“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;”>If you have the interest and time to keep up with U.S. foreign policy, you will undoubtedly have some confusion about when and how our government gets involved in other countries’ state of affairs. Such is the case with Libya.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>How is it that the U.S. can send the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government and install the Shah, do the same with the Iraqi government and bring Saddam Hussein back from exile, side with Iraq in the Iraq-Iran war, then turn around and invade Iraq?
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>Why did the U.S. duck and dodge intervening in the Rwanda civil war, claiming it didn’t meet the definition of genocide, but jumped in the Serbs’ and Croats’ rumble?
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>Why did our government feel the need to crush the little island of Grenada after its democratically elected members of the progressive New Jewel Movement? Why was Nicaragua so important that it was necessary to sell drugs and arms to bring in extra cash to make sure the Contra thugs had an edge against a popular government?
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>Why haven’t military actions been called declarations of war since WWII?
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>These are some of the many twisted military decisions that cause American citizens to be suspect of our government’s true intentions. That brings us to Libya.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>Setting up a no-fly zone is a declaration of war, whether one “declares” or not. When the U.S. got support from NATO to establish such a zone in Libya, it was claimed to do so for humanitarian reasons and not to topple its leader, Moammar Gaddafi.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>President Obama grossly miscalculated when he said it would take a few days to scare Gaddafi off the throne. The compelling reason that you go to war is to save lives of the Libyan people, but you aren’t there to do anything to the leader you think is the root of the problem. Really?
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>The U.S. fits into the true definition of a warmonger, always eager to go to war. There’s a website, From Wounded Knee to Libya: A Century of U.S. Military Inventions, that lays out a clear pattern of U.S. war addiction from 1890 to the present. The majority of those military actions were against people of color. It appears that our government has difficulty finding good presidents to support; most are brutal dictators who have declared themselves the lifelong leader of a country whether the people want them or not.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>Libya
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>is in the midst of a civil war. What the U.S.-led NATO mission is doing will not bring resolution to this situation. If the Libyan people aren’t happy with their leader, they must be the deciders of their future. They have a right to determine their leaders and what kind of society they want.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>America
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>is now engaged in three serious wars – er, uh, I mean interventions. This is our money that’s going up in smoke. It’s the money that the Congress says we don’t have and so they’re going on a budget-slashing spree.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>On the table for having their budgets axed are the Food and Safety Inspection Services, Minority Business Development Agency, Community Services Black Grant, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Disease Control, Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC), Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies, to name a few.
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”>No one around the world believes that this country is a neutral party just looking for a peaceful resolution. U.S. citizens must demand that we move from a war economy to a people economy. We must demand that our government stop the pretense of being the good guy when we’re really trying to snatch other people’s resources. We can’t afford another war; we need to concentrate on the home front. “font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;”>Â
