They Are In Battle; Are We With Them?

“Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job. Then they must find this speck lost somewhere on the sea. When the find it they have to land on its pitching deck. Where do we get such men? ” (took this off Ace’s blog)

Been following the right and left wing blogosphere, along with their twitter feeds. Neither are very happy with President Obama right now. The right, because he didn’t go to Congress to ask for a vote on the military action. Plus, they are rightfully outraged at the left, especially the media, who are silent. The far left is upset Obama is using any force at all, since they don’t believe in bullets.

I think they are both incorrect.

First, there were some hearings on a no fly zone. No vote, but you have to assume any vote on the action would have been affirmative. Senators Lieberman and McCain have advocated for one since at least March 7. It feels like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wanted it to, and went on her own individual end run around the Obama administration. French President Sarkozy was the person who put everyone together. The UN is behind the action, so it’s not dissimilar from Kuwait in 1991 as far as an international coalition. After that, the similarity ends and it gets really messy.

The right wing is upset that there is no clearly defined goal. They are correct. You don’t commit American lives in battle without a clear and achievable goal, along with potential for a favorable outcome. As we have learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, life is precious. People die and get wounded.

It seems to me the only outcome that is amenable is the death of Gaddafi. He has been a thorn in the side of the free world for years. I remember when Reagan bombed his compound. The Libyan leader is a terrorist.

But, it’s not clear to me what happens next. Hopefully they have thought about that, and it’s not shooting from the hip foreign policy. Obama seems awfully disengaged. It looks like to me that if things go bad, Hillary is going under the bus. That’s not leadership, that’s abdication of your solemn duty as an American president. We didn’t get to where we are in this country by being mealy mouthed.

The Middle East is on fire. Out of this crucible a very different kind of Middle East could form if the US were behind it. Freedom and democracy are desirable things. Unfortunately, when times of strife hit, people tend to get really religious. It gives an opening to the proponents of sharia law, who will make the region even more hostile to the west.

Strong, active leadership from the US can help to make democracy there a reality. Our President has other more pressing concerns. On that, I will be very critical of him.

So far, the stock market is a bit higher.

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