This also sends a valuable lesson to the rest of the Muslim world that they better put the brakes on their own attempts to secure Democracy or we will start bombing them.
Isn't the bombing related to the exact opposite of that statement?
Only if you believe in the fundamental benevolence/comptence of first world militaries, I think that's constantine's point.
Not really. It still doesn't make sense even if you parse it that way.
Constantine, just when exactly did you become a raving ideologue.
When I called this a Just War, that referred specifically to the fact that it would be less immoral to start shooting then to stand by and do nothing. That's all. I asked you what you would have had us done and instead of replying you went on a tirade about US imperialism. In fact the only inkling I have of what possibly reply you
might have made is when you refer to the "last 100 years" - can we assume this places you in the school of thought that says the US should have stayed out of World War II?
As powerful and influential as the US is, it's an incredible disservice to the rest of the world to simply claim this war is the US's. They are certainly lobbing the most ordnance, but this is not the US's war, nor is it part of the US's personal agenda. In fact the Administration has already announced their intention to hand off formal command within days. As much as you want this to be the US's war, so you can rail against the evil empire, it's not. The French (and to a lesser degree, the English) pushed it, and continue to drive it. Even the Arab league was behind this, though they're not happy with overkill*. The US wants little to do with this, outside of a few hawkish senators who would be happy to throttle Ghaddafi with their bare hands on national TV.
I suppose the US could do another unexpected 180 in the next 48 hours, with Obama suddenly putting on an outfit stolen from Snidley Whiplash, twirling his mustache and throwing all the Libyan widows out to steal their oil, but what if they don't? What if they do hand off command and recede to a lesser role?
When you speak of "Pliant leadership" you dismiss the locals out of hand. You think the average person in the Middle East isn't aware of the pitfalls of asking for help from the US? Yet they chose to do so - they judged their need was bad enough. But this does not mean that these people are going to just fold, or let themselves be taken advantage of.
You also make the same mistake the Chinese make about democracy. Democracy is something that is seen as "Western" or "American" but the fact that western Democracies have allowed themselves to become corrupt and bloated and to let their institutions fall apart, does not mean that it is wrong for other nations to pursue freedom or democracy, nor does it make it immoral or stupid for those nations to ask for the West's help when they feel they should do so. All it means is that Democracy works best when the average citizen has a stake in it and has a visceral understanding of the collective responsibilities that comes with a vote. Let me tell you, these people understand that far better than most US citizens do. Frankly we are children here. We live soft pampered lives. Even our western militaries. Out there is where the real adults are, fighting and dying.
A Canadian is about as jaded about US influence as you're going to get short of people who have suffered violence at the hands of the American military, and even I'm still not going to say that everything the US does is going to automatically turn to shit.
*
One thing I'll always be happy to concede is the rather trigger-happy nature of the US forces. Though, as stated above, the continuing violation of ceasefires on the part of the regime may justify a response that seems disproportionate right now. I would need to learn more about the actual tactical objectives before judging use-of-force, and we won't get that intel until long after the shooting stops. 
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Topic: Don't you know there's a war on? (Read 77190 times)