Decision made to invade 7 countries after 911", Libya was on the list.

Take the toys away and Gadhafi is nothing, not even to his people. Letting the Libyans take the end game matters into their own hands ensures this is not a Western crusade, and maybe (finally?) indicates a lesson learned from forcing regime change in Iraq.

the result will be fewer jihadists since they will be more interested in their own country and not Western ones.

The nail that sticks up, gets hammered down. Show your face, Sheik Coward. A hit on the head will never be felt.

this isn't a textbook CIA regime change, but enters new territory in respecting the local conditions, come what may. Thus putting to bed all those American plans to re-shape the world. This is a smart play. Odd that Americans themselves don't seem to recognize it. democracy isn't about American democracy, its about local people. Give them a chance.

The criticism has started from leaders of the arab world and very soon it will be from the ordinary arabs.this will translate to jihadiiiism.who then stands to loss ?the western nations of course, when it happens,dont start trumpeting our ears with your problem because you did not mind your business

"The criticism has started from leaders of the arab world..."

But they did initially sign off on it, didn't they? Now they are backtracking for their own political purposes.

The only way this will be a 'long war' is if after Gadhafi falls (likely in the near future) he draws out a long guerilla war from some shelter or foreign nation. Still, his reign is likely to end soon as long as international forces are helping out.

Anyway, it's sad to read the article spelling it out like it's a video game: "smoldering tanks and SUVs -- treads and turrets blown off", "fighter jets striking a line of targets", "a barrage of tomahawks, cruise missiles, and precision bombs pounding air defenses".... no mention of the smell of burnt flesh or half torched human carcasses hanging out of said SUVs or tanks. War is not a pretty thing, and not at all good, and yet here we are again, with articles like this helping a lot of people to cheer it on (seemingly). Hopefully it ends soon with minimal damage and casualties.

What I don't understand is why U.S., British, French and Italian forces are necessary. What about the Algerians, Tunisians and Egyptians? Can't they take out Gadhafi's forces?

Tunisia for one, has about 15 aging fighters to fight a desert skirmish with Libya. As a small neighbor it has too much to lose. Egypt is still in the process of regime change and is not settled enough to engage in external matters.

@paulinasia Whatever but I am saying when the jihad starts are you going to blame them?And you trust that toy we call the UN which has been hijacked by the west. When the dust settles,I will still be eating my onigiri,

The real question is...what will replace Quadafi? Are we helping improve the situation or opening the door for an even more oppressive regime change.

Sure, point at Quadafi and his faults, even remove him from power. Just examine the people, their character, their motives - that you are helping just as closely as you examine their enemy.

It wouldn't be the first time that people yelled "yay! We are free!" to later cry "This is worse. Can we have our old oppressor back?"

This cannot end well.

If Gaddafi wins, the Western world has another rabid, hateful terrorist supporter. Gaddafi had been nutty, but basically harmless for the last years. That will change.

If the "opposition" wins, we have another islamist shariah state, and don´t expect any gratitude for the bombings.

Meanwile, the US will get the Israel experience ... getting flooded by pictures of dead Arab children killed by US missiles being broadcast gleefully to the Arab masses.

Either way, we are worse off. Obama and Sarkozy, what have you done?

Sabi:

" Seems this invasion was planned a long time ago. Look up "Wesley Clark: Decision made to invade 7 countries after 911", Libya was on the list. "

This is exactly the kind of propaganda spin that will from now on dominate the Arab media. Expect also lots of videos of dead little Libyan babies killed by the bad USA.

A bonanza for the jihadists!

Getting embroiled in another islamic quagmire.... Obama, what have you done.

Great! A million dollar cruise missile shot at a $100 tent that probably hit a camel in the ass!

"If Gaddafi wins"

There is no "if".

European oil interests oblige.

Ghadaffi will get what he deserves, my only hope is that the Libyans themselves get him on the end of the rope.

US diplomats may claim not to be targeting the good Colonel as his compound is hit. But that's just diplomacy speak for "we missed his ass".

Hopefully the might of NATO's onslaught will render some fear and sense into the the Colenel's entourage and one of them will do the job swiftly for us.

@madverts So you want him dead?very soon the libyans will be wishing the Nato forces dead.Hope you will not complain then.

What I can not understand is why the US is ok about taking out Gadhafi but not ok about the people in Baharain fighting for their own rights and trying to stand up to the Saudi invasion.

"I(f Gaddafi wins"

Gadhafi isn't going to win. He's toast.

The Arab League asked for this and now some are pissed, figures. You can not impose a no fly zone while your aircraft are threaten by missiles. The French are doing more and hitting his troops. Now Russia too is showing its true colors and using this as an opportunity to attack the west.

@ yuriotani Think and think again .no one wants his or her country to be invaded for whatever reason there is.those arab leaders that were part ie UAE and Qatar are just rubber stamps.they did that just to gain favor from the west.No true arab will ever entertain western forces on its soil. And you talk about Russia ,do you think the rest of the world want to be part of this BS?pushing democracy into the arab world wont work because of the various ethnic groups and their culture.If they want oil,they should go find one in their countries and leave the world at peace.

otumfuo,

"no one wants his or her country to be invade"

No-fly zone with strategic bombings to remove Libyan air technology is not an invasion.

Ghadaffi is killing his own people on a large scale to retain his forty odd years power. I have no problem with his removal from the gene pool.

I wanna know what Argentina contributed to the attack.

"I wanna know what Argentina contributed to the attack"

Maybe they opened all the jam jars the French troops were having difficulty with?

otumfuo, China and Russia could of used their veto to stop the conflict. Then instead of air strikes, you could of watched Gadhafi kill all of the opposition. When the long pits for the dead are getting filled the Arab League and you would of bad mouthed the Americans for doing nothing. Again the Americans are hitting these sites to establish the no fly zone. Otherwise it would of been "Operational Sitting Duck". You would of seen captured and dead American and European Pilots being shown off and held hostage. The way I see it this is an opportunity to bash the Americans. Again if they did nothing, they would of been bashed as well. The Russians are mad that this shows their air defense equipment to be worthless garbage.

elbudamexicano - What I can not understand is why the US is ok about taking out Gadhafi but not ok about the people in Baharain fighting for their own rights and trying to stand up to the Saudi invasion.

Don't you mean UN instead of US?

"no one wants his or her country to be invade"

Madverts: No-fly zone with strategic bombings to remove Libyan air technology is not an invasion.

Get used to debating against bumper stickers and catchphrases. You'll soon find they have an endless supply of ammunition.

There's a really interesting article from the LA Times you should check out. The title is "Libya: It's not our fight." It kind of talks about what I was talking about in a previous post, just done much better....heh.

Here are some parts since we can't post links anymore...

"First, because it has oil and gas, and any U.S. military action will be seen by many people around the world as motivated exclusively by the urge to steal the country's resources. Absurd, of course, but the enemies of the United States will repeat that accusation, all too plausible for most people around the world, who cannot imagine that any government would be benevolent enough to expend blood and treasure to disinterestedly help foreigners, and foreigners of another religion to boot."

"Many of Kosovo's inhabitants are duly grateful to the U.S. for their liberation. But there are imams preaching against the pernicious influence of the United States and the West in Kosovo — more loudly of late because of a headscarf ban in its schools. Although local Muslim leaders imposed the ban, with no U.S. involvement, the imams say otherwise, while also condemning U.S.-led invasions of Muslim lands."

I think he speaks about the real problem....in the end what we do will amount to jack schitt. Most of the people on the other side just don't live in the same world that we live in. What might sound like a reasonable or logical argument, or one where maybe you even have proof to back up your claims, you're falling into the trap in thinking that the other side will apply the same basic logic that you did. Too many times any kind of agreement or disagreement is just coincidence, not any kind of meeting of the minds.

Just think about the majority of Pakistanis who actually think the US is there to steal their nuclear weapons. To you and me that sounds utterly insane, but we're not going deep enough to acknowledge that we're dealing with people dominated by religion. I think we're moving past the "right or wrong" argument and now moving more towards questioning who we're really dealing with. That's why Egypt and Libya just seem awkward in this day and age. We don't know who to cheer for and we're not sure if we're actually cheering for the same thing. Obama and Sarokzy can say anything they want about helping civilians but when they say the words I'm thinking, "There's no way their going to believe that whether it's true or not." At this point it's starting to feel more like a clash of civilizations.

Madverts:

" Ghadaffi is killing his own people on a large scale to retain his forty odd years power. I have no problem with his removal from the gene pool. "

Gaddafi has done nothing on a scale even remotely comparable to what Saddam did, and yet I don´t remember any of our leftist friends be an enthusiastic war supporter then.

What happened?

SuperLib at 02:24 AM JST - 22nd March. Libya just seem awkward in this day and age. We don't know who to cheer for and we're not sure if we're actually cheering for the same thing.

Oil companies and investors are cheering. Your forgetting the massive influence the oil companies have on politicians regardless of where the oil goes. Shell, Bp, etc all major oil companies operates in Europe. So when you start seeing the rhetoric fly about why U.S., France, British and Italians need to get involved in Libya, you know its because large corporations are trying to legislate themselves more welfare from the treasury by way of the military. Since all the Chinese workers are evacuated, there will be no problems of Chinese casualties, this is a opportunity for the west.

sfjp330:

" Oil companies and investors are cheering. "

Because their facilities and investments are being blown up?? Sure...

WilliB at 04:56 AM JST - 22nd March. Because their facilities and investments are being blown up?? Sure...

Do you know anything about Libya? Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa. Libya had total proven oil reserves of over 41 billion barrels. Also, Libya remains HIGHLY UNEXPLORED and only around 25 percent of Libya is covered by exploration agreements with oil companies. The under-exploration of Libya reflects the impact of former sanctions and also stringent fiscal terms imposed by Libya on foreign oil companies. With the change of goverment, oil companies will be able to explore other areas with minimum restriction. This was not possible with the current Libyan goverment.

@Yuriotani Let me be clear here,I never consider the US to be the world police or the god on earth,so I would not have co mplained about them. Again ,I have said the west(UN)did not exhaust all possible alternatives.I did not see dialogue fostered between the two groups.when America is slaughterimg civilians with drones,why haven't no voice been raised? @madverts If Ghaddaffi is been held accountable for killing his people,I think OBAMA should also be held accountable for killing people(civilians) of other countries with drones. This is an invasion ,if you enter another country airspace with artillery without permission.Thats an Invasion

otumfuo, Gadhafi just needed a few more days to secure the rebel cities and then the killing could start in mass. I am sure he would want to make an object lesson of the rebels and their families. Then there are the soft supporters, etc. The way I see it America was pushed into action, it was the French who came up with the no fly zones. Then they attacked the loyalists to support the rebels. America was pressure into taking action and once they took action it was in a way to protect the most people and their own pilots. Hmm an invasion, no quite the new Libyan government has invited the establishing of a no fly zone and to support its troops in the establishing of the legal government. Gadhafi had seized power 40 years ago and was killing his people in mass. If the US had done nothing it would be over now. The Americans did not want to intervene and you are just bashing the Americans.

YuriOtani at 06:37 AM JST - 22nd March. The Americans did not want to intervene and you are just bashing the Americans.

Libya is a sovereign nation and U.S. is meddling in the affairs of a sovereign country. This is Libya's internal problem. Why is U.S. getting involved in so many other countries? Liberals and progressives who respect the idea of law should be outraged in telling other countries how they should conduct their business. If the rest of the world were telling U.S. how to manage the problem how would you respond?

When the rebels oust Gadhafi I hope they don't attack their neighbors Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria for not helping them.

sfip330, the security council of the UN. Remember it is not just the Americans but the UK, French, Italy, etc. Give credit where credit is due.

@yuriotani That security council is a sham.just look at the 10 members who voted,it will tell you who they are.Democracy and ethnicity can not thrive together.Countries with many ethnic groups is like many countries put together.You may not see the complete picture as an outsider but I have experienced it thats why am saying so. Democracy can only thrive in such countries only when most of the citizen have a real formal educationwhere they can agree to disagree.many countries with many ethnicity dont speak one language and in many cases someone from one group can not understand what another one is speaking.

Do you expect democracy to prevail im such a country? just look at Belgium ,a supposed civilized country ,but they cant form a government .thats how complex It Is

YuriOtani at 08:32 AM JST - 22nd March. the security council of the UN. Remember it is not just the Americans but the UK, French, Italy, etc. Give credit where credit is due.

I guess the security council of the U.N. agreed to let U.S. fire the initial 122 out of 124 expensive at a cost of $1 million each for Tomahawk missiles and called it a coalition effort. U.S. should be billing each country that agreed to this condition and ask for equal share of the cost for missiles and war expense or is this going to be another repeat story of 99 percent of the cost that is absorbed by the U.S. goverment, borrowed from China's treasury money?

sfjp330 - Libya is a sovereign nation and U.S. is meddling in the affairs of a sovereign country. This is Libya's internal problem. Why is U.S. getting involved in so many other countries? Liberals and progressives who respect the idea of law should be outraged in telling other countries how they should conduct their business. If the rest of the world were telling U.S. how to manage the problem how would you respond?

Congress didn't even debate this action. Obama gave the go-ahead entirely on his own.

History has forced Obama's hand on this one.Besides, Gadhafi deserved to be bombed. He is one of the birthers.

TiPetetTiPo at 12:56 PM JST - 22nd March. History has forced Obama's hand on this one.Besides, Gadhafi deserved to be bombed. He is one of the birthers.

History has forced Obama's hand? Then who is the opposition. Regardless, you cannot resolve this until you get a ground troop and this will be another prolong war. Problem is what is the U.S. mission and this is unclear. Even if Khadafy saids he is going house to house, does U.S. have right to intervene ina a sovereign country? Is this how U.S. will handle in the future?

sfjp330. oh the UN gave them the right and they are operating under the authority of the UN.

YuriOtani at 01:52 AM JST - 23rd March. oh the UN gave them the right and they are operating under the authority of the UN.

Meaning, quite simply, they were not only being pressured to accept a certain decree, but a decree that was never fully explained in detail to begin with. This is a thuggish move made by those of the UN.

sfjp330: Is this how U.S. will handle in the future?

I believe it's Obama's goal to hand it off to Europe sometime soon. Why? Mostly because of people like you. A diminished US role will exponentially decrease the world's interest in the matter. My guess is that in 2 weeks you won't even be commenting on the Libyan threads anymore.

Egypt, Tunisia

I don't believe that Egypt or Tunisia even have offical governments at the moment, do they? The countries just revolted against their own governments, they're not exactly in the position to help others.

sfjp330, the Chinese and Russians should of veto the decree. Abstaining makes them just as responsible as voting for it. This shows the Chinese and Russians will go to any length to make the USA and Japan look bad. China and Russia tougher killed over 100 million of its own citizens. They have no moral ground to make comment.

YuriOtani at 06:54 AM JST - 23rd March. the Chinese and Russians should of veto the decree. Abstaining makes them just as responsible as voting for it. This shows the Chinese and Russians will go to any length to make the USA and Japan look bad.

So if Russia and China chooses to abstain it's probably because they understand that they actually have no right to intervene in the sovereign affairs of Libya and certainly no moral standing that can be employed to do so under the cover of supposed human rights concerns. It's really ironic when countries with bad records of internal human rights absuses still have the occasional decency to stay out of the human rights abuses going on in other countries while countries such as the U.S. have the temerity to pretend that their foreign policy is intended to protect the human rights of anything but a tiny minority of fantastically wealthy in each country. If they wanted to consent they could have just voted for it and thus have gained some points with westerners who can't see the imperial actions of their governments as such.

sfjp330 - So if Russia and China chooses to abstain it's probably because they understand that they actually have no right to intervene in the sovereign affairs of Libya......

I couldn't guess China's motives but Russia supplied most, if not all, of Kadafi's weapon systems. Russia would be showing the West how best to beat the very weapons systems that Russia intends to sell to other countries. It would be bad for future business.

The Russians are mad that this shows their air defense equipment to be worthless garbage.

uh, huh are you unfamiliar with the Vietnam War, ask the North Vientmese and Americans opinion about Soviet made AA eqippment.

How did the arabs mangae to lose to Israel so many times despite superior numbers and Soviet made hardware and eqipment

I couldn't guess China's motives but Russia supplied most, if not all, of Kadafi's weapon system

Intresting I didn't know Ukraine or Belorussia happen to have stockpiles of Soviet era weapons