Leaders dither as Gaddafi prepares for final showdown

Way to go to all those who encouraged the Rebels and condemned Gaddafi and suggested a no fly zone and then did not one damn thing.

Obama is only showing the world once again he is no leader in any way shape or form.

France24 - Leaders dither as Gaddafi prepares for final showdown

Muammar Gaddafi's forces are pushing towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and predict they will suppress the rebel uprising within days. Meanwhile, world leaders continue to dither on imposing a no-fly zone over the country.

REUTERS - Muammar Gaddafi's forces pushed towards the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Wednesday and his government predicted victory within days while world powers debated imposing a no-fly zone to help stop him.

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Councilman said:

Way to go to all those who encouraged the Rebels and condemned Gaddafi and suggested a no fly zone and then did not one damn thing.

Obama is only showing the world once again he is no leader in any way shape or form.

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Oh I don't know. He leads the way in PARTY politics.

Councilman said:

Way to go to all those who encouraged the Rebels and condemned Gaddafi and suggested a no fly zone and then did not one damn thing.

Obama is only showing the world once again he is no leader in any way shape or form.

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C'mon! The b-ball picks are waaaaaaaaaay more important than this. :rofl

Marshabar said:

Oh I don't know. He leads the way in PARTY politics.

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What the hell is Obama doing up there?

Councilman said:

Way to go to all those who encouraged the Rebels and condemned Gaddafi and suggested a no fly zone and then did not one damn thing.

Obama is only showing the world once again he is no leader in any way shape or form.

Click to expand...

I feel badly for the Libyans who are fighting and dying for freedom. I may be wrong, but I think they thought the rest of the world would help them. While I don't believe for a moment that we should have put boots on the ground, I am disappointed that we didn't provide a no-fly zone to take the Libyan air force out of the equation. But then neither did the French who were first to talk about it. And neither did anyone else.

There must be a reason. Maybe the world is figuring that Gaddafi is a lesser evil than what might happen if he were deposed....and if the rebels weren't organized enough to pull it off, the country would be ripe for the pickin' for much worse than him.

MaggieD said:

I feel badly for the Libyans who are fighting and dying for freedom. I may be wrong, but I think they thought the rest of the world would help them. While I don't believe for a moment that we should have put boots on the ground, I am disappointed that we didn't provide a no-fly zone to take the Libyan air force out of the equation. But then neither did the French who were first to talk about it. And neither did anyone else.

There must be a reason. Maybe the world is figuring that Gaddafi is a lesser evil than what might happen if he were deposed....and if the rebels weren't organized enough to pull it off, the country would be ripe for the pickin' for much worse than him.

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I agree... it's not really just about Obama, look at the rest of the world. With the earthquake, I guess everybody lost sight of this story in the middle east. It's all very tragic... lots of sadness in the world right now, and we honestly can't do everything... save Haiti, Libya, Japan, Egypt, free Iran, stop Saddam, stop Bin Laden, etc.

MaggieD said:

There must be a reason. Maybe the world is figuring that Gaddafi is a lesser evil than what might happen if he were deposed....and if the rebels weren't organized enough to pull it off, the country would be ripe for the pickin' for much worse than him.

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Ding! We have a winner!

While I sympathize with the rebels, I absolutely do not want to see the US get involved. There is no US interest in what happens here. Gaddafi has been contained and muzzled for some time and he is no threat to the US. The last thing we need is yet another never ending, do gooder nation building project. Plus the support for the rebels may not be as widespread as we first thought. The uprisings are limited to the eastern part of Lybia, there is no guarantee the rest of the nation would fall in line under the rebels' leadership if Gaddafi was deposed. Without a strongman like Gaddafi, the country could plunge into civil war. And lastly, there is a distinct chance our "help" would not be warmly recieved. Remember the predictions of how we'd be welcomed as liberators in Iraq went? US action against Gaddafi would only give him more material to use for propaganda.

I'm glad Obama has shown the good sense not to get involved. While I'd love to see Gaddafi toppled, I'm not ready to invest American treasure and blood to see it happen.

Councilman said:

Way to go to all those who encouraged the Rebels and condemned Gaddafi and suggested a no fly zone and then did not one damn thing.

Obama is only showing the world once again he is no leader in any way shape or form.

Click to expand...

One of the biggest opponents of a no-fly zone was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush Administration. Next in line was Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Call it a pet theory, but I imagine one reason European countries like France don't want a rebel rout is they don't want a bunch of refugees from another North African (Muslim) country. They'd be more than happy to see us take on this project. No thanks. Frankly, I'm burned out on nation-building exercises. We can't afford it, and, regardless of what we do, we're always the bad guy. Let someone else own this problem.