I have said elsewhere on this blog that I am no fan of Gaddafi, and that Libya will be much better for his passing, but at what cost to the people of Libya must we want his head so badly as to rush the country head on into Civil War?
NATO’s mandate in Libya was to protect civilians, not to take sides in a civil war between secular nationalists on one side and Al Qaeda Islamists and CIA backed-exiles on the otherWithout any shadow of a doubt the British government has breached UN resolutions meant to secure a no fly zone and protect Libyan civilians, instead the RAF and troops on the ground have been used to aid the advance of rebels and support the overthrow of the regime at any cost.
Even the western media have involved themselves in the overthrow by telling us almost hourly that the Rebels are now in control of this town or that city, and the NTC are on the brink of setting up a transitional government.
Meanwhile more and more young men and women on both sides die, more and more civilians are drawn into the conflict and the infrastructure of the country crumbles.
Its no good the RAF bombing compounds and Gaddafi strongholds and clearing the way for the rebels to advance if the rebels who advance lack any military training or discipline when they reach their targets.
I firmly believe that the uprising and assault on Tripoli last Saturday and Sunday was led by UK and other special forces, it was supposed to be the end game, I am also sure that western media were primed to broadcast the downfall of the regime and the success of the rebels, but here we are a week later and still the struggle goes on still the death count rises and still the west try and pretend that they are nothing but innocent bystanders and protectors of the weak.
Who are we trying to kid? Hospitals are now closed, with 100's of bodies lying in deserted beds, the law of the gun is the only law and order in town, and vital services are cut off or destroyed.
One day soon Gaddafi will fall, it is inevitable, and if the rebels are too incompetent to achieve it then NATO led forces will finish the job off.
But what of the future? will the differing factions currently engaged in hand to hand combat really agree on how the country will be run? Will their really be no retribution for those who backed the old regime? And will Libya prosper any more under a Puppet Government than it did under a Local Dictator?
I believe passionately in the rights of people to rise up against their dictator and take control of the own destiny, but this whole sorry affair has a bad taste of the grand old Duke of York to me, and I am left wondering just how many Libyan civilians on both sides will have lost their lives since we stepped in to defend them?
I have no trust anymore in our governments intention, I don't believe that NATO is acting in the best interests of the weak and I fear that UN resolutions have become toothless edicts which can be manipulated by the Western powers to meet their own needs at any cost to human life elsewhere. And even more disturbing in some ways I have lost faith in the BBC and others to report the news rather than a government sponsored version of what they want the news to be
Shame on us all for not speaking out with a much louder voice
Clearly all about oil.
ReplyDeleteAgain!
ReplyDeleteTony, you're beginning to sound like a nationalist. It is not our business to go poking our noses into the affairs of other countries, if it were then there are places where we should have intervened, like Zimbabwe. Welcome to the club on realising the BBC is none other than a government sock puppet, regardless of who is in government. Of courese, we are paying for the pleasure of being insulted by BBC as well just to add insult to injury.
ReplyDeleteWhere next, Syria? Iran? One thing is for sure, it will not be one of the most barbaric and oppressive regimes in the middle east, Saudi Arabia! The whole world is run by hypocrites and fools.
Oddly enough Tony sounds much less like a nationalist and far more like an internationalist.
ReplyDeleteBut then the fascist right have never quite understood internationalism,who believe that there is much more that unites people across the globe than divides them into categories like black and white!
Beat me to it John !
ReplyDeleteNo more deluded by reaction,
On tyrants only we'll make war!
The soldiers too will take strike action,
They'll break ranks and fight no more!
And if those cannibals keep trying,
To sacrifice us to their pride,
They soon shall hear the bullets flying,
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race
Sounds like the Independents of the world (well Northampton town centre) are uniting .... which of course means they are not truly independent.
ReplyDeleteI'm not totally sure words like 'comrades' and 'come rally' are the cry of independents across the world?
CWM Perhaps I am independent from the the other independents? And if it's not their cry then what is their cry? And if it is a standard cry the how can they be Independent?
ReplyDeleteBut Iam happy if you wish to call me an Independent Socialist, I ave an independent spirit more than anything else.
Thats my point - if you really got it Tony you would see that its impossible to be an 'independent socialist' - socialism is all about the together, the acheiving more together than we ever will alone, the united we stand, divided we fall, the going with what you dont always agree with if the greater number desire it - Independence is everything the opposite of that.
ReplyDeleteCWM my point is that in the spirit of togetherness and unity, my party decided to get together under Blair with the Tories and the Liberal Democrats into one great united nothingness which appeals to a non political public at the expense of principle, my independence is a result of desertion not desire
ReplyDeleteYou make your point with passion Tony but the socialist movement would be even more fragmented than it was now if everyone who wasn't gettting their own way went their own way.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine that everyone around Keir Hardie was 100% together but united we stand, divided we fall.
Whether its desertion or desire (can't see the difference to be honest) the decisions you made have not made the road to socialism and what socialists work for any easier. If anything, its the opposite.
CWM Went my own way? I guess I did in the end but all I did is say I would stand for the party in Castle Ward in 2007, got selected by the branch by 24 vote to 0,
ReplyDeleteThen got deselected because the region said it was an all women shortlist, then got reselected by the regional executive panel the night before the nominations had to be in.
I then had my candidature endorsed and then was sent a text message 2 hours before the deadline telling me I was no longer a candidate!
How on earth was that getting my own way? or anyone elses for that matter?
Sorry to drag up old news but it doesn't help if people try to reinvent it