If you think the US went into Iraq for oil, you should also bear in mind that it would have been cheaper to buy oil on the open market than wage war for an extended period of time. Just my two cents. $120/barrel isn't high enough to go to war over.
It looks like pretty minimal chance of ground involvement, though. If airstrikes count as a war, we've been at war with Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. way before 9/11.
This will be over quickly. The US involvement will probably be limited to a supporting role (missiles, not planes). We probably wouldn't be involved at all, but come election time, it wouldn't look good if Libya was "liberated" and the current administration did nothing.
I don't recall Team America being about carefully following international law and getting approval from the UN after the majority or regional governments ask for help. I guess I need to re-watch that movie.
On September 11, 2001, the Libyan government condemned the attacks against the United States. In 2004, the US ended economic sanctions against Libya; only crypto/munitions-related sanctions remained. In 2006, the US restored full diplomatic relations with Libya. In 2007, Libya was elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council for two years.
Someone brought this same thing up on Reddit. I'll just recycle my comment from there (but with more genteel language):
I'm curious. How big of a budget increase for NPR would it take to stop Gaddafi from crushing the rebellion and massacring the rebels and many many uninvolved civilians?
I suppose if Gaddafi were a contestant on "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" and won Carl's voice on his home answering machine, he might feel so happy he just could not bring himself to order the next round of killings. Or maybe if "This American Life" were on more, he'd get caught up in some of those great stories and forget about the revolt? Maybe Gaddafi is crazy because there's a weird noise in his car, and if only "Car Talk" were on 7 days a week instead of 1, a solution to his problem might be revealed, and then he'd stop being crazy?
In other words, what the heck does NPR's budget have to do with the situation in Libya?
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 64.9 ms ] threadLike most South Park material it seemed crude and ridiculous on the surface, but underneath the surface its sadly accurate.
Today we're at war... How times change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103
What is shameful is that it took this long to remove that parasite.
"U.S. fires 110 tomahawk missiles, each costs $569,000. That's more than 5 years of NPR federal funding in less than an hour."
Anyone else think Ike was right about that military industrial complex?
I'm curious. How big of a budget increase for NPR would it take to stop Gaddafi from crushing the rebellion and massacring the rebels and many many uninvolved civilians?
I suppose if Gaddafi were a contestant on "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" and won Carl's voice on his home answering machine, he might feel so happy he just could not bring himself to order the next round of killings. Or maybe if "This American Life" were on more, he'd get caught up in some of those great stories and forget about the revolt? Maybe Gaddafi is crazy because there's a weird noise in his car, and if only "Car Talk" were on 7 days a week instead of 1, a solution to his problem might be revealed, and then he'd stop being crazy?
In other words, what the heck does NPR's budget have to do with the situation in Libya?
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianoce...