U.S taking action in Lybia

[tom502]

I still haven't seen any action by our Arab partners.

[Frosted]

THE United Nations last night had its fingers crossed that the Libyan rebels it has just backed are not stark, raving lunatics.

He's probably very nice

After sanctioning military action against Colonel Gaddafi, British and US sources admitted they should probably have checked to make sure the anti-Gaddafi forces were in possession of at least a modicum of sanity.

A senior Foreign Office official said: "Everyone was speaking very quickly and we forgot to ask about their general mental health, what sort of things they believe in and whether they simply want to take over Libya so that they can fulfil their spiritual destiny of killing everyone in Europe with a sword.

"It'll be fine. I can see no reason why it should turn out to be like absolutely everything else."

A US state department source added: "It's fair to say that our general dicking about in Muslim countries hasn't always worked.

"We got rid of Saddam not realising that, as well as being a prick, he was also keeping the lid on a big basket full of ****nuts.

"And while Colonel Gaddafi is one of the great psychopaths of our time, he's still not as mad as Mullah Omar, who if you remember got his start in the insanity business through the US-backed mujahideen.

"Nevertheless I'm sure one of my colleagues has already mapped out a post invasion strategy for Libya that won't turn out to be a complete and utter piece of shit."

Roy Hobbs, professor of doing the same thing over and over again at Reading University, said: "I have devised a simple multiple choice questionnaire which could be dropped on Benghazi this afternoon.

"If you come across an American in the desert would you:
a) Give him water, food and shelter as if he was one of your own;
b) Give him water but then pass by;
c) Cut off his head and pee on it?"

Meanwhile the UN resolution was opposed by German chancellor Angela Merkel who insisted 'political pressure' would topple Colonel Gaddafi in just the same way it was used to remove one of her troublesome predecessors

[Frosted]

One other thing that's really funny on the news at the minute here is the heading

Gaddafi Not Targeted by Strikes
and right beside this headline is a photograph of his flattened house.

Excellent comedy.

[Frosted]

Told ya - Israel have started pounding Gaza.

[GoVegan]

All I know is that I am getting sick of paying $4.00 a gallon for gas. I am also getting sick and tired of hearing the politicians tell us how broke we are at the same time they are dropping billions to invade some country that realistically could care less about us. We argue about funding schools, social services and unemployment insurance but we don't give a crap when it comes to funding some war. I think I have finally figured politics out. The Democrats are out to protect the poor while screwing the middle class. The Republicans are out to protect the wealthy by screwing the middle class. Either way we are getting screwed and they aren't using any lube either!

[Joe234]

Anti-War Protests Grow As Deaths, Debt Pile Up

Bring back the Weather Underground



latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-libya-20110322,0,7678106.story
latimes.com

Obama faces growing criticism for Libya campaign

Some U.S. lawmakers complain that President Obama failed to consult Congress before launching military action. The Arab League and Russia also criticize the U.S.-led airstrikes.

By Paul Richter and Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times
6:48 PM PDT, March 21, 2011
Reporting from Washington

Advertisement

President Obama is facing growing criticism at home and abroad over whether the military campaign in Libya is the wrong policy — or the right policy at the wrong time.

Obama, on a five-day tour of Latin America, defended his administration's muscular approach in Libya, saying it was "very easy to square our military actions and our stated policies."

Speaking in Chile, Obama said U.S. military forces would focus on the goal approved by the U.N. Security Council last week, preventing longtime leader Moammar Kadafi's army from attacking Libyan civilians. But he also reiterated that Kadafi should be removed.

He said the United States also would use nonmilitary means, including economic sanctions and an arms embargo, to try to end Kadafi's four-decade rule.

Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders Monday attempting to assure them that the administration was seeking a "rapid but responsible transition" of military command to other members of the United Nations-backed coalition. The letter followed complaints that he had failed to consult Congress before launching military action.

Political analysts say Obama could benefit if Kadafi is quickly ousted, or if there is another quick and relatively bloodless resolution. But if the conflict becomes a stalemate, criticism is likely to mount.

Complaints have already started to escalate. Some early advocates of military intervention, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said Obama may have waited too long to help the opposition in Libya.

A contingent of liberal Democrats, normally allied with the president, condemned the use of military force. Some conservatives, as well as foreign policy experts, said Libya is not a vital U.S. interest.

An antiwar group announced plans for protests in Los Angeles, Chicago and nine other cities this week.

"The president seems to have angered almost every major group: He's either done too much or too little or he's done it too slowly," said James Lindsay, a former official in the Clinton White House who is now with the Council on Foreign Relations. "There's a very real political risk for Barack Obama in all of this."

Among the critics Monday was Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a widely respected voice on foreign policy who has often sided with the administration.

"There needs to be a plan about what happens after Kadafi," Lugar said. "Who will be in charge then, and who pays for this all? President Obama, so far, has only expressed vague hopes."

A group of liberal Democrats, including Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Donna Edwards of Maryland, Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee of California, issued a statement over the weekend saying they "all strongly raised objections to the constitutionality of the president's actions."

Complaints also came from the Arab League, which initially called for imposing a no-fly zone in Libya, a decision that helped persuade the White House to join the fight. Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, lashed out at Washington for launching what he called "a crusade," saying it justified Russia's military buildup.

Administration officials acknowledged the political risk of involvement in Libya at a time when the U.S. is engaged militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, and polls indicate that Americans want Obama to focus on the economy. But they say the president's insistence that he won't send ground troops, the involvement of other countries, and the promise to hand off command should help bolster support for Obama.

Robert Danin, a former State Department official who is a Mideast specialist, said he could not imagine how the mission could prove a political winner for Obama.

Americans are likely to worry, he said, that the United States will be stuck with part of the bill for rebuilding Libya. And U.S. officials, he noted, are still unsure whether the anti-Kadafi forces are necessarily pro-America and pro-democracy.

"The politics of this are just bad," Danin said.

paul.richter@latimes.com

christi.parsons@latimes.com

Times staff writers Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Sergei L. Loiko in Moscow contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

[Premium Parrots]

I'll try not to get too in depth in my comment. Ya'll know I don't talk much politics. But I'm inclined to say.......









theres some great halloween costumes some of them are wearing.

[Joe234]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_838758.html

CNN's Nic Robertson Tears Into Fox News For Saying Libyans Used Him As Human Shield (VIDEO)


The Huffington Post Jack Mirkinson First Posted: 03/21/11 06:41 PM Updated: 03/21/11 08:44 PM




A senior reporter for CNN slammed Fox News for suggesting that he and other reporters who were given a tour of Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Libya were used as human shields by the Libyan government.
Fox News' defense correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, reported on Monday that the British army had been due to fire seven missiles at Gaddafi's compound. But the attack was held off, she said, because Libya had brought journalists from CNN, Reuters, the AP, the Times of London and other news outlets to the compound for what, in the government's words, was a press tour. According to Griffin, the actual reason for bringing the journalists to the compound was to "effectively use them as human shields."


Speaking to Fox News' John Roberts, Griffin said that Fox News had kept its correspondent in the region, Steve Harrigan, away from the tour because the network was "concerned they could be used as human shields."


In an interview with Wolf Blitzer later on Monday, CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, who was one of the reporters on the tour, lashed out at Fox News. He called the report "outrageous and absolutely hypocritical," and said that, when you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from the dictatorship here. You don't expect it from the other journalists."
He said that Fox News had in fact sent a non-editorial, non-technical member of its team to the tour. And he had harsh words for Harrigan himself. "If they had actually been there, Steve Harrigan the correspondent here is somebody I have known for many years, I see him more times at breakfast than I see him out on trips with government officials here," he said. "...We very rarely see the Fox News team..if I sound angry, it's because I am."


Watch:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_838758.html

[Joe234]

-

No bickering. Fox lied. Plain and simple.

[Joe234]

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground.

[Frosted]

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground.

Well F**K ME I never knew that.

[Experimental Monkey]

What a cluster**** all of this is, eh? It's bedlam across the world these days and the way we keep digging ourselves into more debt here in the States we're heading for disaster. Where's Canada in all of this? Oh yeah, that's right, minding their own Goddamn business like we should be. Canada's always too busy with their own shit to bother with pity little wars for personal gain for the administration. Corruption. Goddamn corruption.

[precious007]

ettan OP + coffee

[russki]

ettan OP + coffee

LMAO

[Joe234]

Unless you were under the impression that any news organization in the world is completely unbiased and trustworthy - this is just bickering.



Unless you are the poor non-reporter/non-cameraman who was not sent to not cover the propaganda story in the building that might be bombed - this isn't even a story (CNN's version or Fox's).

If you are that guy - find a new job - fast.

Fox is a liar. They criticized CNN for sending a reporter to Gadhafi's compound yet
they sent one of their own unknown staff.

-----------

Speaking to Fox News' John Roberts, Griffin said that Fox News had kept its correspondent in the region, Steve Harrigan, away from the tour because the network was "concerned they could be used as human shields."


In an interview with Wolf Blitzer later on Monday, CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, who was one of the reporters on the tour, lashed out at Fox News. He called the report "outrageous and absolutely hypocritical," and said that, when you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from the dictatorship here. You don't expect it from the other journalists."

He said that Fox News had in fact sent a non-editorial, non-technical member of its team to the tour. And he had harsh words for Harrigan himself. "If they had actually been there, Steve Harrigan the correspondent here is somebody I have known for many years, I see him more times at breakfast than I see him out on trips with government officials here," he said. "...We very rarely see the Fox News team..if I sound angry, it's because I am."