Reason Number One, update Saturday: Republicans will be tied in knots. They're always for bombing Muslims in a foreign country but hate the President. They love war to defend oil but are against everything the President commands.
2. Bombing Moe is another opportunity to gin up the importance and cooperation between nations in something with a name like "the Allies" or "the Coalition Forces."
3. Bombing Moe presents another opportunity for the mainstream media to send its reporters off to the battlefield for some glory, either somewhere in Benghazi or on a supercarrier in the Mediterranean. Or maybe on the islands of Malta or Cyprus. If they're there they won't be in Wisconsin or Michigan or any other state where the middle class is protesting.
4. Bombing Moe gives the cheerleaders for the last war -- the old media and think tank experts -- the chance to get back into the business of repeating all the same mind-numbing statistics and weapon of the week stories on the state of the enemy and balance of forces. Like this:
What worries NATO planners, however, are Libya's plentiful antiaircraft guns and light, short-range shoulder-launched missiles -- systems which proved very effective against NATO aircraft during the Kosovo war, said a diplomat who asked not to be identified.
These include about 500 cannons of various calibers, which could prevent allied aircraft from descending lower than 15,000 feet, said the diplomat who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media ...
Other problems may come from Khadafy's several dozen Mil Mi-17 helicopters and Mi-24 gunships. As experiences in Bosnia have shown it's very difficult for fast and high flying jets to intercept ground-hugging helicopters.
Analysts have cautioned, however, that it is difficult to give an exact assessment of the African nation's military abilities ...
In contrast, NATO planners say the international community has 200 to 300 modern jets that could be quickly deployed to Libya from bases stretching from Gibraltar to Greece, and from US and French carriers in the Mediterranean Sea.
These would include top-of-the-line Eurofighter Typhoons, used by British, Italian, and Spanish air forces. Also available are the formidable French Dassault Rafale fighters and the F-18 Super Hornet, the backbone of US naval air power.
Formidable Rafale. The Super Hornet, backbone of US naval power. Great-sounding stuff.
5. Bombing Moe gives the powers that be the opportunity to claim arrant nonsense like "we're rebalancing U.S. foreign policy toward a greater focus on democracy and human rights." It gives birth to new noble operation naming conventions, like perhaps, Libyan Freedom or Benghazi Shield or [fill in the blank with two words, one geographical, one uplifting and strong Odyssey Dawn.]
Odyssey: epic poem by Homer, an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest, a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune..
Good news, lads! Good news! It's the familiar face of US freedom riding to the rescue, 110 guided missiles launched at night.
Tomahawk cruise missile costs:
$500,000 - current production Unit Cost
$1,400,000 - average unit cost (TY$)
110 missile salvo expended in fifteen minutes:
Low ball: 110 x $500,000 = $55, 000, 000
High ball: 110 x $1,400,000 = $154, 000, 000
Figure bandied around most often by Scott Walker to 'prove' Wisconsin's 'broke' and public sector workers have to give up their rights: $137, 000, 000.
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