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From: Petros Tewolde (petros66@verizon.net)
Date: Wed Mar 30 2011 - 15:49:35 EST
Abayomi Azikiwe. Pan-African News Wire
After over a week of intensive bombing of the North African state of Libya, U.S.
President Barack Obama went on national television to provide a rationale for
the commencement of yet another war against a developing country which has a
majority Muslim population. Even though Washington claims that it is no longer
in the lead of the campaign to overthrow the Libyan government and install a
puppet-regime compliant to the West, the bulk of the firepower used in the war
is being supplied by the Pentagon.
It was announced on March 28 that the full command of the war against Libya was
being rapidly transferred to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
which was founded and still is controlled by the U.S. government. Canadian
Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard has been designated as the commander of
operations for the war against Libya.
On March 21, Canadian CF-18 fighter jets flew their initial bombing missions
over Libya amid claims by Defense Minister Peter MacKay that Ottawa had a “moral
duty” to participate in the war in North Africa. All four opposition parties in
the Canadian parliament endorsed the ruling Conservative Party’s decision to
support the U.S. and other European imperialist states in carrying out this
military operation against Libya, a country of approximately 6 million people.
Reports indicate that warplanes from the U.S., Britain, France, Canada, Italy,
Denmark and Belgium are involved in the aerial and sea bombardments of Libya. In
addition, the U.S.-backed Gulf states of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have
entered the campaign against Libya alongside the imperialist states from North
America and Western Europe.
Since March 25, Qatari Mirage Jets have flown alongside French aircraft in
bombing operations over northeastern Libya. France has been eager to highlight
the role of Qatar to make it appear that the Arab states are supportive of the
imperialist war against Libya.
According to the French Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros, “It
really shows the courage (of Qatar) to enlist at our sides.” The UAE has
committed six F-16s and six Mirage aircraft to the war in North Africa.
The reason behind the involvement of these Gulf states in the war was explained
by the Associated Press on March 28 when an article stated that “The decisions
by Qatar and UAE to join the coalition in Libya reflects their strong
traditional ties to the United States and their desires to play a more active
role internationally. The Gulf states rely on a strong regional U.S. military
presence as a buffer against Iran, which is seen as a threat by the Gulf’s kings
and sheiks. Western nations are also key trading partners.” (Associated Press,
March 28)
It was also announced on March 28, that Turkey, a recent member of NATO, and a
longtime base for U.S. military operations against Iraq and Afghanistan, will
purportedly take control of the airport in the rebel-held city of Benghazi.
Turkey’s involvement with the Benghazi airport will be bolstered by their naval
forces that will patrol areas between Crete and this northeastern Libyan city
where the rebellion against the Gaddafi government began on Feb. 17.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference on March
28 at the Esenboga Airport before departing for occupied Iraq, that “Turkey said
yes to three tasks within NATO: the takeover of Benghazi airport for the
delivery of humanitarian aid, the task about control of the air corridor and the
involvement of Turkish naval forces in the corridor between Benghazi and Crete.”
Bombing Operations Escalate Against Libya
Meanwhile British Tornado aircraft bombed Libyan government installations in the
Sabha area in the south of the country. Libya’s state news agency reported that
there were several casualties in the attacks by planes that conducted their
strikes from a base in the UK.
Western imperialist airstrikes have provided cover for the rebel forces that are
seeking to recapture key cities lost to the government forces during mid-March.
Fierce fighting between government forces of the Libyan military and the rebels
have taken place in Misrata, Nawfaliya and Sirte.
The current war against Libya represents the largest U.S. and Western European
military deployment in the region since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. With
the vast oil resources in Libya and its strategic location on the Mediterranean
Sea near southern Europe, the imperialist states want to bring this North
African state under its control in order to not only seize its natural resources
but to also stall any potential revolutionary shift in direction for the
democratic movements that have sprung up in Egypt and Tunisia.
According to Michel Chossudovsky in an article published by the Center for
Research on Globalization, the war is based on “Outright lies by the
international media: Bombs and missiles are presented as an instrument of peace
and democratization. This is not a humanitarian operation. The war on Libya
opens up a new regional war theater.” (Global Research, March 20)
Chossudovsky notes that “There are three distinct war theaters in the Middle
East and Central Asia regions: Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq. What is
unfolding is a fourth U.S.-NATO War Theater in North Africa, with the risk of
escalation.”
Nonetheless, the Libyan people are maintaining their resistance to the
imperialist onslaught against their government and country. Libyan military
forces have fought the rebels and held them off in Misrata and areas leading
toward Sirte, despite the heavy bombing by the U.S. and European war planes and
naval units off the coast in the Mediterranean.
The African Union and the Arab League announced on March 27 that they would
renew efforts to bring about a ceasefire inside the country. Amr Mousa,
Secretary General of the Arab League and Jean Ping, the African Union Commission
Chair, met in Cairo on March 27 in order to develop a roadmap for the resolution
of the fighting in Libya.
Previous efforts on the part of the African Union, which rejects foreign
military intervention in Libya, have been dismissed by the imperialist states
and the rebel forces that they are supporting in the east of the country. An AU
meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 26 failed to make headway in the
declaration of a ceasefire since the western-backed rebels failed to appear.
This meeting was attended by five members of the Libyan government, 15 members
of the AU Peace and Security Council, representatives of the Arab League, the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, the European Union and the United
Nations. Ambassadors from Germany, Belgium, India, Italy, France, Japan, Norway,
Portugal, UK, China, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, the U.S. and other
states within North Africa also attended.
Demonstrations and Condemnations Grow Around the World
Despite the claims by corporate media outlets that there is widespread support
for the war against Libya among Arab countries and within the imperialist
states, demonstrations have escalated over the last week. In Mali, a West
African state, thousands of people demonstrated on March 25 against the
imperialist war on Libya chanting “Down With Obama!, Down With Sarkozy!”
The crowd in Mali marched through the capital of Bamako to both the French and
U.S. embassies. Public opinion throughout Africa has been highly critical of the
western states and their war against Libya. (Associated Press, March 25)
President Mugabe of Zimbabwe described the western countries attacking Libya as
“bloody vampires.” South African President Jacob Zuma, after much internal
criticism by the ANC Youth League and the Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) over the vote of his government in support of UN Resolution 1973,
called for an immediate cease fire.
Numerous organizations throughout the U.S. and the world have condemned the
attacks on Libya. In Greece, youth supporting the Communist Party burned flags
of the EU in protest against the war.
Demonstrations were also held in Belgrade, Serbia in solidarity with the Libya
government. In Madrid thousands of people marched through the streets on March
26 protesting Spain’s involvement as a launching pad for military attacks
against Libya.
A statement issued by the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (G-C) called
upon people to “Organize and prepare to return to the streets, and to
demonstrate on/in and occupy every campus and every city in the United States,
Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Italy and occupied Palestine (so-called
Israel) and all countries in the world who participate in this affront to and
crime against Africa, the African Diaspora, and World Humanity, until any and
all of their regimes are changed.”
Min. Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam has spoken out forcefully against
the U.S. war on Libya. His remarks have been broadcast widely on African
American formatted radio programs throughout the United States.
In a recent article published in the Final Call newspaper, it said that “Concern
about the U.S., French and British-led air offensive against Libyan leader
Muammar Gadhafi surfaced just two days after America’s first Black president
ordered attacks on the North African nation. With President Barack Obama’s vocal
approval, military assaults on Libya started March 19, with French planes
striking anti-aircraft and other locations, including a military convoy,
followed by 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from five U.S. ships in the
Mediterranean.” (Final Call, March 29, p. 2)
Former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was the 2008 Green Party
presidential candidate,issued a statement on March 27 condemning the U.S.
bombing of Libya. McKinney noted that “The reason Muammar Qaddafi is a target is
because he has been a thorn in the side of anti-revolutionary forces since he
took power in Libya, overthrowing the King and nationalizing the oil industry so
that the people could benefit from their oil resources.”
With specific reference to the Obama administration, McKinney points out that
“Today, the Obama administration is responsible for its own war crimes, torture,
crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace and defends in U.S. Courts
those from the Bush administration who bear responsibility for having approved
or justified them in the past. Yet, this responsibility will not even agree to
investigate the violation of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s civil rights in his first trial
rife with racial innuendo, judicial misconduct, and a lack of evidence.”
McKinney continued to expose the hypocrisy of the Obama administration by
pointing to a death penalty case in Georgia involving “Troy Davis where seven of
nine witnesses recanted their testimonies and cited prosecutorial misconduct.
But it did go to court to defend military commissions and insulted Native
Americans in the process.”
In regard to the advances made by the Libyan Revolution over the last four
decades, McKinney reminds her readers that “Libya’s Revolution brought free
health care and education to the people and subsidized housing. In fact,
students in Libya can study there or abroad and the government gives them a
stipend while they are in school and they pay no tuition.”
These domestic policies in Libya are then contrasted with conditions prevailing
in the United States noting that “If a Libyan needs surgery that must be done
overseas, then the government will pay for that surgery. That is more than the
soldiers of the United States military can say. While Libyans enjoy subsidized
housing, members of the U.S. military risk foreclosure while they serve their
country abroad.”
As it relates to the struggle for Pan-Africanism, McKinney says frankly that
“Muammar Qaddafi has long been a friend to African people. Pan-Africanists have
travelled to and from Libya since the beginning of Qaddafi’s role as Libya’s
leader, including the Black Panther Party, Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, and Nation of Islam
members. I once defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the House
International Relations Committee when the late Tom Lantos–on behalf of
Israel—challenged The Nation’s relationship with Libya and wanted to dash
Qaddafi’s desire to give The Nation several billion dollars to help Black
people.”
On April 9-10 there will be two major anti-war demonstrations in both New York
and San Francisco. The main sponsoring organization, the United National
Anti-war Committee (UNAC), has issued a statement opposing U.S. intervention in
Libya.
People from throughout the country are mobilizing to attend the April 9-10
demonstrations. The recent round of events in North Africa illustrates clearly
that U.S. foreign policy has not changed at all under the Democratic
administration of Barack Obama.
The War On Libya and the Struggle Against Neo-Colonialism
The aim of the western imperialist bombing operation against the North African
state of Libya is designed to gain control of the natural resources, land,
waterways, military and government by the U.S. and other subordinate European
and Middle-Eastern countries. This desire on the part of the U.S., through its
oil companies and financial institutions, is not limited to the situation inside
of Libya but extends throughout the region of North Africa, the Arabian
Peninsula and the Gulf States.
Recognizing that the rebellions in Tunisia and Egypt held the potential for a
genuine anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist national democratic revolution in
these North African countries, the U.S. and other European governments moved to
not only redirect the course of these worker and youth demonstrations, strikes
and violent outbreaks but to promote, engineer and impose counter-revolutions
within various countries that have been sworn enemies of the imperialists for
decades. In fact the revolutionary movements in both Egypt and Tunisia have been
effectively hijacked by the military and bureaucratic bourgeoisies within these
respective states who are supported and financed by U.S. and European
imperialism.
In a recent referendum held in Egypt on the draft of a new constitution, the
turnout in the elections was low in part due to the fact that the entire
transition process is being controlled by the military and a “panel of experts’
that were appointed by the Supreme Military Council. The Egyptian military has
been trained, armed and subsidized by U.S. imperialism for decades.
U.S. military, administration and congressional figures have sent high-level
delegations to Egypt and Tunisia in efforts to persuade the various political
forces inside the country that the world’s leading imperialist state is in fact
in support of a democratic movement in one of the most devastated states under
neo-colonialism.
There is no reason to doubt that the U.S., France, Britain and the other
imperialist states will maintain the same posture toward the nations of Africa,
the Arab and Muslim world. The western states cannot afford to lose their
strategic influence and dominance over North Africa and the Middle-East.
Inevitably there will be a deepening class and national struggle to defeat
neo-colonialism within this region of the world.
As Kwame Nkrumah wrote in 1963 for the founding of the Organization of African
Unity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that, “It can be readily seen that imperialism is
a fundamental cause of war. An iniquitous system which has generated intense
rivalries and conflicts between nations that erupted into open warfare on a
major scale in the scramble to secure ‘a place in the sun’ of colonial
supremacy, it has today spawned the neo-colonialism which is a busy as ever in
creating clashes among the nations.” (Africa Must Unite, p. 202)
The founder of modern Ghana and foremost proponent of Pan-Africanism continued
by noting that “When we in Africa denounce imperialism and the recent off-shoot,
neo-colonialism, we do it not only because we believe that Africa belongs to the
Africans and should be governed by them, but also in the interest of world peace
which is also essential to our development and freedom. By abolishing
imperialism in all its forms, the world will be rid of many of the present areas
of conflict.” (Africa Must Unite, p. 202)
In a book published some five years later, Nkrumah in his classic work entitled
“The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare,” he begins by stressing the need to
“Know the Enemy.” By breaking down and explaining the external forces impacting
the inability of Africa to throw off the chains of oppression, Nkrumah
underlines that these exploitative systems must be understood in order to wage
an effective struggle.
At the very beginning of this book he says that “A number of external factors
affect the African situation, and if our liberation struggle is to be placed in
correct perspective and we are to KNOW THE ENEMY, the impact of these factors
must be fully grasped. First among them is imperialism, for it is mainly against
exploitation and poverty that our peoples revolt. It is therefore of paramount
importance to set out the strategy of imperialism in clear terms.”
(Revolutionary Path, p. 447)
Consequently, the struggle against imperialism is essential in the current phase
of the African Revolution. The assault on Libya is a manifestation of modern day
imperialism in all its most egregious forms.
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This entry was posted on March 30, 2011. It was filed under E360 AFRICA NEWS,
E360 AL-CIA-DA NEWS, E360 CIA NEWS, E360 CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY NEWS, E360
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