Libyan Civil War Megathread

[garbon]

How the fuck do you disperse a crowd that has scored nukes?

Nuke 'em from orbit.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

to make a no-fly zone: apparently destroy the refineries in Ras Lanuf (sp?) and that should present the airforce with significant fuel problems.

at least: that is what I heard

[MadImmortalMan]

As far as policy is concerned, I don't see many likely immediate scenarios where it would be wise to intervene.  Most likely it will backfire, and bombs cost money.  If we could figure a clean way to get our hands on all that oil, then I might change my mind 

Bombs cost money. Use up the arabs. The dead cost nothing.

[JonasSalk]

Breed them out?

[Viking]

Breed them out?

Estrogen in the drinking water?

[alfred russel]

Libya is a small country in terms of population. While it is too bad anyone suffers, it only matters to us if it cuts off oil or becomes a terrorist haven. It isn't likely it will do the former (they need to sell their oil more than we need to buy it) and we can always intervene if it becomes the latter (and who knows the ways that could happen--if Gaddafi can hold on he will certainly have a tenuous grasp and becoming the next terrorist leader probably isn't his strongest play).

[Legbiter]

It's been done before.

Oh absolutely, from the shores of Tripoli, etc. I suppose you could start an air campaign over western Libya, and use special forces embedded with the rebels to call in air strikes like when the Taliban were being overthrown.

And then Al Jazeera will start showing footage of dead babies killed by infidel Western imperialists and those most loudly calling for action now will dust off their No Blood for Oil placards. 

[JonasSalk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWvVtsEYYqA

A ton of the rebels are wearing forest-area camo.  Wtf, Arabs.  Learn to get some desert camo, you morons.

[Slargos]

We have got,
the Neutron bomb,
and they,
have not.

Sersly. It's about time you started using those things. What's the point of paying moolah for somethign that's just going to sit there?

[Viking]

why use the neutron bomb when a few satellite photos, awacs radar messages, threats of a no fly zone and a few tons of out of date saudi army surplus will do?

[Slargos]

why use the neutron bomb when a few satellite photos, awacs radar messages, threats of a no fly zone and a few tons of out of date saudi army surplus will do?

Why, your solution will hardly result in any arab deaths 'tall. 

[alfred russel]

A major problem with helping the "rebels" is you may actually provoke a deep civil war. A disorganized bunch of rebels with different tribal leaderswith some external help but not any troops on the ground seems like a recipe for a somalia type situation.

I don't understand the point of intervening. No one would want to get involved if this was a country a few parallels to the south. There isn't an angle where we ensure there won't be terrorists in the country. We don't guarantee a good outcome or even a better one.

[Ed Anger]

I was doing a thought exercise while on the can trying to think up what forces are available to intervene in libya. American ground forces, as I don't care about the Euros.

Besides the usual Special Forces:

A brigade of the 82nd from CONUS
A heavy brigade from Europe (empty out the nearly empty POMCUS sites)
the MEU afloat in the med.

Everything else is either committed, recently committed (like the 173rd in Italy) or would just take too long to move.

Then I passed out from passing a turd the size of the USS New Jersey.

[JonasSalk]

Why don't the other Arab powers or the African Union deal with this?  Why does everything around the world have to be America and Europe's problem?  Can't China, the premier colonizer of Africa today, get in on this, instead?

[jimmy olsen]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/09/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110309

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi regained control of the center of Zawiyah on Wednesday, after using tanks and snipers to drive rebels out of their stronghold in the western city's main square, residents said.

Is Gaddafi bi-winning?

Rebel counterattack has pushed them back out.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41983346/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/