McCain, Lieberman Beat War Drums on #Libya

Neocons to the rescue. Looks like they've got the marching orders, bypassing Obama.

John "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain and Joe "Let's charge Julian Assange with treason" Lieberman just returned from their MENA (Middle East, North Africa) tour, and strongly urge Prez Obama to lead the way in imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

Just so that we know without any illusion, imposing a no-fly zone will mean the US bombing Libya: "To establish a no-fly zone, the U.S. and its allies would need to bomb Libya's air defense system and devote hundreds of aircraft to patrol the country, military officers say" (LA Times).

Let's see, considering that US special forces and military advisors have been in Libya since February 23, and several hundred Marines are on the way, the US seems ready set to enforce a no-fly zone as soon as it convinces itself it has the good enough mandate - doesn't need to be the UN's, doesn't even need to be the Nato's, but as long as the US key allies (UK, France, possibly Italy) agree and participate.

From Reuters (3/1/2011):

Two senior senators called on President Barack Obama to lead the way in imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and said Washington should use trade and investment to support what they called a full-scale revolution in the Arab World.

Senators John McCain, a Republican, and Joe Lieberman, an independent, just returned from a North Africa and Middle East tour and spoke with leaders emerging from the upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia. They also visited Israel and Jordan.

In a joint Reuters interview, both senators called for a no-fly zone over Libya. The Obama administration has been discussing with NATO allies the creation of such a zone and U.S. ships have moved closer to Libya.

"I believe that (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi's days are numbered and we should do everything in our power to shorten the number of days so that we can relieve the misery of the people of Libya," McCain said.

And they also have this to say about the net social media:

Speaking about the way social media played a role, the two senators said Tunisian opposition leaders asked them if they could possibly get Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to visit.

"Because he was the most popular man in Tunisia," said McCain.

(Ugghhh.)

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