Queen Elizabeth Hit With A Bat!!!

Well, make that, the Queen Elizabeth II, ocean liner de luxe, is showing what happens when her Captain (and her corporate ownership) gets a clue.

Threaten people's money and they'll do something.  In this case, threaten cruise ship companies with the potential loss of fares (and ships and crews) and they'll start packing heat when they sail through waters known to be inhabited by Somali muslim pirates.

From a couple years ago at a couple of hijackings a week, to now it's been months since the last successful merchant ship was taken by pirates.  You know what changed?  Nothing.  Only, the people at the top of some food chains noticed that when we put guns on merchant ships before, piracy dropped off.  Some of us were calling for arming private vessels against pirates 'way back when it first became a real problem again.  Finally, once again, reality catches up and history starts rhyming.

Oh, Good. I Was Just Thinking . . .

You know, I was just thinking the number of men we were losing to a war we refuse to win was starting to dwindle to too small a number, and then comes this . . .

In Mali, the peaceful religion of peace is waging a war against people who just want to live their lives in peace . . . yes folks, the muslims are on the march in Mali.  France likes Mali.  France has recently begun dropping many Euros worth of ordinance on the "rebels", but those pesky terrorists muslims just don't want to give up!  So, since the whole idea of a standing army is to USE it, it is entirely possible that we are going to be joining France in kicking the shit out of MALI now. 

Great.

Way to Foster Democracy, Guys.

Islamists want a caliphate under a supreme leader.
Leftists in the USA claim to want democracy.
So we helped in the out-kicking of a dictator in Egypt.  Are you with me so far?
Then the islamists elected their own to power in Egypt.
Then the elected islamist rulers excluded the infidels and rushed through a session creating their new constitution  . . . effectively making the new Egyptian President . . .

.
.
.
wait for it
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the new dictator!  Congratulations, President Obama and Secretary Clinton!  Your Smart Diplomacy^® skills have evicted a dictator who was friendly to the USA and promoted stability in North Africa, and installed a dictator who would probably like to nuke the USA and have the whole region consumed with islam-related warfare until peace breaks out.

Peace, of course, to an islamist means only one thing: everybody is either a muslim, paying tribute, or dead.

So, pat yourself on the back American taxpayer; you had a hand in the upcoming war also!  Okay, good night - sweet dreams!

Fitghting the Good Fight

Iraq was bad.  Iraq was Bush's war.  The just war was Afghanistan because Bin Laden was there.  Now that he's dead there will be no more terrorism and we have pulled all our troops out of Afghanistan.  Oh, wait. . . .

Make that, Secretary of State Clinton tries to get Algeria to help us invade frikken MALI in the global war on not-specifically-islam-or-something. Great.

hat tip: Instapundit

Eh, Guys, What Are You Doing There?

Egypt is moving troops to the Egypt/Israel border, with tanks, to Rafah which is across from the "Palestinian Controlled" area at the southwest of Israel. Yahoo! sucks as a news agency, so the 10-photo series I found has no story with it, and I gotta go to work. I have no time for searching, but I don't much care for it. Maybe they are fighting off "militants," sure. And maybe some of us remember 1967.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

In Egypt, the people protested that their country's head was a tyrant. He resigned and a new Prime Minister is in power. He has been given more power than previous officeholders by the military forces of Egypt. He is also old enough to have one foot in the grave just on account of his age.

The protesters in the streets of Egypt don't like him. They say he is the new boss, same as the old boss.

No, there's nothing bad could come from this, nothing at all!

Libya Jumps to Sharia

In a move that came literally out of nowhere, the wonderful modern peaceful people who murdered Qaddafi have announced that, in his absence, they'll be going straight to Sharia as a basis for their new national legal system. You know, the philosophy from the book that says to kill the Jews, Infidels, and Hypocrites? That one.

This would be in the nation where President Obama was instrumental in the notawar that got the dictator out of power without putting official Boots on the Ground in Libya. Without sending in an army, no surprise, we did not find any weapons of mass destruction that may have been sent from Iraq when Hussein knew the jig was up. We also did not find hundreds of "missing" cruise missiles. Funny how that works: don't go in person and you miss some minor details like enough weaponry to destroy Israel.

Let's all practice our surprised faces for when the new muslim government of Libya decides to take a few pot shots at Israel. And remember to NOT be outraged if President Obama only goes as far as making angry frowny-faces at Libya, instead of . . . oh, I don't know, maybe undertaking military action for a change.

Wait, that's not . . . oh hey football; nevermind about Libya, football is on!

Daniel Larison Hits A Home Run

The mission in Libya has succeeded, goes the popular narrative. Daniel Larison hit the nail square on the head and drove it home in one blow. If you don't understand why I don't like what just happened, here are several of the reasons succinctly laid out.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to see if this Larison person has written anything else of merit. I may have someone else to follow here.

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Update, later: As if I didn't have enough to read, I just bookmarked Larison's blog: Eunomia.

Man Is Murdered, CIA Whistles, Looks At Sky

He was captured alive and wanted for trial in the International Criminal Court. He was murdered by his captors before his trial could bring out any interesting secrets.

Street justice, or foreign intelligence agency intervention? Does your answer change when you realize there was a French fighter jet AND a United States' Predator drone flying overhead when he was captured?

Oh, and here's a fun bit of sarcastic consideration for you: We spent $1.1B and got our less-preferred head of state killed without putting any "boots on the ground." We were able to do this, because the boots worn by CIA operatives in uniform is called Tactical Footgear, 1 Each; and the footwear worn by CIA agents in deep cover in Libya are SANDALS.

Boots on the ground, if it means uniformed troops walking around, is exactly ZERO different from flying a predator drone in from Nevada. The United States, under the 'leadership' of President Obama, has committed unprovoked war against a foreign nation, and aided the murder of that nation's leader. By way of contrast, in President Bush's war, we had a straight-up war, caught the guy, then he was duly tried for his crimes and killed by his own State.

Is this the change you were hoping for?

Now We Truly ARE Acting As The World's Policeman! BOO!

WTF America? I thought we elected a dude who was going to end the wars and bring the troops home! Now, in addition to sending (initially) a hundred special forces operators in to central African nations, last night we killed some al-Quaeda big-high muckety-mucks in FIVE air strikes in YEMEN!

They Said If I Voted Republican

. . . we would have more wars in foreign lands. We're sending special forces troops to MULTPIPLE African nations now? They say our men will only fight back. I'm so sure they're just going there to pet the local rabbits or whatever, and no fights at ALL will be provoked, and no military escalation will become necessary on our part.

Surely there's no attempt to get a good case of "don't kick out the Commander-In-Chief during this important election year war!" No, they wouldn't do things to get people killed to further political goals, would they? I mean, aside from a few hundred Mexican and American citizens with illegally-walked Fast and Furious guns... oh, wait.

Bonus points: We're sending troops to help Communists defeat some thug that claims to be a way-out Christian.

Oh Well, There's Always The Next Election . . .

In Nigeria the Christian candidate won the election. The Muslim population accepted it peacefully and went about their lives, promising themselves privately that the next election would see their preferred candidate voted into office, due to their diligent efforts before the ballot is cast.

Oh, wait. No, they didn't, the moslems are rioting and murdering people because the election didn't go their way. Because, you see, Islam is only a religion of peace after you establish the worldwide Caliphate. Until then, war.

This is Why I Hate April Fools Day

because, when totally incompetent people are running the government, you can't be sure whether or not to believe stories like this on April 1st.

SRSLY? When do we get to the point of turning the entire nation of Libya to rubble to prevent harming civilians? The story, in case you didn't click through, is about our policy of preventing harm to non-combatants in Libya's civil war: If the rebels start hurting the civilians, we'll have to start bombing the rebels, as well. It is nice to know that we are at least not taking sides in the matter.

These war planners grew up in government schools, where both the victim and the aggressor in a playground fight were punished. Well, here it is twenty years later. What a frikken mess. Hey here's a question: if our bombing Qaddafi's forces and the rebel fighters because both of them are harming civilians, leads to harming of civilians, do we bomb ourselves? WTF why not just roll a couple hundred thousand peacekeepers? I mean really, why not? It is our business to take care of Libya's (and only Libya's) civil war, right? Or are non-combatant civilians not being harmed in any other countries? I'm so confused. If only the Ministry of Propaganda would just tell me what to think so I could worship President Obama again!

What a wreck. What a tangled web . . . wait, who is being deceived here? Is there a money trail? Did Hillary invest in Libyan currency, or did Soros want an opportunity to do so? It's such a mess, our foreign policy. I would say I can hardly wait for January, 2013 but then I remember what could happen in November, 2012.

Jiffy Lube Meets War Planning

"Now that we're there" talk is coming out. At Jiffy Lube, they will sell you blinker fluid with no labor charge because they can replace it "while we're in there" changing your turn signal oil. But this is war!

It is alleged that the USA will be diminished if we leave Libya alone with Qaddafi in power. You know what? The President doesn't care about/believe in the greatness of America and I hope that leads us to the wise course of action this time. Hawks are talking about how that "now that we are in the fight we need to make sure it is won."

Really? You want to fight a THIRD war? And this one ALSO against an enemy with no uniform, leadership, or visible command structure, and intentionally mingled in with the civilian populace? Invading Libya would be almost as foolish as invading America. EVERYBODY has or can get a gun, and there would not be a time that the people would stop shooting at us. We'd have to practically level the place to get the fighting to stop. Then what? You leave and it starts up again unless ALL of one side is dead. If Qaddafi is still alive and the rebels are still alive, we would have to stay there permanently. Then you need to install a puppet government just in case the locals don't realize what they ought to do for their own good. Then you're nation building and people call you George Bush!

We need OUT of Libya. That includes our troops of all sorts under NATO command as well.

Leave
Libya
'Lone!

P.S. I know everything is George Bush's fault but I am having trouble pinning this new war on him. Some leftist reporter will figure it out, I have no doubt. Do try not to spit coffee on your steering wheel or keyboard (as applicable) when you LOL as they blame Bush for Libya.

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

So we're giving weapons to Libyan resistance fighters. We did this in Afghanistan and it is currently biting us in the [deleted] now that we are fighting the mooj's we gave AKs when they were the enemy of our enemy.

Of course, it will never be the case that weapons we give to Libyans will be used against us. After all, if you don't count CIA spooks and military advisors, we pinky-swear we will not have boots on the ground in Libya. Also Libyan fighters almost-never go outside Libya to fight our men, so . . .

Yeah, this is as bad an idea as the no-fly zone. No US tax dollars should be borrowed from China to send guns to Libya!

Our Dog Is Being Wagged

President Obama sounded(as Ingraham said) Commander-in-Chiefy at times during his speechifying about Libya last night. Some people might say that he boldly, boldly! did bubkis until Hillary had NATO start interfering in Libya's civil war. Any right-thinking person will notice that the excuses reasons they say we are in Libya would apply equally-well to various other nations, but we continue not to go blast heck out of those nations. The question is: Why?

Are we involved because Italy et. al. have a vested interest in Libyan oil? (I thought wars for oil was bad?)

Did Jacques Chirac lose a big poker game to Qaddafi?

Did Qaddafi insult Mr. Soetero and Obama is getting payback for his daddy's sake?

Is Hillary setting Obama up for a fall in 2012?

WTF WHY are we in Libya?

And don't say humanitarian anything, and don't say we're doing violence to prevent violence. Don't say we're not in it for regime change because we have definitely taken sides and made position statements indicating we are AGAINST the incumbent dictator. Whose side are we on? The Libyan people? Then why are we fostering war in their nation? Who is their leader if not Qaddafi? SRSLY Clinton is meeting with the rebels? And she thinks they're going to tell her the truth?

*sigh* Babes in the woods, that's what they are. And the woods are dark and deep (but not lovely).

So . . . Now What?

Having boldly dragged his feet until NATO (inspired by Hillary) told him what to do, President Obama finally started talking tough on Libya. Now we are ostensibly handing over control of the operations over Libya to NATO. We spent a billion or so dollars* and mostly-set up a No-Fly Zone. NATO is not sure what their military goals are, but they got a no-fly zone in place. Great.

Now what?

No-fly zones don't help anyone on the ground. The rebels aren't talking to us and we don't even know who they are** except that they are not-Qaddafis. The fighting continues. We are committed to not committing ground troops in Libya, so what do you do about a ground war? We DO remember it's in their country, not ours, right? Well, are we the world's policeman or not? Does the Vice President move to impeach the President or not? Are we really going to let somebody else do the main body of the work maintaining the no-fly zone? and, more importantly: How is this any of our business, anyway?

If Qaddafi stays in power, is that a problem, according to whom, and what are we going to do about it? Hmm? Anyone? Bueller?

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*an ordinanceman corrected me. I had said ten-thousand dollars smart bombs. He says they are more like $220,000 (each) bombs. No wonder we racked up a billion dollar tab in a week. It's nice to know President Obama is confident we can fit that into the national debt budget.

**the only person mentioning this is Michael Savage: 1/5 of the fighters who came out against our men in Iraq were from Libya. The opposition/rebels/anti Qaddafi fighters are Al Qaeda and we know it. Good luck finding THAT on the nightly news. We're officially hopeful of setting up a leadership vacuum for them to fill. Great.

I'm pretty sure Biden was talking out his [deleted] and will not be moving to impeach now. Hat tip to Uncle for the link to Les Jones who linked up the video with the audio everyone was playing on the conservative talk shows today.

You're Making it WORSE!

President Obama said this weekend the goal in Libya is to stop the violence. In case anyone missed it, we are engaging in violence and blowing [deleted] up over there. Then, when the current holder of power has his power to quell violence reduced, the rebel fighters are encouraged to continue fighting, and even fight harder! We, through our direct action, not only are doing the opposite of what he says we want to do, we are encouraging others to do what we say we don't want to have happen.

Okay, so Secretary Clinton said we have a secondary goal of getting Qaddafi out of power. Others (with actual military experience) disagree, but there's a goal we actually will trend toward with the current action. No comment on the similarities between her husband's attacking Kosovo and Obama attacking Libya, or the company we keep and the parties we support . . . here is something we can DO! Sic semper tyrannis! Throw the bum out!

Oh, and by the way, Mister President: way to play your hand close to the chest. He sent a letter to Congress (from his vacation in Chile) saying he wouldn't send US ground troops to Libya. So not only Qaddafi but his domestic enemies know they need only fear the Great Satan's air power. Further encouragement to continue fighting.

You may guess how surprised and pleased I am with this, but I'll give you a hint: it rhymes with and has the same number of letters as "rot fleased."

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Update (the idea for this post came to me during the morning commute) later in the day: somebody told the teleprompter writers the President was off-topic and now it is "the Policy of the United States" that we want Qaddafi out of power. To be replaced by _______?

This is so none of ours, or even NATO's business.

. . . Me, Or Your Lyin' Eyes?

They gave every appearance of having officially rolled over and it looked for about two hours like Qaddafi was going to start playing nice with the people trying to take his job . . . then the reports of ongoing fighting came in. Still attackin' (or defendin', dependin' on your perspective). So, we have begun to turn his country to sand, one ten-thousand dollar smart bomb at a time. President Obama says we will not be sending ground forces into Libya. Let's hope he doesn't get any cute ideas . . . some of us still remember Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, they are having "real" elections. If the elections don't go our way, then what? Does the commmunity organizer in chief send the CIA to stir up another insurrection? Do we put troops in Libya AND Egypt in the next two years? It is unlikely, but I don't put very much past the incompetents at the top of America these days.

In Which I Waste Your Bandwidth

I protest the no-fly zone over Libya as a gross violation of the "mind your own damn business" rule of international relations. We should let Libyans fight their own civil war.

. . . especially as we have no idea who would come out on top after the dust settled on Qaddafi's grave . . .