[PAA-Discuss] FW: Great little piece by Dennis Kucinich

[Lee Loe]

  _____  

From: Professor Schwartz' symposium on the Iraq war
[mailto:IRAQVIEWS-L at lists.sunysb.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Schwartz
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 11:46 AM
To: IRAQVIEWS-L at LISTS.SUNYSB.EDU
Subject: Great little piece by Dennis Kucinich


This is Dennis Kucinich's denunciation of the Libyan intervention.  It is
quite persuasive to me.  He says that there was no real risk of mass
slaughter, that many civilians are suffering the consequences of the
intervention, and that their is a cloud of oil-inspired motives hanging over
the intervention:
 

Actions Not Words Show US Middle East Policy


By Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Reader Supported News

20 May 11

 

  <http://www.readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-W.jpg> e
all want to be supportive of our President as he attempts to broaden
America's positive role in the Middle East and North Africa. But it is
important to critically analyze what the President does, not what he says,
when it comes to U.S. policy abroad. When the President says '[i]t will be
the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to
support transitions to democracy,' we must look more carefully at how this
policy has been implemented as well as the implications of the actions that
have already been taken.

President Obama violated the Constitution by pursuing war against Libya
without a Constitutionally-required authorization for the use of military
force or declaration of war from Congress. His actions, and now his policy
recitations, set the stage for more interventions, presumably in Syria and
Iran. His recounting of the reasons for US intervention in Libya is at odds
with the facts. There was no clear evidence of an impending massacre in
Libya. There was menacing rhetoric and a violent government put-down of an
armed insurrection which may have been joined by some with legitimate
non-violent aspirations. No one can justify the actions of any parties to
this conflict. In any case, discretion requires leaders to move with the
utmost care in developing military responses to rhetoric and similar care to
intervention in a civil war.

The UN mandate to protect civilians was exceeded almost immediately and used
as a pretext for regime change. The US and NATO are one in Libya. Our
nation, through NATO, has taken sides in a civil war which is spreading more
violence throughout Libya and putting more civilians at risk. The Interim
Council of the rebels moved quickly to a $100 million oil marketing
agreement with Qatar, unmasking a potential reason for intervention: control
over Libya's vast oil fields which can yield over $300 million in oil daily.
The military intervention in a civil war against the backdrop of a struggle
for oil casts a shadow of doubt upon lofty rhetoric about positive change,
peace and stability. That the US has not intervened militarily in Bahrain
and Yemen demonstrates that violent intervention carries high risks and
political resolution of conflict is desirable. We must be prepared to seek
political resolution of conflicts through statecraft not through military
force.

NATO's expansion as 'globocop' is hardly about peace and stability. It has
people in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the streets loudly protesting NATO's
onslaught against innocent civilians.

We have an obligation to work together to make America safe, but it is
important to note that our intervention in Iraq was based on lies, that 'the
end of combat operations' in Iraq is not the end of American occupation, and
the war in Afghanistan could drag on for another decade. These wars, along
with the conflicts over Pakistan, Yemen and Libya will continue to cost the
American people hundreds of billions of dollars and add trillions to the
deficit, diverting resources from pressing domestic needs in health care,
education, job creation and retirement security.

The President wants to 'advance economic development for nations that
transition to democracy.' It would be good to advance economic development
in the United States, since there are over 14 million Americans who are out
of work. Such a high level of unemployment degrades our own democracy.


Dennis Kucinich is a US Congressman from Ohio and a former presidential
candidate.

 
 
MS
Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology
University at Stony Brook
Stony Brook NY 11794
Phone: (cell) 516 356-4078
 
 
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