Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
I don't buy your spin either. The US said from the start that it intended to hand over command to NATO and phase down its own actions as soon as possible. There was never any suggestion that the US intended an extended commitment and there was never any commitment to remove MG. All of this was established well before the rebels advanced on Sirte and well before the Russians said anything. You're welcome to see what it pleases you to see but I see very little evidence to support that view. The US simply did what it said it was going to do from the start.
If you are going to put up a counter argument then please at least be truthful.

It is the disgraceful failure to implement UNSC resolution 1973 (which they asked for) that is at issue here. Specifically:

...demands the immediate establishment of a ceasefire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians;
In my comments I have erred on the side of kindness towards the Obama Administration in saying that they did not wait until the mass graves were filling. But even apart from in Misrata, Zintan and the towns between Sirte and Benghazi what has happened to the people in Tripoli itself who had taken to the streets in the early stages of the uprising? Any still alive?

The betrayal of the Hungarians in 1956 can be used as an illustration of how little has changed.

There is a parallel in the betrayal of the Hungarians as there is in the betrayal of the Libyans in the West of the country.

The CIA's incompetence is paralleled. "A CIA paper concluded in June, 1956, that 'there really is no underground movement' in Hungary at all." No doubt with the assistance of Wikileaks we will find out that the CIA said the same about Libya in 2010.

Eisenhower continued the tradition of not having the courage to stand up to the Soviet Union but now it is even worse in that with the fear of what might be thought of the US on the Arab Street seems instill the same level of abject and craven fear.

GWB said in his Proclamation 8072 of October 18, 2006 on the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution:

The United States is grateful for the warm relationship between our countries...
What it should have been was how amazed and grateful he was that any self respecting Hungarian would give any American even the time of day after the betrayal that left them under the Soviet jackboot for a further 33 years.

...and he did not apologise for the leading them to believe through repeated broadcasts on Radio Free Europe that for example in November 1956 to keep fighting as:

'the pressure upon the government of the US to send military help to the freedom fighters will become irresistible'
Europe knows they can't trust the US government. What Europe, especially France and Britain who jumped into this first, are concerned about is that the US will jump ship when the going gets tough and they will be left holding the baby (so to speak)... which appears to be in the process of happening.