U.S. Missiles Strike Libyan Air-Defense Targets | Hacker News Reader

U.S. Missiles Strike Libyan Air-Defense Targets

nytimes.com

10 pointspotomak15 comments

Seen on twitter:

"U.S. fires 110 tomahawk missiles, each costs $569,000. That's more than 5 years of NPR federal funding in less than an hour."

Anyone else think Ike was right about that military industrial complex?

Someone brought this same thing up on Reddit. I'll just recycle my comment from there (but with more genteel language):

I'm curious. How big of a budget increase for NPR would it take to stop Gaddafi from crushing the rebellion and massacring the rebels and many many uninvolved civilians?

I suppose if Gaddafi were a contestant on "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" and won Carl's voice on his home answering machine, he might feel so happy he just could not bring himself to order the next round of killings. Or maybe if "This American Life" were on more, he'd get caught up in some of those great stories and forget about the revolt? Maybe Gaddafi is crazy because there's a weird noise in his car, and if only "Car Talk" were on 7 days a week instead of 1, a solution to his problem might be revealed, and then he'd stop being crazy?

In other words, what the heck does NPR's budget have to do with the situation in Libya?

And your knowledge of Gaddafi's cruelty is based on what?

On September 11, 2001, the Libyan government condemned the attacks against the United States. In 2004, the US ended economic sanctions against Libya; only crypto/munitions-related sanctions remained. In 2006, the US restored full diplomatic relations with Libya. In 2007, Libya was elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council for two years.

Today we're at war... How times change.

On December 21, 1988, the Libyan government murdered 189 Americans and almost a hundred other nationals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103

What is shameful is that it took this long to remove that parasite.

I thought On September 11, 2001 it was Talibs, or wait, it was Iraqis, or wait, right, it was Gaddafi! Finally...

yeah it's not like there's been any recent developments of note in that region at all either, huh

The same piece of news on the Telegraph: "Libya: British forces fire missiles at Gaddafi"

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianoce...

And so, we're now involved in three wars.

And once democracy hits $120/barrel Iran as well

It looks like pretty minimal chance of ground involvement, though. If airstrikes count as a war, we've been at war with Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. way before 9/11.

Don't forget Long Cheng (Laos): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_c5tYdw-c

This will be over quickly. The US involvement will probably be limited to a supporting role (missiles, not planes). We probably wouldn't be involved at all, but come election time, it wouldn't look good if Libya was "liberated" and the current administration did nothing.

I can't help but be reminded of the Team America film.

Like most South Park material it seemed crude and ridiculous on the surface, but underneath the surface its sadly accurate.

I don't recall Team America being about carefully following international law and getting approval from the UN after the majority or regional governments ask for help. I guess I need to re-watch that movie.

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