Newsweek's Evan Thomas: Obama Administration a 'Headless Horse' on Libya

Newsweek's Evan Thomas on Friday took a swipe at the White House's handling of its operation in Libya.

As the subject was raised on PBS's "Inside Washington," Thomas said, "In this case, it’s always hard to know what the Administration is doing because it’s sort of a headless horse" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

GORDON PETERSON, HOST: I keep thinking about “Charlie Wilson’s War.” We arm the mujahideen to get rid of the Russians, or to deal with the Russians, and then all of a sudden, the law of unintended consequences kicks in.

EVAN THOMAS, NEWSWEEK: I mean, Secretary Gates said he didn’t want to get in the arming business yesterday, at least speaking for himself. It’s hard to know what the, in this case, it’s always hard to know what the Administration is doing because it’s sort of a headless…

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: What administration?

THOMAS: What administration – it’s a headless horse.

For those not familiar with the 2007 film, "Charlie Wilson's War" was about former Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-Tx.) funneling funds to help the CIA with its covert operation of assisting the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet invaders. 

Unfortunately, when the Soviets finally pulled out, no one listened to Wilson's post-occupation plan, and Afghanistan eventually became a haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda.

In this sense, Peterson's analogy was spot on as was Thomas's headless horse observation.

Either Obama is doing something terribly wrong or there was something in the water on that set today - or maybe both.