“Take care of your own” — no more foreign wars
Excerpting and editing by Carolyn Bennett
No-fly zones are an act of war. Like all acts of war, they have consequences.
“The democratic revolutionary processes sweeping North Africa and the Middle East have already transformed that long-stalemated region. The peoples of the region are looking for less not greater militarization of their countries.” Phyllis Bennis
“… If the United States is so worried about the bombing raids against civilians [in Libya], perhaps the Obama administration should take another look at Afghanistan, where nine Afghan children, ages seven to fourteen, were killed by U.S. attack helicopters in Kunar province on the first of March.…
“If the Congress is so eager to follow the wishes of Libya’s opposition, perhaps Libyan General Ahmad Gatroni’s call for the U.S. to ‘take care of its own people’ could mean challenging another stark reality. That reality is people of Wisconsin, facing a $1.8 billion budget deficit, will pay $1.7 billion in taxes this year just for their share of an already-existing war — the war in Afghanistan.
“‘We are against any foreign intervention,’ says [Libyan] Human rights lawyer and opposition representative Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga... This revolution will be completed by our people.’
“‘Take care of [your] own people,’” the Libyan General warned. “‘We can look after ourselves.…
“While the Libyan revolt is playing out in vastly different ways, and with far greater bloodshed — although segments of the anti-Qaddafi leadership are calling for some kind of military intervention, there appears to be widespread public opposition to such a call — the revolt is part-and-parcel of the democratic revolutionary process rising across the Arab world and beyond.…
“As in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere, there is no evidence that the Libyan population supports foreign military involvement.…
There is a powerful appeal in the recognition that the democracy movements sweeping the Middle East and North Africa are indigenous, authentic, independent mobilizations against decades-long U.S. - and Western-backed dictatorship and oppression.
Sources and notes
‘Don't ‘No-Fly’ Libya” (Phyllis Bennis, Phyllis Bennis’s ZSpace), March 8, 2011,
http://www.zcommunications.org/dont-no-fly-libya-by-phyllis-bennis
Phyllis Bennis works on U.S. foreign policy issues, particularly regarding Palestine, Iraq, Iran and now Afghanistan, as well as United Nations issues, especially regarding democratization of the UN and the challenge of U.S. domination of the UN. She is a Fellow of the Washington, D.C.,- based Institute for Policy Studies and a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. At IPS, she directs the New Internationalism Project. Bennis is a member of the steering committees of the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation and the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition. She is co-chair of the International Coordinating Network on Palestine and works closely with the global anti-war movement.
Her most recent book is the 2009-updated edition of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: a primer. Her earlier books include primers on Ending the Iraq War and Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis, as well as Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power, Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the War On Terror, and Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s UN.
Also “Phyllis Bennis on Libya, Graham Rayman on Newburgh Four,” CounterSpin, March 11-17, 2011, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4260
Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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