If there is one thing that I have learned in my lifetime, if France is eager to use American "military muscle," then try and avoid it at all costs. Matter of a fact, run like hell! French Indo-China (Viet Nam) should be your first lesson learned when looking at their political motives. Besides, wasn't it the French who opposed the United States every step of the way in prosecuting a "worldwide war on terror" from the onset of 9-1-1? Yet, whenever another former vestige, (or an enemy) of its North African colonialism gets into a jam, they want someone else to sacrifice for them. I say, since the French were quick on the accelerator with the Libyan Civil War, we should have said "vous le faites." For those who have forgotten their high school French, it simply means - You Do It. We're always there to help France and take them by the hand and walk them across the road so they don't get ran over by a car...
Look, if any reasonable person would have thought that Moammar Gadhafi was not going to ramp up his attack on rebel insurgents, just because of some United Nations Resolution, they would have been way too gullible for my liking. Gadhafi views this uprising as a civil war and an internal issue. Well, we should too.
And no, I am not a Gadhafi supporter, just a realist. If Libya falls, the power vacuum it creates will grip that nation and then there will be other worries to come. At least with Gadhafi in control you know what you got. Not only that, oil again will flow and end this speculator's dream market if Gadhafi and Libyan people are allowed to deal with its internal problems. If the insurgents want freedom, they need to earn it on their own. Have they not already shown a propensity to steal ammunition, helicopters and planes all on their very own?
And, if that weren't enough for me, well, I just don't trust the damn French. Any country that is supposed to be a democracy and then calls its president's residence the "Presidential Palace" should tell you what level of arrogance there is in their society. Think too, where was the United Nations when France quelled its "Muslim Problem?" Its human rights record against non-French? Not a peep out of the United Nations right?
France has long called itself a staunch ally of the U.S., but they far too often forget the American blood that was spilled on their behalf in World War II and Viet Nam. Of course, shame on President Harry Truman for first backing France in its colonialism in Indo-China & Dwight D. Eisenhower for providing "limited assistance" as Viet Nam fought to free itself from French colonial rule in the Viet Minh War. After the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Viet Nam was officially split into North and South and then we committed to defending them. Kennedy and Johnson escalated the war and the rest, as they say, is history. If anyone is interested in the complete history, I would highly recommend reading "Viet Nam: A History" By Stanley Karnow.
North Viet Nam and Ho Chi Minh, had long been viewed as the enemy, unfortunately, that wasn't the truth. For some reason Viet Nam had always been victim to a slew of foreign invaders. Thousands of years of foreign invaders ranging from the Chinese to the French. In retrospect, Ho Chi Minh was the one fighting an honorable war against a corrupt puppet regime in the south and its misinformed allies. That too thanks to France!
History has shown us that not everything is what it seems. France continues to favor wanting dominion over Northern Africa. Nearly all of the North African nations have French roots, but where does the U.S. Fit into that? When Gadhafi does fall, we will see the true measure of French political motives there. It is more than oil, although that is a part of it. The United States owes nothing to France at this juncture and putting our pilot's lives at risk should have given President Obama pause before taking off to Brazil on yet another family trip at taxpayer expense. That too is getting a little out of hand.
Everyone wants American help, but when everything is said and done we are the fu$king imperialists spreading our will. Well fu$k that. How many times does our military have to go to some s***-hole country that is of no concern to us? Libya is no longer a major threat to anyone given its sad sack state of a military. Sure, he has money and he has funded terrorism in the past, but hasn't that been greatly diminished already? So far as I can see, the only threat is to his own people. In time, that too will change on its own accord if the people are willing to fight for their freedom themselves. Didn't Egypt and Tunisia do it?
Besides, we have to ask ourselves, would the United States tolerate a civil war here?
Then why is it any different in Libya?
~C57 (mikey mike)
If there is one thing that I have learned in my lifetime, if France is eager to use American "military muscle," then try and avoid it at all costs. Matter of a fact, run like hell! French Indo-China (Viet Nam) should be your first lesson learned when looking at their political motives. Besides, wasn't it the French who opposed the United States every step of the way in prosecuting a "worldwide war on terror" from the onset of 9-1-1? Yet, whenever another former vestige, (or an enemy) of its North African colonialism gets into a jam, they want someone else to sacrifice for them. I say, since the French were quick on the accelerator with the Libyan Civil War, we should have said "vous le faites." For those who have forgotten their high school French, it simply means - You Do It. We're always there to help France and take them by the hand and walk them across the road so they don't get ran over by a car...
Look, if any reasonable person would have thought that Moammar Gadhafi was not going to ramp up his attack on rebel insurgents, just because of some United Nations Resolution, they would have been way too gullible for my liking. Gadhafi views this uprising as a civil war and an internal issue. Well, we should too.
And no, I am not a Gadhafi supporter, just a realist. If Libya falls, the power vacuum it creates will grip that nation and then there will be other worries to come. At least with Gadhafi in control you know what you got. Not only that, oil again will flow and end this speculator's dream market if Gadhafi and Libyan people are allowed to deal with its internal problems. If the insurgents want freedom, they need to earn it on their own. Have they not already shown a propensity to steal ammunition, helicopters and planes all on their very own?
And, if that weren't enough for me, well, I just don't trust the damn French. Any country that is supposed to be a democracy and then calls its president's residence the "Presidential Palace" should tell you what level of arrogance there is in their society. Think too, where was the United Nations when France quelled its "Muslim Problem?" Its human rights record against non-French? Not a peep out of the United Nations right?
France has long called itself a staunch ally of the U.S., but they far too often forget the American blood that was spilled on their behalf in World War II and Viet Nam. Of course, shame on President Harry Truman for first backing France in its colonialism in Indo-China & Dwight D. Eisenhower for providing "limited assistance" as Viet Nam fought to free itself from French colonial rule in the Viet Minh War. After the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Viet Nam was officially split into North and South and then we committed to defending them. Kennedy and Johnson escalated the war and the rest, as they say, is history. If anyone is interested in the complete history, I would highly recommend reading "Viet Nam: A History" By Stanley Karnow.
North Viet Nam and Ho Chi Minh, had long been viewed as the enemy, unfortunately, that wasn't the truth. For some reason Viet Nam had always been victim to a slew of foreign invaders. Thousands of years of foreign invaders ranging from the Chinese to the French. In retrospect, Ho Chi Minh was the one fighting an honorable war against a corrupt puppet regime in the south and its misinformed allies. That too thanks to France!
History has shown us that not everything is what it seems. France continues to favor wanting dominion over Northern Africa. Nearly all of the North African nations have French roots, but where does the U.S. Fit into that? When Gadhafi does fall, we will see the true measure of French political motives there. It is more than oil, although that is a part of it. The United States owes nothing to France at this juncture and putting our pilot's lives at risk should have given President Obama pause before taking off to Brazil on yet another family trip at taxpayer expense. That too is getting a little out of hand.
Everyone wants American help, but when everything is said and done we are the fu$king imperialists spreading our will. Well fu$k that. How many times does our military have to go to some s***-hole country that is of no concern to us? Libya is no longer a major threat to anyone given its sad sack state of a military. Sure, he has money and he has funded terrorism in the past, but hasn't that been greatly diminished already? So far as I can see, the only threat is to his own people. In time, that too will change on its own accord if the people are willing to fight for their freedom themselves. Didn't Egypt and Tunisia do it?
Besides, we have to ask ourselves, would the United States tolerate a civil war here?
Then why is it any different in Libya?
~C57 (mikey mike)
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