The word's officially in. Guys waving V signs in pickup trucks as they speed toward Tripoli speed back just as quickly. The inability to handle weapons, or even fight, can't easily be overcome. They're not the Desert Rats. Even a Bernard Law Montgomery could be hard-pressed to help them.
One wire report has some notable quote on the nature of the rebel force:
They would have more ammunition if they did not keep firing into the air ... Decisions are often made after heated arguments or by following whoever shouts loudest and despite the courage of some, the tendency is to flee in disarray ...
And, in turn, this has led to increased discussion of CIA or special forces quietly engaged in getting them up to speed -- or at least calling in air strikes.
"I mean, what could go wrong in giving unstable, young and violent men anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and heavy machine guns?" asks J. at Armchair Generalist.
Be that as it may, the Odyssey Dawn 'coalition' has designated its official fence -- Qatar.
The emirs will handle Libya's oil, what there is of it. And weapons -- presumably bought from eastern bloc, Arab and Chinese overstock on the world arms market.
Because of that, this blog is compelled to update the official Qatar Odyssey Dawn T-shirt. It should now read:
QAF Flying Emirs! Odyssey Dawn 2011! We stayed out of the way and fenced oil & arms!
In other news, Bulgaria has added a token military presence to the fight:
The Bulgarian government has decided to send a frigate to the Libyan coast to enforce the embargo on arms supplies to forces loyal to dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Bulgarian BNT television said.
Bulgaria, a NATO member, will deploy frigate Druzki (Daring) in the Mediterranean for three months starting April 15.
The warship will sail with a crew of 160 ...
And in other news of token military action:
RAF Tornados conducted further patrols over Libya yesterday, launching missiles against military assets of pro-Gaddafi forces in the Misurata area, while HMS Cumberland patrolled the waters off Libya to enforce the arms embargo.
In other news, Associated Press reported on March 24 that the Department of Defense had ordered work stoppage on an F-35 jet engine (called the F-136) being made by General Electric.
"In our view it is a waste of taxpayer money that can be used to fund higher departmental priorities, and should be ended now," said the Department of Defense.
GE fought back hard, the company claiming it would continue the project on its own dime. It called the cancellation a "crisis."
This is worth keeping in mind when news broke on the front page of the New York Times one day later that General Electric pays no corporate income tax through tax avoidance maneuvering off shore.
One thousand jobs would be lost at GE Aviation's plant in Evendale, Ohio, if the redundant jet engine is successfully 86'd.
Lesson #1: General Electric paid no corporate income tax on $14.2 billion in profits last year. But taking middle class taxpayer subsidy for a redundant strike fighter jet engine is OK.
Lesson #2: Preserving manufacturing jobs for middle class Americans as long as they're underwritten by the taxpayer for the sake of big corporate America profits is absolutely necessary. But offshoring GE manufacturing jobs formerly in domestic non-military production is even better because that American labor is too damn expensive. And that's because the latter are sadly not part of the rigged system of corporate socialism enjoyed by arms manufacturing.
"Now I hear that GE is expected to ask 15,000 of their unionized workers to make major concessions in wages and benefits," wrote Russ Feingold today as part of his effort to have GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, fired from President Barack Obama's economic advisory group.
A GE ad you haven't seen.
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