Gates: Kadhafi did not pose an "actual or imminent threat", Libya was not a "vital interest"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110327/pl_afp/libyaconflictus_20110327194518

Obama labors to answer Libya critics
by Lachlan Carmichael

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Obama administration defended its intervention in Libya on Sunday by suggesting that refugees fleeing Moamer Kadhafi would have destabilized neighboring Egypt and Tunisia. President Barack Obama is struggling to convince a war-weary American public preoccupied by domestic economic concerns that US involvement in Libya is necessary and that he has a clear idea of what the endgame is. Lawmakers, including many from Obama's own Democratic Party, are angry that Congress was not consulted before troops were deployed and have raised concerns that the Libya mission is ill-defined and the exit strategy unclear.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton toured the Sunday morning news shows, paving the way for Obama to deliver a prime-time address at 7:30 pm (2320 GMT) on Monday to answer his critics. But a frank admission from Gates that Kadhafi did not pose an "actual or imminent threat" to the United States and that Libya was not a "vital interest" provided yet more ammunition to the president's foes...

Gates and Clinton offered the usual argument that the United States had to intervene quickly in Libya for humanitarian reasons and also made a broader case that inaction would have had disastrous knock-on effects for the region. "It was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest," Gates told ABC's "This Week" program.

"There was another piece of this though, that certainly was a consideration. You've had revolutions on both the east and the west of Libya," he said, noting that refugees fleeing Libya could overwhelm Tunisia and Egypt. "So you had a potentially significantly destabilizing event taking place in Libya that put at risk potentially the revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt. Egypt is central to the future of the Middle East," Gates added...

Think of the children!

L'Etat, c'est moi.

Is this really solely a humanitarian mission? Makes me wonder if all wars will now be in the guise of a humanitarian mission. Too bad George Bush didn't know how to frame a war to get the liberals on board without having to lie about weapons of mass destruction.

In late February, Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has said the death toll from the unrest could be as high as 800. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put the estimate at more than 1,000.

That number was raised to 2,000, then 6,000 and is now 8,000. Yes, I remember that Saddam massacred 3,000 Kurds in three weeks, but were the numbers multiplied to provoke outrage and support in order to take this despot out?

(and I know I'll be criticized for even suggesting this, it's just that large numbers ending in all zeros used to support a position seem suspicious)

Jesus H. Fucking Christ.

You've gotta be kidding me.