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the rebels are not a coherent military. they were not magically transformed into one by the un resolution. now there's some curious idea being tossed around of sending in some british special forces people to whip the rebels into a fighting force in a month. this despite the fact it took 10 to accomplish the same plan in kosovo.
there is a consensus that a stalemate is unfolding. there's no consensus about either what that means or what to do about it. the "plan" of whipping the rebels into a coherent military in a month is, they say, largely about trying to tip this stalemate away from "de facto advantage gadhafi" to "de facto advantage rebels"
there is obvious mission creep. this has nothing to do with marketing. this has to do with the speed with which the action was conceptualized and the speed with which gadhafi's actions made it necessary to act. there was no "special contingency plan in case gadhafi starts massacring his political opposition" that could be drawn on.
this also has nothing to do with the chain of command in itself.
but it does have something to do with the fact that the united states has largely withdrawn its capacity from the action, which has undercut the power of the airstrikes. the reason for this withdrawal is universally acknowledged except in that special crackpot world of fox news----the effect of iraq and afghanistan---that is, of neo-conservative arrogance and incompetence.
the "obama hasn't explained things" is a simple-minded substitute for a serious problem the sole purpose of which is the allow the right---which lately has started to crumble politically again---to gain some advantage.
it's yet another cheap conservative talking point.
there is no reason to take either it or anyone who repeats it seriously.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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