went on in spring of 2015, thinking that using their superior weaponry they could bomb these relatively unsophisticated poorly armed, poorly organised rabble like militia straight to the negotiating table, and i went down to riyadh at the time, something called the coalition centre and i interviewed saudi officials who said it would be over by the end of the year. it has taken eight years and the houthis are still in place and i have only got stronger. although we call them the houthi rebels and they are the illegitimate government, only recognised by syria and iran, not by the un, but they are the de facto government of most of the populated areas of yemen stop they now have a very powerful arsenal of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones that iran has helped train them to use and assemble and fire. while
you know they re flat out objecting to doing that. if you are a libyan opposition, you are days and weeks at a minimum at a minimum before you might get any help, right? i think that s right. there are things that the u.s. fleet and air power can do in the coming days and weeks. we re close to the shores of libya. we can demonstrate military resolve. we could block arms imports into the libyan government, we could jam military communications, we could be ready to extricate refugees. we could do all those things should we choose to do, but it really isn t logical for the united states to try to implement a no-fly zone on its own. we need the nato allies for that. the nato allies don t yet believe in this mission. at least, not everybody together. what is present today is a gadhafi regime that is using its military superiority, its air power. there are reports today of firing from naval ships back to the shore using its army and its superior weaponry. if in the coming days the re
but it s rough going. career soldiers try to convince the men to fight not with just their hearts but also with their heads. the halt is partly due to disorganization, but also partly a function of the government forces superior weaponry. specifically its ability to bomb at will. these ole anti-aircraft guns may make a lot of noise, but rarely hit their targets. without a much discussed no-fly zone, opposition forces remain little more than sitting ducks. they ve begun to move some of their heavy armor towards the front, but it s just a fraction of what the other side has.
general who joined in the opposition spend much of their time trying to convince the men to fight not just with their hearts, but also with their heads. the opposition s offensive west sirte and eventually tripoli has grown to a halt. partly due to disorganization but also partly due to the government forces superior weaponry, specifically the ability to bomb at will. these old anti-aircraft guns may make a lot of noise, but rarely hit their targets. without a much discussed no-fly zone, opposition forces remain little more than sitting ducks. they ve begun to move some of their heavy armor toward the front, but it s just a fraction of what the other side has. food is abundant, though ironically in this oil-rich country, fuel is becoming a