Moammar Gadhafi has been removed from power in Libya and reduced to room temperature.
(Politico) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mounted a strong defense of her formal rival’s foreign policy on Sunday, describing President Barack Obama as showing “smart leadership in a complex world.”
“What we’ve seen from President Obama over the last two-and-half years and, remarkably, with the events of the last six months is that his kind of smart leadership in a complex world is paying off,” Clinton said on “Fox News Sunday”. “He was the one who brought [Osama] bin Laden finally down. He was the one who put together a coalition that eventually removed [Muammar] Qadhafi. So I think it’s important that in this very complex, dangerous world that we have someone in the White House who understands America has to lead. But we have to look at every situation and make the right decision.”President Obama is the one who brought together the coalition that got Gadhafi? Let's see what other said about Obama's leadership on Libya.
Time:
But the bigger question for Sarkozy and Cameron is how to run the operation without U.S. leadership. Indeed, the main push to bring NATO into play came from Washington, where Obama — a late convert to military action in Libya — is loath to get U.S. troops entangled in another war in a Muslim state after Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bloomberg:
...While Obama had declared on March 8 that Qaddafi must go, he was reluctant to back up his words with U.S. military might until other nations stepped up and the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians.NY Times:
During the 96 hours after Obama entered the Situation Room that day, his reluctance evaporated. The Libyan dictator vowed to destroy opposition “rats,” the Arab League pledged to help enforce the no-fly zone it endorsed days earlier and countries opposed to the military intervention -- Russia and China -- agreed to put aside objections. Finally, European leaders agreed to take the lead with the U.S. playing a supporting role.
Yet this small and successful war will have major strategic consequences for both NATO and the European Union, as a result of President Barack Obama’s decision to “lead from behind,” and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refusal to get involved.The French president and the British prime minister should be spiking this football. President obama and Hillary should be looking humble.
After the first days of the conflict, Obama signaled that U.S. strike aircraft would no longer be put in the firing line, and that the United States would not lead the coalition’s operations. This was the first time since the Cold War that the U.S. decided to neither exercise leadership nor fully share risks in a war in which it was otherwise participating.
3 comments:
And the Brits thought that they hated feeling like a poodle under Bush. They dragged us into Libya and our halfhearted efforts turned days not weeks into a punch line, and now we're taking credit?! Brilliant. 'Course that might be smart on their part so they can blame us when undesirable elements take over Libya. It will always be our fault.
I personally think the celebrations are a tad too soon AH. I've got the sneaking suspicion NOBODY, let alone the poor bastards who actually fought to over throw him, are going to like what replaces him.
Exactly. G is gone, but with no foundation laid for a better replacement. The world may have thought us terrible in Iraq, for instance, but we had to provide enough stability and security for a better outcome. True we might be squandering that now, but Iraq still has a much better shot at good government than Libya ever did with Operation Odyssey Dawn.
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