Libya

By Cynthia McKinney

How many times must a parent bury a child?

Well, in the case of Muammar Qaddafi it's not only twice: once for his daughter,
murdered by the United States bombing on his home in 1986, and again on 30 April 2011 when his youngest son, Saif al Arab, but yet again for three young children, grandbabies of Muammar Qaddafi killed along with Saif at the family home.

Now, I watched Cindy Sheehan as she bared her soul before us in her grief; I cried when Cindy cried. Now, how must Qaddafi and his wife feel? And the people of Libya, parents of all the nation's children gone too soon. I don't even want to imagine.

All my mother could say in astonishment was, "They killed the babies, they killed his grandbabies."

The news reports, however, didn't last more than one half of a news cycle because on 1 May, at a hastily assembled press conference, President Obama announced the murder of Osama bin Laden.

By Moeen Raoof

You may recall, on Monday, 16 May 2011, right after our visit to the mother of the 19-year old Army recruit, a few hours after leaving the district outside Tripoli (estimate 20-30 Miles or so), when we returned to Tripoli for our meeting with the Fact Finding Commission, NATO Planes circled this location outside of Tripoli and let behind a layered trail of smoke circles. You may also recall it was a cloudy day as the photos attached show clearly. Shortly afterwards Drones launched missiles on a target that was almost dead centre of the smoke circles during the afternoon of the day.

While the significance of this is not immediately apparent, it begs the question why would NATO send in Four Manned Aircraft at considerable cost to its budget for the attack to take place about half an hour after the smoke circles are placed to indicate the location of the target, by unmanned Drones (UAV's). Note that the smoke circles are layered one on top of the other in 4-rings. This means manned aircraft which presumably were fully armed with two making the rings while two kept watch and in support of the ring-makers, then left presumably returning to base in Southern Italy (most likely or a carrier off Libyan International waters), without firing any missiles at any target on the day.

The only conclusion to reach in this case is that there is a very serious flaw with the operation of the unmanned Drones and the ability of the Operator sitting thousands of miles away to identify a target and to carry-out a successful attack without a "X" marks the spot indicator most at approximately 10,000 feet above. This means that Drones are a redundant asset in warfare and NATO is trying to justify it by ensuring targets are being identified prior to the Drone reaching the targeted area.

Congress Rebukes Administration on Libyan War; Sets the Stage for the Kucinich War Powers Act Vote Next Week

Washington D.C. (May 26, 2011) – Today, the House of Representatives passed two amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that strongly signaled growing Congressional discontent with the war on Libya. The two votes set the stage for the upcoming vote on Kucinich’s resolution to direct the President to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from military operations in Libya.

“Congress is not satisfied with the blank check that this administration has written for itself to conduct the Libyan war,” said Kucinich. “Congress has made it clear that the Libyan war has not been authorized as required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act.”

Battered Libya sues for peace

As President Obama vows 'We will not relent until the shadow of tyranny is lifted', Gaddafi's Prime Minister offers Nato a ceasefire, amnesty for rebels, reconciliation, constitutional government – and an exit strategy

By Kim Sengupta and Solomon Hughes, The Independent

The Libyan regime is preparing to make a fresh overture to the international community, offering concessions designed to end the bloodshed of the three-month-long civil war.

The Independent has obtained a copy of a letter from the country's Prime Minister, Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, being sent to a number of foreign governments. It proposes an immediate ceasefire to be monitored by the United Nations and the African Union, unconditional talks with the opposition, amnesty for both sides in the conflict, and the drafting of a new constitution.

C-Span video.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that Apache helicopters will fly into Libya from a Royal Navy warship, in a joint operation with the French.

As many as 18 British and French helicopters will be deployed to support rebels trying to consolidate gains against Gaddafi’s forces.

The helicopter operation – expected to be supported by Special Forces troops – will take the allies closer still to a full ground operation in Libya.

READ THE REST.

The "Defense Authorization" bill now before Congress, HR 1750 1540, is arguably the worst bill ever considered likely to pass into law. It includes $118 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars a majority of Americans wants ended. But that's not why it's the worst bill ever.

This bill also includes $553 billion for other military waste.  That's enough money to save and improve a lot of lives if it weren't being dumped into the war machine.  But that's not why this is the worst bill ever.

The bill limits the President’s ability to implement the New START agreement unless there is full funding for the nuclear weapons complex, bars the retirement of nuclear weapons until two new nuclear facilities are completed, and bars further nuclear weapons reductions below New START levels unless approved by Congress. But that's not why this is the worst bill ever.

The bill invests heavily in a National Missile "Defense" system based in California and Alaska.

This bill revives a second engine for the F-35 that the Pentagon has no use for.

This bill bars any transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo.

But none of that is why this is the worst bill ever.

This is the worst bill ever because it gives presidents the power to single-handedly launch wars and to lock people up without trial.

This legislation, Section 1034 of the worst bill ever, undoes the limitations on one-man rule put in place by the U.S. Constitution over two centuries ago.  This is the biggest formal shift of power in our government since we've had a government. 

We have military operations now in some 75 countries, and a significant war in Libya, all illegal under the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Act.  But the worst bill ever will erase the War Powers Act, and the Constitution will simply be ignored. 

Meanwhile the significant withdrawal that President Obama promised to begin in Afghanistan has been scaled back to a withdrawal of 2.5 percent of U.S. forces

Call Congress today and tell your Representative and your two Senators:

Enough is enough!

End the wars!

Bring the troops home!

Convert the economy to peace!

And do not pass the worst bill ever!

Call toll-free 1-888-231-9276.

Bill Based on War Powers to Reassert Congressional Authority, End War Within 15 Days

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 23, 2011) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is introducing this evening a Concurrent Resolution, directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from Libya.

Kucinich’s bill directs the President to remove the United States Armed Forces from Libya within 15 days of the adoption of this concurrent resolution.

War Powers Legislation Being Readied

Washington D.C. (May 18, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who will introduce a bill to end the war in Libya based on the War Powers Resolution when Congress returns on May 23, 2011, today made the following statement about the war. Kucinich made the statement ahead of a speech tomorrow by President Obama.

“The President’s speech tomorrow concerning U.S. policy in the Middle East is yet another attempt to stem the loss of support for our role in the war in Libya. He is up against the 60-day War Powers Act countdown from the beginning of U.S. military involvement in Libya.

With prince having a U.S. flag stamped on his forehead, done in our names, al Qaeda move over, new kid, same as the old, on the block!!

A contract to kill ... how big business is baying for blood

18 May 2011 - You can buy a war for half a billion dollars. But get in quick. That's at current market prices.

Costs may rise following last Saturday's New York Times story revealing that the United Arab Emirates has paid $529m to a company set up by Blackwater boss Eric Prince to recruit and train a mercenary army to undertake 'special missions' against the oil state's enemies, defend oil pipelines, crush internal opposition and so forth.

The International Criminal Court: An Imperial Tool - by Stephen Lendman

Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on July 1, 2002, it's mandated to prosecute individuals for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes or war and against humanity.

Much earlier, the UN Charter was created "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow to mankind." Its Chapter I states:

"To maintain international peace and security, (member states shall respect the) principle of the sovereign equality (of other members), settle their international disputes by peaceful means, (and) refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

Former US diplomat George Kenney says indicting Gaddafi would render any peace talks impossible.

“Having an indictment in the International Criminal Court means that it is more difficult to have negotiations, and if Gaddafi were ever taken out of the picture, it would be more difficult still to have negotiations between the people in Benghazi and the people in Tripoli,” Kenney said.

The former diplomat also suggested that the legal move against the Libyan leader was not only about human rights.

“As a diplomat, I would say that it is not an accident that the prosecutor is seeking an indictment, because that would make the path for the military action easier,” Kenney declared. “It is not about justice, it is about the political program we have…. I think that the indictment mainly serves to make Western leaders feel like they have accomplished something, more than it does for the end of the fighting.”

go here

Now we know why Obama has gone to such outrageous lengths to keep Bush's lawyers out of prison, claiming powers of secrecy and immunity beyond Cheney's wildest dreams and pressuring foreign nations to clamp down on any outbreaks of law enforcement.

If the Bush lawyers who "legalized" aggressive war, lawless imprisonment, and torture were not consulted on how to keep the war in Libya going in perpetuity, they were certainly the inspiration for the latest White House brainstorming session.

Remember when Alberto Gonzales claimed that the U.S. Constitution gives no one the right to habeas corpus by merely asserting that if you had that right it could not be taken away? Amateur work.

Remember when John Yoo and Jay Bybee explained that a man tortured but never tried had no rights due to his guilt? Child's play.

By Marjorie Cohn

The United States, France and Britain invaded Libya with cruise
missiles, stealth bombers, fighter jets and attack jets. Although NATO
has taken over the military operation, U.S. President Barack Obama has
been bombing Libya with Hellfire missiles from unmanned Predator
drones. The number of civilians these foreign forces have killed
remains unknown. This military campaign was ostensibly launched to
enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in order to
protect civilians in Libya.

In addition, the United Nations and France have been bombing the Ivory
Coast to protect civilians against violence by Laurent Gbagbo, who
refuses to cede power to the newly elected president after a disputed
election. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon insists that the United Nations is
“not a party to the conflict.” France, former colonial ruler of Ivory
Coast, has over 1,500 troops stationed there. Ivory Coast is the

STOP THE WAR COALITION
Newsletter No. 1203
15 May 2011
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

DO TO LIBYA WHAT WAS DONE TO GAZA AND IRAQ SAYS HEAD OF UK ARMY (SEE http://bit.ly/lEuOtZ )

MONDAY 16 MAY: PARLIAMENT DEBATES LIBYA
EMERGENCY PROTEST 5PM
DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL
LONDON SW1A 2AA

Just as Stop the War Coalition predicted when it began, the Nato intervention
in Libya is leading to full scale war. In just two months, we have gone from
"no-fly zone" to "no-drive zone" to "let's assassinate Gaddafi".

Now, the head of the British armed forces, General Sir David Richards, is
calling for the destruction of Libya's infrastructure.

Over 2000 bombing raids by the US, Britain and their allies have only produced
stalemate and the western powers are facing another disaster in the third

By John Grant

I know when night has gone
That a new world's born at dawn.

I'll keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

"Tumbling Tumbleweeds"
-- Sons Of The Pioneers

_______________________

We live in frustrating times for anyone politically opposed to the relentless militarization and financialization of virtually every facet of life in America.

The idealism of the Sixties and Seventies was overwhelmed first by Reaganism, then by the tsunami of post-911 fear and, finally, by the momentum of two, now three, on-going foreign wars. We live in an enforced condition of permanent war and unfettered piracy.

http://www.prlog.org/11488154-world-peace-delegation-heads-to-libya-on-f...

Voluntary group Global Civilians for Peace return to Libya for their second visit since the war began with plans to meet civil representatives, record and document the facts as they find them and contribute to peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Global Civilians for Peace in Libya is embarking on its second fact-finding mission into the war-torn country. The delegation is comprised of academics, professionals, journalists and ex-military personnel from Europe, North America, England, Middle East and Africa. The delegates are independent and not allied to any government or official body. Italian camera crew will be embedded with the group, a TV producer from Britain and a French well-known Journalist.

STOP THE WAR COALITION
Newsletter No. 1202
13 May 2011
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) PROTEST WHEN PARLIAMENT DEBATES LIBYA
2) FRENCH MUSLIM DEFYING VEIL BAN JOINS ISLAMOPHOBIA CONFERENCE
3) PROTEST: END THE SIEGE OF GAZA - FREE PALESTINE
4) PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH THIRD INTIFADA

**************************
1) PROTEST WHEN PARLIAMENT DEBATES LIBYA

PROTEST: STOP THE BOMBING OF LIBYA
MONDAY 16 MAY 5PM
DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1 2AA

On Monday parliament will be debating the military intervention
in Libya. Claims that the war on Libya is humanitarian have been
exposed by missile attacks on the Gaddafi family’s residence and
by the thousands of refugees fleeing the onslaught whose plight
has been ignored by NATO.

Check this out. Obama is pretending to partially comply with the War Powers Act in Libya. He thinks he gets a 60-day pass for undeclared war, but the 60 days runs out next week. Among the ideas to weasel around this: PAUSE the war for a minute and then start with a fresh 60 days. Dubya would be proud. John Yoo will probably claim credit.

http://tinyurl.com/3cxqce3

War Powers Action to Toll on May 23

Washington D.C. (May 12, 2011) – In the wake of reports published today which indicate that Congress will not have a vote on the war in Libya, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today reiterated his determination to force the House of Representatives to vote to end military operations in Libya, pursuant to the War Powers Act of 1973.

“As soon as Congress returns on May 23, 2011, I will introduce a bill, pursuant to the War Powers Act, to force a vote in the House of Representatives to end U.S. military operations in Libya,” Kucinich said.

The bill will use the War Power’s process to insist upon Congress’ constitutional responsibility to make decisions pertaining to the use of U.S. military force abroad. “We must not let any war continue absent legal authorization by Congress,” he said.

Libyan Rebels Killing Civilians in Benghazi - by Stephen Lendman

In London, at a June 1999 anti-Yugoslavia war rally, Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter scathed US and UK leaders, saying:

"Let us face the truth....(N)either Clinton nor Blair gives a damn about the Kosovar Albanians. This action has been another blatant and brutal assertion of US power using NATO as its missile....to consolidate....American domination of Europe."

Today, Obama doesn't give a damn about Libyans, any more than about Iraqis, Afghans or working Americans. At issue only is Washington wanting unchallenged dominance everywhere, including over the Mediterranean Basin, using two missiles - NATO and so-called rebels, enlisted, funded, trained and armed well before bombing began on March 19.

Frozen Assets are for the Libyan People, Must not be ‘Lost’ Like Money ‘Lost’ in Iraq and Afghanistan

Washington D.C. (May 9, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who has consistently challenged the Administration’s and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) military intervention in Libya, wrote to Treasury Secretary Geithner to request that he “assiduously ensure the safekeeping and close tracking of the seized assets with proper oversight so as to guarantee that they are used for the purpose of rebuilding Libya,” following news reports that the United States was planning to provide some of the money seized from the Libyan government to rebels in the country.

NATO Given an Inch, Takes a Mile

Washington D.C. (May 7, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich, (D-OH), the leader of Congressional opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) war in Libya, wrote to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

In the letter, Kucinich urges both the ICC and the UN to take “immediate action” to ensure that United Nations Member States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is acting to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973, are in compliance with UNSCR 1973 and relevant international law. Further, any actions taken outside compliance of UNSCR 1973 and relevant international law must be considered by the ICC.

April seemed to drift in, whimpering and, then, banging shut. Caresses and blows.

Easter slid by. Where was I? North Carolina? Kentucky? Maryland?

Easter’s just candy, anyway, shaped like eggs, and a White House lawn with children on the hunt. Though I do remember something about a rock rolled away from a tomb.

Prince William and Kate were royally rocking and rolling, a circumstance of pomposity.

Now, we’re a week into May, Derby time with a parade of hats and thoroughly bred animals. Oh, and horses, too, racing for the first jewel in the Triple Crown, no thorns allowed.

This is celebration season. And many are celebrating death—the assassination of that mythical decider who claimed responsibility for “inspiring” 9-11 and scared us to bookstores to purchase bibles in freedomville where we can shop and choose a wireless plan with a special friends-and-family rate, radiation exposure, dropped calls, and surveillance included.

By John Grant

Supplying an army at a distance drains the public coffers and impoverishes the common people.
--Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

With the killing of Osama bin Laden by a 79-member JSOC hunter/killer team inside Pakistan, the nation has entered yet another of those moments when a news media that professes independence has become an unashamed cheerleader for militarism.

No one can deny the JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) Seal Team executed its killing mission with great competence and aplomb. They were also lucky that the bin Laden entourage had apparently become so confident of its safety that it was a bit lackadaisical.

Washington D.C. (May 5, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the leader of Congressional opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) war in Libya, today sent the following letter to President Obama after news reports indicated that the United States would make available frozen assets of the Gaddafi regime to the Libyan rebels to finance their operations.

May 5, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
Washington D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama,

On March 28, 2011, you stated that the United States “will safeguard the more than $33 billion that was frozen from the Qaddafi regime so that it’s available to rebuild Libya. After all, the money doesn’t belong to Qaddafi or to us – It belongs to the Libyan people.” I wholeheartedly agree.

By TARIQ ALI, CounterPunch

The US-Nato intervention in Libya, with United Nations security council cover, is part of an orchestrated response to show support for the movement against one dictator in particular and by so doing to bring the Arab rebellions to an end by asserting western control, confiscating their impetus and spontaneity and trying to restore the status quo ante.