UN authorizes `all necessary measures' in Libya

[Whoha]

Yep, trust the US to **** things up within days...

In hindsight, I suppose the anti no-fly people were right after all - having trigger-happy dumbass yanks on your side is just too much of a liability if you want to retain any sense of goodwill from the people they're supposedly trying to 'protect'...

Why don't the Americans just do us all a favour and **** off out of Libya already before they can do any more damage!

...because none of you are willing to take command:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368693/Libya-war-NATO-squabbles-leads-bombings-kill-Gaddafi.html

[Lonestar]

Broken record.

How much do you want to bet the extraction team were Marines?

Yup. The Amphib operating off the coast was going to be the SAR guys from day one. Now that the CdG has put to sea we may see other SAR options.

[Whoha]

Nice to see two members of the Security council who could have vetoed this waffling now:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Russia-China-call-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-Libya/articleshow/7762475.cms

lets just rename this operation cluster****.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

I would rename it Sarkomeron Love Operation.

[Asher]

It's morbidly amusing that the US has managed to get itself into three cluster****s in quick succession.

[Dinner]

The UN resolution was crystal clear about what was allowed so it is more then a little stupid for the head of the Arab league to claim he's surprised. In fact, it's such a load of tosh I'd say he's doing it on purpose trying to play both sides. I.E. he wants intervention but doesn't want to become known as a tool of the west so he invents nonsense to whine about.

[Al B. Sure!]

It's morbidly amusing that the US has managed to get itself into three cluster****s in quick succession.

We like the desert, I guess

[Hauldren Collider]

Asher moves the goalposts again. I could have sworn he was up in arms about how Europe was taking charge here and that they didn't need the US holding their hand. Now that it's clear how ****ing wrong he is, he's going on a wimpy trollfest about marines because he hasn't denigrated Alby enough in the 40 or 50 other threads.

[Asher]

Asher moves the goalposts again. I could have sworn he was up in arms about how Europe was taking charge here and that they didn't need the US holding their hand.

Huh?

You're talking **** now, plain and simple.

I wasn't about anyone taking charge. You kept lying by saying "blahblah, you need our carriers!" Then it was "blahblah, you need our air refuelers!" It's clear that neither are needed. What the **** are you talking about now?

Now that it's clear how ****ing wrong he is

WTF are you talking about? I've been nothing but right about how this isn't the US doing everything themselves, which is precisely what you were lying about.

You moved the goalposts many times, and were caught. You never did reply. Now you're asserting I'm moving goalposts, and you back them up with strawmen?

[Hauldren Collider]

You don't even think, do you? If we drilled a hole in your head and let all the Diet V8 Splash that is in there spill out you might actually be smarter in the end.

[Asher]

It really never gets old slapping you around in these debates.

[Hauldren Collider]

Well it is comforting to know that there is at least a small chance your stupidity is feigned.

[Asher]

HC -- seriously, you're out of your ****ing mind right now.

I've moved no goalposts. Your argument was everyone depends on the US to do everything. How the **** have the goalposts moved by me proving that wrong?

[Asher]

Or is your argument because the US Marines rescued the US Pilots that we need you to do everything? Honestly, you're being so stupid here I can't even tell what you're trying to say.

[C0ckney]

I think it is becoming clear that once again we have gotten involved in a war with no end game in sight.

yep. it's pretty clear that the mission there is going far beyond 'protecting civilians' and is really about removing gaddafi. except we have no effective means of doing so under the resolution so what is likely to happen is that we are simply going to enforce a stalemate for an indefinite period.

the main problem as i see it, is that western leaders seemed to imagine that once we had taken out libyan air defences the rebels would somehow organise themselves in to a coherent military force, make an advance and topple gaddafi, this quite clearly hasn't happened and doesn't look like it's going to happen. the more it goes on, the more it looks like an exercise in wishful thinking. we need to consider who the rebels are. it seems that from pictures and reports of the rebels that i have seen, they appear to be mostly unarmed or very lightly armed civilians. there are also some army units which have defected and have heavy weapons but these have only really come into action to defend the eastern towns of ajdabiya and benghazi. the forces appear localised and there seems to be a lack of an overall command structure. unsurprisingly, they seem mostly concerned with local defence and presumably lack the logistical capacity to mount long range operations. it makes a nonsense of the idea of a swift rebel advance against the government and also makes me wonder a lot about the motivations of those (in the west) who are associating the rebels with al queda et al.