NATO: A Feast of Blood
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 01:59 — Cynthia McKinney
by Cynthia McKinney, in Tripoli
“Inside the hotel, one
Libyan woman carrying a baby came to me and asked me why are they doing
this to us?” writes Cynthia McKinney as bombs rain down on Tripoli,
capital of Libya.
“It is transparently
clear now that NATO has exceeded its mandate, lied about its intentions,
is guilty of extra-judicial killings--all in the name of "humanitarian
intervention." If the humanitarian ruse is allowed against Libya, why
not…anywhere? “People around the world need us to stand up and speak out
for ourselves and them because Iran and Venezuela are also in the
cross-hairs.”
NATO: A Feast of Blood
by Cynthia McKinney, in Tripoli
“The sky flashed red with explosions and more rockets from NATO jets
cut through low cloud before exploding.”
While serving on the
House International Relations Committee from 1993 to 2003, it became
clear to me that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an
anachronism. Founded in 1945 at the end of World War II, NATO was
created by the United States in response to the Soviet Union's survival
as a Communist state. NATO was the U.S. insurance policy that capitalist
ownership and domination of European, Asian, and African economies
would continue. This also would ensure the survival of the then-extant
global apartheid.
NATO is a collective
security pact wherein member states pledge that an attack upon one is an
attack against all. Therefore, should the Soviet Union have attacked
any European Member State, the United States military shield would be
activated. The Soviet Response was the Warsaw Pact that maintained a
"cordon sanitaire" around the Russian Heartland should NATO ever attack.
Thus, the world was broken into blocs which gave rise to the "Cold
War."
Avowed "Cold Warriors" of
today still view the world in these terms and, unfortunately, cannot
move past Communist China and an amputated Soviet Empire as enemy states
of the U.S. whose moves anywhere on the planet are to be contested. The
collapse of the Soviet Union provided an accelerated opportunity to
exert U.S. hegemony in an area of previous Russian influence. Africa
and the Eurasian landmass containing former Soviet satellite states and
Afghanistan and Pakistan along with the many other "stans" of the
region, have always factored prominently in the theories of
"containment" or "rollback" guiding U.S. policy up to today.
“I immediately thought about the depleted uranium munitions reportedly
being used here--along with white phosphorus.“
With that as background,
last night's NATO rocket attack on Tripoli is inexplicable. A civilian
metropolitan area of around 2 million people, Tripoli sustained 22 to 25
bombings last night (Monday), rattling and breaking windows and glass
and shaking the foundation of my hotel.
I left my room at the
Rexis Al Nasr Hotel and walked outside the hotel and I could smell the
exploded bombs. There were local people everywhere milling with foreign
journalists from around the world. As we stood there more bombs struck
around the city. The sky flashed red with explosions and more rockets
from NATO jets cut through low cloud before exploding.
I could taste the thick
dust stirred up by the exploded bombs. I immediately thought about the
depleted uranium munitions reportedly being used here--along with white
phosphorus. If depleted uranium weapons were being used what affect on
the local civilians?
Women carrying young
children ran out of the hotel. Others ran to wash the dust from their
eyes. With sirens blaring, emergency vehicles made their way to the
scene of the attack. Car alarms, set off by the repeated blasts, could
be heard underneath the defiant chants of the people.
Sporadic gunfire broke
out and it seemed everywhere around me. Euronews showed video of nurses
and doctors chanting even at the hospitals as they treated those
injured from NATO's latest installation of shock and awe. Suddenly, the
streets around my hotel became full of chanting people, car horns
blowing, I could not tell how many were walking, how many were driving. Inside
the hotel, one Libyan woman carrying a baby came to me and asked me why are
they doing this to us?
Whatever the military
objectives of the attack (and I and many others question the military
value of these attacks) the fact remains the air attack was launched a
major city packed with hundreds of thousands of civilians.
“Car alarms, set off by the repeated blasts, could be heard underneath
the defiant chants of the people.”
I did wonder too if the
any of the politicians who had authorized this air attack had themselves
ever been on the receiving end of laser guided depleted uranium
munitions. Had they ever seen the awful damage that these weapons do a
city and its population? Perhaps if they had actually been in a city
under air attack and felt the concussion from these bombs and saw the
mayhem caused they just might not be so inclined to authorize an attack
on a civilian population.
I am confident that NATO
would not have been so reckless with human life if they had been called
on to attack a major western city. Indeed, I am confident that they
would not be called upon ever to attack a western city. NATO only
attacks (as does the US and its allies) the poor and underprivileged of
the 3rd world.
Only the day before, at a
women's event in Tripoli, one woman came up to me with tears in her
eyes: her mother is in Benghazi and she can't get back to see if her
mother is OK or not. People from the east and west of the country lived
with each other, loved each other, intermarried, and now, because of
NATO's "humanitarian intervention," artificial divisions are becoming
hardened. NATO's recruitment of allies in eastern Libya smacks of the
same strain of cold warriorism that sought to assassinate Fidel Castro
and overthrow the Cuban Revolution with "homegrown" Cubans willing to
commit acts of terror against their former home country. More recently,
Democratic Republic of Congo has been amputated de facto after Laurent
Kabila refused a request from the Clinton Administration to formally
shave off the eastern part of his country. Laurent Kabila personally
recounted the meeting at which this request and refusal were delivered.
This plan to balkanize and amputate an African country (as has been
done in Sudan) did not work because Kabila said "no" while Congolese
around the world organized to protect the "territorial integrity" of
their country.
I was horrified to learn
that NATO allies (the Rebels) in Libya have reportedly lynched,
butchered and then their darker-skinned compatriots after U.S. press
reports labeled Black Libyans as "Black mercenaries." Now, tell me this,
pray tell. How are you going to take Blacks out of Africa? Press
reports have suggested that Americans were "surprised" to see
dark-skinned people in Africa. Now, what does that tell us about them?
“What I experienced last night is no "humanitarian intervention."
The sad fact, however, is
that it is the Libyans themselves, who have been insulted, terrorized,
lynched, and murdered as a result of the press reports that
hyper-sensationalized this base ignorance. Who will be held accountable
for the lives lost in the bloodletting frenzy unleashed as a result of
these lies?
Which brings me back to
the lady's question: why is this happening? Honestly, I could not give
her the educated reasoned response that she was looking for. In my view
the international public is struggling to answer "Why?".
What we do know, and what is quite clear, is this: what I experienced
last night is no "humanitarian intervention."
Many suspect it is about
all the oil under Libya. Call me skeptical but I have to wonder why the
combined armed sea, land and air forces of NATO and the US costing
billions of dollars are being arraigned against a relatively small North
African country and we're expected to believe its in the defense of
democracy.
What I have seen in long
lines to get fuel is not "humanitarian intervention." Refusal to allow
purchases of medicine for the hospitals is not "humanitarian
intervention." What is most sad is that I cannot give a cogent
explanation of why to people now terrified by NATO's bombs, but it is
transparently clear now that NATO has exceeded its mandate, lied about
its intentions, is guilty of extra-judicial killings--all in the name of
"humanitarian intervention." Where is the Congress as the President
exceeds his war-making authority? Where is the "Conscience of the
Congress?"
For those of who disagree
with Dick Cheney's warning to us to prepare for war for the next
generation, please support any one who will stop this madness. Please
organize and then vote for peace. People around the world need us to
stand up and speak out for ourselves and them because Iran and Venezuela
are also in the cross-hairs. Libyans don't need NATO helicopter
gunships, smart bombs, cruise missiles, and depleted uranium to settle
their differences. NATO's "humanitarian intervention" needs to be
exposed for what it is with the bright, shining light of the truth.
As dusk descends on Tripoli, let me prepare myself with the local
civilian population for some more NATO humanitarianism.
Stop bombing Africa and the poor of the world!
Cynthia McKinney is a former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party
presidential candidate. She can be contacted at hq2...@gmail.com.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/nato-feast-blood
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com
laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
