Tuesday, October 16, 2012

AP: White House Considering Retaliatory Strike in Libya


Wag the dog.

From Boston Globe, citing AP (10/16/2012):

White House faces dilemma in Libya attack response
Strike forces, drones on alert in North Africa

WASHINGTON — The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali — if investigators can find the Al Qaeda-linked group responsible for the death of the US ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.

But officials say the administration is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on Al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group’s profile in the region, alienate governments the United States needs to fight it in the future, and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking responsibility for security at a US consulate in Libya where an assault by extremists on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks killed the four Americans.

Pushing back against Republican criticism of the Obama administration for its handling of the situation, Clinton said Monday in Lima, Peru, that security at all of America’s diplomatic missions abroad is her job, not that of the White House. She made the comments in several television interviews.

‘‘I take responsibility,’’ she told CNN. ‘‘I’m in charge of the State Department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world (at) 275 posts. The president and the vice president wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They’re the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision.’’

(Full article at the link)


I still remember how the government and the media put the spin on the news of the attack. It was blamed on the anti-Islam movie, or that's how they wanted us to sort of believe.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OT or almost ;

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/10/15/lagarde-tokyo-slip-tongue-carefully-planned-announcement.html

http://www.dedefensa.org/article-guerre_mondiale_et_sans_fin__17_10_2012.html

Atomfritz said...

I feel reminded of the Nazi order to kill one hundred Serbian civilians for each German soldier killed by Serbian partisans.

In Afghanistan almost daily several dozens of civilians get killed by US drones, and the Western mass media does not tell a single word about this mass slaughtering of peaceful citizens.

The Americans brought the Taliban plague over Afghanistan and Pakistan. They turned over Saddam Hussein, who was a dictator, but people sadly remember the personal and religious freedom they enjoyed at Saddam's laizist government, which has been factually abolished now by the religious extremists that now govern, as the new weak puppet regime cannot keep them down.

Same in Libya. Gaddafi was a dictator, but people had personal freedom, because the religious extremists were kept down. Now the Libyan religious extremists strangle people and destroy the cultural heritage of the people like the Taliban do in Afghanistan.

And the Americans still wonder why more and more Arabs become hateful against the West, but in particular against USrael.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Atomfritz in the US media drone strikes only kill the "bad guys" when they turn out to be a wedding party we blame bad intelligence from our allies and get on with the next drone strike. It reminds me of the nightly news during the Vietnam war, innocent civilians were never mentioned when the newscaster recounted the "insurgent" body counts.

After the My Lai Massacre only 1 of the 14 top level officers charged went to trial and he was aquitted. The only person to be slightly punished was 2ndLt. Calley he was convicted of premeditated murder for ordering the shootings of hundreds of unarmed citizens. He was initially sentenced to life in prison at hard labor however, two days later President Nixon had Calley released, pending appeal of his sentence. Calley's sentence was later adjusted to three and one-half years under house arrest at Fort Benning. In contrast the three U.S. servicemen who tried to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were initially denounced by several U.S. Congressmen as traitors in an attempt to cover up the massacre. These brave men received hate mail and death threats during combat operations and found mutilated animals on their doorsteps. Later the military honored them for their heroic actions (actually 30 years later).

We wouldn't even see the tip of the atrocity iceberg if it wasn't for true human beings like Hugh Thompson, Jr. it takes true courage to stand up against the majority during a war. You'll never see a Hollywood blockbuster about his life regardless of how heroic he was because of stuff like this:

"Thompson flew over the northeast corner of the village and spotted a group of about ten civilians, including children, running toward a homemade bomb shelter. Pursuing them were soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company. Realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese, Thompson landed his aircraft between them and the villagers. Thompson turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them that if the Americans began shooting at the villagers or him, they should fire their M60 machine guns at the Americans: "Y'all cover me! If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!" He then dismounted to confront the 2nd Platoon's leader, Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker:

Thompson: Hey listen, hold your fire. I'm going to try to get these people out of this bunker. Just hold your men here.

Brooks: Yeah, we can help you get 'em out of that bunker—with a hand grenade!

Thompson: Just hold your men here. I think I can do better than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr.#My_Lai_Massacre

Anonymous said...

I think there isn't much to be said.

Anonymous said...

if you ask me, i thinks the COMANDER & Chief ordered this hit !!!
The drones are over US soil now, 30,000 of them, ... who is operating them, .. foreign troops ?

Anonymous said...

>> And the Americans still wonder why more and more Arabs become hateful against the West, but in particular against USrael.


The people here in the US believe the Arabs hate our freedoms because this is the line coming out of the mainstream media.

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