France, Italy join UK in Libya mission creep

RAS LANUF, LYBIA - MARCH 18: (L to R) Yuri K...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
NY Times:

France and Italy said Wednesday that they would join Britain in sending some liaison officers to support the rebel army in Libya, in what military analysts said was a sign that there would be no quick and easy end to the war in Libya.

The dispatching of the liaison officers — probably fewer than 40 of them, and carefully not designated as military trainers — is a sign also, they said, that only a combination of military pressure from the sky, economic pressure on the government and a better-organized and coordinated rebel force will finally convince Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi that he has no option but to quit.

“Some countries thought the Libya operation could be over quickly,” said a senior NATO ambassador. “But no military commander thinks so.”

...
When liberals go to war and think they know more about it than the commanders you get situations like Libya. The operation is like a tailor who cuts a coat too short and is always having to go back and add patches to what should have been an easy operation.

When it comes to regime change Bush's military did it right in Afghanistan and Iraq. It can be argued that their follow through was inadequate, but we defeated a much larger Iraqi force in about three weeks.

What we have in Libya is a situation where the US withdrew its superior forces too soon and the rest of NATO was not up to the task of finishing the job. We should have known this going in.

The chances that the small forces going in can turn the rebels into an effective fighting force is remote. They are no where near as capable as the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and Qaddafi's forces are better armed than the Taliban and they have also shown an ability to adapt to conditions on the battlefield.

I think Obama has really screwed up with his Libya operation at this point and he does not seem motivated to correct his mistakes. It is time for the media to start talking about a quagmire for real this time, unless NATO gets really lucky.
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