President Obama must reject Sarkozy’s childish petulance for the sake of peace in Libya and endorse the AU plan and invite President Zuma to discuss it further. An African solution to an African crisis.
[Black Star News Editor]
The United States Congress voted for a measure introduced by Speaker John Boehner rebuking President Barack Obama for the U.S. role in the Libyan war.
The U.S. continued participation is in defiance of the War Powers Act, which requires Congressional approval for this country to be engaged in warfare and was designed to check the abuse of power.
Yet the Boehner measure voted on and approved by Congress was not binding. It does call for a fuller explanation and justification by the President about the U.S. role in the war as well as accountability, including the costs.
The Boehner measure was introduced deliberately as a reaction to and in order to pre-empt another measure that was on the floor. That measure, introduced by the brave Rep. Dennis Kuchinic called for a halt to the U.S. role in the Libyan war.
As the U.S. has wrongfully focused on involvement in the Libyan war of aggression and conquest, crises have escalated in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. In Syria thousands of unarmed civilians have been murdered by dictator Bashar al-Assad and Yemen has now collapsed into civil war.
Yet the fixation is still on Libya. As recent as yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still declared that al-Assad could still be part of the solution by “reforming”–small comfort for Syrians killed yesterday in the town of Hama after the Cinton speech.
Rep. Kucinich is right in wanting an end to the U.S. role in the Libyan war. We hope he continues working hard and we hope he tries to introduce another measure. Kucinich could well get more support as it becomes clearer to more Americans that the U.S. has wrongfully taken sides in Libya’s civil war. The Benghazi rebels don’t offer the solution to Libya’s conflict–in fact Benghazi, supported by NATO is intent on pressing for warfare rather than for peace and democracy in Libya.
Just this week, United Nations investigators revealed that Benghazi, as did Tripoli, also committed war crimes during this civil war, a disclosure conveniently ignored by The New York Times, which has turned into a pro-war and pro-Benghazi booster. Additionally rebel leader, and former al-Quathafi justice minister Mustafa Mohamed Abdel-Jalil, told The Financial Times on March 14 that oil concessions would be awarded based on the amount of help Western countries provide to depose al-Quathafi.
So Benghazi, encouraged by France, Britain and Italy has rejected a very good peace proposal by the African Union (AU) that would not only end the war but would also pave the way for negotiations for a democratic constitution and for elections in Libya.
The plan was delivered by South African President Jacob Zuma to Tripoli on Monday and was accepted by the Muammar al-Quathafi government. The plan also calls for monitoring by the international community, including the United Nations. Yet France, under the increasingly erratic Nicolas Sarkozy, insists on pushing with the destructive war due to Sarkozy’s vindictive attitiude. He prefers bloodshed so he can claim “victory” instead of a halt to fighting and the suffering of Libyans.
Rep. Kuchinic must keep up the pressure on President Obama to do the right thing.
President Obama must reject Sarkozy’s childish petulance for the sake of peace in Libya and endorse the AU plan and invite President Zuma to discuss it further.
An African solution to an African crisis.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
Poll: Should the U.S. stay in or get out of the Libya war?
http://www.wepolls.com/r/626308/Should-the-United-States-pull-out-of-Libya?&force=1
