http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/03/21/intervention-in-libya-neo-cons-1-civilized-world-0-39224/
^^^ i think i'm starting to work out a position on this whole thing because this really pissed me off
― HOOStory is back. Fasten your steenbelts. (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link
like the defense budget was ever going to be cut
― Fuck bein' hard, Dr Morbz is complicated (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
At least this particular argument pissed me off--elsewhere I've been reminded this was not done as candidate Obama promised something like it would be done, that no compelling case has been made for it to occur, that no endgame has been elucidated...so max otm is what i'm saying
― HOOStory is back. Fasten your steenbelts. (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm basically holding out for the fantasy scenario of the_west's material self-interest coinciding with a humanitarian success :D
― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
plus a pony
― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Monday, 21 March 2011 21:30 (thirteen years ago) link
so no one cares that this is unconstitutional, i guess
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:05 (thirteen years ago) link
lol are you serious
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Given the visceral hatred of the CinC by some on the other side of the aisle, I await their challenge to the Court. Precedent suggests the Consitution is just another political tool, and the Right knows they will have to abide by a strict interpretation, too.
― What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. (Sanpaku), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:10 (thirteen years ago) link
I heard on NPR an hour ago that Obama had "informed" Congressional leaders, which I suppose meets the requirements of the War Powers Act (which probably needs a constitutional challenge or two). I'm not crazy about what's going on constitutionally either.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm sure this is covered somewhere else itt but how did enforcement of a no fly zone become the degrading of Gadaffi's military capability?
― utterfilth (whatever), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link
um that's kind of what a no-fly zone is?
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I marvel at some of the objections raised against the UN actions here, alternately sad and laughable
Think of planes and tanks as the terminal twigs of a command and control branching tree. Prune severely.
― What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. (Sanpaku), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:14 (thirteen years ago) link
― utterfilth (whatever), Monday, March 21, 2011 6:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark
he can't use planes to bomb the shit out of his own people--any other questions?
― call all destroyer, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:16 (thirteen years ago) link
enforcing a no fly zone
― utterfilth (whatever), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:18 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/21/congress_war_powers_the_president/index.html
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
shoulda said shoot the shit out of his planes, sorry
― utterfilth (whatever), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:21 (thirteen years ago) link
lol'ing at the insinuation that congress would somehow do the right thing here (and in a timely fashion too)
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Nah, I'm pretty sure Congress would have given him the authority, even if it is Barack Hussein Obama -- they're chickenshits when it comes to this.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:24 (thirteen years ago) link
The real question: would Obama have defined "this" as a war?
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link
eh, semantics. more useful to think about what the goals are and how best to achieve them.
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link
uh waht
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
presidents haven't asked Congress for shit regarding the military since Vietnam, a little lat to go putting the rabbit back in the hat, it just isn't going to happen. whether or Obama would define this as a "war" or not is mostly irrelevant. the real question at hand is how far does our moral responsibility to the Libyan opposition extend, and what does meeting that obligation entail.
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm sure glad we got all this sorted out during the last administration.
― Kerm, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry, but that question also requires us to ask whether we have any obligation at all to the Libyan opposition, whatever it is. I'm pretty sure you'd be more uncomfortable if it was Dubya as president.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm pretty sure you'd be more uncomfortable if it was Dubya as president.
ugh
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:36 (thirteen years ago) link
think you have an obligation to the UN. or not! idk. odd debate not happening here between antis who say it's all in america's self-interest and antis who say it's not in the national interest at all.
― BIG GERTRUDE aka the steindriver (history mayne), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:38 (thirteen years ago) link
i would be more uncomfortable if george w. bush was president, yes
― max, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:39 (thirteen years ago) link
because george w. bush was a shitty, incompetent president
― max, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Had to say it! I'm receptive to the administration's argument that abandoning a "pro-reform" movement would send crippling shockwaves across the region; but that's where my certainty ends. I'm just shocked that some of ILX's leading liberals are suddenly indifferent to the reach of a president's war powers.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:40 (thirteen years ago) link
also Gates > Rumsfeld
― ryan, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:40 (thirteen years ago) link
What a comfort!
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:41 (thirteen years ago) link
my feeling is that a u.s. president has zero 'responsibility' or 'obligation' to intervene in a civil war on the other side of the world, as opposed to, say, swearing an oath to adhere to the constitution.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:41 (thirteen years ago) link
radical, i know
seems like ppl may think it's all cool until there are troops on the ground
― call all destroyer, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:41 (thirteen years ago) link
It's also possible that the tension between HRC's hawkishness here and Gates' natural caution eventually produces a mission with real outlines.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry, but that question also requires us to ask whether we have any obligation at all to the Libyan opposition, whatever it is.
This is a perfectly legitimate question, and one I'm largely ambivalent about. On the one hand Kaddawfy seems pretty bad, and I don't like the prospect of him massacring his own people from a humanitarian perspective. And unlike other, much messier ethnic conflicts and civil wars, it seems pretty clear-cut from the recent sequence of events who the agressor is. On the other hand, should we be the world's cops? well we are in many ways, whether I like it or not. But the options here either seemed to be 1) the US acts unilaterally to intervene, possibly with disastrous consequences. I was against this. 2) We intervene in collaboration with other allies and regional powers to present as much of a unified front as possible and share the burden/responsibility of either significantly shortening or resolving this conflict. This is what happened, and while I'm very apprehensive about the outcome, this seems like the best option to me. 3) We do nothing, Kaddafeee butchers the opposition, continues to rule with an iron fist, now even more angry and paranoid than before. This is not really acceptable to me on a moral level.
you insult me.
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:43 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean i dont know what to say, alfred! i am more uncomfortable with a terrible president and his incompetent DoD running a military intervention
― max, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:43 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm glad you're that convinced of Obama's superiority to Bush.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I sure as hell am
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:44 (thirteen years ago) link
(but, yeah, Obama's appropriation of much of Bush's foreign policy guidelines are for now irrelevant -- don't wanna derail thread)
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:45 (thirteen years ago) link
btw, Shakes, I vastly prefer your spelling of Q's name.
Also: your framing of the argument is the most concise I've seen to date. Dubya line officially retracted.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:47 (thirteen years ago) link
The Corner breaks it down for us: "Obama’s pusillanimity has been hugely magnified by the contrast with the women directing his foreign policy and the fact that they nagged him to attack Libya until he gave in."
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262607/they-know-who-wears-pants-country-mark-krikorian
― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:51 (thirteen years ago) link
lol these guys
― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm as wary of the US flexing its muscles overseas as anyone, but hardline isolationism is difficult for me to swallow.
― boots get knocked from here to czechoslovakier (milo z), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:53 (thirteen years ago) link
"Zero responsibility" is basically Ron Paul's argument, isn't it?
― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:56 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post: it is for me too, but i'm in favor of overseas interventions being carried out legally with congressional authorization, not whenever a president decides it's a good idea.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:57 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm on board with the War Powers Resolution being unconstitutional and all, but it's still on the books so...
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 21 March 2011 22:58 (thirteen years ago) link
The Corner has been schizophrenic the last few days; these events have really confused them. Andy "Let's rape Moslems with a rolled-up copy of the U.S. Constitution" McCarthy opposes this while a couple of others wonder why Obama's been such a pussy.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 March 2011 22:59 (thirteen years ago) link