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[Leafsnail]

Well, it doesn't seem unlikely.  Even Libya's representation to the UN is calling for him not to be recognised, as are quite a lot of his ambassadors.

[Duuvian]

C'mon, Obama, this is your chance to do more than sit on your hands while opportunity passes you by. You should be helping the anti-Gadaffi people right now.

On a less selfish note, isn't it obvious that you would be helping if you can promise them business after the protests? Perhaps you could negotiate on the behalf of the US or something? You speak well and I like some of your ideas about the economy, but you need to get their future support by supporting them NOW.


EDIT:
And no, throwing guns at a problem won't fix it, you need tractors too.

EDIT2: Screw bringing them tractors, build them 1 tractor factory.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

C'mon, Obama, this is your chance to do more than sit on your hands while opportunity passes you by. You should be helping the anti-Gadaffi people right now.

Obama has had plenty of chances to become the President Awesome he seems to delusionally believe himself to be, and has passed almost all of them up. I don't hold much hope that he'll speak out in support of the Anti-Gadaffi government anytime soon.

[scriver]

Obama has already outright told Khaddafi to resign - that's pretty much all he can rightfully do right now. Well, that and sanctions, but those are more long-term actions and won't take effect fast enough to be useful other than as a threat.

Also, about the Benghazi government; I don't think there's much point to arguing for or against their legitimacy until it's clear what path they take. I mean, I wouldn't want Sweden to recognise them unless we were (relatively) sure it's a temporary thing, and won't degenerate back into an totalitarian state. Or rather, that they actually are backed by the people and not just the guys with the biggest guns around.

[RedKing]

It's a touchy situation, especially in the Middle East. One of Qaddafi's chief smears against the rebels is that they're "agents of a foreign power". This is a pretty common refrain in any situation like this. Support them too openly, and you just give rhetorical ammunition to the other side.

Bush actually screwed this up with the Iranians a few years ago when he was a bit too enthusiastic in his support for the "Green Revolution" protestors, which allowed Ahmadinejad to marginalize them in Iranian society as "pawns of the West".

[Duuvian]

It's a touchy situation, especially in the Middle East. One of Qaddafi's chief smears against the rebels is that they're "agents of a foreign power". This is a pretty common refrain in any situation like this. Support them too openly, and you just give rhetorical ammunition to the other side.

Bush actually screwed this up with the Iranians a few years ago when he was a bit too enthusiastic in his support for the "Green Revolution" protestors, which allowed Ahmadinejad to marginalize them in Iranian society as "pawns of the West".

Personally, I think that's just what they tell us. I think the real issue was that this wasn't happening then.

[Virex]

That is pure awesome sauce.

In other news, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on the Qaddafi regime, freeze his financial assets and to refer the matter of government attacks on civilian protesters to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

That's actually a surprisingly bold stance for the UNSC. One, I'm honestly surprised that even Russia and China had no reservations about setting a precedent for not using military force against one's people (something they've both been guilty of in the past). Second, three of the non-permanent members right now are India, Lebanon and Nigeria -- countries who are no strangers to internal civil unrest. Three, it's something of a watershed moment for the U.S. to support anything to do with the ICC.

Didn't they also take away his right to travel abroad so he can't flee the country?

[Nadaka]

I distinctly remember that the US didn't give the green revolution hardly a mention, much less support.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Obama is doing the absolute best thing he can.

You all don't seem to realize how hated America is because we can't stay the hell out of other people's business. These guys have decided they want to overthrow their government. We've had OVER THIRTY YEARS to do so ourselves, but haven't. If we go in at all, what does that say to these people who have been under his control for more than thirty years?

Libya is a country that is about to free itself. Regardless if you see revolutions as a bad or a good thing, if we take away their ability to win this on their own, we will get very bad publicity with the new country. We couldn't even take it over on our own without some pretty great hatred.

It'd be like if during the Revolutionary War, the Chinese landed with a massive force and said "Hey, we liberated you. The British are running away because they don't want to fight us."

Obama is only a great president if he stays out of things that we have no business being in. Hey look, he's keeping us out of a situation where we piss all over the arabic world again! Doesn't look like the bad guy to me.

[Duuvian]

Obama is doing the absolute best thing he can.

You all don't seem to realize how hated America is because we can't stay the hell out of other people's business. These guys have decided they want to overthrow their government. We've had OVER THIRTY YEARS to do so ourselves, but haven't. If we go in at all, what does that say to these people who have been under his control for more than thirty years?

Libya is a country that is about to free itself. Regardless if you see revolutions as a bad or a good thing, if we take away their ability to win this on their own, we will get very bad publicity with the new country. We couldn't even take it over on our own without some pretty great hatred.

It'd be like if during the Revolutionary War, the Chinese landed with a massive force and said "Hey, we liberated you. The British are running away because they don't want to fight us."

Obama is only a great president if he stays out of things that we have no business being in. Hey look, he's keeping us out of a situation where we piss all over the arabic world again! Doesn't look like the bad guy to me.

So what if the internet started a public fund that governments could put money into; to be publically monitored? I'm sure there is a software or website for that, and if not, there is a free idea.

[Kogan Loloklam]

So what if the internet started a public fund that governments could put money into; to be publically monitored? I'm sure there is a software or website for that, and if not, there is a free idea.

To fund what?

[Willfor]

So France didn't come to help out America during the Revolutionary War? Man, I need to reread my textbook...

[Kogan Loloklam]

France didn't sit on the sidelines for 30 years of oppression to us, with a lot of the American instability sparked by actions France did.

Modern textbooks aren't as useful for teaching you the US/Libya relations. Look to a textbook published in the 80s for that.

[Willfor]

France didn't sit on the sidelines for 30 years of oppression to us, with a lot of the American instability sparked by actions France did.

Uh huh. Please do keep making this argument though, I'll just keep referring you back to the wonderfully complicated process that lead up to the American War for Independence. As a descendant of a Loyalist whose family was kicked out of the country, I have an interesting perspective on the entire affair.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Uh huh. Please do keep making this argument though, I'll just keep referring you back to the wonderfully complicated process that lead up to the American War for Independence. As a descendant of a Loyalist whose family was kicked out of the country, I have an interesting perspective on the entire affair.

I have interesting history and perspectives of my own. Turns out that the instability you are mentioning isn't really a good analogy, since the US did it themselves just a short time later, and again, and again, and again, and i think you get the picture. Or maybe you are referring to the ongoing war between France and Britain, which was the cause for the increase of taxes? All of this is still quite a bit different than what America did to fight the "red menace".

If you have the need to argue with me over semantics, feel free. I happen to know quite a bit about American History. My example was not accurate, but there isn't an accurate example that could be relevant to the average American that really explains how bad of an idea it would be for America to muck around in Libya. The average American has no clue how pissed the rest of the world is at them. China tends to be pretty institutionally hated here though, and explaining it in the form of the Chinese claiming credit for battles seen as being hard fought would make a good comparison based on typical American views of the associated events and people.

Nice try though!