National Geographic

Whackadoodle teabagger Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) yesterday declared that U.S. action in Libya is actually a false flag operation meant to exhaust the military's resources. That way the president can call up his super-secret army as authorized in the health care reform bill. Seriously.

"It's a bad bill. And then when you find out that the prior Congress not only passed that 2,800 page bill with all kinds of things in it, including a new president's commissioned officer corps and non-commissioned officer corps. Do we really need that? I wondered when I read that in the bill. But then when you find out we're being sent to Libya to use our treasure and American lives there, maybe there's intention to so deplete the military that we're going to need that presidential reserve officer commissioned corps and non-commissioned corps that the president can call up on a moment's notice involuntarily, according to the Obamacare bill."

Talking Points Memo notes that Gohmert is repeating a Tea Party conspiracy theory currently making the rounds via chain emails. According to the teabaggers, the Ready Reserves Corps of medical personnel created in the health care reform bill, who are meant to serve in national emergencies such as Katrina, will actually be an army of Obama's private henchmen. The concept of the Ready Reserves Corps was first put forward by the Bush administration after 9/11. As he typically does, Gohmert made his claims from the podium of an empty House chamber. That way, he gets the video clip to score teabagger points, gets his claim on the Congressional record, yet faces no rebuttals.

The New York Times summarizes:

In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and artillery of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi nine days ago, Mr. Obama said the United States had the responsibility and the international backing to stop what he characterized as a looming genocide in the Libyan city of Benghazi. “I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action,” Mr. Obama said. But at the same time, he said, directing American troops to forcibly remove Colonel Qaddafi from power would be a step too far, and would “splinter” the international coalition that has moved against the Libyan government. “To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said, adding that “regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya.”

No matter what the president does, Gingrich is against it.

The president of Bolivia and a high-ranking Russian politico have asked the Nobel committee to strip President Obama of his 2009 Peace Prize over the attacks on Libya.

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader and Vice-Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky released a statement today calling for the Nobel Prize Committee to take back the honour bestowed on US President Barack Obama in 2009. Zhirinovsky said the attacks were "another outrageous act of aggression by NATO forces and, in particular, the United States," and that the attacks demonstrated a "colonial policy" with "one goal: to establish control over Libyan oil and the Libyan regime." He said the prize was now hypocritical as a result. Bolivian President Evo Morales echoed the call: "How is it possible that a Nobel Peace Prize winner leads a gang to attack and invade? This is not a defence of human rights or self-determination."

It should be noted that in 2006 Morales won the Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, says Obama's decision to attack Libya without approval from Congress is an impeachable offense.

"President Obama moved forward without Congress approving. He didn't have Congressional authorization, he has gone against the Constitution, and that's got to be said," Kucinich said in an interview with Raw Story. "It's not even disputable, this isn't even a close question. Such an action -- that involves putting America's service men and women into harm's way, whether they're in the Air Force or the Navy -- is a grave decision that cannot be made by the president alone." According to Kucinich, Obama's decision "would appear on its face to be an impeachable offense," though he questioned whether Congress would ever move forward with a trial in practice.

According to the Vietnam-era War Powers Act, presidents must seek approval from Congress withing 48 hours of committing U.S. troops to action. The above-linked story notes that the act has been "mostly ignored" by presidents including Bill Clinton, Bush I, and Ronald Reagan.

"No ground troops." But there will be sanctions and probably within days, cruise missiles and drone attacks. Because two wars are not enough.

Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi just appeared on state television to declare that he will not step down and that he plans to "die here as a martyr.'

He described protesters who have carried out days of anti-government demonstrations as "rats", adding: "This is my country and the country of our ancestors". Speaking in a loud voice, Col Gadaffi has claimed that Libya's image was being distorted by foreign media and that world leaders were conspiring against the country. "They want to disfigure and undermine and tarnish the reputation of the people and the country," he said as he called on his supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday. Earlier, Libyan state TV declared he was set to announce plans to devolve some of his powers after 41 years of rule.

Many nations are presently evacuating their citizens from Libya as widespread civil unrest and government reprisals continue.