U.S., West attacks on Libya bring pain, confusion and more trouble over latest conflict
“They love meddling in other people’s affairs. They are in every fight or war–it matters not with whom or where–but yet crying ‘Peace! Peace!’ with every deadly weapon of war to provoke other nations to war.” —The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, “The Fall of America”
(FinalCall.com) – Egypt, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Sri Lanka, Serbia, El Salvador, Canada and the United States are a few of the countries where people have taken to the streets protesting the military assault by the U.S-led coalition on Libya.
›The coalition assaults appeared to have destroyed much of Libya’s air force and targeted its tanks, rocket launchers, military vehicles, artillery and other equipment.
At Final Call presstime, the rebel forces had reportedly taken control of several cities including al-Brega, Nawfaliya and were marching toward Sirte, the birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi as coalition forces continued their aerial assault on troops loyal to him.
In response to growing criticism from Congress and the public, President Obama was scheduled to make a March 28 televised address from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., at Final Call presstime. “Our military mission in Libya is clear and focused,” said Mr. Obama in his weekly address from the White House March 26.
But some congressional leaders and activists said the mission was unclear and perhaps contradictory.
The attacks began with a barrage of missile airstrikes launched at the North African nation from submarines and stealth bombers March 19. Eight years after the invasion of Iraq and nearly 10 years after sending troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. intervened in the affairs of yet another Muslim nation.
What President Obama described as limited military action for a humanitarian mission to “protect Libyan civilians” and “answer the call of a threatened people,” has become an operation beset with contradiction and confusion.
Questions and criticisms about the U.S. military role in the conflict, the amount of time and money this coalition attack is costing a nation still in the midst of a deep recession are among a myriad of issues being raised to Mr. Obama and his administration. Protests and demonstrations from anti-war groups in the U.S. and abroad seem to reflect a growing sentiment that the status-quo of U.S. aggression and military intervention places her in a no-win situation.
But beyond the popular unrest and financial woes is another more pressing factor: A divine hand is at work against America and the West, which will not allow these warmongers to successfully defeat those they try to master and these same military forays are hastening the doom that awaits America and her allies.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and his teacher, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, have warned for decades that America is under the judgment of God for her evils done in particular to the Black man and woman of America and the aboriginal people of the Earth. America’s doom, they have warned, is styled in scripture as the fall of Egypt, Babylon and Rome.
These nations who delighted in war will taste fully the price for their wickedness and evil as the Bible and Holy Qur’an prophesy. “We cannot deny the fact that the Christian West is responsible for this universal corruption in the land and sea. From the same corruption that their own hands have wrought will come their doom,” wrote the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, in “The Fall of America,” which was published in 1973.
In North Africa allies of America have fallen or found themselves under siege as the Western nations bomb Libya in the name of protecting civilians–a claim that is finding little resonance today.
No fly zone and UN hypocrisy
Since the no-fly zone enforcement of UN Resolution 1973 was authorized and U.S., British and French attacks on Libya began, President Obama maintained the U.S would quickly transfer the lead role in the operation to a broad international coalition and that the transfer would be “a matter of days not weeks.”Still American commanders will outrank the NATO general named to lead the operation.
The U.S. will hand over control to forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as early as March 28 and supposedly the U.S. role will be simply “to support and assist.” Formed in 1949 as part of a treaty and alliance of European and North American countries, NATO’s stated purpose is to maintain peace, resolve crisis and deter war.
According to a CNN report, while NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former prime minister of Denmark confirmed NATO member nations would take over enforcement of the no-fly zone, he did not confirm they would take a lead role in protecting civilians on the ground or push to enforce regime change.
Secretary-General Rasmussen seemed to suggest there would still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation. “But we are considering whether NATO should take on that broader responsibility in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been made yet,” he told reporters.
American and NATO officials appeared to downplay differing views on the scope and purpose of the UN resolution.
Secretary Clinton is scheduled to meet in London with NATO allies and members of Arab countries backing the coalition March 29. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are Mid-East nations supporting the NATO operation. Some of the 28-member nations of NATO include the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Norway and Spain.
“Part of what I don’t think enough people get is that the history and role of the United States and Europe, when it comes to North Africa and the Middle East not to mention most of the rest of the world, is not one that is viewed generally as being very constructive,” said Bill Fletcher, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies.
The roles being played by various countries and coalitions are getting murkier said critics and anti-war groups. Regardless of how Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadhafi runs his country or is viewed by the Western nations, this is a Libyan problem, they assert.
There is also a growing feeling that these latest attacks on Libya expose hypocrisy in U.S. foreign policy based on what will benefit the U.S government and the West.
“The hypocrisy is dripping from this entire operation,” says Mr. Fletcher, author and former president of TransAfrica Forum. He adds while he is “no fan of Gadhafi’s,” the things the Libyan head of state is accused of are happening in Yemen and Bahrain–two key U.S. allies.
Worries about paying for war
How much this military adventure will cost is worrying many Americans.
Reports estimate the U.S. is spending upward of $1 billion on the Libyan assault and as of Final Call presstime, 175 Tomahawk missiles costing between $1 million and $1.5 million apiece had been launched, 168 belonged to the U.S.
President Obama has been adamant, the coalition of the U.S., Great Britain, France and other countries should share the cost.“We will continue to provide details to the American people about the costs of this operation. But because it is limited in time, scope, with a well-defined mission, we’re confident that this is something that we can budget as part of our overall operations,” said Mr. Obama.
Critics say the cost of yet another U.S. war could affect poor and lower middle class and even middle class Americans already hard hit by the recession and economic budget cuts. Others argue it is too soon to tell how the Libya attacks may affect the economy.
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says the decision to make budget cuts has little to do with what is currently happening in Libya because there is no way to tell where the current war is headed.
“Presumably the Bush administration didn’t expect to be in Iraq a decade after their invasion or in Afghanistan. Are we going to have that sort of situation in Libya? If we do it’s likely to be very costly,” he told The Final Call.
Others said the millions and potentially billions of dollars this war could cost would be better used at home. Ali Issa, field director of the War Resisters League, a non-violent anti-war advocacy group based in New York, says more anti-war groups are discussing initiatives to divert federal funding to basic human needs in the U.S.
“Schools are crumbling here and we’re still yet investing in an extremely over bloated military budget,” Mr. Issa told The Final Call.
Over half of U.S. tax dollars go to the Pentagon, he added.
“The U.S. government is at war again. How could they get away with launching another war when they tell us the country is so broke that vital public services must be slashed and public workers must be fired in massive numbers?” asked Brian Becker of the ANSWER Coalition, a grassroots anti-war group.
Instead of a military response, analysts, leaders and others suggested alternatives to resolve the conflict between the Libyan government and rebels could have been considered. “It seems to me that the Arab League or the African Union at the point that this took on military proportion could have attempted to send in a mediation team to try to find a non-violent solution if there was one,” says Mr. Fletcher.
Lack of trust in U.S. role in Libya
The U.S. has very little legitimacy because of her past interventions in disputes, says Mr. Issa. “Their style of cloaking imperialist ambitions in humanitarian motivations has given people a deep suspicion whenever they are involved. So their direct involvement in Libya is looked at by many in the Arab world as suspect,” he continued.
Patience appears to be wearing thin as anti-war demonstrations have popped up. The ANSWER Coalition organized emergency demonstrations March 23-26 in over 17 U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, Baltimore and Boston.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan have repeatedly warned America cannot continue its aggression and war-mongering among the nations of the earth under the guise of peace.
The dissatisfaction and outspoken criticism coming from America’s own citizens and from people around the world about the attacks against Libya bear witness to the prophecy of Mr. Muhammad that America will lose the friendship, influence and power she once claimed.
Minister Farrakhan offered guidance to President Obama on ways to handle the situation in Libya by suggesting, “Why don’t you organize a group of respected Americans, and ask for a meeting with Gadhafi?” He spoke those words in a recent radio interview on WVON AM 1690 in Chicago and in a major address Feb. 27 warned the president to tread carefully in Libya and to refrain from America’s past arrogance and mischief making.
“Muammar Gadhafi and the problem in Libya is much more complex than what the news is saying. Muammar Gadhafi has always been hated by Western, European, Neo-Colonial, Imperialistic governments,” said the Minister during a March 10 appearance on the Cliff Kelley Show. “This attitude that somehow Western powers have a right to resources of weaker nations in Africa, in Central America and South America: Gadhafi rejected that notion,” said Min. Farrakhan.
He also offered guidance to President Obama: “Don’t let these wicked demons move you in a direction that will absolutely ruin your future with your people in Africa and throughout the world. … I would advise you to be careful and move with wisdom and skill.”
Since the decision to make war with Libya, the American president has been besieged on all sides–with critics on the right and the left, calls for his impeachment, charges he bypassed Congress to enter into a war and has a public relations and outreach plan underway. It will be interesting to see what this decision does to his popularity, his reputation and chances for reelection in 2012.
In “The Fall of America”, Elijah Muhammad writes, “America wants everyone to believe she is right in her wicked dealings with the people of earth. With her might of arms commanding the high seas and the land around the globe, she wishes everyone to think she is right in building up arms and forts in foreign countries and on their shores a bristling, deadly navy with guns trained on foreign peoples’ towns and cities, as a dare without any cause. This only shows her pride and daring aggressive acts against people who would like to be at peace.”
His words have proven true and if America continues on her destructive path more proof of his divine warnings in the 1970s–repeated by Min. Farrakhan–will be even more apparent. Critics are complaining America is fed up with and cannot afford another war and ask where will U.S. intervention end.
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