Helen Thomas: Mr. President, I know you must have given it a lot of thought, but what do you think is the real reason that Americans are the prime target of terrorism? Could it be our policies?
Reagan: Well, we know that this *mad dog of the Middle East* has a goal of a world revolution, Moslem fundamentalist revolution, which is targeted on many of his own Arab compatriots. And where we figure in that, I don't know. Maybe we're just the enemy because—it's a little like climbing Mount Everest—because we're here...
Do we need to be reminded that it was only 25 years ago that the US invaded territorial waters of Libya, and bombed Tripoli, killing scores of civilians, including Gaddaffi's daughter (with British military support)?
Or reminded of the earlier Italian invasion, the killings and starvations in the concentration camps, dropping of poison gas, etc.? http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/dewiki/en/Italienische_Kriegsverbrechen_in_Afrika
Italy is still today paying billions in reparations to Libya for Italy's war crimes there.
Those were the true war crimes.
Obviously, this is not to diminish the government killings going on today by the now "neoliberalized" Libya.
And why is it that no one seems to understand the uprising in Libya has very strong roots in inter-tribal conflict, rather than simply "democracy"? Libya is most definitely not a country in the manner of Egypt. Nor of Tunisia. Libya is less a country than it is 140 tribes that make up 3 countries. Bengazzi (which has... of course, the oil) is home of the Warfalla tribe ( http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0224/Libya-tribes-Who-s-who). They have received little of the oil money and did not raise the national flag when liberated, but the flag of the Monarchy which Qaddafi overthrew. The monarchy was represented by King Isidris - king of Cyrenaica (eastern Libya), only one of the three "countries" from the Ottoman empire, that were later stitched together by the Italians to make Libya. They despise the Gaddafi tribe in western Libya (which supports Qaddafi's regime), and vise versa. The Gaddafi tribe is likely to have little interest in "democracy" or the overthrow of Qaddafi.
Which is why the following is so troubling. The rebel leader Colonel Tarek Saad Hussein said he would "finish" the people of Sirte (mostly Gaddafi tribe) if they opposed him:
"I want to deliver a message to the people of Sirte: You are with us or against us. Because when we move to Tripoli, you either join us, or we will finish you." http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134065811/Gadhafi-Asks-Supporters-To-Defend-Regime
Seems the "people's revolution" may only apply to certain people.
-PF http://theclearview.wordpress.com/
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Joseph Catron <jncatron at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 9:27 AM, Charles Turner <vze26m98 at optonline.net
> >wrote:
>
> So by that token, maybe it's time to reassess Vietnam's invasion of the
> DPRK
> > in 1979?
> > Seems like "the left" was pretty solidly behind the aggression instead of
> > an "ultra-left dictatorship."
> >
>
> I take it you mean the Democratic Kampuchea (which I think was in 1978),
> and
> not the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? Or is this another incident
> with which I'm unfamiliar?
>
> In the former case, based upon my limited knowledge, it seems like a
> straightforward case of national self-defense, in a sense that the British
> maintenance of a colonial outpost off the coast of South America is not,
> and
> the US enforcement of a no-fly zone (
> http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4033869,00.html) or naval
> corridor
> (
>
> http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/lets-assure-free-passage-from-libya
> )
> against Libya would sure as hell not be. I trust few of us define our
> anti-imperialism in terms requiring a country whose legitimate territory is
> routinely invaded and its citizens slaughtered to tolerate it indefinitely.
>
> --
> "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen
> lytlað."
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
-- Peter Fay