This is what you get!

Friday-March 18, 2011

This is what you get!

Colonel Moammar Qadaffi could be sly as a fox or he could just be plain crazy or he could be a crazy fox. He said last night, after the U.N. approved a resolution and enacted a no fly zone in Libya, “If the world acts crazy then we will be crazy with the world” Qadaffi said.

No one knows what goes on behind closed doors, especially in the White House these days. Our young president has waited for nearly two weeks to act on the crisis in Libya. He made a statement that “Qadaffi must go.” It ended there no action, no back up, nothing. This empty action has only added to the death toll and emboldened a crazy man. It emboldened his army to commit near genocide after Colonel Qadaffi said, “Benghazi will be cleansed.” No one knows what goes on behind closed doors, because nothing is going on. We hear empty rhetoric and words that sound good, but don’t hold up to the test.

The president’s action is inaction and it shows. The White House said that action “will come swiftly.” Hopefully, military plans have been drawn up by those that know how to do it. I am afraid that the Civil War in Libya will be over before the planned action is completed, let alone started. The president will come out at some point and say that the process of peace through the U.N. worked. However, Colonel Qadaffi will still be in power and he will still control the sweet crude oil that comes out of Libya. It will be harder to remove Colonel Qadaffi and it will prove to be detrimental to the world’s security. This is what you get from Liberals who are more interested in the process, than taking bold and immediate action with allies that are prepared to go the distance.

Now, the U.S. will be caught in the middle with the U.N. and the Arab League countries who will want to do things their way. This is what you get when the leader of the free world is absent. I know this is easy for me to say. I know I sound like a Monday morning quarterback. However, when the history of the region is reviewed and the history of the man in Libya is reviewed, even a buck private can see that the Colonel presents a danger. When the history of the young president is reviewed and patterns of no action become the norm and the wait and see approach is predictable, even the common citizen, such as me, can see that the president’s continued behavior and seemingly detached style presents a danger.

Fox News reported last Sunday: “The Obama administration and other governments have expressed deep reservations about a tactic that would require them to destroy Qaddafi's air defenses and possibly shoot down his planes. The Arab League raised the pressure on the U.S. and its NATO allies on Saturday by asking the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone, but a day later they appeared no closer to taking action.”

"This was a rare decision of the Arab League," rebel spokesman Abdul Basit al-Muzayrik told Al-Jazeera. "We call on the international community to quickly make a firm decision against these crimes."

The poorly equipped and loosely organized rebel fighters said throughout the day they were fleeing the oil town of Brega under heavy attack, losing a vital source of fuel for their vehicles and leaving Qaddafi's military less than 150 miles from the main opposition city of Benghazi.”
Move forward in time by one week and Benghazi becomes the place where the Colonel is waging war.

This is what you get when the governing body of the U.N. works through the process and uses caution instead of swift action. A week later and after many deaths it might be to late with the action that has been approved.

This is what you get when the world is devoid of a Winston Churchill, a Margaret Thatcher, a Ronald Reagan and, yes, two Bush’s. These leaders were not afraid to draw the line in the sand. The U.N. security process always delivers the wrong solution because it is always too late. The leader that can define the situation quickly with energy and conviction will always make the process efficient, timely and one that offers the right solution. If you review the profile of these leaders and review the history that these leaders were confronted with and then made, you will see what you get from leaders that knew how to lead and how to act.

This is what you get when the role of leadership is respected. This is what you get when a president assumes the role of leader and not the follower. Someone once told me “if you are not the lead dog, the view never changes.” I fear that this is what we are now seeing.
As you know, I end each week with a quote that hopefully sums up the week’s history and the topics I write about and will organize around.

Ronald Reagan was one of the 20th century’s greatest leaders. He was also one of our most respected Presidents. He knew the cost of inaction and was not afraid to confront tyrants with strong words of condemnation. When he spoke, other leaders followed. When he acted, he knew what the outcome would be, because he led in the action. He said:
We did not seek the role of leadership that has been thrust upon us. But whether we like it or not, the events of our time demand America's participation.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: There is a leader among us the question is when will we notice that leader? The rest of the world wants to follow in our lead but they remain hesitant. This is what you get when a leader doesn’t know his role!