National Geographic

A massive version of the above chart can be found here.

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.”

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.

For the second year in a row, last year the number of U.S. soldiers who killed themselves exceeded those killed in battle.

One of the problems hindering the military's attempt to address soldier suicides is that there's no real rhyme or reason to what kind of soldier is killing himself. While many suicide victims are indeed afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after facing heavy combat in the Middle East, many more have never even been deployed. Of the 112 guardsmen who committed suicide last year, more than half had never even left American soil. "If you think you know the one thing that causes people to commit suicide, please let us know,” Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told the Army Times, "because we don't know what it is."