Libyan Civil War Megathread

[Berkut]

I love the double speak of "we won't provide weapons, but we will provide body armor and commo..." as if that wasn't just as important as a gun to a military force.

edit: And of course, we will also bomb the shit out of your enemies as well.

BUT WE WONT GIVE YOU WEAPONS, WHY, THAT WOULD BE INTERFERING!!!

[dps]

If you bomb a man's enemies for him, you help him for a day, but if you teach him to bomb his enemies--oh, wait, we can't do that, it would be interfering. 

[KRonn]

"The EU, meanwhile, said it could deploy an armed force to Libya within days to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies, said Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Mann said a "concept of operations" has been approved by the European Union's 27 countries, outlining various possible courses of action. But Mann said the details of the operation, including how many people and what equipment would be needed, would await the specifics of any U.N. request.

The EU has no standing army, and the personnel and equipment would have be donated by member countries."

Seems like decision making by committee. How well will, or does this, work? Especially for a military action it would seem to be quite problematic. Or is there a more streamlined leadership in place for the actual tasks being undertaken? However, I do commend the EU for taking the actions.

[KRonn]

I love the double speak of "we won't provide weapons, but we will provide body armor and commo..." as if that wasn't just as important as a gun to a military force.

edit: And of course, we will also bomb the shit out of your enemies as well.

BUT WE WONT GIVE YOU WEAPONS, WHY, THAT WOULD BE INTERFERING!!!

Hmm... I still say that NATO/US or other ground forces will be intervening, rather than letting Gaddafi survive from this. His regime surviving might be the most dangerous, as he plots revenge by sponsoring terrorists. Plus him surviving in the face of the UN and NATO would be seen as a loss for them all, likely emboldening other tyrants in the future.

[Caliga]

Advisors, eh?

[Viking]

Advisors, eh?

My demand is that they get as good music from the Libya War as we got from the Vietnam war. Iraq and Afghanistan only gave us country music.

[Norgy]

If you bomb a man's enemies for him, you help him for a day, but if you teach him to bomb his enemies--oh, wait, we can't do that, it would be interfering. 

I think that's already been proven to be worthy of the Nice Idea In Principle, Not So Great In Practice pile.

The EU will most definitely not be interested in heavily armed Libyans on its doorstep, and since France suddenly decided to be the hawk this time around, all there will be is bombing and possibly some ground force with the same mission as in Bosnia, Rwanda and the likes. The mission? To stand around and tell murderous thugs that hurting civilians is unacceptable.

[Jacob]

I was off. 5.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13092451

Your link has seven:

UK
France
US
Canada
Belgium
Norway
Denmark

... or did you discount some of them for Angerian reasons?

[Warspite]

Well, it didn't take long for the Vietnam parallels. 

[The Brain]

We should send American boys to do what African boys ought to be doing for themselves.

[Ed Anger]

I was off. 5.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13092451

Your link has seven:

UK
France
US
Canada
Belgium
Norway
Denmark

... or did you discount some of them for Angerian reasons?

Belgium and Denmark aren't real.

[Jacob]

Belgium and Denmark aren't real.

I figured it was something like that. Carry on then.

[Ed Anger]

Belgium and Denmark aren't real.

I figured it was something like that. Carry on then.

Actually, I miscounted. But for this silly war's sake, my silly answer stands. 

[Mr.Penguin]

Belgium and Denmark aren't real.

Guess, the bombs we drop on Gaddafi's forces isnt real either...

[Ed Anger]

Belgium and Denmark aren't real.

Guess, the bombs we drop on Gaddafi's forces isnt real either...

I just assume the bombs are filled with flour or paint.

Well, yeah, man, you see, like, all the tanks we come up against are bigger and better than ours, so all we can hope to do is, like, scare 'em away, y'know. This gun is an ordinary 76mm but we add this piece of pipe onto it, and the Krauts think, like, maybe it's a 90mm. We got our own ammunition, it's filled with paint. When we fire it, it makes... pretty pictures. Scares the hell outta people! We have a loudspeaker here, and when we go into battle we play music, very loud. It kind of... calms us down.