re: #2 Destro

Have you seen how big N. Mali is?

In any case, this is a classic case of blowback from the west’s overthrowing a tamed Qaddafi via armed force. They resulting war led to arms and lawlessness moving into Mali as the Qadaffi regime armed Tuareg rebels there who then joined up with al-Qaeda (and were kicked aside).

We seem to have a reasonable amount of HUMINT there and that plus air recon can be used to find their hiding places. It’s a big area, yes, but that kind of hunt is something the US is actually pretty good at. And they very fact that such fortresses are being built is ultimately good, because their purpose is purely military and they aren’t near civilians. That means we can destroy such an installation without worrying about killing innocent civilians.

Moreover, this had less to do with Libya than Mali. If Mali’s army had not staged a coup then abdicated its responsibility to its citizens then Al Qaeda would not have been able to take over. Moreover, Gaddafi didn’t have to arm the Tuaregs, and play ‘ethnic divide and conquer’. He could have been an honest ruler instead. I don’t think today’s France (for France was the driving force behind action in Libya and is again in Mali) should be blamed for Gaddafi using the sort of tactics the British used in India back in the 19th and early 20th centuries.