It's getting that you can't tell the players without a scorecard:
We bombed Qaddafi’s forces because they were killing civilians. So Qaddafi’s forces began dressing like civilians. So the rebels began killing civilians. So NATO is warning the rebels not to kill civilians, otherwise NATO will bomb the rebels. But the rebels are dressed like civilians.So NATO may end up killing civilians.
In other news, the administration continues to debate arming the rebels who are dressed like civilians. But Qaddafi’s forces are also dressed like civilians. So we may be arming Qaddafi’s forces who are killing civilians while we also bomb the rebels who are killing civilians and bombing civilians who really are civilians but look like Qaddafi’s forces who are killing civilians.
It certainly is a good thing that the President thought this through before he went to Congress to get their buy-in.
Shanker and Savage lead their story with this: "Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to senior military and government officials."
Shanker and Savage report in paragraph two: "As NATO takes over control of airstrikes in Libya and the Obama administration considers new steps to tip the balance of power there, the coalition has told the rebels that the fog of war will not shield them from possible bombardment by NATO planes and missiles, just as the regime's forces have been punished."
Was it only the day before yesterday that the Obama administration was debating whether we should arm the "rebels"? Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Obama was holding the debate with himself: "I'm not ruling it out. But I'm also not ruling it in," Obama told NBC News in an interview Tuesday evening. Maybe he'll be able to rule on it once he figures out who the heck the "rebels" are.
All in all, I'd rather Obama just play golf 24/7 until he loses the election in 2012. I'm betting more and more Democrats feel the same way these days.
