The New Sheriff

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When it comes to addressing the American people about on-going U.S. military action abroad, President Obama’s body language could not be more different than his predecessor. 

Obama appears very sober, if not a little pained, even delivering the ritual praise for our fighting men and women.  There is none of the swagger and bluster of the previous Oval Office cowboy, who was like the pearled-handled punk in old B-Movies.

When W “Dublya” announced his wars of choice, he was the loud-mouthed gunslinger in the Western bar, the one who calls out our reluctant hero, forcing him into a gunfight that stuns the taunting tough-guy before he crashes through the saloon window into the dusty street.

Obama tried to explain to a war-weary nation why the Libyan intervention matters and with about 30% of the nation on the Right implacably opposed to the black Anti-Christ, maybe 40% in the middle unsure and unconvinced, and 30% on the Left divided between defensive liberal interventionists and disillusioned anti-imperialists, there is not much to cheers about.

Whereas the failing Bush/Cheney presidency was rescued by 9/11 and the subsequent wars were a boost to the “mission accomplished” Commander-in-Chief in the bomber jacket, Obama’s warrior moment was muted and almost funereal.

I don’t think that much of what he said makes much sense since there is no consistency to the notion that anyone out there in our tortured world fighting for freedom has a friend in the United States.  If you have oil the Europeans need because it is the right mix for the diesel the continent runs on, then NATO might rise to the occasion and rescue you from your despot who was our friendly dictator the day before he crossed the line.

If you are in the Congo’s killing fields then you are on your own because it is an old story that has slipped under the radar and Brian, Katie and Diane are not about to traipse down to the jungle with a camera crew while there is breaking news in the Middle East.

What does make sense, Obama contradiction that he is against regime change but wants Qaddafi out of power notwithstanding, is that Qaddafi will soon oblige the coalition of the not-so-willing by either dying or dashing off to Chad.  He will most likely choose the former, not that it’ll necessarily be his choice, because exile in the African boondocks without the $35 billion the U.S. Treasury froze, will not suit him and especially his spoiled sons.

Now you might ask who has $35 billion in their personal checking account (i.e. the Libyan treasury) when a third of your population is unemployed and living in poverty.  But that is a question for Qaddafi’s apologists the anti-imperialists to answer. 

I recall there was similar support from the knee-jerk Left for Milosevic, even though he stole the entire Yugoslav treasury and parked it in personal accounts in Cyprus, before emptying the jails of psychopaths and setting them upon his neighbors in a repeat of genocidal mayhem not seen since the Nazis.

It is not wise to predict, but with the Libyan rebels poised 20 miles outside of Qaddafi hometown of Sirte, I’d say it is time to start packing the robes for a long vacation in Club Sub- Sahara. 

It is worth noting for those who see Uncle Sam trampling on the “oppressed” again, that the Libyan rebels look more like a people’s army than the Sandinistas did.  They are bravely facing the tyrant’s tanks and artillery dressed in street clothes as though they just left home for the front.

Qaddafi’s Waterloo might well be in the city of Sirte which is overseen by members of his Gadhadhfa tribe. But there is a bigger bunch of tribesmen in Sirte, from another tribe the Firjan, who resent the dictator and his family’s rule. 

After forty years of terror and theft, who is left in terms of loyalty to the tyrant?  The Colonel and his clan have perfected the carrot and stick approach, repression and reward.  They torture, jail and kill their enemies and bribe their friends. 

But this system of purges and patronage has its limits and the rebels are trying to encourage the Firjan tribe and other tribes to join in the jihad.  My guess is this will be over very quickly because enough is enough, and when ordinary people stand up to face a modern military killing machine wearing jeans and t-shirts with a rusty rifle in hand, a critical mass has been reached. It looks like their eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the dawn.