libya

The Air Force’s man in Foggy Bottom

By Scott Fontaine on September 1, 2011 Uncategorized

The State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is looking mighty blue lately. Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan joined the bureau as its deputy assistant secretary for plans, programs and operations. He replaced Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello, directing the acquisition of special programs for the Defense Department. The moves were announced a few months ago. But The Cable has this interesting tidbit about the job: “Givhan is now the highest ranking military officer at the State Department, and his appointment is meant to cement the presence of a high-ranking active duty officer in PM, a State Department official told The Cable. Before…

NATO bombed the way for rebels’ advance into Tripoli

By Scott Fontaine on August 23, 2011 Uncategorized

So Col. Muammar Gadhafi hasn’t been captured (and it looks like his son, Saif, might not ever have been), but it’s not too early to look at the role NATO jets played in toppling the Libyan government. On Aug. 20, the day rebels first stormed Tripoli, NATO jets struck 22 targets inside the capital: three military facilities, one military storage facility, seven surface-to-air missile transloaders, one radar, one surface-to-surface missile, two armed vehicles, two armored fighting vehicles, three command-and-control nodes and two multiple rocket launchers. And that’s just the latest round. Since NATO took over operations on March 31, the alliance…

The noose tightens around Gadhafi

By Scott Fontaine on August 19, 2011 Uncategorized

So how well are things going in the United States’ third war? Well, months of operating a no-fly zone over the no-fly zone, sanctions, interdicting ships entering port, striking at government forces and overall just supporting the rebellion has really started to put the heat on leader Moammar Gadhafi. And while some people might be following the news, how well do you know the geography? Do you know your Azzawiyas from your Sirtes? Well, we’ve got a pretty neat map showing how bleak things look for the Gadhafi government. Iyad El-Baghdadi — who identifies himself as an “entrepreneur, Austrian economist,…

And guess who provides the email servers

By Scott Fontaine on June 17, 2011 Uncategorized

Outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates took some outgoing-defense-secretaryish shots at NATO last week. Among the shots at the trans-Atlantic alliance: It’s “two-tiered” and faces “a dim, if not dismal future.” And then there was this zinger: “The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress — and in the American body politic writ large — to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense,” he said.” Harsh words. So…

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