No Fly Zone

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by Cohaagen

At last count there were 750 or so European KIA in Afghanistan alone, the dead including Italians, French, Danes, etc., all killed aiding the US in a conflict that doesn't even remotely concern them. I suppose that lonely, isolated, wounded feeling of 12th September 2001 has finally faded completely from the American consciousness...and yet still, to quote the famous banner flown by some socialist Eurotrash destroyer crew, "We Stand By You". Quite why, given the reversion to chauvinistic type, I have no idea. Like the Australians in Vietnam, the European contribution won't feature in the popular record. Being furriners, they count for exactly jack ****.

I should have said "rest of the world" instead of Europeans, but could not resist. Apologies

It just seems like the same people who criticized the US for intervening in Afghanistan and Iraq are now asking the US to intervene in Libya.

However, the mood now in the USA is closer to the post-vietnam era. The US has lost the will to intervene in the affairs of another country after the debacle in Iraq. The country is still struggling with a massive recession and huge deficits. It has 150,000 troops tied up in Afghanistan and Iraq. It will not take the lead and shoulder the responsibility for Libya.

The only way a military intervention will occur in Libya is if the European countries take the lead. Libya and North Africa are in the French and Italian sphere of interest, as they have been fonding of rubbing in for decades. France and Italy, with the support of Germany and the UK (and USA and Canada) could mobilize the required force.

On the other hand, if the big 4 european countries cannot be bothered to organize a proper military response on their own, in their own backyard, why should the US be expected to shoulder the responsibility?