Before Obama Speaks

Before Obama speaks this evening I want to make a few things particularly clear:

1) Libya is not Rwanda. I was around when Rwanda happened. Rwanda was a clear ethnic conflict. It was not about government it was about two groups of people who were made to hate each other. It was about ordinary people doing un-ordinarily evil things to people they did not know and who had done nothing to them.

2) Obama's own military brass got on TV on Sunday and admitted that Libya posed absolutely no threat to the United States. Without this condition a US president cannot just up and put the military into the middle of a civil war without prior congressional approval. Even Ronald Regan was bright enough to declare that Libya was a threat to the US before he dropped bombs on Ghaddafi's kids.

3) Libya is in the middle of a civil war. Regardless of who you think is right, this is a civil war. It can be ended at any time by those trying to overthrow the government giving up and putting down their arms. I'm not saying that they should, I'm simply stating the facts here. Civil wars are violent bloody things and they are the internal matter of a sovereign state and unless there is verifiable evidence that a war crime is happening such as targeted ethnic cleansing, mass rape, etc. the UN, including the so called Security Council has no standing to interfere.

4) Declarations by the head of state in Libya to "show no mercy" is not evidence of ethnic cleansing anymore than someone saying I'll kill my boss" is indicative that a crime will actually happen.

5) Even IF the no fly zone was somehow legal, the bombing of ground troops is not "no fly zone" but it is in fact a bona fide act of war against the state of Libya and therefore requires the approval of Congress. Furthermore, bombing ground troops and the like is so NOT a part of a no-fly zone that is clearly outside the illegal UN mandate.

6) The UN decision making process does not pre-empt the US Constitution. One cannot make the case that if the UN says it's OK that it's OK under the Constitution.

7) The speed at which the conflict is concluded has no bearing on its legality.


Just want the readership to keep these points in mind when Obama starts talking this evening.