Mission Creep In Libya

I don't know if the administration lied to us or if they're just succumbing to mission creep, but the mission in Libya has already begun to creep.

What that means is that the mission changes over time. Do you remember Obama's original statement on Libya? He said our goal was NOT to oust Qadhafi, only to "protect civilians." He also said our commitment would be both time- and materials-limited.

That just changed.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51780.html

“As long as Qadhafi remains in power — unless he changes his approach provides the Libyan people the opportunity to express themselves freely and there are significant reforms by the Libyan government, and he steps down — there’s still going to be a potential threat to the Libyan people,” Obama told reporters at a news conference here, his final stop on a five-day tour of Latin America. “We will continue to support the efforts to protect the Libyan people, but we will not be in the lead.”

So, if Qadhafi remains in power another decade, we will have military forces committed there for that duration. Sounds like an open-ended time commitment, not a limited one.


Another thing to see in this is that Obama will keep American forces there as long as Qadhafi is in power.

Which is in direct contradiction to his claims that his goal isn't to force Qadhafi from power.

And if the forces we put into the area aren't enough to topple Qadhafi? Well, he's already changed the objective and time commitment from his original claims, so why not the force commitment as well?

Unless something happens quickly to force Qadhafi from power, we're in this for the long haul. And that will be bad for the nation.

Look, how many other dictators are doing EXACTLY what Qadhafi has done? Enough that if we tried to do this to all of them, we'd be involved in another half-dozen or so "military actions." Why this one?

If Obama isn't careful, Libya could become another Vietnam... thus giving the lie to our claim to learn from our past mistakes.