{"id":10212,"date":"2011-03-21T01:18:39","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T06:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=10212"},"modified":"2011-03-21T01:18:39","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T06:18:39","slug":"america-joins-conflict-in-libya-operation-odyssey-dawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/21\/america-joins-conflict-in-libya-operation-odyssey-dawn\/","title":{"rendered":"America Joins Conflict in Libya: Operation Odyssey Dawn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973<\/a> authorizing “all necessary means” except an invasion to enforce a no-fly zone and “protect civilians” in Libya.\u00a0 China, Russia, Germany, Brazil and India abstained from the vote<\/a>.\u00a0 The UN Security Council:<\/p>\n

Authorizes Member States…to take all necessary measures…to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya…while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.<\/p>\n

Establish[es] a ban on all flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in order to help protect civilians;<\/p>\n

Authorizes Member States…to take all necessary measures to enforce compliance with the ban on flights…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fighter pilots and other American military members around the world are undoubtedly preparing for their eventual role in this conflict, which, like virtually every other conflict since Korea, remains politically controversial.\u00a0 (For example, The Washington Times<\/em> quotes then-candidate and Senator Barack Obama apparently contradicting his current actions as President<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Ironically, Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi tried to paint this latest conflict as a Christian crusade<\/a>\u00a0against Muslims:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Seeking to rally regional opinion to his side, the Libyan leader cast the military campaign as another example of Western colonialism and a Christian “crusader” mentality toward the predominantly Muslim countries of the Middle East…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The US has already hit Libya with hundreds of cruise missiles<\/a> in the opening stages of what is apparently now Operation Odyssey Dawn<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 The Associated Press has a rundown of the military materiel involved<\/a>.\u00a0 The US\u00a0Air Force announced<\/a>\u00a0B-2 Spirits<\/em>, F-15E Strike Eagles <\/em>and F-16CJ Fighting Falcons <\/em>(ie, Vipers<\/em>) had participated in airstrikes.\u00a0 Other reports<\/a> indicate US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers<\/em> were also used.<\/p>\n

General Norton Schwartz, US Air Force Chief of Staff, had previously said a “no-fly zone” would be “insufficient<\/a>” and “too little, too late<\/a>” to accomplish any desired end.\u00a0 He did mention, however, the F-22 might be deployed to its first combat mission in Libya.\u00a0 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates seems to have largely agreed with the inefficacy of a simple “no-fly zone,” absent further military measures.<\/p>\n

Politics aside, members of the American military will be placed in harm’s way again, at the behest of their nation.\u00a0 Nothing is “free” nor “easy,” regardless of how a “no-fly zone” may sound.\u00a0 War, in any form, remains an ugly business.<\/p>\n

May God be with those who are even now answering their nation’s call in a new conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 authorizing “all necessary means” except an invasion to enforce a no-fly zone and “protect civilians” in Libya.\u00a0 China, Russia, Germany, Brazil and India abstained from the vote.\u00a0 The UN Security Council: Authorizes Member States…to take all necessary measures…to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1591,134,13,1594,908,78,82,343,5285,1593,19,838,1589,2,1592,497,1596,334,155,1595,1590],"class_list":["post-10212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fighter-pilot","tag-1591","tag-air-force","tag-aircraft","tag-brazil","tag-china","tag-congress","tag-constitution","tag-f-22","tag-fighter-pilot","tag-germany","tag-government","tag-india","tag-libya","tag-military","tag-no-fly-zone","tag-norton-schwartz","tag-odyssey-dawn","tag-robert-gates","tag-russia","tag-security-council","tag-un-resolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}