SOUTHFIELDER COMMENT

SOUTHFIELDER COMMENT- (www.TheDailyBeast.Com), Why Libyan War is America's War, by Stephen L. Carter.

 

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN:  A well written comment and one that needs to be shared around the globe enjoy.

     

Southfielder

 

Regarding international law, our "no-fly zone" became on its first night an aerial bombardment of Gaddafi ground troops, port infrastructure, civilian government ministries and institutions. "No-fly" rhetoric, projected at the UN to get a resolution approved, turned out to be mere code for military intervention in what increasingly looks like a tribal-based civil war.

Why this? The only plausible goal would be to wrest control of Libya's oil from an unpredictable dictator who drives a hard bargain and demands a high price for Libya's precious low-sulfur oil. And why wouldn't we prefer a weak government, easily bribed, indebted to us, and willing to sell that oil to us on the cheap?

But our goal certainly isn't to oppose illegitimate Arab dictators, because then we'd be bombing our friends in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, and Yemen, who are already indebted to us, and already sell us their oil on the cheap. On the contrary: we've delivered to them hundreds of billions of dollars of weaponry, including advanced tanks and fighter jets.

How untimely that the rulers of Saudi Arabia, during the build-up for our military attack on Libya, should send ground troops into neighboring Bahrain to prop up the dictator there, while his people were demonstrating for freedom. How inappropriate for the 40-year dictator of Yemen to order sharpshooters on rooftops to shoot dead 40 peaceful protesters in front of his palace in broad daylight as we were about to "protect civilian lives" from the dictator in Libya (side note: in Yemen, the oil wells have recently run dry). Can it get more crass than this?

Actually, the cat was let out of the bag weeks earlier, on March 7th. On that day, captured by an NBC boom microphone on a tarmac in Kabul, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan, was heard lightheartedly greeting the defense secretary, Robert M. Gates:
General Petraeus:
"You going to launch some attacks on Libya or something?''
To which Secretary of Defense Gates replied,
"Yeah, exactly.''

Since then British Prime Minister David Cameron, unpopular after slashing the budget and sending hundreds of thousands to the unemployment lines, eagerly joined the crusade.

French President Sarkozy was in shame for offering military support to Tunisia's dictator just as he was being driven from office. Facing an uphill reelection battle, Mr. Sarkozy proved most happy to do photo-ops with Brits and Americans in front of his presidential color guard, posing as the "French strongman" for freedom. No doubt he hopes magic dust will rub off on him.

In this setting, what possible role could civilian casualties, or the destruction of the lives and families of dislocated people, possibly play for you here? As in Iraq and Afghanistan, they'll just be "regrettable but unavoidable collateral damage".

Your statement, sir, that "we are the only ones with the money" strikes me as removed from American reality - in the States, we've declared we're broke when it comes to budgeting money for education, investments in infrastructure, paying union wages, heating subsidies for the poor, or renewing unemployment insurance for the jobless. In fact, for cash-strapped, budget-slashing Britain, France, and United States, coming up with billions of dollars for yet another new war seems to be the ony thing for which we "have the money".

As for the men and women who may wind up being killed, maimed, or otherwise rendered disabled, we'll no doubt do a snappy over-flight in their honor at the next Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans, Europeans, and Arabs can be entertained by CNN pundits giving detailed briefs on the latest military hardware on display over Libya, while yet another people learn the benefits of being "befriended" by the United States, France, or Britain.

What a brilliant message to be spreading across television screens and the internet, in real time, to people across the world!