Regime Change, On Sale

Douthat remains a skeptic, as I do, of the Libyan war. This is dead-on:

Obama’s “false choice” was actually a real choice. And by choosing war in Libya, he probably committed America far more completely than last night’s speech was willing to admit.

This is not a prediction:

From the air, the United States is supplying much more firepower than any other country.

The allies have fired nearly 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles since the campaign started on March 19, all but 7 from the United States. The United States has flown about 370 attack missions, and its allied partners have flown a similar number, but the Americans have dropped 455 precision-guided munitions compared with 147 from other coalition members.

Besides taking part in the airstrikes, the American military is taking the lead role in gathering intelligence, intercepting Libyan radio transmissions, for instance, and using the information to orchestrate attacks against the Libyan forces on the ground. And over the weekend the Air Force quietly sent three of its most fearsome weapons to the operation.