At Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn on the ruinous folly on Libya:
Libya has dislodged from the headlines a nuclear catastrophe in Japan, on top of a seismic one, that?s one of the epic dramas of the past half-century and what?s doubly weird is that the actual fighting in Libya is a series of tiny skirmishes. The muscle-bound adjectives and nouns used to describe the military engagements - if they even deserve that word - in press reports remind me of a Chihuahua trying to mount a Newfoundland. Ambition far outstrips reality, which is in this case is a nervous rabble motley insurgents - maybe 1,500 or so at most, posing for television crews and then fleeing back down the road to the next village (?strategic stronghold?) at the first whiff of trouble.
By my count, the mighty armies contending along the highway west of Benghazi would melt into the bleachers at a college baseball game. News stories suggest mobile warfare on the scale of the epic dramas of the Kursk salient in World War Two. But most of the action revolves around one tank. I?ve seen it in hundreds of video feeds. Like the tooth passed from witch to witch in Greek myth this tank performs many functions and to judge from the graffiti on its turret, it?s always the same vehicle. Maybe that?s why there?s endless bickering about whether the U.N. resolution covers the supply of arms and heavy equipment. The war?s PR men want to freshen up the visuals.
The ?no-fly zone? prompted, just as it did in Iraq, endless US sorties aimed at destroying antennas that might be picking up data useful to Libya?s anti-aircraft defenses, which scarcely exist. As with any bombing, civilians died.
But they died so that we could keep them free, so our nonexistent consciences are clean. Cockburn again:
Everything is out of proportion. Qaddafi is scarcely the acme of monstrosity conjured up by Obama or Mrs. Clinton or Sarkozy. In four decades, Libyans have gone from being among the most wretched in Africa, to considerable elevation in terms of social amenities. President Obama?s hands are stained with more blood and suffering than those of the man who has given the world endless diversion through two generations. In terms of evil deeds, is Qaddafi a Mobutu, a Bokassa, a Saddam, or any U.S. president? Surely not.
Obama?s speech this week, belatedly seeking to rationalize his latest war, was ludicrously disproportionate too: pompous and offensive treacle about America?s special role as savior of the afflicted ladled over one more plateful of folly in the nation?s downward slide.
I agree with Ron Paul (via Antiwar):
The American people have once again been suckered into an unconstitutional, undeclared, illegal, and unwise war. This is not a war in response to an attack on the United States. This is not a war against a regime that has threatened the United States. This is a preventative war. The president never claimed that any large-scale slaughter of civilians was taking place in Libya. Rather, the president has spent close to a billion dollars ? so far ? bombing a country because its government might at some point harm its civilians.
[snip]
While we have not seen credible proof - nor has it been claimed - that the Gadhafi regime has engaged in any large-scale slaughter of Libyan civilians, we see increasing reports of civilians who have been killed in airstrikes by the forces that are supposed to protect them!
[snip]
This is not really a new war. It is in fact a continuation of the neoconservatives? 22-year war to remake the Middle East. Unfortunately the president has ignored the US constitution and decided instead to continue this misguided policy. This is a deeply flawed foreign policy that will only lead to escalation, blowback, and unintended consequences. Ultimately it is leading us to financial catastrophe. We must abandon the fantasy that we can police the world before it?s too late. Congress must stand up and say "no" to this illegal war.
No matter how loud or wide the "No," the war-waging carries on regardless--is there a plural form of "morass"? Because that's what we're in.
Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2011/04/another-fine-mess-weve-gotten-ourselves-into.html
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