President Obama is proud of how he put together the Libyan operation. A model of international cooperation. All the necessary paperwork. Arab League backing. A Security Council resolution. (Everything but a resolution from the Congress of the United States, a minor inconvenience for a citizen of the world.) It’s war as designed by an Ivy League professor.
Well, it does make sense. Basically the President has told the coalition to break down into small groups to discuss the question, "How do we implement UNSCR 1973?"
UPDATE: The next time there is an emergency that requires speedy American military might to address, the administration could take a look at how George H. W. Bush reacted to the much bigger threat of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (tip to Instapundit).
UPDATE: And rather than discussing how the current coalition is smaller (and has likely peaked, it is safe to assume) than recent wars as if the coalition size is what matters (although I do enjoy it given how George W. Bush is tagged as a unilateral cowboy), let's discuss results and the determination to defend our interests regardless of the state of world opinion. Cue President Reagan for this one with Operation Urgent Fury:
By a vote of 108 in favor to 9 (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Israel, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and the United States voting against) with 27 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted General Assembly Resolution 38/7 which "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that State". The government of China termed the United States intervention an outright act of hegemonism. The USSR government observed that Grenada had for a long time been the object of United States threats, that the invasion violated international law, and that no small nation not to the liking of the United States would find itself safe if the aggression against Grenada was not rebuffed. The governments of some countries stated that the United States intervention was a return to the era of barbarism. The governments of other countries said the United States by its invasion had violated several treaties and conventions to which it was a party.
A similar resolution was discussed in the United Nations Security Council and although receiving widespread support it was ultimately vetoed by the United States. The then president of the United States Ronald Reagan, when asked if he was concerned by the lopsided 108-9 vote in the UN General Assembly said "it didn't upset my breakfast at all."
It should never upset the president's breakfast to ponder that foreign countries disapprove of our actions to defend our interests. A small war, to be sure. But a big lesson.
As an aside, I sometimes wonder if our president would veto a UN Security Council resolution that condemns us for something.
