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Two Presidents and their dealings with Libya. First CNN from June 20th, 2018

Seven years after Obama's 'worst mistake,' Libya killing is rampant
Years after then President Barack Obama made what he has described as his worst mistake by not adequately planning for the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, Libya remains in chaos. In the past seven years, four nations have conducted air strikes in Libya and hundreds of civilians have died in those strikes.

As the protests of the Arab Spring swept through Libya, Gadhafi mounted a war of attrition against his own people describing those who were protesting his rule as "rats."

The Obama administration helped steer a UN resolution to take military action to protect Libyan civilians, which resulted in a US-led NATO intervention in Libya. Gadhafi was eventually killed by rebels.

So President Obama basically took out Gadhafi and did not think far enough ahead to understand the consequences of his actions. Typical feckless moron. Gadhafi may not have been a real friend of America and he was a dictator but he was good to his people and ran a capitalist economy. He was not an idiot. Arabs respect power and when a strong leader is deposed without someone to take over, Katie bar the door.

President Trump? From CBS News:

Trump sends $50 million in emergency financial assistance to Syria
Donald Trump announced Saturday night that the U.S. will send $50 million in stabilization assistance to Syria. The money, according to the Office of the Press Secretary, is to "protect persecuted ethnic and religious minorities and advance human rights."

"This funding will provide emergency financial assistance to Syrian human rights defenders, civil society organizations and reconciliation efforts directly supporting ethnic and religious minority victims of the conflict," the statement reads.

"We hope regional and international partners will continue their contributions as well," the statement continues. "Ensuring the freedom and safety of ethnic and religious minorities remains a top priority for this Administration."

Classic Art of the Deal negotiation. Here is a nice juicy carrot. We still have our stick and will use it if we do not like what we see but in the meantime, here is another nice juicy carrot. And $50 million is chump change compared to the cost of our military involvement. From Forbes, March 28th, 2011:

The Real Cost Of U.S. In Libya? Two Billion Dollars Per Day.
The one thing most experts seem to agree on about the current coalition air campaign in Libya is that it won't cost much. A leading think tank estimated the price-tag for patrolling Libyan air space at $30-100 million per week, while the Navy's top budget official described Libyan air operations as falling within the "normal operating cycle" of his department. Rear Admiral Joseph Mulloy told trade publication Inside the Navy on March 21, "The incremental cost of use of the Navy and Marine Corps is low, because we're already funded and we are trained and worked up." He went on, "We don't have to pay extra to be there." As a result of such fiscal reassurances, Congress has focused mainly on the goals of the operation and what precedents military action might create, rather than the cost.

The Two Billion Dollars Per Day in the title refers to the sunk cost of the infrastructure used over there.

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on October 15, 2019 6:58 PM.

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