Does the Administration have a clue?

This Blog was originally posted on Puma By Design's website, it fit in so well with the video I asked if I could borrow it;

Former Six Year Gitmo Detainee and Two Former Ex-Mujahedeen Help Lead Libyan Rebels

From the Wall Street Journal

DARNA, Libya—Two former Afghan Mujahedeen and a six-year detainee at Guantanamo Bay have stepped to the fore of this city’s military campaign, training new recruits for the front and to protect the city from infiltrators loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The presence of Islamists like these amid the opposition has raised concerns, among some fellow rebels as well as their Western allies, that the goal of some Libyan fighters in battling Col. Gadhafi is to propagate Islamist extremism.

Abdel Hakim al-Hasady, an influential Islamic preacher and high-school teacher who spent five years at a training camp in eastern Afghanistan, oversees the recruitment, training and deployment of about 300 rebel fighters from Darna.

Mr. Hasady’s field commander on the front lines is Salah al-Barrani, a former fighter from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which was formed in the 1990s by Libyan mujahedeen returning home after helping to drive the Soviets from Afghanistan and dedicated to ousting Mr. Gadhafi from power.

Sufyan Ben Qumu, a Libyan army veteran who worked for Osama bin Laden‘s holding company in Sudan and later for an al Qaeda-linked charity in Afghanistan, is training many of the city’s rebel recruits.

Both Messrs. Hasady and Ben Qumu were picked up by Pakistani authorities after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and were turned over to the U.S. Mr. Hasady was released to Libyan custody two months later. Mr. Ben Qumu spent six years at Guantanamo Bay before he was turned over to Libyan custody in 2007.

They were both released from Libyan prisons in 2008 as part of a reconciliation with Islamists in Libya.

Read full article

To that Puma asks:


Is it supposed to make one feel better that Hasady’s disdain for the USA has supposedly ebbed somewhat. “If we hated the Americans 100%, today it is less than 50%. They have started to redeem themselves for their past mistakes by helping us to preserve the blood of our children.”

Oh yeah, I am feeling better already. Get Ghaddafi out of office and see how quickly they turn.

********************************

I think she has a point, but as this video shows, Obama supporters don't see it that way




When you get a chance check out Puma's opinions on other subjects at Puma by Design 001

Who decides, Congress or the UN

Before there are any misunderstandings, Muammar Gaddadfi is a terrorist, for years going all the way back to the Nixon years he supported and financed terrorist activities against the United States and other countries.

He committed what amounted to acts of war against the US during the presidencies of Carter, Reagan and Bush Senior. In 1984 Gaddafi started financing terrorist acts inside the U.S. One of the leading groups receiving Gaddafi's money was the Nation of Islam.   Al-Rakr, another Libyan-financed gang in Chicago, declared in 1984 that it was preparing for a "race war" to "settle scores with whites".  An interesting side note;  In 1984 Obama's old minister accompanied Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakan to meet with Gaddadfi

Muammur Gaddadfi also financed terrorism, bobing and bombing plots in Germany,  Palestine, Indonesia, Australia, Ireland and too many other places to list.

Closer to Libya he was involved in the civilian massacres Sierra Leon.  He intervened militarily in the Central African Republic in 2001 to protect his ally Ange-Félix Patassé.   Gaddadfi  also Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was later convicted of one of the deadliest genocides in modern history.  His troops fought  against Tanzania on behalf of Idi Amin

I can only imagine how he treated his own people,  If he gets killed today, as far as I'm concerned, it's forty years overdue.

Even so I'm not totally comfortable with the way the No Fly Resolution came about, it's goals or the way it's being implemented.  First of all, why did it take forty years to for the wold to decide the SOB had to go?  Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had the means and the justification to do it years ago. Bush Sr. took a couple shots at him, and let the matter drop.

The UN Resolution, to Create and enforce a no fly zone to prevent Gaddadfi from killing civilians, seems to have different meanings to different Countries.  It's clear that some of the Euro Powers, it means to take him out, end his regime and if he's still alive when it's over, hang him.  Others seem to think it's sole purpose is limited to preventing air attacks and bombing of civilians.  What happens if the rebels start killing Gaddadfi supporters?  Worse, what happens if Gaddadfi wins?  It's not completely clear where Barack Obama stands, and he's too busy playing soccer in Brazil with his kids to tell the American People much.



 

The Arab League seems to be flip flopping.  They were for it before they were against it and (as of this moment) are for it again. If they really are for it, their actions aren't showing it.  Not a single aircraft from one of the Arab Nations supporting the No Fly Zone has been involved in the air strikes or even patrolling the Air Space now that the US and Europeon Nations have secured the airspace and disabled Gaddadfi's air defenses.  One of the big reasons the resolution passed the UN is because the Arab League supported wanted it, so why aren't they helping?  If this backfires it wouldn't be hard for them to spin it into western aggression against Islam, something they can't do if they play an active role.

Then there is Barack Obama position on the entire affair.  Since when does a President of the United States tell the world he's committed American forces by traveling to another country. to make the announcement?  He knew when he left for Brazil on Friday he was about to put the lives of American Service Members in jepordy.  For all practicle purposes he left the explainations up to the media.   The War Powers Act requires the President to explain a military action to Congress within 48 hours of involving US troops.  The president managed to avoid that detail because he was in Brazil, on Thursday he sent aids to explain the situation to Congressional Leaders..

Dick Luger R-Ind pointed out that unlike Bush, before the Iraq Invasion, Obama had not even asked Congress for a resloution supporting the action.  In fact Obama seems to have decided the UN Resolution supercedes the need for Congressional Approval

At least six countries in the Middle East are going through un precidented civil unrest at the moment, long time dictators and royal famillies don't give up pwer willingly, with that in mind, how dangerous is this precideent?