NYC Letter: Mr. Obama's Coalition Of The Bitchy

Day 792 of CHOPE

Today we are part of a broad coalition.

Mr. Obama,
doing multilateral interventions right
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON LIBYA
BRASILIA, Brazil March 19, 2011 (White House)

Um, but not too super broad.

BUSH HAD 2 TIMES MORE COALITION PARTNERS
IN IRAQ THAN OBAMA HAS IN LIBYA
March 21, 2011 (FNC)

That would be Mr. Bush's 30 to Mr. Obama's 16. [Pause.] Yes, not quite the double of the headline.

Oh. No. Wait.

GERMANY WON'T SEND FORCES TO LIBYA,
FOREIGN MINISTER DECLARES
As Security Council Meets To Vote On No-Fly Zone,
Guido Westerwelle Rules Out German Military Involvement

March 17, 2011 (Guardian) - Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has declared the country remains strongly opposed to air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces or any other military intervention in Libya. Herr Westerwelle:

Your own instinct is to say 'We have to do something.' But military intervention is to take part in a civil war that could go on for a long time. Germany has a strong friendship with our European partners. But we won't take part in any military operation and I will not send German troops to Libya.

... The military solution seems so simple but is not so simple. It's risky and dangerous. We are concerned about the effects on freedom movements in north Africa and the Arab world. We admired the jasmine revolution in Tunisia ... but we want these freedom movements to be strengthened, not weakened.

He declined to say how Germany would vote [on UNSCR 1973] this evening at the UN security council.

A fretful Germany abstained. On the bright side, that does put Mr. Bush twice over Mr. Obama.

We are confident Mr. Obama secured German and European support in spirit at least before going forward, because that is the sort of thing Mr. Obama told us he would do.

FIGHTING WORDS BETWEEN EUROPEAN ALLIES
OVERSHADOW LIBYAN MISSION

GIOIA DEL COLLE, Italy March 22, 2011 (CNN) - After heated exchanges between NATO ambassadors in Brussels, the alliance announced Tuesday an operation to enforce the arms embargo against Libya. But it went no further on deciding if or when NATO would take command of the mission already under way, in which several allies are participating.

... But resistance within the alliance mounted even as the United States expressed its desire to take a back seat in the operation and hand over any command role to European allies. France seemed most reluctant to submit to NATO command, but Germany and Turkey also voiced objections.

... German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he continues to believe it was right not to participate in the United Nations-sanctioned mission. He noted that Germany is not alone in its skeptical view of military action, pointing to the fact that other European nations are not taking part either.

Westerwelle also refused to comment on whether NATO should take a leading role in enforcing U.N. resolution 1973.

WHO'S IN CHARGE?
GERMANS PULL FORCES OUT OF NATO
AS LIBYAN COALITION FALLS APART

March 23, 2011 (Daily Mail) - Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.

... A ministry spokesman said two frigates and two other ships with a crew of 550 would be reverted to German command. Some 60 to 70 German troops participating in NATO-operated AWACS surveillance operations in the Mediterranean would also be withdrawn, according to the ministry.

... Yesterday a war of words erupted between the U.S. and Britain after the U.K. government claimed Muammar Gaddafi is a legitimate target for assassination.

... Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu suggested that air strikes launched after a meeting in Paris hosted by France on Saturday had gone beyond what had been sanctioned by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

... Adding pressure to the already fractured alliance, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has also reiterated a warning that Italy would take back control of airbases it has authorised for use by allies for operations over Libya unless a NATO coordination structure was agreed.

... In the U.S., Obama has made it clear he wants no part of any leadership role in Libya.

Well, that's not the "smart power" advertised. We have remarked elsewhere on Mr. Obama's intent to transform an indomitable America, primus inter pares, into a go-along-to-get-along America. America the pal. America the chum. America the mook. [Hard sigh.] We are a long way from Donald Rumsfeld.

CHOPE.

Followship as leadership. Unus inter pluribus.