Libya - $100 million a day and counting

True, $100 million a day may, at first, be chump change to the U.S. budget. But, with no exit strategy, with Europeans' military presence still thin and likely to remain so, $100 million a day for maintaining Libya's no-fly zone to protect largely discordant tribalists will add up soon enough.

And, it's no more likely that Gadhafi will accommodate Obama's "suggestion" to step down than Saddam Hussein did for Arab leaders before Bush's invasion.

It's no wonder the military action has attracted Congressional foes from straight-shooting Republican Sen. Richard Lugar through centrist GOP-turned Dem Sen. Jim Webb to liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinch.

"There needs to be a plan about what happens after Kadafi," Lugar said. "Who will be in charge then, and who pays for this all? President Obama, so far, has only expressed vague hopes."

Per the top-linked story, soon, Team Obama will have to ask for a "supplemental," and the sparks will fly. Non-sensible GOPers will probably still be divided on the issue, tea partiers opposed but some neocon types supportive, and Dems won't be fully unified either.

Beyond that, why Libya, vs., say, Yemen? Is it, in the end, about the oil? It's kind of hard to argue against that — another parallel with Iraq.