Italy Calls for UN Intervention in Libya Against the Caliphate in Libya

Italian Interior Minister called for UN intervention in Libya against the Caliphate in Libya. See here and here. The former article in Italian translates as follows: “Italy calls for the intervention in Libya with a UN mission. The appeal came from Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who from the pages of the newspaper La Repubblica, said that ‘the advance of the Caliphate in Libya accentuates all risk profiles.'”

This is supreme irony. To great joy and high hopes, NATO and the U.S. destroy Libya’s government, killing Gaddafi in the process. Now Italy implicitly but not explicitly recognizes the blunder and calls for a UN force to neutralize or somehow control IS in Libya.

Each country that the U.S. and NATO has attacked is fertile ground for ISIS and/or the Caliphate to take root (as noted by Doris Gosnell in an e-mail). The New York Times confirmed this observation two days ago, in an article titled “Islamic State Sprouting Limbs Beyond Its Base”.

The article writes

“The Islamic State is expanding beyond its base in Syria and Iraq to establish militant affiliates in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt and Libya, American intelligence officials assert, raising the prospect of a new global war on terror.

“Intelligence officials estimate that the group’s fighters number 20,000 to 31,500 in Syria and Iraq. There are less formal pledges of support from ‘probably at least a couple hundred extremists’ in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen, according to an American counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information about the group.”

Far from being a “new global war on terror”, American involvement against these IS limbs would be part and parcel of the Great War of the American Empire. And such an involvement or sub-war would be every bit as ill-advised as the earlier sub-wars.

IS also has a number of countries in its sights that have not been attacked by the U.S. They belong to earlier European adventures in colonialism and imperialism.

IS divides Muslims, both those loyal to their current states and those who are radical and want a new caliphate. See here for a discussion of the split between al-Qaeda and IS. See also here and here. These articles introduce some of the complexities of what the declaration of a caliphate by IS entails.

It is very doubtful that IS would have reached this stage had it not been for Western interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Yemen, as well as interventions going back to Somalia. Obama would not now be asking Congress for a new authorization to use military force against IS and its offshoots. This is a new declaration of war. The Great War of the American Empire, a blunder from its inception, now advances to a new stage with new sub-wars and/or recapitulations of earlier sub-wars.

Historical mistakes are unforgiving when politicians lack the courage to break with the past and go against established interest groups. The American form of government as it has evolved is very susceptible to being heavily influenced by interest groups who take the country on a downward and destructive path.

Woodrow Wilson steered America into the arms of Europe, and therefore identified this country with Europe’s colonial and imperial enterprises. Previously, America had intentionally kept its distance from Europe’s wars and policies. Subsequently, the U.S. assumed dominance over the remains of the British Empire’s holdings in the Middle East. These are major historical blunders that help set the stage for what is happening today as IS attempts to reconstruct a portion of the Ottoman Empire, which was on the losing side in World War I.

Now what? Since every U.S. intervention builds upon a foundation of European colonialism and imperialism, the U.S. should stop intervening once and for all.

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