Libya: Operation Odyssey Dawn

[monk222]

America is now engaged in military hostilities in a third Muslim country:

Coalition forces launched "Operation Odyssey Dawn" today to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan people from the country's ruler.

The goal of the military coalition is to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens, officials said, adding that the coalition also wants to degrade the ability of Moammar Gadhafi's regime to resist a no-fly zone being implemented.

U.S. military forces are on the leading edge of the coalition operation, taking out Libya's integrated air and missile defense system, Defense Department officials said. The ordnance is aimed at radars and anti-aircraft sites around the capital of Tripoli and other facilities along the Mediterranean coast.

Operation Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear aboard the command ship USS Mount Whitney. The Mount Whitney joins 24 other ships from Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and France in launching the operation.

Cruise missiles from U.S. submarines and frigates began the attack on the anti-aircraft system. A senior defense official speaking on background said the attacks will "open up the environment so we could enforce the no-fly zone from east to west throughout Libya."

In addition to the cruise missiles, the United States will provide command and control and logistics. American airmen and sailors also will launch electronic attacks against the systems.

The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada already have announced that they are part of the coalition. Officials expect Arab countries will publicly announce their participation soon.

I remember in the old bloggy-debate days, I was actually supportive of the Iraq war, thinking along Thomas Friedman's lines that we were going to do a Japan or a Germany and marshall the place to a full-fledge democracy. Now, however, I better appreciate that all our efforts in the region only come back to bite us on the ass. After all, that's how we got Osama bin Laden, no? We helped the Afghanis against Russia, among whose unumber was bin Laden, and we see how that played out. So many years and failures later, we cannot have the resources to keep doing this, as I wonder if we are laying ourselves open, dwindling our resources dangerously, when we may have more serious need of them in the near future, as the region seems to be boiling over.