In 2007, then-candidate Barack Obama said that “being a leader means that you’d better do what’s right and leave the politics aside because there are no do-overs on an issue as important as war.” While he’s right that there are no do-overs when it comes to war, he’s wrong about politics. Nearly every war this country fought was a result of politics. The purpose of the military is secure political objectives as much as it is defend the nation – at least, that’s the way it’s been used for the past few decades.

But, I’m wondering where this illusive “leader” is in the wake of the Libya issue. The U.S. Navy today fired Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Libyan military – an act of war if ever there was one. And what did Libya do to us (using the liberal argument as a benchmark)? What threat does Libya pose to the United States.

Afghanistan trained Al Qaeda, a sworn enemy of this country. They funded and shipped extremist Islamic jihad around the world and killed thousands of Americans on 9/11. Iraq funded terrorists that trained and supported Al Qaeda, fired on Americans patrolling “no-fly” zones, tried to kill an American president, downed American pilot Scott Speicher and refused to turn over either him or his remains, and directly funded Palestinian suicide bombers in Isreal, some of which killed Americans.

I have no problem supporting non-violent means of getting Libya in check, but there is no reason for military action. Where is the line drawn? Libya isn’t doing much more than Egypt did. Many government in Africa are killing its citizens that dare to stand up to them. We aren’t sending cruise missiles in there.

It’s eerie how similar this is to what Clinton did to “pacify” Afghanistan and deal with the threat there. Why does one particular party favor just lobbing explosive lead into a country and calling it a day?

I probably wouldn’t have as much objection if this wasn’t the same administration that is hamstringing troops in Afghanistan and has done nothing but talk down about our involvement in Iraq. It’s almost like our government is bi-polar. I wasn’t happy when President Bush lifted sanctions against Libya and I’m more pissed that we’re now devoting military assets to bombing it!

But, at least the pictures look cool!