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2011-03-26 Africa North

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Posted by Fred 2011-03-26 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 The allied ~~air~~ "peace" strikes on Libya continued for the fifth night, with reports of military and civilian casualties.

There, fixed it.

Posted by crosspatch 2011-03-26 00:58|| 2011-03-26 00:58|| Front Page Top

#2 Better continue the sorties as fast as we can before Turkey realizes that it's more than just a no-fly zone and exercise their NATO political committee veto.

Posted by dk70 2011-03-26 09:52|| 2011-03-26 09:52|| Front Page Top

#3 The bombardments so far are said not to have deterred President Qadaffy's forces from continuing their ground operations.

Bombardments alone seldom do. How long until we hear calls from die Hildebeast for military advisors and "nation building?"

Posted by Besoeker 2011-03-26 10:01|| 2011-03-26 10:01|| Front Page Top

#4 Folks are getting a little too enamored of the "bombardments don't win battles" common wisdom. It's generally true, but if there's any spot on earth where it might be particularly or locally incorrect, the open Libyan coastal plains might be that place. People absorbed a lot of stupid ideas from Rommel's gavottes through the desert in WWII, because it was actually possible to play the sort of games he played in that specific theatre, and not anywhere else.

Mercenary armies are fragile, if you break them, the pieces will fly to the four corners of the world. Especially now that Obama mid-levelers are making noises about turning over Gaddafi's frozen funds to "the Libyan people". I couldn't believe I heard that yesterday on NPR. it doesn't even need to be true - just the threat is powerful.

How many of Gaddafi's troops are actual Libyan (presumably western tribal) nationals? Because the foreign mercenaries are ephemeral, aren't they?

Meanwhile, it looks like Syria's coming apart from the sheer drama of it all. Obama's refusal to permit a formal replay of Hama in Benghazi seems to be provoking the Syrian majority & other minorties into testing the standing Alawite threat of a second Hama bloodletting.

Posted by Mitch H. 2011-03-26 10:43|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/ 2011-03-26 10:43|| Front Page Top

#5 Gadaffy's biggest concern has to be holding his mercenary army together. They're the ones who stiffen the rest of his fighting forces. Problem is, mercenaries like to live to spend their money.

If we had a CIA worth anything, and one that could keep its mouth shut, I'd have that CIA working in every way possible to sow dissent and confusion amongst the mercenaries and the pool of potential mercenaries in sub-Saharan Africa. Chad, Zimbabwe, CAR, Zambia, wherever they're coming from, there should be all sorts of disinformation flowing right now. After all, while the mercs' don't necessarily know that air power alone can't win a war, they do know that an airplane can bomb them dead, dead, dead.

Remember boys, you can't spend your money if you're dead.

Posted by Steve White 2011-03-26 14:50|| 2011-03-26 14:50|| Front Page Top

#6 And if they weren't mercs they'd probably already be dead. Do not impose your Western perspective values upon those who've literally grown up in a very Darwinist system where death is treated as much of a natural aspect of existence as breathing. For many of them, as short as life may seem to us, being a merc is the best they're going to experience on this planet. Good, bad or indifferent that's what is. To take a line from an minor movie, "our cuts just got bigger" is just as valid a point from their view.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-03-26 22:49|| 2011-03-26 22:49|| Front Page Top

#7 I gather most of the mercenaries are Touregs.

Posted by phil_b 2011-03-26 23:50|| 2011-03-26 23:50|| Front Page Top

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