Just Don't Call It Yet Another Quagmire

And don't mention Hillary:

Obama Is Pressed to Open Military Front Against ISIS in Libya

By ERIC SCHMITT  FEB. 4, 2016

WASHINGTON — President Obama is being pressed by some of his top national security aides to approve the use of American military power in Libya to open up another front against the Islamic State.

But Mr. Obama, wary of embarking on an intervention in another strife-torn country, has told his aides to redouble their efforts to help form a unity government in Libya at the same time the Pentagon refines its options, which include airstrikes, commando raids or advising vetted Libyan militias on the ground, as Special Operations forces are doing now in eastern Syria. The use of large numbers of American ground troops is not being considered.

The debate, which played out in a meeting Mr. Obama had with his advisers last week, has not yet been resolved, nor have the size or contours of any possible American military involvement been determined.

“The White House just has to decide,” said one senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “The case has been laid out by virtually every department.”

The number of Islamic State fighters in Libya, Pentagon officials said this week, has grown to between 5,000 and 6,500 — more than double the estimate government analysts disclosed last fall. Rather than travel to Iraq or Syria, many new Islamic State recruits from across North Africa have remained in Libya, in militant strongholds along more than 150 miles of Mediterranean coastline near Surt, these officials said.

The beating drums...

A dozen American and European military, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said in interviews that they had little doubt that the Islamic State in Libya posed an ominous threat.

“You could see a very large holding, an area that is effectively governed by ISIS in Libya, and Libya’s proximity to serve as a gateway into southern Europe,” Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said this week in calling for military strikes against Islamic State leaders.

The WaPo has a long feature on Hillary's advocacy of US involvement in Libya.

OOOPS: OK, that is two days in a row I have done everything except hit "Publish". Where do I get a refund on this gingko biloba?

 

Comments

[-peter]

I only watched about five minutes of the debate last night -- was all I could take. But one point that Hillary made was that everything is just Hunky Dory with Iran thanks to the deal, which Hill took a lot of credit for . Yeah, um okay

[Captain Hate]

Libya: a Rodham success story complete with cackling over Moammar's death, which was when everything started falling apart.

[Jeff Dobbs]

TM:
OOOPS: OK, that is two days in a row I have done everything except hit "Publish". Where do I get a refund on this gingko biloba?

I think I read where Martin Shkreli now owns the rights to all gingko biloba sales.

[henry]

Where do I get a refund on this gingko biloba?

I don't recall.

(things Hillary would tell you).

[Miss Marple]

Since Hillary is sort of involved in this, I am going to bring over this article and comment I posted at the end of the last thread:

John Bolton discusses the implications of Hillary's email saga:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-email-saga/article/2000941

In all of the discussions about the server and such, I don't believe I knew this:

"Clinton has many other points of vulnerability that have barely been noticed. For example, hostile intelligence services can remotely capture control of cell phones and other electronic devices with microphones and have them transmit back everything the microphones pick up, even when the devices are apparently turned off. This is why, on entering a secure classified information facility, people must leave their electronic devices outside the room. This is also why senior U.S. officials are asked not to bring cell phones and laptops when they visit countries like Russia and China, because of the severe risk the equipment could be compromised during their trips. Yet for four years, Clinton and her top political staff apparently traveled worldwide with personal electronic gear such as cell phones and iPads, ignoring specific recommendations from State IT personnel not to do so."

[Miss Marple]

Captain Hate,

Whenever someone talks about "presidential temperment" I think they should run that "We came, we saw, he died" clip with the cackle.

I still think that is one of the worst things I have ever seen a public official say. SO unprofessional and creepy!

[Captain Hate]

You could see a very large holding, an area that is effectively governed by ISIS in Libya, and Libya’s proximity to serve as a gateway into southern Europe,” Representative Adam B. Schiff

The same guy who trashed Petraeus to defend Rodham's email problems.

[NK]

Mayor Bane's effect on NYC: http://nypost.com/2016/02/04/two-cops-hit-by-gunfire-during-shootout-in-the-bronx/

[Captain Hate]

You know, Miss Marple, that would make a great ad for an opposition party to run if they can ever stop fixating on tweets.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-real-shape-of-the-race/article/2000939

[Miss Marple]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/05/for-the-record-friday/79864446/

12 debates done, 10 to go

[henry]

Lawfare as a circular firing squad: John Doe victims say state AG has sole authority over appeal to US Supreme Court, meanwhile AG disagrees so this continues with Chisolm et al running amok in their flight from justice.

[NK]

Hayes' Weekly Standard article is a sober assessment of primaries from a conservative's POV.

[Captain Hate]

At some point even the black robed tyrants have to realize that the longer Chisolm and his slip-and-fall allies defer him doing significant prison time, the worse their future gets undermined.

[narciso]

Team haftar is carrying the ball, this is why they didn't accept the un's deal that would have probably legitimate the Jay vees progress, which is probably why crude is up.

[DebinNC]

Hayes: "Has Rubio gone "establishment" during his time in Washington, as his detractors claim? His lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is 98 out of 100. His current Heritage Action score is 94 percent—the Senate Republican average is 60 percent—with a lifetime score of 91 percent. As Jim Geraghty put it in an exhaustive account of Rubio's tenure in the Senate: "If Rubio really represents the new GOP 'establishment,' then the fight is over and the conservatives won."

Rubio is looking a lot better to me after reading that, especially knowing John Boehner and McCarthy's lifetime conservative scores are in the low 60s iirc.

[DebinNC]

OTOH, neither Reid nor McConnell have made their members vote on much of anything since Rubio's been there.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Geraghty echoes what I said yesterday. That Gang of 8 nonsense is an outlying point but it still needs to be addressed.

[Davod]

How does Rubio's co-sponsoring support of anti-democratic CASA support the claim that he is a real conservative? Did his conservative ratings reflect this support?

“The Washington Examiner’s Ashe Schow asked each sponsoring senator’s office how CASA would ensure due process for accused students. An Ayotte spokesperson declined to answer Schow’s questions, justifying the senator’s co-sponsorship by repeating the canard that one in five college women is sexually assaulted.

A Rubio spokesperson replied, “This bill does not address this issue.” When asked whether college officials or law enforcement would have the most authority to investigate allegations, the spokesperson responded: “The victim will have the most authority.” This reflected (at best) an astonishing misunderstanding both of the need for impartial adjudication of such serious charges and of the fact that at the investigative stage there is no “victim”; there are an accuser and an accused.”

http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/01/05/marco-rubio-co-sponsoring-left-wing-bill-strips-college-students-rights/

[Davod]

PS. Why Lifetime support? How does this compare to his rating during his time at the Senate?

[Marlene]

OT and a little comic relief from politics...the Manchester paper is obviously full of political news,but this headline caught my attention:
"Elderly nun who left the scene of accident turns herself in."
81 year old Sister Rachel hit a car in a parking lot in a southern NH town. She spoke to the driver of the other car and when that driver turned to write down information,Sister Rachel left the scene! She later turned herself in and is free on $1,000 personal recognizance.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The difference between Libya and Viet Nam is at least in Viet Nam we didn't first install the evil vicious communists we would later try to defeat.

[Comanche Voter]

Leading from behind is a good way to ultimately get bit in the behind. As dat ol preacher Jeremiah Wright intones, "Sooner or later, dat ol chicken is gonna come home to roooost!"

Good King Obozo must have slept through that sermon.