Ryan, you've obviously been avoiding the facts: Libyans have been starving for years under Gaddafi. The fact that Americans may only be able to find Libya on a map due to recent events, notwithstanding.
"Professor – The elephant in the corner of this piece is the lack of Congressional approval for this action. It is all well and good that the Arab League and the UN passed resolutions. I don’t care. If Presidents want to use US force, they should have to get Congressional approval first."
Did Reagan seek or get it before he sent US jets to bomb Libya in 1986, after the attacks on the Berlin disco?
Did Bush jnr seek it, immediately after 9/11, before announcing on the still smouldering rubble of the Twin Towers, whilst surrounded by firemen and other emergency workers, "I hear ya - and the people who did this will be hearing from us pretty soon, too!"?
Did Bush snr seek it before invading Panama in 1989?
Did Reagan seek it prior to the invasion of Grenada in 1983?
Did Bush snr seek it when establishing the Iraqi No-Fly Zones immediately after the First Gulf War (1991/2)?
And lastly, the President doesn't require Congressional approval for every NATO mission (as is the case today in Libya) in which US military assets are used - Obama has obviously been the polar opposite to all three above named GOP presidents in thinking about a US response long and hard - and that in the face of Hawk/Fox 'News' whining.
Rather the freedom/opportunity to choose whether one might wish to patronise a McDonald's eatery (or any other for that matter) than have the current starvation diet on which the Libyans find themselves?
"There still are no trained troops to speak of on the rebel side."
Not strictly true: whilst they've not switched sides in battalion-strength, there have been, thankfully, many defectors from the Libyan armed forces joining the side of the rebel movement.
Important to note, too, that the Libyan armed forces (i.e. Gaddafi's forces) are not an army/navy/air force as we in the West understand such forces: rather they are forces for internal oppression and containment of the the Libyan people at the whim of the Gaddafi crime family.
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Ryan, you've obviously been avoiding the facts: Libyans have been starving for years under Gaddafi. The fact that Americans may only be able to find Libya on a map due to recent events, notwithstanding.
"Professor – The elephant in the corner of this piece is the lack of Congressional approval for this action. It is all well and good that the Arab League and the UN passed resolutions. I don’t care. If Presidents want to use US force, they should have to get Congressional approval first."
Did Reagan seek or get it before he sent US jets to bomb Libya in 1986, after the attacks on the Berlin disco?
Did Bush jnr seek it, immediately after 9/11, before announcing on the still smouldering rubble of the Twin Towers, whilst surrounded by firemen and other emergency workers, "I hear ya - and the people who did this will be hearing from us pretty soon, too!"?
Did Bush snr seek it before invading Panama in 1989?
Did Reagan seek it prior to the invasion of Grenada in 1983?
Did Bush snr seek it when establishing the Iraqi No-Fly Zones immediately after the First Gulf War (1991/2)?
And lastly, the President doesn't require Congressional approval for every NATO mission (as is the case today in Libya) in which US military assets are used - Obama has obviously been the polar opposite to all three above named GOP presidents in thinking about a US response long and hard - and that in the face of Hawk/Fox 'News' whining.
Rather the freedom/opportunity to choose whether one might wish to patronise a McDonald's eatery (or any other for that matter) than have the current starvation diet on which the Libyans find themselves?
"There still are no trained troops to speak of on the rebel side."
Not strictly true: whilst they've not switched sides in battalion-strength, there have been, thankfully, many defectors from the Libyan armed forces joining the side of the rebel movement.
Important to note, too, that the Libyan armed forces (i.e. Gaddafi's forces) are not an army/navy/air force as we in the West understand such forces: rather they are forces for internal oppression and containment of the the Libyan people at the whim of the Gaddafi crime family.