One Libyan Jet
2011-03-23 - by
Oh Lord, will we ever learn from our mistakes?
There’s a restaurant near my office with a dozen television sets lining the walls (usually turned to basketball games) but the other night they were all turned to CNN and Fox as a Libyan fighter went down in flames and a cruise missile blew apart Gaddafi’s backyard and it was like those folks sitting there were watching a new reality show: The War.
Who would have thought it possible: Barack Obama declaring war on Libya and shooting down Gaddafi’s air force? As that Libyan fighter crashed you could feel the opening-day war euphoria surge through the room but then during a commercial a fellow at the bar drawled, We’ve been here before and done this before. Someone ought to ask these guys, ‘What’s different this time?”
But no one is asking.
We declared war on the villain Gaddafi on Sunday but right on the front page of the newspaper the next day the State Department was saying it will be fine if the villain is still in charge after the war.
And Gaddafi doesn’t seem in a panic about President Obama blowing up his air force – so maybe he’s figured out cruise missiles won’t whip him (anymore than they whipped the Taliban) and, beyond that, he doesn’t need to worry about the Marines landing in Tripoli because the President’s already announced that won’t happen.
Back in the old days we had a pretty straightforward way of fighting wars: Use overwhelming force and charge. Like on D-Day. That changed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead we carefully figured the minimum amount of force we needed to use to win. And used it. But it didn’t work out. Those wars went on longer than World War II. So, by now, you’d think when even a President says the words, Limited War, we’d have figured out it’s only a matter of time before he says the single word, Quagmire.
But here we’ve gone and done it again.
Watching the Washington politicians prepare for another war is like watching the Keystone Cops movie. We’re going to get rid of Gadhafi. We’re not going to get rid of Gadhafi. We’re not going to lead the attack. We are leading the attack. Once his air force is done Gadhafi will be broken and finished and all we’ll have to do is pick up the pieces – but how can anyone believe that after Iraq or Afghanistan?
One Libyan Jet
2011-03-23/
Oh Lord, will we ever learn from our mistakes?
There’s a restaurant near my office with a dozen television sets lining the walls (usually turned to basketball games) but the other night they were all turned to CNN and Fox as a Libyan fighter went down in flames and a cruise missile blew apart Gaddafi’s backyard and it was like those folks sitting there were watching a new reality show: The War.
Who would have thought it possible: Barack Obama declaring war on Libya and shooting down Gaddafi’s air force? As that Libyan fighter crashed you could feel the opening-day war euphoria surge through the room but then during a commercial a fellow at the bar drawled, We’ve been here before and done this before. Someone ought to ask these guys, ‘What’s different this time?”
But no one is asking.
We declared war on the villain Gaddafi on Sunday but right on the front page of the newspaper the next day the State Department was saying it will be fine if the villain is still in charge after the war.
And Gaddafi doesn’t seem in a panic about President Obama blowing up his air force – so maybe he’s figured out cruise missiles won’t whip him (anymore than they whipped the Taliban) and, beyond that, he doesn’t need to worry about the Marines landing in Tripoli because the President’s already announced that won’t happen.
Back in the old days we had a pretty straightforward way of fighting wars: Use overwhelming force and charge. Like on D-Day. That changed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead we carefully figured the minimum amount of force we needed to use to win. And used it. But it didn’t work out. Those wars went on longer than World War II. So, by now, you’d think when even a President says the words, Limited War, we’d have figured out it’s only a matter of time before he says the single word, Quagmire.
But here we’ve gone and done it again.
Watching the Washington politicians prepare for another war is like watching the Keystone Cops movie. We’re going to get rid of Gadhafi. We’re not going to get rid of Gadhafi. We’re not going to lead the attack. We are leading the attack. Once his air force is done Gadhafi will be broken and finished and all we’ll have to do is pick up the pieces – but how can anyone believe that after Iraq or Afghanistan?