Speaking to The Atlantic, Obama acknowledged the problems faced by Libya since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, referring to the situation as a “mess” – and in private as a “s**t show.”
“...We actually executed this plan as well as I could have expected: We got a UN mandate, we built a coalition, it cost us $1 billion — which, when it comes to military operations, is very cheap. We averted large-scale civilian casualties, we prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict. And despite all that, Libya is a mess,” he said.
RT
We did everything right, then? What's the problem?
According to Obama, the "cheap" deal notwithstanding, the Brits and French are the cause of Libya being "a mess." (A mess. Christ in velvet underpants. It's not your kids' room. Or your health care policy.)
He went on to state that the ‘mess’ was largely due to the inaction of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was “distracted by a range of other things” at the time.
He also criticized France’s then-President Nicolas Sarkozy for being too eager to take credit for the intervention to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
Christ, the man isn't even out of office yet and he's badmouthing allied leaders.
"Sarkozy wanted to trumpet the flights he was taking in the air campaign," Obama said, "despite the fact that [the US] had wiped out all the air defenses and essentially set up the entire infrastructure."
Obama said that such bragging on the part of Sarkozy was fine, because it allowed the US to “purchase France's involvement in a way that made it less expensive for us and less risky for us.”
“From the perspective of a lot of the folks in the foreign-policy establishment, well, that was terrible. If we're going to do something, obviously we've got to be up front, and nobody else is sharing in the spotlight,” he said, noting that Sarkozy was voted out of office less than a year after the fall of Gaddafi.
WHO'S bragging? Good god, man. Get a grip.
Speaking more generally on what he calls a “free rider” mentality in times of conflict, Obama explained that EU countries have had a “habit” of pushing the US to act over the past several decades, but then shown “an unwillingness to put any skin in the game.”
The US president went on to stress that “free riders aggravate me.”
“When I go back and I ask myself what went wrong,” Obama said, “there’s room for criticism, because I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya’s proximity, being invested in the follow-up.”
Un-fucking-believable.
[Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper stressed] that the current situation in Libya is "much, much worse than it used to be during the Gaddafi regime."
Speaking more generally on what he calls a “free rider” mentality in times of conflict, Obama explained that EU countries have had a “habit” of pushing the US to act over the past several decades, but then shown “an unwillingness to put any skin in the game.”
The US president went on to stress that “free riders aggravate me.”
"It is a huge mess there, bloodshed, a failed state, militia controlling most of the country. Also now, Islamic State has more than 7,000 fighters in Libya," he said.
[...]
"I believe Obama realized that it was a huge mistake and miscalculation, and he is trying to blame everybody else except himself," he said, adding that such a move by an American president is "unprecedented."
Well, I guess. But then, other Banana Republics have the same type of leadership. Why should we be any different?
Buckle up, Buttercup. Making way for Donald Trump.
Or Hillary Clinton. Perhaps that's why Obama is saying all this crap now. Look, it's not Hillary's fault, even though she was Secretary of State at the time.
This from
The Atlantic reporter who did
the interview:
Since that first meeting in 2006, I’ve interviewed Obama periodically, mainly on matters related to the Middle East. But over the past few months, I’ve spent several hours talking with him about the broadest themes of his “long game” foreign policy, including the themes he is most eager to discuss—namely, the ones that have nothing to do with the Middle East.
The Atlantic
I bet!
"We now operate in a wold in which we can assume neither competence nor good faith from the authorities, and the consequences of this simple, devastating realization is the defining feature of American life..." ~ Chris Hayes, Twilight of the Elites
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
