Operation Odyssey Dawn: My Take on It

I think this take from Richard Engel pretty well sums up some of the practical facts regarding the situation.

 My particular hope for the protests that had been breaking out all over the Middle East was that it would be more completely a regional matter that did not involve US participation at all. My reason for that is that I don't think the US government is particularly well-respected in the Middle East generally, and that US involvement might give a bad propaganda angle to the framing of events: "The rebels are 'backed by the imperialist Americans'." And I do subscribe to the comments that Colin Powell made very early in the talks that led up to the Iraq debacle--"You break it, you bought it." If the US were to become involved, our unique size, the degree and amount of military and financial involvement the US brings, pretty much makes us either the heroes or the villians for any success or failure-- Uncle Sam just isn't "Mr. In-Between." 

Operation Odyssey Dawn has begun

This is the sort of thing I should know better than to opine about. But I'm a hard-head, so here goes:

I have some pretty big reservations regarding an exercise of military power as an humanitarian intervention under any circumstances, and yet, to some degree, I think my reservations are magnified by seeing the so-called "Bush Doctrine" in action. This operation differs from the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in many ways, though. Gaddafi has been killing his own people, and the rebels simply don't have the capability to overthrow him. I will post a more thought-out piece on this, later.