This is the paradigm for new age planning. All planning course in military collages and MBA courses can be tossed in the rubbish bin. The subtlety in planning and intelligence in execution is breathtaking. Meanwhile the rubes in Egypt enjoyed the rioting so much the last time that they are at it again.
Ministers admitted yesterday that they have no idea how long the military operation against Colonel Gaddafi could take.
Asked for an estimate, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said: 'How long is a piece of string? We don't know how long this is going to go on. We don't know if this is going to result in a stalemate. We don't know if his capabilities are going to be degraded quickly. Ask me again in a week.'
The comments come as a defiant Muammar Gaddafi made a speech on Libyan state television last night in which he claimed said he was ready for entrenched conflict, saying; 'In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them.'
The Libyan leader was said to have delivered the message to supporters at his residential compound near the capital Tripoli which was hit by an allied cruise missile on Sunday. He denounced the 'unjust' action against his country and called those taking action against Libya as 'crazed fascists'.
And as Tory MPs expressed fears that the war could last for 30 years, Foreign Secretary William Hague added to fears of an expensive and open-ended commitment, saying that it was impossible to put a deadline on British involvement
Mr Hague said: 'It's too early to speculate. It depends what happens one way or another. I don't think you can put a deadline or a time objective to that. We need to do those things as long as it is necessary, and that will depend on how people react in Libya, the reaction of the Gaddafi regime, on so many factors.'
In a major speech last night, he added: 'We will continue to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 until there is a complete and genuine ceasefire and an end to attacks on civilians.'
Liberal Democrat Mr Harvey went further than any minister yet in admitting that ground forces may be needed.
The UN resolution rules out an 'invasion' and an 'occupying force' but not ground force assistance to protect civilian lives.
France has proposed that a new political steering committee outside Nato be responsible for overseeing military operations over Libya. The proposal comes just a day after Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons that Nato would be in charge of enforcing UN Security Council resolution 1973.
But on Tuesday Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that it would only "help enforce" the no-fly zone, not lead it.
French Foreign Minister Alain Jupe said the new body would bring together foreign ministers of participating states - as well as the Arab League. It is expected to meet in the coming days, either in Brussels, London or Paris.
It also keeps the Turks out, since Turkey is part of NATO and is opposed to the Libyan War.
Mr Jupe said "not all members of the military coalition are members of Nato and this is therefore not a Nato operation."
The French announcement came after Mr Cameron's spokesman hinted at a compromise over control, saying: "We the Government want to see the machinery of Nato used."
Sky News defence correspondent Niall Paterson said: "Nato will coordinate what goes on, tactically, on the ground while there will be a supervening body above that."
"They have devoted a lot of resources to getting the no-fly zone in place."
I say let the French lead it. Obama sure doesn't want to, and it would be good for a major Euro power to take on the headaches and problems of making a coalition work. Perhaps Sarkozy could call Dubya for pointers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2011 16:22 ||
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Steve, you're definitely on to something with that last remark. Bambi and the Euros should just outsource leadership of the war to W. He's decisive, unlike some presidents I can think of; he's got the experience, unlike some secretaries of state I can think of; most important from Bambi's point of view, he's willing to take responsibility when things go wrong and not look for folks to throw under the bus; and the mere idea would probably cause Daffy's troops to surrender to the nearest goat. Appoint "Mad Dog" Mattis as his technical advisor, and we're good to go.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/22/2011 17:36 Comments ||
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Gawd, Matt - would that it would happen!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2011 18:59 Comments ||
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I remember the last time the Euros led. The Brits and the Frogs, actually. '56 it was. Suez. Ike left them high and dry. New time, same place, same deal.
#4
I think it would be cool if the Euro's paid for this nonsense too!
Posted by: Jefferson ||
03/22/2011 20:15 Comments ||
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#5
"Amateur hour over? Hopey Changey turning out to be the bullshit we all knew it was? Need a real President? Come on down to Crawford and visit W's Rent-A-Pair. Pairs available in traditional solid brass, titanium, and for those really tough decisions, depleted uranium. Clang when you walk, don't chime like Baccarat crystal!"
Posted by: Matt ||
03/22/2011 20:17 Comments ||
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#6
Damn it, Matt - you owe me a new monitor!
ROFLMAO :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/22/2011 20:59 Comments ||
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My pleasure, Barbara.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/22/2011 21:09 Comments ||
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Maybe thats Germany's problem with this whole thing. The Turks said no to NATO involvement and Germany has a large Turkish immigrant population that has remained relatively quite. Does Turkey a NATO member have any boots on the ground in Afganistan?
Posted by: Retired LEO ||
03/22/2011 21:31 Comments ||
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#10
Ike left them high and dry. New time, same place, same deal.
Wonder if the MFM will compare Obama to Ike, then?
#11
Wonder if the MFM will compare Obama to Ike, then?
But President Eisenhower was a fighting general first, right? Clearly nothing like the current iteration, as they will no doubt say in high indignation... and not understand the smothered snickers that ensue.
I do apologize for that, but it all puts me in a mood.
Egypt has rearrested Ayman al-Zawahri's brother, only days after he had been released from prison as part of a wider effort to free Mubarak's political prisoners. Muhammad al-Zawahri, an Islamic Jihadi, will be retried in the 1998 conviction for which he was given the death penalty in absentia. Zawahri had been jailed since 2000 for conspiring to overthrow the government, but his supporters have accused Egypt of holding him to obtain information about his brother.
Like that's a bad thing!
He was released from prison last Thursday, and then rearrested at his home Sunday morning.
Time enough for a long, hot shower, a home cooked meal, and a conjugal visit with his wife... the memories of which will keep him going for another decade in Egyptian prison.
With U.N. coalition forces bombarding Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi from the sea and air, the United States part in the operation could ultimately hit several billion dollars -- and require the Pentagon to request emergency funding from Congress to pay for it.
The first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn had a price tag that was well over $100 million for the U.S. in missiles alone. And the U.S. military, which remains in the lead now in its third day, has pumped millions more into air- and sea-launched strikes targeting air-defense sites and ground-force positions along Libyas coastline.
The ultimate total that the United States spends will hinge on the length and scope of the strikes as well as on the contributions of its coalition allies. But Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said on Monday that the U.S. costs could easily pass the $1 billion mark on this operation, regardless of how well things go.
The Pentagon has the money in its budget to cover unexpected contingencies and can also use fourth-quarter dollars to cover the costs of operations now. Theyre very used to doing this operation where they borrow from Peter to pay Paul, said Gordon Adams, who served as the Office of Management and Budgets associate director for national security during the Clinton administration.
The White House said on Monday it was not prepared to request emergency funding yet, but former Pentagon comptroller Dov Zakheim estimated that the Defense Department would need to send a request for supplemental funding to Capitol Hill if the U.S. militarys share of Libya operations expenses tops $1 billion. Such a request would likely be met with mixed reactions in a Congress focused on deficit reduction.
In a report released earlier this month, Harrison estimated that the initial stages of taking out Qaddafis coastal air defenses could ultimately cost coalition forces between $400 million and $800 million. But the coalition is now targeting his ground forces in an effort to protect civiliansa factor that Harrison said will drive up the initial costs of the operation.
At some point, though, we will have degraded his forces to the point that there are not that many targets left, Harrison said. So wed expect to see the sortie rate start to drop off.
Meanwhile, Harrison initially estimated that maintaining a coastal no-fly zone after those initial strikes would cost in the range of $30 million to $100 million per week. If the coalition continues to strike ground targets, the weekly costs would be closer to the higher range, he said.
On the first day of strikes alone, U.S.-led forces launched 112 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, which cost about $1 million to $1.5 million apiece, from ships stationed off the Libyan coast. That totaled $112 million to $168 million. Since those first strikes, U.S. and British forces have launched at least another 12 Tomahawk missiles.
The Defense Department typically buys about 200 Tomahawks a year. While the military likely can put off buying new missiles for months, it will ultimately need to boost planned procurement rates to refill its stockpile.
Defense budget watchers said the deployment of guided missile destroyers and submarines would not put a major dent in the Pentagons accounts because the ships were already deployed to the region. But the U.S. military has tapped its B-2 bombers as well as F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to strike a number of targets, undoubtedly forcing an immediate uptick in the militarys operations and maintenance expenditures, including fuel costs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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They were 1.5 million a hit. But since Uncle Sam buys in bulk, the price is more around 132,000 last I saw. Definitely expensive.
#3
Why would Zero let the military replenish stocks? There's a budget crisis, doncha know? What quicker way to de-fang the military than allowing them to shoot off all their toys?
Color me cynical.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/22/2011 6:47 Comments ||
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Add in the F-15 that just crashed.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/22/2011 8:13 Comments ||
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#5
Given the trouble this guy causes, it's worth it. And more.
It was an all-too familiar display of backtracking, a quintessential show of Arab world disunity that elicited groans in Middle Eastern policy circles, Western capitals, and among many ordinary Arab citizens who have grown weary with the way the Arab League works -- or not works as is more often the case.
The international sighs followed Arab League chief Amr Moussa's statement slamming Western military strikes on Libya over the weekend.
"What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone," said Moussa on Sunday. "What we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians."
The people at the air defense sites are not 'civilians', so we're cool.
Western powers sensitive to any portrayal of the international Libyan operation as an attack by the West on a Muslim country, had placed unprecedented weight on the calls for a no-fly zone resolution by the Arab League and the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
Moussa's statement at such a critical time was not welcome in policy circles that had pushed for an international intervention in Libya. It was however seized by pundits and columnists wary of another Western involvement in a Muslim nation.
But by Monday, the backtracking had begun.
At a press conference with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Cairo on Monday, Moussa stood by UN Resolution 1973, which was passed late last week.
"The Arab League position on Libya was decisive and from the first moment we froze membership of Libya," said Moussa, before adding, "...then we asked the
United Nations to implement a no-fly zone and we respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it."
Over the course of its 66-year existence, the Arab League has established a well-deserved reputation of disunity, showcased in the popular Arabic quip, "the Arabs have agreed not to agree". This time, Ban Ki-moon, the seasoned diplomat, was having none of it.
"It is important that the international community speak with one voice to implement the second council resolution," said Ban, referring to UN Resolution 1973.
Although Moussa is firmly back on the international-one-voice bandwagon, his seemingly inconsistent Sunday comments did leave many experts scratching their heads.
"When European powers and the US go to war in the Arab world, there are basically two narratives," explained Christopher Dickey, Middle East editor at US Newsweek magazine. "The western narrative is about victory, while the Arab narrative is about victims. Clearly, Gaddafi's people want the narrative of victims. "I think Amr Moussa was caught up in the old narrative."
"I don't think he was speaking for the Arab League, he was not speaking as the chief of the Arab League, he was speaking as an Egyptian presidential candidate," said Dickey. "It's not about the Arab League, it's about Amr Moussa."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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Notwithstanding Amr Moussa's resemblance to Jerry Lewis, he reminds me of an Arab John Edwards.
phoniness - check
always posing - check
in love with himself check
attention to appearance check
constant talking points check
I help the victims check
However he is older (75 yr old) than Edwards.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/22/2011 7:25 Comments ||
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he reminds me of an Arab John Edwards.
On first reading, I read this as an "Arab John Kerry." My bad.
#4
Mojo I have been thinking the same thing. El Quaddafi is part of a tribe. Remove him but you still have to deal with a tribe and they have long memories. I do enjoy hearing the places mentioned like Tobruk.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has said a foreign That'd be Iran...
plot against his Gulf Arab kingdom had been foiled and thanked troops brought in from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbors to help quell weeks of unrest.
Hamad's announcement came after a day of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Bahrain and Shi'ite-ruled Iran.
"An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years until the ground was ripe for subversive designs ... I here announce the failure of the fomented plot," he was quoted as telling troops in a report on state news agency BNA overnight.
Had such a plot succeeded in one Gulf Arab country, Hamad said, it could have spilled into neighboring states.
The ferocity of last week's crackdown, in which Bahrain called in Gulf troops, imposed martial law and drove protesters off the streets, has stunned majority Shi'ites, the main force behind the protests, and angered Tehran.
Iran, which supports Shi'ite groups in Iraq and Leb, has complained to the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... and asked neighbors to join it in urging Sunni-led Soddy Arabia to withdraw forces from Bahrain.
In a sign of rising tensions between the countries, Bahrain expelled Iran's charge d'affaires on Sunday, accusing him of contacts with some opposition groups, a diplomatic source said.
He left shortly after the Iranian ambassador, asked to leave last week. Iran expelled a Bahraini diplomat in response.
Bahrain has also said previously that it placed in durance vile opposition leaders for dealing with foreign countries.
More than 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shi'ites, and most are campaigning for a constitutional monarchy, but calls by hardliners for the overthrow of the monarchy have alarmed Sunnis, who fear the unrest serves Iran, separated from Soddy Arabia and Bahrain by only a short stretch of Gulf waters.
Bahrain complained to Arabsat on Sunday over "abuse and incitement" on Iran's Arabic-language Al Alam television, Hezbullies's Al-Manar and Shi'ite channel Ahlulbayt, which are all carried by the broadcaster, state news agency BNA said.
Bahrain's political crisis has been the subject of a media war between pro-Iranian channels and Bahraini state television. Both have accused each other of incitement.
Bahrain also condemned a protest outside the Saudi consulate in Tehran, after reports on Saturday that some 700 demonstrators broke windows and raised a Bahraini flag over the gate.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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Venezuelan His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez has blasted the military attack on Libya, saying the "indiscriminate bombing" by the Western alliance is causing civilian casualties.
"Civilian victims have now begun to appear because some bombs are launched - 200, 400 bombs from out there at sea - and those bombs fall where they fall," the News Agency that Dare Not be Named quoted Chavez as saying on Sunday.
With the second round of aerial strikes in Tripoli, Chavez called the US, Britain and La Belle France to "the aggression against Libya," adding that the still-unfolding crisis in the North African country can be resolved only through dialogue.
He made the remarks one day after the US, Britain and French fighter jets, ships and submarines shelled positions of pro-Qadaffy forces with Tomahawk and Stormshadow cruise missiles.
French fighter jets carried out several strikes in the opposition-controlled east as part of efforts to muscle out pro-Qadaffy forces, who hammered Benghazi in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Anti-aircraft fire erupted in Tripoli on Sunday, marking the beginning of a second round of foreign forces' strikes on the country amid reports by the Libyan media that civilians are being killed during the aerial assaults.
"The Yankee empire took the decision to depose Qadaffy, to take advantage of the insurgency to topple him, and even kill him, and over an ocean of blood take possession of the (Libyan) oil," Chavez stated.
"Don't even think of coming here for Venezuela's oil," he warned the US government against adopting any similar measure in the South American country.
Experts have echoed similar concerns, saying the main motive behind the Western allies' attack is the vast oil reserves in Libya.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Sunday dominant powers occupy other countries to gain their interests under the pretext of supporting people.
A front man for anti-government forces in Libya has said more than 8,000 Libyans and opposition forces have been killed since the onset of the revolution on February 15.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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"Oceans of Blood" has a nice ring to it. And LOVE the parrot.
He's the Salafi imam who is the intersection point between a number
On a chilly night in the dead of a New England winter, Yasir Qadhi hurried down the stairs of Yale Universitys religious-studies department, searching urgently for a place to make a private call. A Ph.D. candidate in Islamic studies, Qadhi was a fixture on the New Haven campus.
But Qadhi had another life. Beyond the gothic confines of Yale, he was becoming one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam, drawing a tide of followers in the fundamentalist movement known as Salafiya. Raised between Texas and Saudi Arabia, he seemed uniquely deft at balancing the edicts of orthodox Islam with the mores of contemporary America. To law-enforcement agents, he was also a figure of interest, given his prominence in a community considered vulnerable to radicalization. Some officials, noting his message of nonviolence, saw him as an ally. Others were wary, recalling a time when Qadhi spouted a much harder, less tolerant line. On this night, however, it was Qadhis closest followers who were questioning him.
It was a conference call with 150 of his students at the Al Maghrib Institute to discuss the Pantibomber, who had been one of Mr. Qadhi's students. A tape of the call was given to the journalist by one of the listeners, in which he urged his students away from violence. Andrea Elliott writes long, well-researched pieces, specializing in Muslims at home and abroad -- on the various jihadis the religion has thrown up over the past decade, and on Muslims trying to reconcile tradition with becoming good Americans. This piece is all of eleven pages long, so you pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea, make a small plate of Girl Scout cookies (it's the season!), and settle in.
Some interesting ideas the first 80% of the article. Seems to go off the rails at the end though when he accuses the CIA of intentionally targeting civilians.
[Ma'an] Islamic Jihad and Fatah leaders met in Gazoo city on Monday, following a Fatah invite, and discussed President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. He was one of the founding members of Fatah. Since no one would talk to him anymore in the wake of the Karine A incident, Yasser Arafat appointed Abbas prime minister in 2003. Arafat then proceeded to pretend there was no such thing as a prime minister and Abbas resigned in frustration in October of the same year. Arafat keeled over dead from AIDS the next year, and Abbas ran in the presidential election in January 2005. Fatah managed to split down the middle between the Greedy Old Guard and the Young Bloodthirsty Guys for the legislative elections, which threw the whole thing to Hamäs. This resulted in a Government of National Unity™, which worked about as well as those things usually do, and Hamäs soon beat up Fatah's goons and threw them out of Gazoo. Recently Hamäs points out, accurately, that Abbas' term as president has expired, but refuses to allow any elections to take place, which prevents him from gracefully stepping down. This the sort of thing we usually expect in Paleostine... ' planned visit to the coastal enclave.
The meeting was hosted in the Fatah offices in Gazoo City, where officials reviewed the current Paleostinian political situation and bilateral relations, according to a statement from Islamic Jihad .
Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Nafth Azzam said the meeting focused on ways to foster reconciliation, and set an agenda for continued meetings as efforts for unity go forward.
Alongside Azzam at the meeting were Khader Habib, and Khaled Al-Batsh. For Fatah, those present included Zakaria Al-Agha, Abdullah Abu Samhadaneh, Diab Al-Loh, and Hisham Abdul Razzaq.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Leader of the Islamic theocracy Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the new movement that has begun in the Middle East and North Africa "will definitely be victorious."
"I announce that... that a new movement has begun in the region, this is the movement of Mohammedan nations, with the slogan of moving towards Islamic objectives, and [therefore] it will definitely be victorious," Ayatollah Khamenei said in his speech on the occasion of Nowruz in the holy city of Mashhad.
"Events which have recently taken place in the region, in Tunis, Libya, Egypt, and Bahrain are very important events... a fundamental development is taking place in the Islamic-Arab region which indicates the awakening of Mohammedan nations," the Leader said.
"The Americans were baffled by these events...They could not analyze the events correctly and because they lacked an accurate analysis of these events they adopted contradictory stances," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader added that the US has always thrown its support behind dictators. "They defended [ousted Egyptian dictator] Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... until the last minute and when they no longer needed him, they threw him away."
Ayatollah Khamenei said Mubarak's fate should be a lesson for US-backed rulers and "they must know that when their expiration date arrives and they lose their usefulness they will be thrown away like a used tissue."
"The real hypocrite is the US. With regards to Egypt they said we are with the [Egyptian] nation but they lied. They cooperated with the nation's enemy until the very last moment. They said the same thing about Tunis, that we support the people. Now the US president sends a message to the Iranian people that we support you," the Leader said, referring to US President Barack B.O. Obama's message to the Iranian people on the occasion of Nowruz.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2011 00:00 ||
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All over the Middle East right now you have a lot of Moslems stomping around in their own flaming turds. And you you may be wondering who to support and who to wish a hearty raspberry.
Well, if you have the time...here is a good rule of thumb. If they are friends of Iran or Hugo Chavez, or if Iran or Hugo Chavez says they are cool or being "victimized"(you can ALWAYS know an Arab is full of crap when he does his "victim" schtick). Guarantee you when any Arab pulls a face and goes"victim" on you, he's a bad smell holding a frozen dead baby.
Anyway, if Iran and Chavez are pulling for someone Arab...spit on that and step on it. Right now Syria is where the next real piece of action is. Syria is anus buddy with Iran...and Syria is full of people who would like to see Assad face down in the bucket. We should support THAT hard. We should ALSO go on ignoring the "Palestinians" who are feeling neglected at present and hope Israel bombs them blind and we can grin and wave when it happens.
In Libya, encourage the French to go get'em and pile on the frog's legs and Freedom fries. Aim for KaDaffy's head and lie about it to the press. Hand Obama a damp towel and a spearmint and hope he stays in Rio.
BUT and however, anybody Iran hates give THOSE people a new helicopter and and more guns. And if Chavez says we are after the Oil...he's right. Support any greasy little big nose who can deliver the pipeline to the Port.
You dont HAVE any friends who are Moslems but SUPPORT the ones who would like to see Iran choke on a pointed stick.
And as for Chavez....nice parrot there, big guy.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
With U.N. coalition forces bombarding Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi from the sea and air, the United States part in the operation could ultimately hit several billion dollars -- and require the Pentagon to request emergency funding from Congress to pay for it.
It was an all-too familiar display of backtracking, a quintessential show of Arab world disunity that elicited groans in Middle Eastern policy circles, Western capitals, and among many ordinary Arab citizens who have grown weary with the way the Arab League works -- or not works as is more often the case.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has said a foreign
His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez
