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..."if X were different, how would you feel about Libya" questions posed over the last almost week or so. As for me, my response remains the same every time: it doesn't matter if you change X, because that will not magically tell us who in the hell it is we're fighting for over there. That is my tip-top opposition to this whole endeavor: we haven't the slightest clue just who these rebels are, what they want, what they stand for, or anything else. Their sole redeeming quality, from everything I can see, is that they're not Qaddafi. And that, AFAIC, just is not a good enough reason to put our people in harm's way.
If we had a clear, coherent picture of some bunch of folks who want a Western-style democracy in Libya (or Egypt, or Somalia, or Tunisia....), then I would support getting behind them if they needed help affecting that change in their country. But we don't have that. We have the Muslim Brotherhood, basically a subsidiary of al-Qaeda, whom we have managed to talk into power in Egypt (possibly, but I'm laying odds that some MB candidate will wind up being the one who wins in elections), and we have a bunch of rebels in Libya about whom we know pretty much nothing, other than: a.) they come from the region of Libya best known for sending al-Qaeda mercenaries into Iraq, and; b.) al-Qaeda has thrown their support behind these folks.
Now, if someone can tell me why on earth we should be supporting that, I'm all ears, but unless and until that happens, I'm going to continue to say that this was just a bad fucking idea from the start.
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