The triumvirs over Libya (Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy) have released a letter repeating their demand that Gaddafi must go. Their WMD in Libya is “massacre,” although they have yet to prove it and yet to explain why killing sprees in nearby lands do not merit no-fly zones and support of local rebel groups. Toss in as another justification a “failed state” that is home to terrorists, but this is complete hypocrisy since the West is creating a failed state. Oil remains the front-running reason for the western efforts, plus western control over North Africa, the underbelly of Europe.
The immediate reason for an air power surge against Gaddafi is this: The rebels are in “hopeless disarray” according to a Reuters report. Hence, bring on the Yanks. Plus, Obama must save his face and those of his allies. Hillary Clinton is taking it as a personal test of her will and determination. The bombing campaign will escalate in another attempt to force Gaddafi out.
Certain language in their joint letter might be extremely useful for Americans in the future. They write “The international criminal court is rightly investigating the crimes committed against civilians and the grievous violations of international law. It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government.”
Under this doctrine, Abraham Lincoln would have been in very serious trouble had he lived on. His leadership was “unthinkable,” given the scope of the war that he unleashed in his presidency. Who in the U.S. government has ever been held to account for the Waco massacre? Could McKinley ever have remained President under this doctrine, given the brutal measures taken in the Philippines to put down Aguinaldo? Can Gaddafi even get within sight of the elite club to which President Truman belongs for having dropped two atomic bombs on Japan?
If today 100,000 Americans took control of one or two Washington squares, protesting airport searches, does this doctrine preclude using any lethal force against Americans? If that is so, and it logically should be so, then what of the numerous excesses of force being used by police throughout this land every day of the year? Not a day passes without graphic reports or videos of excessive police violence.
These words spoken by the Big Three, or others that are very like them even if not the same, should come back to haunt them. If their own peoples demonstrate against them, they have undercut their own justification for using brute force. And by supporting a small and unidentified subset of Libyans against Gaddafi and claiming that this is the tip of a democratic rebellion, what are they to say when different groups within their own countries begin to make demands, even to demanding the resignation of elected officials? I think they will use force. They will forget all about Libya and this letter of theirs. They will insist that the circumstances are different. They will insist on keeping order. They will claim that the demonstrators are infected with radicals or even terrorists. They will claim domestic terrorism. They will throw public safety and security at us as justifications. They will threaten that the State may fall apart and that it must be preserved. They may sound very much like Gaddafi.
