Is It A War?

I would say it most certainly is, and I expect those flying missions over or near Libya are getting combat pay and a combat exclusion (to their Federal Income Taxes).

So, while I sympathize with the view of Columnist Byron York in this article in The Washington Examiner, I think he misses the strategic decision to downplay the US role, so that the role of the involved Arab and European (and other) nations will both appear to be and actually will be enhanced.

From the article

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Wednesday that Libya wasn't a war, describing it instead as a "kinetic military action."

Unfortunately, not everyone in the Administration was given the same sheet of music, including some at the Pentagon.  In my humble opinion, those speaking out of the Pentagon should have done a better job playing down US involvement.

This Administration's approach will be brilliant if we are out of there inside 45 days and a hole to be gotten out of if we are still there in 90 days.

The problem is, war is like childbirth, the outcome is always in doubt, or so someone, whose name I can't recall, suggested.  Just ask my Daughter-in-Law who decorated a bedroom for a girl and brought home a son.

Hat tip to The Instapundit.

Regards  —   Cliff