西六宫有哪些宫:Obama anxious to relinquish war command[]

By Li Hong

Four days after US President Barack Obama ordered Tomahawk cruise missiles and warplane sorties being launched on Libyan air defense facilities and Colonel Moammar Qaddafi's tanks and men, the Pentagon and the State Department, chief vehicles of American foreign policy and US global predominance, said Obama has directed them to "swiftly" move command of war to its allies in Europe, typically, Britain and France.

It is a bewildering decision made by the White House. It epitomizes traces of skittishness or prudence on the side of Obama, in sharp contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush. Affordability of waging a possibly long war with complex tribes on a vast expanse of sand has dissuaded Obama of doing more that might trap himself.

Lately, Obama himself joined Washington efforts to relinquish its command. Nevertheless, even as Obama has talked on the lines with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, the squabble remains, because London and Paris are, apparently, reluctant to take over the steering position and call all the shots.

Some analysts said that US has already realized its goal by largely destroying Qaddafi's radar system, surface-to-air missile batteries and major military establishments. Others believe that Obama does not want to be seen as committing too much American resources – ground forces particularly --into a third war, after Iraq and Afghanistan, which might prove to be politically risky as he faces presidential reelection about 19 months away.

"When this transition (of command) takes place, it is not going to be our planes that are maintaining the no-fly zone. It is not going to be our ships that are enforcing the arms embargo. That's precisely what the other nations are needed to do," said the US President.

The overwhelming voice among American people opposing American military involvement in Libya has put Obama at bay. Just take a browse of online comments, Americans are furious with their president ordering air-strikes on Libya without discussing it with them, and without seeking approval from the Congress.

The majority of the comments say a war more than 10,000 miles away from America "isn't what the US wants, needs or can afford", and it has played "world police for too long", and now it's time for "some other countries to fight and foot the bill". The weariness and anger on the side of American people are so ample and vivid that Obama could not take them for granted. After all, it is them who will cast votes during next elections.

However, Obama also has other thoughts swirling in his mind. He does not want US' global power to be belittled in the eyes of the world. He abhors the thought of American weakness while he sits at the White House. He tries to act as a hawk, concerned with backlash from the Right in his own country.

After two long years of crippling and bruising economic doldrums brought by the 2008 global financial crisis, America has now seen a few signs of a recovery. The prospect of an economy faring better has elevated and beamed the White House.

All the more, the revolutions spreading across the Middle East and North Africa since early this year, and ousting of previously iconic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia where pro-Western governments are to be set up, are widely deemed a blessing for US, and Obama has, naturally, taken credit for it. Even the political wind has changed recently, with more pundits claiming that it is increasingly difficult for any Republican opponents to beat Obama in autumn 2012.

But the revolution in Libya wasn't what Washington had expected, and had turned ugly and violent, with Colonel Qaddafi's loyalists taking strongholds and extending battle lines with the rebels, who are backed by Western governments. Last week, the civil strife intensified, and Qaddafi's forces moved closer to eastern rebel bastions. Fearing a complete wipeout of rebels by Qaddafi that would spell a failure of Libyan revolution, Western governments sought a "no-fly zone" authorization from the United Nations Security Council.

The US-led bombardments in Libya are about to continue for a few days, and who will take up the command from the Pentagon is to be seen. Obama has said twice Qaddafi needs to go, and his hope is alive that that he could mimic Bill Clinton who led NATO allies in implementing two-month bombings over former Yugoslavia in 1990s before Slobodan Milosevic's regime was forcibly changed.

It is tricky if Obama could repeat history. At least, a rising number of sovereign states are calling for U.S. and its allies to immediately stop air strikes which create civilian casualties. And, Obama does not want a nasty war to cost his political future, too.