Libya: No-Fly Zone or No-Sense Zone?

Photo: AP Images

This week the UN Security Council approved a resolution to use force against the military of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, for "humanitarian reasons" in response to his attacks on civilians and rebel forces opposed to his regime. The vote was 10-5, with abstentions from permanent members Russia and China.

There has been mixed reaction from the American people and Congress, with Libertarian/Republican Ron Paul and several Democrats questioning not only the wisdom, but also the constitutionality, of US participation in military action against a sovereign nation without congressional approval.

This action has also raised the question as to when and where will the US and international forces intervene. Will Bahrain or Saudi Arabia, where the governments have also used force to quell civilian protests, be next? Diplomats and politicians have claimed they are trying to avoid a genocide by Qaddafi. But the President of Bahrain has killed more civilians in his nation that the Libyan dictator has. So what are the criteria for intervention?

Yesterday French military aircraft began attacking Libyan tanks and artillery positions. Canadian, Italian, Dutch and British forces are gearing up to participate in the next day or so. The Arab League has also pledged their support, after petitioning the UN for the resolution.

The Obama administration says it intends to limit US involvement, at least initially, to air support and missile attacks to take out Libyan air defenses. While it is probably a good idea to limit our participation in this way, it is unwise to tell our opponent our intentions Gen Cash . It would have been better to keep that information close to the vest and let Qaddafi worry about whether he would have to face the full force of the United States military and not just our air power.

11 US warships, including 3 submarines and the aircraft carrier Enterprise are already on station in the region. In fact American naval vessels have already launched cruise missile attacks along the Libyan coast.

This author will admit to mixed feelings about our participation in this military action. There is no doubt that Qaddafi is a maniacal dictator and a terrorist, who has murdered Americans, as well as his own people. It is likely that we should have assassinated him long ago for ordering the terrorist attack on Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. But we didn't and to commit military forces to his ouster now seems like overkill in a Fourth World nation that poses no national security threat to us here in America.

Those doubts were reinforced by an interview Saturday evening on 'Conservative Republican Forum' with Clare Lopez- a Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy and a former-CIA operations officer- and retired USAF Brigadier General Jimmy Cash. Both experts confirmed that we don't really know who the Libyan rebels are. Unlike in Iran, where those that rose up were clearly opposed to the Shariah Law that has been imposed upon them, in Libya the long-term intentions of those we're supporting are less clear.

You can listen to the full interviews here.

For the United States to be supporting the Libyan rebels, who we know very little about and who may very well have been the people celebrating in the streets when Megrahi- the Lockerbie bomber- returned to Libya as a national hero, could be a huge mistake.

Then there is the fact that President Obama waited 4 weeks, until after the opportunity to virtually crush the rebels, to act. This action may simply be too little, too late. To risk American blood and treasure at this late date seems very questionable to me, especially when we are already involved in wars in Iraq and the Afghan/Pakistan theatre.

Perhaps using CIA and special ops assets to supply and support the rebels might make sense... Maybe. But to commit military forces even if it is only air assets, without congressional approval, to supporting a rebel force that may be no better than Qaddafi in the final analysis may be folly.


Steven Rosenblum is the host of ‘Conservative Republican Forum’ on BlogTalkRadio and was the 2010 GOP nominee for Florida House- District 89.

Herman Cain- Exploring A Presidential Candidacy

Herman Cain talks to grassroots leaders and activists.

Saturday morning prospective presidential candidate Herman Cain, radio show host and former-CEO of God Father's Pizza, visited with a group of grassroots activists in West Palm Beach to let them know why he is exploring the possibility of running for President of the United States. 

Mr. Cain was warmly received and addressed several issues, including: Obamacare, illegal immigration, energy policy, the economy and how he would fix Social Security.

The possible candidate also answered several questions from the group on topics like how he would address rank-and-file union members. 

I asked him if he favored repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment, which would return the selection of U.S. Senators to the State Legislatures. His answer was refreshing, especially coming from someone considering a run for President. He admitted he hadn't really considered or researched the topic.

The United West Comes To Palm Beach

Sunday, March 6th 2011- Palm Beach, FL

This afternoon at the Mar-A-Lago Club on Palm Beach Island a little over 100 people gathered to learn about a new project, spearheaded by the director of the Florida Security Council Tom Trento.

The United West is an educational/activist organization aimed at informing the public about the dangers of “creeping” Shariah and Jihadism, not just to the United States, but also to Israel and the whole of Europe.

Popular local vocalist Lou Galterio -- who belted out his usual stirring rendition of the National Anthem -- opened the gathering.

Then the presentation got underway with terrorism and national security expert, Former-Assistant Secretary of Defense, Frank Gaffney who gave a brief introduction.

Subsequently Tom Trento and North Atlantic League Director Guido Lombardi made a few remarks welcoming their guests, before introducing the first of four featured speakers.

Nidra Poller is an American who has lived in Paris, France since 1972. She has watched the changes in that nation as the number of unemployed and increasingly radicalized Muslim-youth has increased. Ms. Poller, who has written extensively on the impact of Shariah on France, spoke of her experiences in a changing nation and warned that those same changes were already on our shores.

Next Elisabeth Sabaditsch Wolffe of Austria, was introduced. Miss Wolffe was found guilty of “hate speech”, under European Union Law, for talking about the fact Muhammad was married to a 9-year old. She had characterized him as a “pedophile” and since under EU Law anything that might be offensive to a Muslim - no matter how factual - is considered hate speech, she was found guilty.

Again the audience was warned that the First Amendment was already not sufficient protection from the creeping effects of Shariah in the United States. She pointed to the example of Seattle Weekly cartoonist Molly Norris, the impetus for the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” cartoon, prompting Muslim jihadists to issue a fatwa against her. On the advice of the FBI, Norris has gone into hiding because the agency says they cannot protect her.

Another prominent example was Derek Fenton, who was fired from his New Jersey Transit job after burning a Quran on September 11, 2010 in protest over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”. The ACLU (of all people) is representing Fenton in court. The First Amendment did not prevent his employer from firing him for violating “it’s code of ethics”.

As the presentation progressed, Clare Lopez, a former CIA operations officer and a Senior Fellow at the Center For Security Policy, spoke about the failure of the U.S. intelligence community to recognize and address what she called “the Stealth Jihad”. She pointed out that the lexicon of the intelligence community has been “scrubbed” of words like “jihad”, “Islam”. “caliphate” and “Muslim”- just to name a few.

As with many of the speakers preceding her, Miss Lopez pointed out that we can not fight an enemy that we are unwilling to even identify. She said our intelligence services have done a pretty good job dealing with the more obvious violent Jihadists, but that is only part of the battle.

North Atlantic League Director Guido Lombardi then talked a bit about the political strides they have made in Italy to stem the tide of the Islamification of that European nation.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a speech by former Florida House of Representatives Majority Leader Adam Hasner. Hasner has been a staunch supporter of Israel and opponent of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - a front group of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2009 CAIR called for Hasner to be removed from his post after he left the House chamber before Imam Qasim Ahmed led the opening prayer, then returned afterwards.

Leader Hasner is a probable candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012 to challenge incumbent Bill Nelson. He invoked Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” message and warned about “Shariah-Compliant Islam”.

The surprise of the day was when Mar-A-Lago’s owner Donald Trump made a cameo appearance at The United West. Trump was attending the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s fundraiser on the lawn of the club and stopped in briefly. He was greeted by enthusiastic applause and made a brief statement from the podium, which mirrored his recent pubic comments about the Obama Administration and our relationship with China.

There was also a 15-minute video compilation of the work that the Florida Security Council has done exposing mosques being used to raise funds for terrorist groups like Hamas and revealing some of the imams and islamists that have been working here in Florida to support terrorist groups and gradually implement Shariah Law in our backyard.

The video also included an endorsement by outspoken Congressman Allen West (FL CD-22), who has had his own run-ins with CAIR over the past few years.