Hypocrisy and Betral by the UN: The Case of Libya

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Dissident Voice
March 18th, 2011

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
— George Orwell.

The bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day of the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March, in Europe. Libya too will be destroyed – its schools, education system, water, infrastructure, hospitals, municipal buildings. There will be numerous “tragic mistakes”, “collateral damage”, mothers, fathers, children, babies, grandparents, blind and deaf schools and on and on. And the wonders of the Roman remains and earlier, largely enduring and revered in all history’s turmoils as Iraq, the nation’s history – and humanity’s, again as Iraq and Afghanistan, will be gone forever.

The infrastructure will be destroyed. The embargo will remain in place; thus rebuilding will be impossible. Britain, France and the US., will decide the country needs “stabilising”, “help with reconstruction.” They will move in, secure the oil installations and oil fields, the Libyan people will be an incidental inconvenience and quickly become “the enemy”, “insurgents”, be shot, imprisoned, tortured, abused – and a US friendly puppet “government” will be installed.

The invaders will award their companies rebuilding contracts, the money – likely taken from Libya’s frozen assets without accounting – will vanish and the country will remain largely in ruins.

And the loudest cheerleaders for this, as Iraq, will be running round television and radio stations in London, Europe and the US, then returning to their safe apartments and their UK/US/Europe paid tenures, in the knowledge that no bombs will be dropping on them. Their children will not be shaking uncontrollably and soiling themselves with terror at the sound of approaching planes.

And this Libyan “Shock and Awe”? Shame on France, shame on Britain and the US and a UN avowed: “… to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Every shattered body, every child maimed or blown to bits, every widow, widower, orphan, will have the name of those countries, and the UN written in their blood in their place of death.

And the public of these murderous, marauding Western ram raiders, will be told that we were bringing democracy, liberating Libya from a tyrant, from the “new Hitler”, the “Butcher of Bengazi.”

The countries who have ganged together these last days to overthrow a sovereign government have, again, arguably, conspired in Nuremberg’s: ” … supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”, and yet again, plotted to overthrow a sovereign government, with a fig leaf of “legality” from an arm twisted UN. We have seen it all before.

In time, it will emerge who was stirring, bribing, de-stabilizing, and likely few will be surprised at the findings. But by then, Libya will be long broken and its people, fleeing, displaced, distraught.

When it comes to dealing with the usual “liberators”, be careful what you wish for. In six months or so, most Libyans, whatever the failings of the last forty years rule, will be ruing the day.

Comment: Excellent analysis that tells it like it is.  The idea of democracy and its emphasis on the just rule of law has been abandoned yet again.

Last night I worked late with my radio dialed to talk shows as usual.  It amazed me how callers in South Africa were congratulating the US as they waited in excited suspense (an entertainment in the age of reality news and electronic popular culture) for the attacks to begin.

"Will the US use its new stealth fighters?", a caller asked.  "Don't think so they will use F18s and that should be enough to take out strategic radar targets," a defense expert said.

"Whatever happens they need to put a well placed slug in Gaddafi," the radio host, Kieno Kammies, told his audience.

How did we just become attachments to the injustice being waged by the empire?

"The US has the backing of Islamic countries to get the job done and get that tyrant out of there ..." summed it all up for me.

I am sad to be inside this kind of murderous hypocrisy.  The radio station in question is part of a campaign called "Lead South Africa" and they shovel daily nonsense about "taking responsibility" and "doing the right thing" and then a popular loud-mouth host begins to sounds just like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck calling openly for the assassination/murder of Gaddafi.

Not too many folks will call Kammies and his employer (Talk Radio 702) on this sh*t.  It is open season for hypocrites. 

I mean the South African government has just declared war on Libya yet it is sending a delegate (it was supposed to be President Zuma but he backed off) from South Africa to join an African Union delegation to talk peace to Gaddafi.

Not too long ago (weeks in fact) the Zuma government was still selling weapons to Gaddafi.  In the past Zuma and his cronies used Gaddafi's donations to finance their domestic and national elections (court cases too).

And don't forget the huge sums of capital Gaddafi has pumped into the private sector leaving government beneficiaries (cronies) knee deep in the money trough.

South Africa is fast becoming the same kind of skunk the previous government was in international relations and there must be consequences.

The BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) all abstained from voting on the resolution but South Africa, which has just been admitted (making the group BRICS), voted for the "no fly zone".

Brazil, Russia, India and China should be watching this small arrogant and over-bloated colonial stand-in very closely.

South Africa cannot be trusted.  Watch your back.

Onward!