I don't have a "position" on this. I have a Libyan student who disappeared last quarter - it turned out he was trying to find a way to get to Benghazi. (He didn't succeed and came back). He's taught me what I know about Libya and Ghaddafi, and I really want to see the fucker gone. On the other hand, it would be naive to think that the US and its "allies" are just going to clear the way for a rebel victory and do nothing else. (For that matter, launching cruise missiles at Tripoli is something more than taking out the dictator's heavy equipment, and is hardly calculated to minimize casualties). Obama/Clinton (as far as I can tell, the foreign policy posts went overwhelmingly to Clinton people, so I think this policy is as much HRC's as Obama's) will want a say in who runs Libya post-Ghaddafi, and are no doubt lining up favored candidates now.
So any victory for the rebels will be partial.
And, of course, the US continues to actively abet the repression of protesters in Yemen, while it gives its blessing to Saudi Arabia in Bahrain. Democracy in the Middle East is acceptable in North Africa, I guess, but we're not going to allow it anywhere near the Persian Gulf!
----- Original Message ---- From: Fernando Cassia <fcassia at gmail.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Mon, March 21, 2011 11:49:15 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Who should protect the Libyans? (was Re: Left Forum)
On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 1:42 PM, Dennis Redmond <metalslorg at gmail.com> wrote:
> is is Libya's battle. They have to fight it -- and they will. They have to
> win it -- and they will. All the UN forces are doing is accelerating the end
> of an awful dictatorship. Take out the dictator's heavy equipment, and the
> rebels will win with the fewest possible casualties.
I agree. I just hate to be sitting down here in Argentina and having to put up with black-and-white analysis like "If I have to choose between two evils, I'll choose the lesser evil one, and between US imperialism agression and Gaddafi, I choose Gadaffi". This spoken by several people I used to respect.
Please, send a UN chopper to lift me up, I'm surrounded by idiots.
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