is my friend.
I haven't posted simply because 1) I've been tire shopping (more on *that* later) and 2) I can't believe what is/has transpired in and around Libya.
And because it's personal between Quadafi and me. The fucker almost killed me. (1)
So yeah, given the chance, I'd make the bastard take a dirt nap, if it was the last thing I ever did.
But the way we're going about doing it, it's the "Uphill Backwards Amateur Hour !!". Remember when Reagan bombed Libya after the Berlin Disco bombing. He was on TV that night saying "YOU'RE G-DDAMNED RIGHT I ORDERED THE CODE RED!!!!" and had the evidence to back it up. Go watch that video. That my friends is distilled, 100% pure, I'd-follow-him-through-the-gates-of-hell-in-gasoline-soaked-underoos, leadership.
The way "we're" doing this makes it looks like the Europeans and the UN are dragging us into this. It feels like that if this goes pear shaped Obama can say "Hey, don't look at me, this is Hillary's War." If it goes well it boosts his "Hawkish" street cred. Well we might have dithered long enough to give Gadhafi a chance to regain control and do a Saddam after Gulf War I on those that have opposed him.
Meanwhile the lack of American leadership is truly telling. Everyone has their finger on their nose and making someone-not-me-farted faces. The Germans want out of any NATO involvement, the Italians want NATO in charge or their airbases (which happen to be closest) are off-limits. The Brits want Quadafi assassinated, which we quickly disavowed (Thank you, Senator Church), and the French want to run the operation by committee, which worked out so well for them in 1871, 1914, and 1940, 1954, and 1958, among others, off the top of my head.
We're not even a week into this and it's a fustercluck. Why ? Because of a complete and total lack of American Leadership. And just who is the American Leader. Remember that it's the guy who *you* wanted to answer that 3am phone call. Well it's still ruttin' ringing, and no one is picking up !!!
Has he been on TV like previous (*cough* Kennedy, *cough* Johnson, *cough*, Nixon, *cough* Ford, *cough*, Reagan, *cough*, Bush I, *cough* Cinton, *cough* Bush II) to explain to the American people why were lobbing cruise missles (at $1.1 a copy) at Mad Muomar ? Has he even talked to Congress (or the heads of various committees) why we are sending American pilots into harm's way ? Hello McFly ??
You can go elsewhere for his hypocritical prior statements and quotes. I don't have TV and AT&T has been dicking around with my DSL (They *reeeeeaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyyy* want me to switch to Comcast), so I'm not as in tune with what our Fearless Leader is doing other the Macarena during Carnival in Rio. Again, is this so he can say "Hey, I was out of the country when Gates and the Joint Chiefs wandered off the reservation !!" ??
Dude, you are IT. You can't vote present when American blood can and will be spilled.
Have you no sense of dignity, sir ?
Have you no honor, sir ?
History and the American people will judge. And neither are kind.
As I posted a while back, if you're going to do it, the do it right, we should have done this when the rebels were gaining ground and Khadfafi was back on his heels. And yeah, try to kill him, as a Colonel he's a legitimate military target (Thanks again, Senator Church). But no, we had to dick around to wait and let the gorram UN finally tell us that he's a no-good-nick and needs to go. But only after killing a small forest and further screwing up traffic in New York City for a couple of weeks.
So Get on TV and show us your War Face !! You've got a War Face, right ?
For those still unsure and some hints for our Fearless Leader here's Dave's Top Ten Reasons To Put JDAM in Khadffadi's Piehole.
1) Pan Am 103. I sooooooo wanted to see several flights of F/A-18's carpetbomb the airport when Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi was getting off the plane in Tripoli, with some Naplam as a nice lovely parting gift as they did a supersonic Fly-by.
2) He's been in power since 1969 and there have not been any elections since then.
3) I know people are worried about "Who takes his place ?" Yes, that person could be worse, he could also be a helluva lot better. You spends your money and you takes your chances.
4) When the French helped us in our Revolution, they didn't do it because they admired our ideals and principles, in fact if Louis the XVI knew what was going to transpire a few years later in his country, the Frogs would have been marching with the Redcoats. The French helped us because the absolutely hated the Brits and were for anything that twisted the Imperial tail.
5) A chance for elections. Hey, freedom is messy. Hopefully those that take power remember our assistance and respond accordingly. Hell, they were begging for Obama to save their bacon when Gadfadi started to regroup. This administration always seems to miss the opportunity to miss the opportunity.
6) Qadhaffi radiates the crazy. So if he's gone, then a source of Middle East (and African) terrorism/pot-stirring goes bye-bye.
7) Yes, Oil. Maybe, just maybe we can go back to 35 cents a gallon (I can dream, can't I), but the markets hate uncertainity. Uncertainty means higher oil prices, certainty means they come down and might even go lower.
8) We just barely missed him in '86, doesn't mean we can't try again in '11. We can say that we have a long memory (Senator Church can go rut himself).
9) There's a real chance for a better world. After what's happened in Iraq, Tunisia, and Egypt (and brewing elsewhere in the ME), it's worth a shot, and if they remember that it was Uncle Sugar that lent a helping hand, it *just* might be enough for the people to ignore the screaming beards that are always calling for jihad against the US.
10) Remember Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" and the rabid dog ? As they say in Texas "He needed killin'. ".
(1) In October of 1988 I had put in for leave over Christmas to go back to the States. CPT White approved my leave so I checked into flying Space Available on a Military Airlift Command flight out of either Ramstein or Rhein-Main and was laughed at by the airmen that answered they phones at those bases. I then went to the Scheduled Airline Ticket Office (SATO) and booked us on a flight to the US. Then about a week or two before we were to leave, Laura McKnight talked to Mary Ann and convinced her to go to the Kristkindlemarkts in Birkenfeld, Idar-Oberstein and Trier and spend Christmas weekend in Germany. So Mary Ann decided we should stay and I should save my leave. I volunteered to pull Duty Officer on Christmas Day, since Mary Ann and Laura would have been out shopping and sight-seeing that weekend, it would give whoever was on the duty roster that day with their family. So now down in my basement in the banker's box labeled "Dave's Army Documents" are our death warrants. The paperwork includes my canceled leave form, our flight reservations and the flight reservation cancellation form along with the credit card slips are in that box. We were booked on Pan Am Flight 103 out of Frankfurt on 21 Dec 1988. So yeah, it's personal.
I also had the chance to meet George "Geordy" Williams once. I ran into Kevin Burk during an field exercise and he introduced us. Kevin and I had gone to MP Officer Basic together and Kevin and Geordy had gone to college together. Kevin had the duty of serving as the Military Escort Officer for Geordy's body back to the states for his burial.
Justice is long overdue.
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