Wait, I thought they were all Doctors, Lawyers, Professionals and stuff……  (Washington Times)– A former leader of Libya’s al Qaeda affiliate says he thinks “freelance jihadists” have joined the rebel forces, as NATO’s commander told Congress on Tuesday that intelligence indicates some al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists are fighting Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.  Former jihadist Noman Benotman, who renounced his al Qaedaaffiliation in 2000, said in an interview that he estimates 1,000 jihadists are in Libya.   (more…)

At least the press is picking up the story, unfortunately this is just another example of where things are headed…..  CAIRO (AP) — Members of an ultraconservative Muslim sect clashed with villagers south of Cairo over demands that a liquor store and coffee shops be closed, officials said Tuesday, a sign of the increasing assertiveness of the fundamentalist Salafi movement. One villager was killed and eight others were injured in the armed clashes, which erupted late Monday in the village of Kasr el-Bassil in Fayoum province, a security official said. (more…)

The amateurism in the administration is beyond ridiculous and incompetent it borders on insane.  INSANE...   (MSNBC)- President Barack Obama predicted Tuesday that continued military and diplomatic pressure will force Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to “ultimately step down.” In an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams a day after he addressed the nation to explain his Libya policy , Obama refused to rule out providing direct U.S. military assistance to the rebels fighting Gadhafi’s government. But he said that was unlikely and that his comments shouldn’t be interpreted as signaling wider U.S. intervention in the region. (more…)

Kinda takes the term “framing the narrative” to whole new levels of meaning.…  (Washington Examiner)- President Obama’s sales pitch, of sorts, for the war in Libya was a bit more personal for some of the country’s most prominent columnists. The president made a surprising pit stop before his address to the nation on Libya Monday evening, meeting with a group of newspaper columnists during their briefing with Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, sources confirmed. Attending the impromptu visit were the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, Washington Post’s David Ignatius, Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol and Doyle McManus of the L.A. Times.  (more…)

Whether we like him, or not, he put us into war with Libya.   Again, I can’t stand his amateurish policy nonsense from the administration, however, affording him a measure of consideration he will not afford anyone else, lets take a look at how the speech was received by both the left and right.   This was, in my opinion, the most important speech so far in his administration.  In part because he has committed our troops to harms way, however intentioned, we are now at war in Libya; and in part because it is the first solo decision of foreign ‘military’ policy with impact on American lives and dollars.  This one is all his.  100%…  No-one can blame “Bush” for the failure, or success.   This is all Obama. (more…)

Whether we agree with the way it has occurred or not, the fact is we are at war with Libya, and more specifically with Moamar Gaddafi.   So partisanship aside, which I will admit is highly difficult but necessary, let me try to figure out this new Obama Doctrine which has led us to war, and put our military in harm’s way.   Why? (more…)

Yeah, Yeah, This thread is less about showing Obama as a fibber, and more about the opportunity to post BIG pictures of my two favorite flying battleships…. But, he is a fibber...  (Washington Post) — The U.S. military dramatically stepped up its assault on Libyan government ground forces this weekend, launching its first attacks with AC-130 flying gunships and A-10 attack aircraft (swoon swoon), which are designed to strike enemy ground troops and supply convoys, according to senior U.S. military officials.   Their use, during several days of heavy fighting in which the momentum seemed to swing in favor of the rebels, demonstrated how allied military forces have been drawn deeper into the chaotic fight in Libya.  (more…)

Today at 7:30pm President Obama is going to deliver a speech outlining his reasoning for going to war with Libya.   This is the first time he has publicly spoken of it since returning from his trip to Brazil last week.    Previously Hillary Clinton and Secretary Gates have muddied the water with their back and forth attempts at legitimizing the United States  Military intervention which has no benefit to our strategic interests. (more…)

If you have kept up on the political issues with Yemen over the past several years, including the U.S. government position, our support and the recent uprising there, you can quickly connect the dots between these two events within these articles: SANAA, Yemen (AP) —Islamic militants seized control of a weapons factory, a strategic mountain and a nearby town in the southern Yemen province of Abyan Sunday, said a witness and security officials, as a political stalemate in the capital causes security to unravel around the country. The fragile nation has been rocked by weeks of mass protests against the long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who refuses to step down. (more…)