Last week John Bolton remarked that the end game of the nuclear negotiations with North Korea was to replicate the “Libyan model.” Later, Bolton spelled out that what he meant was that all of North Korea’s nuclear devices should be turned over to us and “stored at Oak Ridge.” President Trump was…
Former vice president Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz Cheney appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday morning to promote their new book, Exceptional. The Cheneys spoke about national security, foreign policy issues like the Iran deal, and 2016 politics.
‘Why does the United States fight terror in Syria, Iraq, and Africa but not in Libya?” Idris al Magreibi, 40, a tall, lightly bearded member of Libya’s House of Representatives in Tobruk, was pacing the floor in the offices of the Libyan Mission to the United Nations as he raised the question. He…
Concerned Veterans for America has launched a new video series on the failures of the Obama administration's foreign policy doctrine of "leading from behind." The launch begins with Libya as a case study in what's gone wrong with U.S. foreign relations. Watch the video below:
Zwara, Libya
On Tuesday, Russia announced it was sending 11 warships to the Mediterranean—some of which would dock in Syria, where Moscow keeps a base in Tartus. If some onlookers believed that the “unusually large size of the force” was meant to send a message to Washington, the fact is, the Obama…
Sabratha, Libya
"Libya will travel a long and winding road to democracy."
UK prime minister David Cameron:
The New York Times reports:
The U.N. has quietly released the list of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that will be allowed to attend its “anti-racism” conference on September 22, 2011 in New York. All NGOs that requested credentials to attend the so-called “Durban III” conference were granted permission, except for four…
From: Mme Safia Farkash
As heartening as it is to see Muammar Qaddafi lose his grip on power, our expectations of Libya's future need to take into account this ethnically diverse country’s complicated reality. The biggest problem is Libya's enormous oil reserves.
Libya—Here, west of Tripoli, the revolutionaries are fighting largely without direction from Benghazi's Transitional National Council. I’m traveling with three Sabratha fighters—Rowad, his brother Ahmed, and their cousin Mansur. The goal is to get to the frontline at Adjilat, where they plan to…
Yesterday, Libyan revolutionaries "gave Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s recalcitrant loyalists a four-day deadline Tuesday to surrender," the New York Times reported. Today, Qaddafi has responded, according to the Washington Post:
Earlier today, Syrian security forces arrested the brother of a Syrian opposition leader in exile, Radwan Ziadeh, who is now a George Washington University visiting scholar. Thirty-seven-year-old Yassin Ziadeh was at a demonstration after prayers (for the eid al-fitr holiday), Radwan told me on the…
The New York Times reports that Libyan revolutionaries have set a four-day deadline for Qaddafi's loyalists to surrender:
Last week, when Libyan tyrant Muammar Qaddafi had reportedly fallen from power, Senator John McCain, along with his colleague Senator Lindsey Graham, issued (in part) the following statement:
Zwara, Libya—We’ve arrived in Zwara, which is about 70 miles from Tripoli and 35 miles from the Tunisian border. It’s impossible to get out in any direction, though one could get out to sea, if one fancied a long boat trip.
Bloomberg reports that Syria has been aiding Qaddafi's propaganda machine:
The apparent fall of the Qaddafi regime, and the likely capture (or killing) of the tyrant himself, will signal the end not only of four decades of internal repression and external terrorism, but one of the more vexing orthographic challenges in modern American journalism: the spelling of the…
Zwara, Libya—The coastal city of Zwara, near the Libya-Tunisia border, is under siege by pro-Qaddafi forces who continue to shell the city and appear to be the last of Qaddafi’s forces still fighting in Libya.
As Muammar Qaddafi’s reign of terror presumably comes to an end (or comes close to an end), there is one part of his regime worth saving: the Libyan intelligence service’s files. Tyrants tend to be diligent record keepers, with vast bureaucracies recording every noteworthy misdeed. This is…
“Moammar Qaddafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end. Qaddafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all.”
With Muammar Qaddafi surrounded in Tripoli, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad may be starting to fear more for his future. Perhaps he’s thinking that the international coalition that brought down the Libyan leader may now turn its attention to him—but now with a victory, once thought uncertain,…
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released the following statement on Libya, stopping short of even calling for a "cautious celebration" of Muammar Qaddafi's impending downfall. Instead, Romney, in his statement, hopes now to seek "justice" for the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing:
Rick Perry's campaign just released the following statement on Libya from the Texas governor:
According to the New York Times, Syria strongman Bashar al-Assad is defiant, promising to continue to crackdown on protestors:
Rebels flooded Green Square (now being called Martyr Square) in Tripoli last night:
Western Libya—Only about thirty volunteers of the three hundred strong Martyr Wasam Qaliyah Brigade are gathered around former Libyan army general Senussi Mohamed as he outlines the plan for the liberation of the coastal city of Sabratha, about 90 kilometers north from Qaddafi’s forces. Crouched in…
Last month President Obama called his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, to “discuss a range of bilateral and international issues,” according to the White House, and to formally back Moscow’s arbitration in Libya. Meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a day later in Washington,…
"Pair of votes shows House divided on Libya"
Two resolutions on the Libya intervention failed in the House of Representatives today. One sought to authorize military action, while the other would have limited funding for the operation. Only eight Republicans voted for the authorization measure, and 89 Republicans joined with most of the…
Paul Wolfowitz writes in the Wall Street Journal:
Senators Marco Rubio and Joe Lieberman have an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, arguing for "the removal of the Gadhafi regime [in Libya] and, with it, the opportunity for the Libyan people to build a free and democratic society."
Tim Pawlenty went on Bill O'Reilly's show earlier this evening to react to President Obama's Afghanistan speech:
The following open letter to House Republicans on Libya, drafted by Elliott Abrams, Robert Kagan, and William Kristol, is now being circulated for signature by leading Republican and conservative foreign policy types. The letter argues strongly that the House of Representatives should not act to…
Libyan military officials have left Muammar Qaddafi's army, "defect[ing] in protest [of Qaddafi's] actions against his own people, saying there had been a lot of killing of civilians and violence against women," according to Lebanon's Daily Star.
Former Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney gave a murderous dictator a propaganda victory over the weekend:
Benghazi
The AP reports:
Back in February, weeks before NATO launched its Libyan bombing campaign but after the Tripoli regime had slaughtered hundreds of civilians, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega phoned Muammar Qaddafi multiple times to express his support. Speaking publicly, Ortega declared that the bloodstained…
Hitchens: "Death of a Madman"
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In April, the president decided to give non-lethal aid to the rebels seeking to overthrow the regime. No, not Libya. Not Obama. Not April 2011.
Turkey is a member of NATO, and as such might have been expected to participate fully in the military campaign to curb Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s brutal repression of his rebellious subjects. But from the beginning of international talks on Libya, the “soft-Islamist” Ankara government of…
Amid budget battle, Obama scraps planned trip to Indiana.
The New York Times has apparently come across photos that show atrocities Muammar Qaddafi and his henchmen committed on Libya's own people. "Some depicted corpses bearing the marks of torture," the Times reports, describing the photos they came across. "One showed scars down the back of a man…
Texas senator John Cornyn plans to introduce a resolution in the Senate that would “[express] the sense of the Senate that United States policy should be to remove Muammar Qaddafi from power in Libya, and [cal] on the President to submit a plan to achieve that goal and to seek congressional…
The inherent contradictions between the Obama administration's stated policy aim of removing Moammar Qaddafi from power and the restrictions on the military operations now underway in Libya may be reaching a decisive point. (For more on what's going on in Libya, see AEI's Critical Threats website,…
Senator Marco Rubio offered his full-throated support Wednesday for the U.S. intervention in Libya and called on President Barack Obama to be clear that regime change is the objective of America’s involvement. In an interview yesterday afternoon, Rubio said that failing to remove Libyan leader…
THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained the text of a letter freshman senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent tonight to the Senate majority and minority leaders. In it, Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize the president’s use of force in Libya, and that the authorization state that the aim of the use of…
Western military support for the Libyan resistance has raised urgent questions about the character of those fighting against the Qaddafi dictatorship. Barack Obama’s speech on the Libya mission on Monday night did not specifically mention the rebels, as was quickly pointed out in an Associated…
Robert Kagan roundly praised President Obama for his speech last night on America's intervention in Libya:
The crisis in Libya provides a useful reminder that the world’s demand for American power is rising. This is clearly the case in the Muslim world, which was in turmoil long before the current “Arab spring.” As Senator Richard Lugar recently fretted, “Libya might not be the last of these cases.”…
It’s not war but a “time-limited, scope-limited military action.” The United States has been in the lead, but will be stepping back, ASAP, in favor of command (supposedly) by a squabbling coalition of the not-so-willing. The objective of the “kinetic military action”—which is going to last days,…
Over at Foreign Policy, David J. Rothkopf is trying to understand the Obama adminstration's objectives in Libya. Specifically, he's trying to parse this statement from Ben Rhodes, the White House's foreign policy speechwriter:
The Los Angeles Times reports:
A new CBS poll finds that 68 percent of Americans support President Obama's airstrikes on Libya, while only 26 percent disapprove. CBS reports:
Dictator from Neptune says capitalism killed life on Mars.
Last week, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), composed of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain, sent Saudi soldiers and UAE police across the causeway from Saudi territory into Bahrain, as supporters of a Sunni Muslim monarchy, against massive protests by the…
Giuliani: "We Cannot Create Another Iraq"
Dan Senor, adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, appeared this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss the war in Libya, adding some much-needed expertise to the discussion. Watch the video below:
"The Arab League wanted our help. Until they got it."
Anyone who’s been to a gas station recently knows the feeling. There you are, about to refuel, when you see the price of regular gasoline: about $3.52 per gallon, up 77 cents since 2010. Your pulse quickens. Your stomach sinks. Because this is not a dream. The days of $4.00-a-gallon gas are about…
"How Obama turned on a dime toward war"
CNN reports:
The three senators have just released the following statement:
A disheartening report from Josh Rogin on the G8 foreign ministers' meeting on Libya. "Inside the foreign ministers' meeting, a loud and contentious debate erupted about whether to move forward with stronger action to halt Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi's campaign against the Libyan rebels and the…
Forget Wisconsin, Miami's mayor is recalled by voters angry about tax hikes.
So Obama filled out his NCAA bracket -- we hear he's picked Qaddafi to go all the way.
Mitch Daniels and Medicaid: Michael Cannon for the prosecution, Tevi Troy for the defense.
French foreign minister Alain Juppe "suggested in a radio interview Tuesday that events on the ground in Libya have already outpaced diplomatic efforts," according to the AP.
A bipartisan group of foreign policy experts today sent a letter to President Obama, urging “the United States and its allies [to] stand with the men, women and children of Libya who seek a future of peace and dignity.”
"Is the Imperial Presidency Inevitable?"
Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton writes in the Daily that “President Obama’s indecisiveness has unquestionably limited American options, making almost any potential intervention riskier and less likely to succeed.”
"Why Is PBS Linking to Fake Biographies of Conservatives?"
After three weeks, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s ruthless response to the Libyan uprising has resulted in upwards of 3,000 deaths, according to a Paris-based human rights organization, while a Libyan organization believes the fatalities are more than twice the French estimate. And yet, if it is clear…
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., have just issued a statement about ongoing events in Libya:
The president has wistfully been thinking about how easy it would be to be the leader of the People's Republic of China, the New York Times reports. And one unnamed official told the Times's reporters that "No one is scrutinizing [Chinese leader] Hu Jintao's words in Tahrir Square."
The Obama administration has been recklessly cautious -- and has even go so far as to say that the president "doesn’t want to fall into a Libya trap." But the trap in this case might be to do nothing at all.
The majority Saudi-owned and Dubai-based Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) provides its subscribers in the Arab states with a large number of channels, including movies, music and other entertainment, but is best known for Al Arabiya, the 24-hour satellite news network. And it is Al Arabiya…
NPR is the "Worst Of White Condescension"
The Washington Post reports today that "The United States and its European allies are considering the use of naval assets to deliver humanitarian aid to Libya and to block arms shipments to the government of Moammar Gaddafi..."
The brewing civil war in Libya is likely to drag in much of the region, Central Africa as well as North Africa and the Middle East. Already rumors suggest that this is coming true.
The crisis of the Libyan dictatorship has shamed a number of prominent personalities in academia and culture, who benefited from Qaddafi’s random, but typically excessive, spending on whatever he and his family desired. London School of Economics (LSE) director Sir Howard Davies resigned from his…
On February 22, several days into the Libyan regime’s campaign of terror, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was asked whether the U.S. was going to stand by while Moammar Qaddafi and his military slaughtered their fellow countrymen.
The Scrapbook couldn't help but notice this little gem from today's New York Times article, cheekily headlined "A Libyan Leader at War With Rebels, and Reality":
Iain Levine of Human Rights Watch responds to Michael Weiss's piece "Human Rights Watch and Libya":
The New York Times reports that airstrikes continue to pound rebels in Libya:
At last Wednesday’s White House briefing, CNN’s Ed Henry asked new flack Jay Carney why it had taken President Obama so long to speak out about the violence in Libya.
If you've been reading the news on Libya lately, you've noticed that news organizations don't exactly agree on one essential aspect of their coverage.
President Obama has, at long last, publicly called on Col. Moammar Qaddafi to end his 42-year tenure as dictator of Libya.
Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi just can’t accept the fact that anyone other than al Qaeda wants him gone. CNN reports:
Americans looking for strong, assertive leadership have had to look abroad for an adequate response to Muammar Qaddafi’s brutal crackdown in Libya. That’s because the Obama administration’s response to the conflict has been weak and confused.
A rumor's beginning to spread that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's jet was flown to Minsk, Belarus:
At last Wednesday’s White House briefing, CNN’s Ed Henry asked new flack Jay Carney why it had taken President Obama so long to speak out about the violence in Libya.
It is not surprising to see Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi use any and all means, including the most savage violence, to hold onto power. Qaddafi is, after all, a terrorist.
When campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama often appealed to "what Dr. King called 'the fierce urgency of now.'" And, he would continue, "I believe that there’s such a thing as being too late, and that hour is almost upon us."
The Associated Press reports that one of Muammar Qaddafi's former ministers claims the Libyan dictator himself ordered the Lockerbie bomber attack:
Not so long ago, the acronym 'R2P' was all the rage in foreign policy circles. It stood for the 'responsibility to protect': Sovereign nations, the UN declared in 2005, have a responsibility to protect their populations "from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing."…