mitt’s a foreign policy expert, you know

You had to love the army guy’s expression when Mittens pledged to hand Afghanistan “over to the Taliban military”

🙄

thinking?!

GOPolitico seemed upset about this: “It turns out that if you are a successful enough writer, commentator and author, it’s possible that you can get the ear of the president.”

And they accused Spitzer of “gushing” all over Fareed Zakaria.

It’s true, it would be so much better if the President chose not to listen to respected authorities on the Middle East like Zakaria – why not take the advice of Middle East experts like the two Donalds, Rumsfeld and Trump?

Also troubling for GOPolitico, presumably, was the revelation that the President is spending time “thinking about the issues of the Arab Spring”.

THINKING???

😯

‘smartly played’

President Barack Obama speaks at the La Moneda Cultural Center in Santiago, March 21

USA Today: …. A week ago, virtually no one thought it possible that the Security Council would authorize a no-fly zone over Libya, much less a resolution permitting ” all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

President Obama insisted on this for good reason. It provides a legal basis for the intervention and neuters any claim — useful to Gadhafi and other miscreants — that this is an exercise in American imperialism. It is akin to successful military actions such as the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the mid-1990s peace engineered in Bosnia, and distinctly unlike the 2003 Iraq invasion.

America’s interests are further helped by Obama’s eagerness to reduce the U.S. military profile in favor of others. He demanded that the Arab League not just endorse a no-fly zone but also participate in enforcing one. Several nations agreed.

Obama’s plan to step back within days after the initial attacks and cede substantial leadership to Europeans and Arabs is particularly wise. Both have much more at stake in Libya than the U.S. does. There’s no reason other than hubris that the United States should bear their burden instead.

Against those facts, complaints that Obama moved too slowly look bombastic. Lacking adequate groundwork, he should not have moved at all, and even so, the course of events is disturbingly uncertain.

Military intervention should always be a last resort, and if ultimately necessary, it should be aimed at a clear, attainable goal and fought with total commitment.

Whether the Libyan attack meets that standard remains to be seen. It is a high-stakes gamble, but at least one that appears smartly played at the outset.

Full article here