U.S. Proclaims Libyan Rebels the "Legitimate Government" of Libya

From the AP: 

[Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton announced Friday that Washington accepts the Transitional National Council as the legitimate governing authority of the Libyan people. Diplomatic recognition of the council means that the U.S. will be able to fund the opposition with some of the more than $30 billion in Gahdafi-regime assets that are frozen in American banks.

Clinton made the announcement at an international conference on Libya in Istanbul.

Comments

[Achtung Coma Baby]

Yeah, how's about we get some fucking Congressional authorization for this war, madam secretary?

[Rocket J. Squirrel]

But that trick never works!

[Bullwinkle]

Nothin' up my sleeve....PRESTO!

[Appalachian Australian]

Could Great Britain declare the monarchy to be the legitimate government of the U.S.?

[Almanian]

REAL "CONSERVATIVES" HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THIS!!!1!!

[Almanian]

PS Like Britain would want us back? They call July 4th "British Thanksgiving", for fuck's sake.

[wylie]

Lil help. Can someone put this into some kind of a frying-pan/fire metaphor for me. Kkthxbai.

[Almanian]

Hit the boss in the head with a frying pan will get you FIRED UP?

The fire came out of the bathroom and was confronted by an angry, scorched frying pan?

Man, we got out of the frying pan and went into the crowded movie theatre and shouted, "Fire!" LOL!

No...wait...

[wylie]

That's the most understandable summary of Kinetic Libya I've seen.

[Citizen Nothing]

I announce that I have accepted Citizen Nothing as the legitimate governing authority of Nothingatopia.

[wylie]

FINALLY. Now i can officially annex your pool. Wasn't possible with your previous unofficial sovereignty.

[wylie]

(we can discuss tariffs at your convenience CN.)

[Bullwinkle]

Can I be your Poet Laureate?

[Ben P.]

Who can forget your breathtaking magnum opus, "Oh, to be a Platypus"?

Well, at least I can't. Maybe I'm the only one.

[hazeeran]

We've had such good luck telling them who they ought to accept as rulers. Pahlavi ended well.

Right?

[Hugh Akston]

Hey, the rebels are at least acting like a government.

[Ray]

Those Nobel folks sure know how to pick 'em.

[Bean Counter]

I thought Obama OPPOSED the U.S. going around meddling in the affairs of the muslim world. I thought he was all for peace. I thought he was going to close Gitmo. I thought he was for CHANGE! Liberals.....they hate the military until they get ahold of it. Then they treat it like a 3 year old with a new toy on Christmas Morning. And, like the 3 year old, they usually break it.

[the real oo]

thinkin obviously aint ur strong suit

[Bean Counter]

Is there a "sarcasm" smiley face that we can use for those who are irony-impaired?

[wylie]

And spoil all the resulting fun? I think not, sir.

[Bean Counter]

Sorry, I didn't think of that. What a party pooper I turned out to be.

[OO]

/irony FAIL

[DJF]

I wonder how much the US taxpayer will end up paying our new friends in the Libyan "Government"?

[db]

Well, the rebels have already started destroying personal property and beating and maiming accused enemies without trial, so they're off to a fine start with some on-the-job training for essential state functions under their belts.

[wylie]

They're still figuring out how to license liquor stores and interior decorators, so still only a 3rd world nation till those are (Mission) accomplished.

[P Brooks]

And a subdued expression of gratified approbation arose among the Swiss banking community.

[wylie]

I thought they always looked that way. It's actually caused by a human emotion, huh? I'll be damned.

[Lord Humungus]

*ta da* and it was so.

[Dello]

The middle East Panama?

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Mission accomplished, eh?

[P Brooks]

When does Hillary get her "rug"?

[kinnath]

A merkin?

[Jess Asken]

Washington accepts the Transitional National Council as the legitimate governing authority of the Libyan people.

Do the Libyan people accept the Transitional National Council as the legitimate governing authority of the Libyan people?

[Bean Counter]

Why do you ask? It was W who was all into spreading democracy by forcing regime change on 3rd worlders, not Obama. The important point is that Lord Obama accepts the TNC, what the people want is really unimportant....kinda like in the U.S.

[jtuf]

The Netherlands recognized the rebels as the new government of Libya this week too.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/a.....es_lib.php

[jtuf]

I wonder what will happen in September when Gahdafi wants to speak at the opening of the UN General Assembly.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

And when that money is used to kill and rape innocent people she will be stupid enough to look shocked.

[J_L_B]

This as much as anything proves how inept Obama is. The justification he could have used for congressional approval was easy and straightforward: Ghaddafi (or Qaddafi or Gadawful or whatever) was and remains a threat the United States and the world. He has launched two brazen attacks on Americans (1986 in Berlin, and 1988 in Lockerbie). We share a common enemy with the rebels, he is a threat to both them and us, and we should support this rare opportunity to have one of the world's strongmen removed.

Instead they went into detail about a coalition to prevent atrocities against rebel fighters (who apparently can fend those off enough to defeat GoodawwFee's army). Community organizing in no way prepares anybody for anything except to be a future Jesse Jackson.

[Cytotoxic]

Those attacks were a long time ago. They could justify the intervention, but it's still stupid given how friendly we were with Gadhafi until the uprising.

[J_L_B]

That was a desperate Bush 43 wanting to have some good result of the Iraq war after the missing WMDs. It was a bad deal made with a bad dictator. You only tolerate these dictators as long as the price of their removal is too high to warrant their threat. Once that changes (as it as has in Libya), you take the opportunity to get rid of them.

[R C Dean]

It was a bad deal made with a bad dictator.

How so? We are on a WMD tear, we got a bad actor in the ME to give up his WMDs. Umm, mission accomplished?

[Tulpa]

Bush was a foreign policy idiot, but this was actually one of his few good moves.

[Tulpa]

You only tolerate these dictators as long as the price of their removal is too high to warrant their threat.

That's a good incentive for dictators to make sure the price of their removal is sky-high. The easiest way to do that of course is to develop nukes and bioweapons.

And of course there's no guarantee that the successor of Gadaffi won't be just as bad if not worse.

The world is not your sandbox. A concept I understand neocons have trouble with.

[heller]

#3 Here Comes Your Man

[Tulpa]

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.

What happens if Gadaffi wins now?

This administration is like a retarded kid given a crowbar and a blowtorch and told to be creative.