I avoid writing about this because I have a personal beef with “Colonel” Hows-it-spelled, so I can’t be impartial.

Oil is part of it, but so is Lockerbie and Chad. The initial call for a no-fly zone actually came from Libya’s UN ambassador when he resigned. It was picked up by David Cameron of the UK who quickly gained agreement from Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The two of them weren’t having a lot of luck selling the concept to the EU until the Arab League endorsed the idea, and Lebanon introduced a motion to establish a no-fly zone at the UN Security Council.

The Security Council passed Resolution 1973 with 5 abstentions, and the US finally was engaged in the process.

As soon as the resolution was passed, Sarkozy sent French aircraft into eastern Libya to “enforce” it.

The US was needed to provide some targeting information and the current GPS offsets that the UK and France didn’t have. The US has been dealing directly with the air defense system, and has not been engaged in anything else.

The UK attacked the building in the “Colonel’s” compound, which was obvious from the damage. It was hit by two bunker busters, which is the primary use of the European Storm Shadow cruise missile that is carried by Tornadoes. The UK took credit for destroying a “command and control center” which it probably was, but also put the “Colonel” on notice that he will pay a price for the Lockerbie bombing.

The US mission will actually be over fairly quickly, and we can step back to a support role, as European and some Arab nations fly the fighter cap over the country.

The BBC has a table of the allied weaponry.

The 48^th Fighter Wing of RAF Lakenheath lost an F-15E Strike Eagle to mechanical problems in Libya, but the crew ejected and have been recovered. During their last mission to bomb Libya, the Wing lost an F=111 and the crew. I don’t doubt that the crews were told that these missions were payback for the shooting at the Frankfurt airport, another incident most people didn’t notice.

There is no reason for the US to be “in charge” after air supremacy is assured, so in this case, they aren’t kidding when they say we will be out of it shortly.