The issue should be about obtaining a ceasefire and a negotiated solution. The longer the conflict the greater the casualties and destruction. The question is not whether to choose between supporting Gadaffi or the Transitional Government but working to find a solution that causes the least number of casualties and destruction. NATO has chosen regime change no matter how many casualties it causes. Naturally enough in such a situation the rebels are not interested in a cease fire and negotiation. I am simply amazed that commentators simply ignore the first two clauses of the UN resolution especially in western mainstream media. I have yet to hear any mainstream commentator criticize NATO for virtually ignoring the first two clauses of the UN resolution. Instead you have the farce of trying to incorporate anything they decide to do under the rubric of protecting the innocent. Even now you have claims that in order to protect the innocent regime change is necessary even though it was not part of the original resolution. If necessary I suppose you can find those who will argue that it may be necessary too to put troops on the ground to carry out that task!
Cheers, ken ----- Original Message ---- From: Jim Devine <[email protected]> To: Pen-l <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, June 20, 2011 10:07:20 AM Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Was Libya attacked because of its attitude toward AFRICOM? Louis Proyect wrote: >> As the latest attempt to provide an ex post facto explanation for the >> imperialist attack on Libya, Ismael Hossein-Zadeh “Why Regime Change in >> Libya?” breaks no new ground. Trawling Global Research and other >> pro-Qaddafi websites, the author strings together tendentious arguments >> made elsewhere. Julio Huato wrote: > In times when Libya is being persistently bombed by NATO, the leaders > of the domestic rebellion have pretty much handed out their cause in > gift wrapped shinny paper for the NATO imperialists to use it as they > please, and NATO has declared that the assassination of Gaddafi > himself is an appropriate military target, there's nothing more > important for the cause of socialism in the globe than to expose all > those pro-Gaddafi ideologists. ... It's a matter of your time frame, no? In the short run, US and NATO are exploiting a generally spontaneous popular rebellion against Gaddafi, while molding it so that that rebellion looks more and more like the post-Gaddafi government, whether it involves the rebels or not, will be just as pro-imperialist as (or even more pro-imperialist than) Gaddafi himself was just a few months ago, when he was allied with the transnational oil companies. Some might say that choosing between the rebels and Gaddafi is a fool's game. But in the long run, there are two major concerns: first, what is the truth of the matter? if Ismael Hossein-Zadeh's article “Why Regime Change in Libya?" involves falsehoods or illogic, that's very relevant.[*] That, it seems, is Louis' main point in his original missive. (BTW, it's totally implausible that the popular rebellion attacked Gaddafi due to his attitude toward AFRICOM. It's the people who attacked Gaddafi first, not US/NATO. That rebellion made Gaddafi less useful, even though a lot of "Western" leaders wanted to continue to support him.) Second, should the left support opportunistic -- and loony-tunes -- dictators who are perfectly willing to ally with imperialism against their own people (as Gaddafi did until recently) or support the popular rebellion, which is clearly flawed but offers chances for the institution of at least some democratic reforms? Sure, popular rebellions can be fascistic, but if anyone fits that tag, it's Col. Gaddafi. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. [*] disclosure alert: Ismael Hossein-Zadeh is a friend of mine. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
