Monthly Review
05-18-2011, 12:21 AM
In 2002 you made the following statement: "I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war." As Commander-in-Chief of U.S. military forces you ordered use of force against the sovereign state of Libya, and there are many who are asking whether you commenced an armed conflict of the very kind that you condemned in 2002. . . . Specifically, the Resolution: "[s]tresses the need to intensify efforts to find a solution to the crisis which responds to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people and notes the decisions of the Secretary-General to send his Special Envoy to Libya and of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to send its ad hoc High-Level Committee to Libya with the aim of facilitating dialogue to lead to the political reforms necessary to find a peaceful and sustainable solution." (emphasis added) The absence to date of any significant U.S. attempts to engage in dialogue, along with your own rhetoric that demands that "Qaddaffi must go" all prompt reasonable conclusions that U.S. objectives extend well beyond the protection of civilians, and may well be focused on what has become popularly referred to as "regime change." If that is the case, we are compelled to urge that you not cherry-pick those institutional aspects of the U.N. that you believe will support such an agenda.
More... (http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ncbl160511.html)
More... (http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ncbl160511.html)