[Skybird]

Mogadishu does not cmpasre, there it was a civil population with rifles that went on ram page, it were clan fighters, smugglers, gangster, at best irregular militias. There was no "line army", no conventional C3I.

Gaddhafi uses mercenaries which are trained and for African standards to parts rate as elite units. So I see them as army units, not just some wild clansmen. They have shown to be capable to adopt to NATO airstrike tactics, and by doing so avoiding them. They have a functional command hierarchy, and while blind in the air they are most liekjly capable of gaining intel on the ground. Parts of them are said to be presidential guards from I think it was Angola - well trained elite units. This is no wild mob like in Mogadishu.

400 is enough to launch a small and limited commando operation: quickly in, get some job done, and out. Wheter that kind of missions are part of the MEUs' curriculum, I cannot assess for sure, to me it sounds more like something done by special forces. It is not enough to engage in a ground war when a lasting participation is being planned.

I could imagine that Obama wanted an option to take a harbour or a dock for a while to get ships out, and then withdraing again.

However, I stick to what I thought from the start of the Lybian civil war - airstrikes, intel, training and CAS yes, ground troops and modern weapon deliveries no. Training is a priority on my list.