As of yesterday, the Qaddafi regime is no longer recognized by the United States and more than 30 other nations as the legitimate government of Libya. This potentially frees up billions of dollars of Libyan assets for use by the Transitional National Council, which is now the officially internationally recognized government of Libya. That means we can stop calling them the rebels. Now we can start referring to Qaddafi's discredited government as the rebels. It's also interesting that while the media and the American public are so focused on the ongoing budget showdown going on in Washington, the really interesting and perhaps more important story going on behind the scenes has involved the administration's diplomatic dialogue particularly with Russia, but also other nations, paving the way for yesterday's announcement in Turkey.
Nobody needs to point out that we still have work to do to get Qaddafi to recognize reality and leave, but clearly his days are numbered. Perhaps we can say the same about the illegitimate governing regime in Syria.
I would love to see someone do a comprehensive tally of the number of dictators that have been removed since President Obama has taken office, and a detailed computation of the cost per each dictator removed, as compared to the record of the previous administration. Bush would get credit for Saddam and the Taliban, but on Obama's watch we have Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and probably will get Libya and Syria. Then there is the successful removal of the illegitimate president of the Ivory Coast, and the breaking away of the newly independent state of South Sudan. On the cost side, there would be no comparison between the cost of the Iraq war alone, and the more subtle and effective methods Obama has used to oust dictators.
The Obama administration has shown that it doesn't necessarily take a massive invasion and occupation to accomplish the purpose. It takes an authentic indigenous popular movement, encouragement by the international community, and sometimes some significant outside military assistance.
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