I intend no offense or disrespect with this post. And I sincerely hope that the fighting in Libya ends quickly with a resolution that leads to peaceful freedom for the people of that country. How that happens, I got no idea, but I don't feel bad about it because apparently none of the significantly large number of people smarter than me who work in international politics and relations have any idea either.
But every time I see footage of the forces rebelling against Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, I see what looks like a bunch of pickups with large-caliber machine guns or small shell-firing weapons mounted in the back, held in place with sandbags or other makeshift material. It's like the state of Texas got their first two wishes granted or something (I checked to see if they might have made their third wish, but no joy for them -- the score was still 28-20 and OU still won).
One shot on a news program today was of about 15 or 20 of these armed trucks speeding along and beside a narrow highway through a dusty plain, and I couldn't tell if I was watching news footage of Libya or a scene from the Road Warrior.
If the goal of intervening in this conflict is the removal of Col. Qaddafi, those jets are going to have to shoot a lot of missles. Because even "built Ford tough," pickups v. tanks doesn't have a good outcome for the trucks.
No offense intended but that sounds remarkably like the comments made about Mujahideen on horseback against Soviet Hind anti-tank helicopters and tanks.
ReplyDeleteAnd there may be similarities, although I think the Pashtun were in general tougher than the current Libyan rebels. I'm no expert, but I think we're looking at a divided country when it all settles out -- rebels unable to dislodge Uncle Moammar and Moammar unable to bring enough force to bear to fully defeat them.
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