BRITAIN IS READY – AT 8:42 P.M. ET:  I must say that British Prime Minister David Cameron is proving to be a stand-up guy.  Compare please to lie-down-guy Barack H. Obama Jr.  Cameron is moving quickly to act on the UN Libya resolution.  Britain's military assets are small compared with ours, but the Brits know how to use their equipment effectively, and their defense minister, Liam Fox, is a gem in the Churchill tradition.

From Britain's Guardian, a left-wing newspaper that occasionally gets it right:

RAF ground attack aircraft are ready to help impose a no-fly zone over Libya as ministers ordered defence chiefs to finalise plans enabling Britain to take part immediately in military action against forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi.

Tornado all-weather attack aircraft, equipped with precision weapons, were almost certain to be the first British assets used in any military operation, officials said. They are based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and RAF Marham in Norfolk.

Though due to phased out under the government's defence their performance has been tested in operations over decades. It was not immediately clear whether they would fly from a military base in southern France or from RAF Akrotiri, in one of Britain's sovereign base areas in Cyprus.

It was also unclear whether Eurofighter Typhoons would take part in an operation. Britain has two ships off the Libyan coast, and Chinook helicopters and early-warning aircraft equipped with long-range radar based in Malta, but would need permission from the Maltese government to use them in action over Libya.

For this reason, it would be easier for British aircraft to be based in Cyprus or France, which also strongly supports a no-fly zone. British forces could also use bases in Egypt if the new government there agreed.

COMMENT:  Good for Britain.  For us, what can we say?  We're stuck with the weakest, most indecisive president since Carter.  We have Hamlet in the White House, and no leader has ever looked to Hamlet as a role model.

March 17, 2011