U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the end of Gadhafi regime, with Libyan dictator’s death, and released a warning to the other dictators in the Middle East, writes The Guardian. Although the head of administration in Washington clearly did not call the name of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, it is supposed he would have referred to him, talking about the end of the inevitable iron fist leading in the Middle East. “The dark shadow of tyranny was removed. We can say that finally, Gadhafi regime came to an end”, said Obama promising to help Libyans to establish an interim government and organize elections. He, however released a warning about the “difficult days to come”.
Gadhafi’s death gave rise to speculation about military use of the same model in Syria – European and U.S. land and air forces alongside the rebels in a specific country. Moreover, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said that military action formula may be a pattern for the future, and the former commander of NATO, Wesley Clark, even indicated Syria for such an operation. “Syria will be different from Libya, but we showed that NATO is capable of sustained effort”, he told CNN.
The success of U.S. foreign policy
Obama presented the Libyan operation as a successful American foreign policy, along with the killing of the terrorist Osama bin Laden in May, and the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and, in the future, from Afghanistan. “Without putting a member of American ground troops on Libyan soil, we have reached our objectives and our mission, along with NATO comes to an end”, said the U.S. President.
“In this case, America has spent $2 billion and has not lost a single life. This is the recipe of how to act in the future as we move forward as opposed to what we did in the past”, said Joe Biden, referring to actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. has spent so far $1 trillion, respectively, 500 billion.
The cost of the NATO operation in Libya
Expenses for operations in Libya, supported by NATO member states, were estimated at about $7.3 million per month for electronic devices and $1.1 million per month for headquarters and staff costs. The operation started in March 2011 cost the U.S. $2 billion, without taking into account expenditures for the CIA or other U.S. agencies involved. However, officials say, comparing to other wars, the costs are reasonable.
Since the beginning of the mission, NATO had to make 7,725 reconnaissance missions and 1,845 attack missions. Wednesday, a day before Gadhafi was being captured and killed, NATO has conducted 67 reconnaissance missions and 16 attack missions. NATO also used, submarines, frigates, destroyers and supply ships. Also, just a week ago, U.S. have sold their allies munitions and other war materials worth 250 million dollars.