When it comes to Libya, Congressman Raúl Labrador (R-Id.) isn’t afraid to talk about an issue that must create political anxieties for President Obama, his advisors, speechwriters and spin experts. That issue is the costs that US intervention in Libya will impose on American soldiers, sailors and airmen, and their families.
As the above quote from Labrador shows, he is willing to talk about this matter in a way that the president would find very difficult, and with a straightforwardness that would put off laptop bombardiers like the NY Times’ Thomas Friedman.
In his address on Libya, President Obama and his speechwriters played down the potential costs of American intervention in Libya. The president denied that the US plans to send ground forces into Libya, and emphasized the fact that American air power makes such a move unnecessary.
No surprise here — no one gives a speech, with the goal of rousing listeners and viewers to question one’s proposed solution to a problem, by dwelling extensively on the costs of that solution.
While we may yield this point, however, it’s clear that the president and his communications team are being a little sly by shading the facts to make it appear that Libya is a low-risk operation.
What about the risks to the American pilots (and pilots of other nations) flying above Libya, for example? Heaven help any of them who fall into the hands of the pro-regime fighters, even by accident.
As has been observed before, the risks that air force pilots face (versus the risks that soldiers on the ground must overcome) are harder for the public to perceive, since it’s far easier for reporters to travel alongside infantry units than it is for them to accompany pilots on bombing missions and patrols.
But the risks for the pilots are still real, even if it is harder for the MSM to report on them (and thus more difficult for these risks to register with the civilian public).
And not even a month’s worth of reassuring speeches can hide that fact.
