The neocons are trying to talk us into war -- again --- By Michael Lind

Tuesday, Mar 8, 2011 07:01 ET

The neocons are trying to talk us into war -- again

By Michael Lind


"They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing," Voltaire said of the members of the Hapsburg dynasty of his day. The same might be said of the American hawks who are calling for U.S. military intervention in Libya's civil war.

snip:

In Afghanistan, Afghan rebels played a key role in deposing the Taliban regime. But contrary to the promises of the Bush administration that the Afghan War would be short and decisive, the objective was redefined from removing the Taliban to "nation-building" and the conflict was then thoroughly Americanized. The result is today’s seemingly endless, expensive Afghan quagmire.

The lesson of these three wars is that the rhetoric of lift-and-strike is a gateway drug that leads to all-out American military invasion and occupation. Once the U.S. has committed itself to using limited military force to depose a foreign regime, the pressure to "stay the course" becomes irresistible. If lift-and-strike were to fail in Libya, the same neocon hawks who promised that it would succeed would not apologize for their mistake. Instead, they would up the ante. They would call for escalating American involvement further, because America’s prestige would now be on the line. They would denounce any alternative as a cowardly policy of "cut and run." And as soon as any American soldiers died in Libya, the hawks would claim that we would be betraying their memory, unless we conquered Libya and occupied it for years or decades until it became a functioning, pro-American democracy.

snip:

Robert Gates recently told an audience of West Point cadets:

" In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it."


Gates is right. Those who propose U.S. military intervention in Libya, even as the U.S. remains bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, should get their heads examined.

link to full article:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/08/lind_libya_no_fly&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily%20Newsletter%20%28Not%20Premium%29_7_30_110

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

As official Washington buzzes with talk of possible U.S. military intervention in Libya, the majority of U.S. voters continue to favor a hands-off approach.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States should get more directly involved in the Libyan crisis. Sixty-three percent (63%) say America should leave the situation alone. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings echo those in a survey in late February when 67% said the United States should stay out of the political situation unfolding in several Arab countries including Libya.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2011/63_say_u_s_should_stay_out_of_libya_crisis

A US expert on Libya, writing in Newsweek magazine Sunday, directly compared an intervention in Libya to the long-term US role in the Balkans. The political situation in Libya, he wrote, “suggests the Balkans rather than neighboring Egypt or Tunisia as likely precursors for state building in Libya. And as with the Balkans, the international community could have a large and positive role to play by providing expertise and, temporarily, security forces.”

In other words, Libya is to be turned into a semi-colony, ruled by the United States and its fellow predators from Western Europe, who will seize control of the oil reserves and transform the country’s territory into a strategic base of operations against the mass uprisings now sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/pers-m01.shtml

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Americans are wary of the current chaotic political situation in several Arab countries including Libya but strongly believe the United States should stay out of the picture.

snip:

However, as with the recent turmoil in Egypt, most Americans (67%) say the United States should leave the situation in the Arab countries alone. Just 17% say the United States should get more directly involved in the political situation there, but another 17% are not sure.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/israel_the_middle_east/67_say_u_s_should_steer_clear_of_political_unrest_in_arab_nations