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Today's Top News
Libya Bombing Called a Success by U.S. Officials
CAIRO—As a second night of coalition bombs targeted Tripoli, with at least one blast registering close to Moammar Gadhafi’s compound, regrouping rebel fighters in eastern Libya began surging west to engage anew with the wounded regime’s forces.
The dramatic reversal came amid more mixed signals from the Gadhafi loyalists as a UN-backed no-fly zone took hold over Libya. The Libyan army declared a second ceasefire Sunday night after ignoring the first, even as the embattled leader vented fury on state television, vowing a “long, drawn out war” against the “new Nazis” flying overhead.
The rapid pace of events rattled nerves throughout the Middle East, as a U.S.-led onslaught of 124 Tomahawk cruise missile strikes that began Saturday night awakened memories of the “shock and awe” attacks on Baghdad in 2003 that signalled the controversial beginning of the end for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Arab League backing, seen as crucial to the Western-led mission over Libya, appeared to falter early Sunday as the sheer intensity of the attacks began to register.
Libyan state television claimed at least 64 people were killed in the initial wave of strikes and 150 more wounded. But foreign reporters in Tripoli under the watchful eye of the Gadhafi regime were prevented from visiting hospitals to verify the claim and interview casualties.
Senior U.S. officials discounted claims of civilian casualties and declared the initial phase of strikes “very effective,” all but erasing the Gadhafi regime’s air defences, clearing the way for allied control of the skies over the top third of the country.
Additional strikes by U.S., British and French warplanes early Sunday tore through dozens of tanks, trucks and support vehicles belonging to Gadhafi’s ground army approximately 16 kilometres south of the Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city and the epicentre of the pro-democracy revolution.
The attack, which included strikes by B-2 stealth bombers, left the Gadhafi army in “significant stress and suffering from a good deal of confusion,” said U.S. Vice-Admiral William Gortney.
Despite plumes of smoke rising late Sunday after air strikes near Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon. “We are not going after Gadhafi.”
The strikes, he said, were strictly intended to immobilize Libyan surface-to-air missile sites deemed a threat to coalition aircraft as they move in to keep Gadhafi’s air force grounded in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.
Gortney said the coalition struck Gadhafi’s mechanized ground forces to “protect the Libyan people” as the tanks began advancing toward Benghazi, citing UN authorization to defend Libyan civilians by any means necessary.
But with rebel forces — in large part, civilian Libyan protesters who took up arms in recent weeks as pro-Gadhafi’s soldiers moved to quell the revolt — now regrouping to take the fight to Gadhafi, the Pentagon was at a loss to explain how it would respond to new battles instigated by the pro-democracy side.
“I don’t have that answer yet,” said Gortney.
The blurry line between protecting civilians and providing the tipping point for Gadhafi’s ouster is emerging as a central political problem for the hastily formed coalition, which appears to lack consensus on the ultimate goals of intervention.
And the problem is likely to get bigger as the coalition itself enlarges, with warplanes from Spain, Belgium, Turkey and Qatar expected to join the no-fly enforcement effort in the coming hours. The mission has been dubbed Operation Odyssey Dawn.
Canada’s contribution of six CF-18s, together with 150 support personnel, are now at a small airbase in Trapani, Sicily, but remain at least a day away from joining the effort. One of the factors behind the delay is believed to be intense briefings to help pilots distinguish between pro-Gadhafi and rebel forces, which use similar and in some cases identical equipment, according to CBC News.
Gadhafi’s forces, which pushed deep into Benghazi early Saturday just hours before the allied attacks began, prompting panic and triggering an exodus of civilians from the largest rebel city, are largely gone.
One rebel loyalist, Muhammed Muttardi, told the Star a wave of relief washed over the city as the eleventh-hour intervention arrived. But the threat had not vanished entirely, as rebel forces combed Benghazi in search of “the rest of the pro-Gadhafi Revolutionary Committees,” the prime enforcers of the regime’s 42-year rule.
Elsewhere, rebel sources said pro-Gadhafi forces continued to pound the rebel-held western city of Misurata with heavy shelling and tank fire Sunday, entwining their armour inside an urban environment.
The attack was matched by another dose of defiance from Gadhafi himself, who raged for 15 minutes in a phone call to Libyan state television, blasting the international assault as “a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war.” He vowed to stand firm, promising to distribute weapons far and wide among his loyalists.
Gadhafi’s voice was broadcast over a still image of a statue of a fist clenching a downed U.S. plane — a monument to the memory of 1986 strikes on Libya ordered by then-president Ronald Reagan.
But late Sunday night, the alternating current of mixed message switched back to conciliatory, with Libyan army spokesman Milad al-Fuqhi announcing an “immediate ceasefire everywhere in Libya starting from 9 o’clock this evening.”
A previous ceasefire announced Friday by Libya’s Foreign Ministry amounted to nothing as Gadhafi’s forces accelerated their ill-fated drive to Benghazi, undermining confidence that this time things would be different.
“I sincerely hope and urge the Libyan authorities to keep their word,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Cairo. “They have been continuing to attack the civilian population. This has to be verified and tested.”
The White House said late Sunday that it would not recognize the second ceasefire declaration.
“Our view at this point . . . is that it isn’t true, or has been immediately violated,” White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters.
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52 Comments so far
Show AllAll I can say is that the brief reports I heard on NPR this morning was deja vu -- it just goes on and on and on -- death and destruction and countries and millions of lives turned to rubble -- all courtesy of the U.S. I'm not surprised by Gadhafi's response. Is anybody else? For the people of Libya who want nothing more than freedom, they will get nothing but death from the lunatics on both sides.
Just remember, the US learned from experts:
-----------------------------------
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels, MiniProp for Hitler’s Third Reich
1897-1945
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same for any country."
Herman Goering to Gustave Gilbert at Nuremberg, 18 April, 1946
-----------------------------------
Does that explain it?
YES
We don't count bodies or war crimes anymore.
During the build-up to the Iraq War as well as during the invasion itself the corporate media rarely allowed an anti-war point of view to be seen and heard on the network and cable news outlets. One wonders if the same scenario will be played out once again as U.S.missiles pound the air space of a country that is not threatening the United States and military and civilian "experts" inform the American people that the United States is entirely justified in firing their weapons of mass destruction upon the Libyan people.
A democracy is a wonderful thing to behold just as long as only one point of view is allowed to be aired on the corporate airwaves.
==Operation Odyssey Dawn==
What a wonderful choice. At age 68 I'm starting to tumesce.
Trylon
Libya Bombing Called a Success by U.S. Officials: Would those be the same officials who want to take away SS and force austerity measures down our throats. 85% of Libyan oil goes to Western Europe. Yet the US gets the lions share of the cost of defending the oil. Let France go it alone in Libya. It will take them longer to secure their oil because they have not invested in weapons as heavily as the US taxpayer has. So What!
Libyan oil will stay in the hands of the west and not go to China. Exxon pays no income tax and "We" the People" get the bill in the 'end'. Nothing new here.
The US taxpayer should get the Medal of Freedom for making the world FREE for Exxon, Halliburton, GE, Samsung, etc... to do business.
So far, so good. Gadhafi is in hiding, or perhaps already gone. The Libyan army announced a ceasefire last night. Let's hope they abide by it.
If Gadhafi does distribute small arms to the people of Tripoli (as he has threatened) it would likely hasten his demise. Anti-Gadhafi protesters were active in Tripoli just a few weeks ago, until several were shot and killed by Gadhafi mercenaries.
How would the people of the U.S. react if another country destroyed all of our air defenses, demolished the White House, and fired missiles at President Obama and his family?
"One rebel loyalist, Muhammed Muttardi, told the Star a wave of relief washed over the city as the eleventh-hour intervention arrived."
The answer to your question may not be as obvious as you think, if the above quotation is accurate. There's certainly no shortage of animosity toward the US corporate oligarchy on this website.
chaokoh I pictured it happening from the inside, people pissed off enough to take it all down. Guess who the next group of people are who will be getting the ax? It is going to be all your city, twp, and county elected officials. Under the new bill by Michigan gov and legisx, a non-elected person with corporate influence (think Goldman sachs crap) will be assigned, to cities, townships and counties deemed in a financial emergency, by the governor and that person will first eliminate all elected officials, commissions, and boards. How's that grab ya?
Like fascism, that's how it grabs me.
Create a fake "emergency" (the budget crisis), scapegoat one particular group (labor unions), scrap the existing government structure (city, township and county elected officials) claiming that they are inadequate to deal with fake "emergency".
Sound familiar?
Create a fake "emergency" (the Reichstag fire), scapegoat one particular group (Jews, communists, labor unions), scrap the existing government structure (the Weimar Republic) claiming that they are inadequate to deal with fake "emergency".
Gadhafi's compound is a 200-acre site (80 city blocks) containing an air defense facility, military staff headquarters, many other military and government buildings, and one of Gadhafi's several Tripoli residences. It's being reported that the air defense site and an administration building were hit, not the actual residence.
By contrast, the White House sits on 18 acres.
So we bombed the site of the new US Embasy?
On second thought, it is a little bit on the small side...
We blew up the air defense site at the compound (part of implementing the NFZ requested by the Arab League and authorized by the UN Security Council), which is not "the equivalent of a foreign military bombing the White House."
If Obama is taking his marching orders from Dick Cheney, perhaps there will be a new fortress embassy on the site. I'll be taking to the streets at the first indication of any destruction of civilian infrastructure, building of fortress embassies, or attempts to install a puppet government (not to mention U.S. troops committing murder, torture and rape). So far, there's no indication of any of that.
The US has always been dismissive of Civilian Casualties. They do not see why people should be concerned if 100 civilians are killed to take out one "suspected chevy van that MIGHT have a terrorist in the back".
See the picture on the sidebar of a US strike taking out "Libyan targets"
Those trucks look an awful lot like the ones that drive up and down my street and none of them appear to have rocket launchers or missiles of team mounted on them.
"at least 64 people were killed in the initial wave of [124 Tomahawk cruise missile] strikes and 150 more wounded."
Gotta kill'em to save'em - from their own wretched lives. - Saved.
Christian Soldiers marching on to war. With their toture-instrument for holy symbol - like a sigil branding the expedition with magic of suffering - lifted hight on many flags, like UK, Denmark, Norway. We're all "humanitarian" now. Democratic humanitarians. Social humanitarians, National humanitarians, Communist humanitarians, Arab humanitarians - against the evil Ghaddafi. We might even win.
Obomber follows the "progressive" tradition of Wilson the Roosevelts, Trumen, Kennedy, and Johnson, that is responsible for the largest imperialist wars in U.S. history.
Nothing changes. Like always, the millions of $ spent on the bombs in Libya are a success for the war profiteers!
Agreed.
Well, Hillary must be happier than a pig in sh**.
(That's not fair to pigs; they are actually very clean animals and would never roll around in sh**.)
RE: The United States needs to stop promoting freedom and democracy in places where it will never work.
Places where freedom and democracy "will never work", you mean like the United States? Despite their rhetoric, real freedom and real democracy is what the world ruling class - dominated by the US oligarchy - is most opposed to. Turn off your TV.
When are we going to just take out the puppet dictator? The point man.
You want to send a message, who's next to use military power against their own unarmed population? They are just common people rising up against a dictator!
Who's next?
If we are going to promote democracy, take out the dictators first.
But they don't; WHY? They serve a purpose and provide the chaos needed to divide a country up for consumption. This is all for show.
Bingo!
The attack on Libya and no-fly zone is largely a way for the US, France, UK and the EU to put a stop to the "rolling revolution" happening in the Mid-East and North Africa and re-secure what the State Department, in 1945, described as as "one of the greatest material prizes in world history" (that is, it's oil).
~~~~
Ultimately, "humanitarian intervention" is a cover for pursuing imperial interests.
In Libya, military intervention is consistent with economic and strategic interests. Economically, Libya has significant oil reserves. Already, British and Italian oil companies have a stake in the country, and protecting those investments is an important objective. Before this, France, the former a former colonial power in North Africa--had been frozen out of Libya's oil sector. When some leaders of Libya's resistance went on a tour of European capitals looking for support, France was the first to pledge its backing, with the aim of getting a cut of the action after Qaddafi goes.
Strategically, Libya has become the central question in the wave of revolts in North Africa and the Middle East that has already swept two U.S.-backed dictators from power.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/21/nothing-humanitarian-about-us-intervention
The SocialistWorker article argues that the United Nations-authorized intervention in Libya could not possibly be humanitarian because of a history of U.S. imperialism. But that argument is a logical fallacy.
It would be like arguing that Lincoln could never free the slaves, because of the long U.S. history of Native American genocide. It would be like arguing that U.S. troops would never liberate Nazi death camps, because the U.S. had previously done business with Nazi Germany. It would be like arguing that President Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan following the 1993 WTC bombing to distract from Republican investigations into his personal life. Of course, all those arguments are bullshit.
We should be wary of U.S. intentions, and rightly so. But the argument that the U.S. never does, and couldn't possibly do, anything of a humanitarian nature is simply false.
In this case, the usual imperialist suspects were content to let the Libyans be slaughtered while Obama took the family on a trade mission/vacation to Brazil. It was the humanitarian concerns and extraordinary efforts of three senior women in his administration that finally convinced the UN and Obama to intervene. Without their concern, the UN resolution and multinational intervention would never have happened. That's all evidence that imperialist motives are absent here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19policy.html?_r=1
The examples you give are poorly constructed strawmen.
In the light of doublespeak, misinformation and high price spin, patterns of behavior are often our most useful tool to make judgements. Our patterns of cynical and destructive military interventions in other countries on behalf of corporations and arms manufacturers speak for themselves. Our patterns of supporting brutal dictators when it is to the advantage of corporations and military arms manufacturers also speak for themselves. Our patterns of not intervening forcefully with true humanitarian aid in the face of disasters also speak for themselves. That's why knowing history and geography are important.
The three women you speak of are not your kind old grandma. They are three ambitious participants in the project of empire.
The examples I gave are analogies, not strawmen. Check your definitions. They serve to illustrate the logical fallacy I noted and which you reiterate (with some qualification).
I disagree that past history is our "most useful tool" in judging motives. I argue that the actual evidence is the most useful tool, and past history is only secondary. In this case, the actual events are evidence that imperialism did not motivate the Security Council or the Obama administration.
As to the three women whose humanitarian concerns made this intervention possible, please read the article I linked. Then read their bios. They are quite the opposite of your characterization.
Once again, I believe you are factually incorrect on several points, or at the very least intellectually confused.
As far as I know:
1. President Clinton never "ordered cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan following the 1993 WTC bombing" as you say. Correct me if I am wrong.
The fact is that Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks against Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for the 1998 embassy bombings, and then had to apologize when it came to light that the attack on Sudan had mistakenly destroyed a major pharmaceutical factory instead of the alleged chemical weapons plant, resulting in the indirect deaths of an estimated tens of thousands of innocent civilians due to the lack of anti-malarial drugs. So much for our humanitarianism.
2. I also believe it was Russian troops who first liberated Nazi death camps, beginning in Poland in July 1944 and later at Auschwitz in January 1945 -- almost a year.before American forces liberated Buchenwald in April 1945.
3. As to Lincoln and the slaves, contrary to the bullshit you have been fed, it is well known that the Civil War was about a whole lot more than just slavery.
4. The NYT is no harbinger of truth.
As jclientelle suggested, your entire argument was poorly constructed.
continued from above...
And please stop trying to sell me on the wonders of war. This "rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air" crap isn't all it's cracked up to be when you are on the ground.
On September 10, 1944, after their primary target was obscured by cloud cover, the USAF decided that rather than return to base with a full load of bombs they would drop them on the small village of Böckingen, my mothers home town. Almost her entire family was wiped out in a few minutes of unnecessary retribution for what their "leader" had done against their will. My mother was a born-again Christian and a lifelong Republican and supporter of Israel. WAR SUCKS! Innocent people die. Stop defending our use of weapons of mass destruction. There are other ways if we only try. There is NO justification for dropping bombs on innocent civilians.
You have the nerve to say: "I'll be taking to the streets at the first indication of any destruction of civilian infrastructure, building of fortress embassies, or attempts to install a puppet government (not to mention U.S. troops committing murder, torture and rape)." I want to gag!
I have protested all of my countries illegal military actions since Viet Nam, including an entire 6 months on the streets protesting the planned invasion of Iraq in 2002/2003, and I still to this day have large signs in the front windows of my building protesting both Afghanistan and Iraq. Tell me, what have you done? Words are cheap!
I accept your conclusion that words are cheap, since you are clearly an expert on the subject.
And by the way, the UN coalition is not "dropping bombs on innocent civilians." That's a lie. Just like your previous lie that the Libyan revolution is unlike the Egyptian revolution because it is "instigated and support[ed] by outside interests."
1) It was 1998, not 1993. After al-Qaeda terrorists bombed U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, Osama bin Laden was located at a training camp in Afghanistan and President Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on that camp. Republicans famously said the attack was merely a ploy to divert attention from their investigations of Clinton's personal life ("Wag the Dog"). The point is, the cruise missile attack was warranted, and the Republicans' accusation was bullshit.
2) Of course U.S. troops liberated many Nazi death camps. Google it. It's also true that the U.S. had previously done business with Nazi Germany.
3) Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, granting freedom to 3.1 million slaves. And he did so in spite of the country's imperialist history. Leave it to you to try to smear Abraham Lincoln.
My conclusion stands. The SocialistWorker argument that the U.S. history of imperialism precludes it from every taking any action that is warranted or humanitarian in nature is a logical fallacy, and demonstrably so. Moreover, it's just childish.
Yesterday you failed math. (1:10,000 not 1:100,000)
Today you failed history. (Everything regarding Clinton's Afghan missile strike.)
And you continue being too proud to admit when you are PROVEN wrong, but instead, respond with ad hominem attacks.
These are the traits of a child. I'm afraid you will never graduate high school.
Everyone can tell that you are just an apologist for the US regime's murderous aggression against Libya to steal their oil. Don't try peddling your propaganda and lies to us.
If you think that the same plutocrats who run the US, who are currently trying to crush the US middle class, who support spending on weapons over spending on human welfare, and who oppose doing anything significant about global warming care a whit about the Libyan people, boy do I have a bridge or two to sell you!
James Kunstler says it best today: "Can't we just drop Pee Wee Herman on Tripoli? Surely this shocking manifestation of everything toxic in America's existential zeitgeist arsenal would send the Gadhafi corps shrieking for the blank Saharan interior.."
Hypocrisy, lies and death brought to you by US government (taxpayers).
Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2011
U.S. stalls deal to sell Libya army transports
http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/03/08/2024360/us-stalls-deal-to-sell-libya-army.html#ixzz1HGe2lJ8P
US fascist leaders care not for the people of Libya! Neither do they care about democracy in Bahrain where a government sniper killed 46 civilians over the weekend. US armed Saudi army moving to protect the government in Bahrain from peaceful protesters.
Egypt has 300 F-16 fighter jets from USA, they can enforce no fly zone.
But no, while every state in the union cuts back, US spends 126 million in a matter of minutes to destroy yet another country. Profit for Raytheon goes up as all the weapons must be replaced. Yet another unwanted expense to the hungry taxpayer.
That's 20 year old technology, once they shoot that off, they replace it with the new stuff. Those old cruse missiles needed to be replaced; in their opinion.
Let me see here, charge half a million each... then we can buy ten Tomahawks for every cruse.
Shouldn't we be firing some cruise missiles at the Pentagon?
After all, 50,000 US soldiers stood by while Iraqi officials massacred 29 unarmed protested a few days ago...
Oh, I forgot. We already did than back in 2001.
Bombing is NEVER a success!
well it is; but only for the manufacturers of the bombs and the morons who deploy them....................
Gaddafi has been on the Western establishment's hit list for decades now, so this is the perfect excuse for them to do "regime change". Libya also has the 9th largest oil reserves in the world. Additionally invading and occupying Libya will provide the United States a perfect location to keep tabs on Northern Africa.
This war of aggression is nothing but geopolitics and power projection. The fact that the interventionists are indifferent to Western forces killing the same people it claims to be saving says a lot. Then there's the fact that the Western establishment isn't hiding the fact that they're trying to overthrow Gaddafi.
I'm all for the Libyan people overthrowing Gaddafil He's a disgusting human being. What pisses me off is that smug Western cruise-missile liberals think that our war of aggression is humanitarian and that it has no ulterior motives behind it. Invading Libya gives the United States the opportunity to set up a puppet government, build military bases and open up Libya's oil reserves to the highest bidders similar to what happened in Iraq.
The Libyan revolution will be subverted by Western meddlers. Unlike the Tunisians and Egyptians, the Libyans won't have total control over their country's fate anymore. The West, especially the United States, will barge in and take over their national event.
How funny that the United States and NATO are doing nothing about Middle Eastern countries with pro-West governments who are doing the same type of crimes against humanity. The hypocrisy is outstanding.
Gaddafi has been on the Western establishment's hit list for decades now, so this is the perfect excuse for them to do "regime change". Libya also has the 9th largest oil reserves in the world. Additionally invading and occupying Libya will provide the United States a perfect location to keep tabs on Northern Africa.
This war of aggression is nothing but geopolitics and power projection. The fact that the interventionists are indifferent to Western forces killing the same people it claims to be saving says a lot. Then there's the fact that the Western establishment isn't hiding the fact that they're trying to overthrow Gaddafi.
I'm all for the Libyan people overthrowing Gaddafil He's a disgusting human being. What pisses me off is that smug Western cruise-missile liberals think that our war of aggression is humanitarian and that it has no ulterior motives behind it. Invading Libya gives the United States the opportunity to set up a puppet government, build military bases and open up Libya's oil reserves to the highest bidders similar to what happened in Iraq.
The Libyan revolution will be subverted by Western meddlers. Unlike the Tunisians and Egyptians, the Libyans won't have total control over their country's fate anymore. The West, especially the United States, will barge in and take over their national event.
How funny that the United States and NATO are doing nothing about Middle Eastern countries with pro-West governments who are doing the same type of crimes against humanity. The hypocrisy is outstanding.
Gaddafi has been on the Western establishment's hit list for decades now, so this is the perfect excuse for them to do "regime change". Libya also has the 9th largest oil reserves in the world. Additionally invading and occupying Libya will provide the United States a perfect location to keep tabs on Northern Africa.
This war of aggression is nothing but geopolitics and power projection. The fact that the interventionists are indifferent to Western forces killing the same people it claims to be saving says a lot. Then there's the fact that the Western establishment isn't hiding the fact that they're trying to overthrow Gaddafi.
I'm all for the Libyan people overthrowing Gaddafil He's a disgusting human being. What pisses me off is that smug Western cruise-missile liberals think that our war of aggression is humanitarian and that it has no ulterior motives behind it. Invading Libya gives the United States the opportunity to set up a puppet government, build military bases and open up Libya's oil reserves to the highest bidders similar to what happened in Iraq.
The Libyan revolution will be subverted by Western meddlers. Unlike the Tunisians and Egyptians, the Libyans won't have total control over their country's fate anymore. The West, especially the United States, will barge in and take over their national event.
How funny that the United States and NATO are doing nothing about Middle Eastern countries with pro-West governments who are doing the same type of crimes against humanity. The hypocrisy is outstanding.
Gaddafi has been on the Western establishment's hit list for decades now, so this is the perfect excuse for them to do "regime change". Libya also has the 9th largest oil reserves in the world. Additionally invading and occupying Libya will provide the United States a perfect location to keep tabs on Northern Africa.
This war of aggression is nothing but geopolitics and power projection. The fact that the interventionists are indifferent to Western forces killing the same people it claims to be saving says a lot. Then there's the fact that the Western establishment isn't hiding the fact that they're trying to overthrow Gaddafi.
I'm all for the Libyan people overthrowing Gaddafil He's a disgusting human being. What pisses me off is that smug Western cruise-missile liberals think that our war of aggression is humanitarian and that it has no ulterior motives behind it. Invading Libya gives the United States the opportunity to set up a puppet government, build military bases and open up Libya's oil reserves to the highest bidders similar to what happened in Iraq.
The Libyan revolution will be subverted by Western meddlers. Unlike the Tunisians and Egyptians, the Libyans won't have total control over their country's fate anymore. The West, especially the United States, will barge in and take over their national event.
How funny that the United States and NATO are doing nothing about Middle Eastern countries with pro-West governments who are doing the same type of crimes against humanity. The hypocrisy is outstanding.
A Libyan navy base near the capital Tripoli has been bombarded, said witnesses who reported seeing flames there.
They said the Bussetta base, some 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Tripoli, was hit at 1900 GMT, AFP reported.
It's always amazing how civilians in other countries don't seem to matter and are never counted but when the dead are Americans suddenly no amount of revenge is too much. We are stll flailing away in Iraq and Afghanistan to supposedly avenge 911 where "3000 innocent Americans were killed". I guess it's all a matter of convincing yourself that some people are more equal than others. How pathetically sick.
Every Day is an Anniversary
Every day another death, or more.
Blown apart, shot, starved,
Military or civilian, young or old,
Innocent or guilty, they die.
Looking back through history;
Egyptian, Jew, Babylonian,
Greek, Roman, European or American;
As today, they died.
Peaceful farmers raising their crops,
Came the conqueror, they died.
Poets writing of Peace.
A Dictator’s decree; they died.
Lovers picnic in a mountain meadow.
Overflies the drone, a missile fires;
Blast of fire and steel.
Must have been terrorists, they died.
Collateral damage is a convenient term.
Doesn’t sound like weeping widows,
Crying children and shattered homes.
Just pay them compensation and forget them.
Forget them all, soldiers, civilians, young and old.
Forget the wasteland of war, the trampled crops.
There are always lots more where they came from.
Forget that every day is an anniversary.
Steve Osborn
28 May 2006
Impeach Neocon war criminal Barack Obama!