"cousin" Andy's message vibrates my McCarthy heartstrings.

For those USAians who are serious about intervention in Libya, let them seek a congressional AUMF (not a complex piece of legislation and easily passed if you have the votes) and obtain the President's signature on it. Andy thinks that legislation would be DOA.

The alternative is ala Harry Truman (as in the Korean "police action" - obtain a UN SC resolution) and Bill Clinton (as in his Eastern European adventures). In which case, Andy's comments are worth repeating (empasis added):

It seems like a long time ago, but it is worth reminding ourselves that the only missions the American people supported involved destroying the terror network that attacked our nation on 9/11 and toppling its state sponsors. Unlike anything at stake in Libya, those are vital U.S. security interests. Iraq and Afghanistan became overwhelming commitments because of the conventional unwisdom that our security somehow hinges not only on defeating our enemies but on converting Muslim basket-cases into something resembling democracy.

And this, despite the absence of any Islamic democratic tradition; despite the tension between sharia and the Western principles that undergird our notion of democracy; and despite the dearth of evidence supporting the theory — and it is only a theory — that Country A’s being a democracy makes Country B safer from trans-continental terror networks skilled at exploiting democratic freedoms. (In point of fact, the evidence cuts in the other direction — unless you think places like Hamburg, Madrid, San Diego, and Westport, four of the many Western cities and towns where 9/11 was planned, are not democracies.)
So, a critical step that many miss (perhaps intentionally) is obtaining the approval of "We the People" for an African adventure.

If that were done, we (US) would still have to come up with the forces to do it - if, for example, a MAGTF (say, MEF size) would be adequate to handle Libya; and another MAGTF (say, MEB size) would be adequate to handle Somalia, where would they come from ?

Regards

Mike