WASHINGTON- The death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, is another victory for the U.S. approach of a new war: I have found some of the troops on the ground, and the widespread use of air power, including unmanned aerial vehicles, at least in Libya's case, to rely on its allies
If they do not become places of a more stable and peaceful, the new approach will win in the end seems very transient.
Only a few months ago, the focus of some fans: No hawks in Congress have called for the troops on the ground not the doves, who demanded to withdraw and not many experts who warned of the problems. More specifically, critics mocked President Obama to "lead from behind," he often repeated the words that came from a U.S. administration official did not mention his name in an article published in the New Yorker.
However, the last six months have brought a number of successes. In May, the U.S. command Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan. In August, Tripoli fell, and fled, Colonel Gaddafi. In September, the attack killed a U.S. drone Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior member of Al Qaeda propaganda in Yemen. On Thursday, people were digested images of blood stains the body of Colonel Gaddafi, a strong man who spent decades unjust and showing off his pariah.
"It's a great day," said Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, on CNN on Thursday morning. "I think the government deserves great credit. Obviously, I had different ideas on the tactical side, but the world a better place."
Sen. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican, said in a statement, referring to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said "the administration, especially Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, deserves congratulations."
With all this recent success, however, two caveats remain high.
One of them is not clear that the new model of war is here, behind the continued guidance of prominent al-Qaeda. Syria, the last of democracy in the midst of the protests, remains a target for military intervention is unlikely because it is bigger and stronger militarily to Libya, and less isolated internationally, and located in the neighborhood are more sensitive in terms of strategy.
Two, Mr. Obama seems likely to get a lot of politicians to raise the rebel victory in Libya. Poll numbers was after the death of Bin Laden - a much bigger event for most Americans of the death of Colonel Gaddafi - but soon began to fall again, as concern over the slow pace of economic growth is back. In the latest survey by the New York Times / CBS in mid-September and 43 percent of respondents approve of his performance, with the exception of 50 percent - the lowest since he took office.
The face so hard Obama political tensions with the army in the coming months. Leon Panetta, and the defense minister, said the Pentagon can not reduce its budget to the penny behind the $ 450 billion in cuts already ordered as part of an agreement to reduce the deficit with Congress, but most analysts expect further reductions to be part of any plan of the Budget Committee in Congress specifically race to find at least $ 1.2 billion more in budget cuts by General Thanksgiving holiday. If the Committee will be further reduced to take effect automatically.
However, White House aides said he hopes that the operation of recent events and immunization of Obama's accusation that Democrats are soft on defense together. When Tripoli fell in August, a senior government official said: "This helps to secure and strengthen the idea that the man who keeps us safe." He added: "Gaddafi led Reagan, George W. Bush aimed at Bin Laden, Obama to do both."
Politics aside, the focus of the last war to reflect the lessons that government officials and military leaders alike have been taken from the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Disappointed of the huge costs and uncertain outcomes in these two countries, the Obama administration has adopted drone, along with small lightning, like those who killed bin Laden, and in the future to combat terrorist networks.
"Lessons learned from the wars, large and clear," said Micah Zenko, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that after the death of Mr Awlaki in September. "The cost in blood and money and spacious, and the result is not unexpected. The public support at home is falling to the bottom. And the people who had come to liberate come to resent their presence."
Improved technical capacity of unmanned aerial vehicles - weapons and video capabilities - plays a role in this transformation. Doing it in the large federal budget deficit, aggravated by the large deployment of forces abroad, and the annual cost is estimated at $ 1 million per soldier. Follow one of them Mr. Awlaki with live video on the grass tribes in Yemen, where the situation was very dangerous for U.S. forces to go.
In the case of Libya - unlike the case of strikes against Bin Laden and Al-Awlaki - The United States provided a clear effort to allow other countries to adopt a leadership role. In fact, Mr. Obama and his defense minister at the time, Robert Gates, at first reluctant to intervene and was pushed to do so, among others, and French.
The important question now, however, can not be whether the new approach will become a model for other wars, or if it will help Obama politically. Instead, this is simply: What will happen in Libya and other countries that were part of the Arab spring, and even in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which remain the sites of the drone attacks the U.S. .?
If they do not become places of a more stable and peaceful, the new approach will win in the end seems very transient.
