Oppose NATO's War Against Libya! Libya for the Libyans,
Not NATO and Its Mercenaries!
With the launch of NATO's criminal Operation Mermaid
Dawn, headlines around the world report that NATO's so-called rebels
have taken over most of the Libyan
capital Tripoli which they refer to as the government's stronghold.
This is contested by independent sources which say that NATO is
conducting a shock-and-awe operation
to panic the local population and get it to surrender, that death
squads comprised of teams of Special Forces disguised as rebels and
their snipers are causing havoc while
journalists from the so-called mainstream media of the NATO countries
and operatives of the war governments actually pinpoint locations for
NATO bombardment. These
media also suggest that the criminal NATO bombardment of the capital is
warranted because it comes after weeks of military stalemate between
the two sides and that its
intention is to avert an impending massacre unleashed by Libyan leader
Col. Gadhafi. They dismiss the significance of the fact that this
stalemate was caused as a result of
formidable government military action against NATO and its so-called
rebels and the lack of popular support for NATO's National Transitional
Council (NTC). Instead of
agreeing to negotiate a solution, NATO has kept on increasing the scope
and intensity of its military intervention, also increasingly revealing
that the so-called rebels are
its own mercenaries and that this is not a rebellion with NATO backing
the rebels, or as some have said, inter-tribal warfare, but a NATO
operation from A to Z.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) calls
on Canadians to actively oppose the NATO aggression against Libya and
hold it accountable for crimes against
peace and war crimes. Also, to step up opposition to Canada's role in
these grave crimes. The path upon which NATO has embarked and upon
which the Harper government
has embroiled Canada is not only criminal, it is truly dangerous to the
cause of peace.
NATO and its rebels have already declared their victory
and are postulating a post-war scenario of the NTC in control of Libya.
Yet their victory will soon prove hollow as concerns the truly decisive
factor of who controls Libya. The Libyan people will never give up
their aspirations for an independent, sovereign Libya or betray their
history of heroic, anti-colonial struggle. No matter the end-result of
Operation Mermaid
Dawn or any subsequent NATO operations, the Libyan war will not end so
long as the imperialists
are interfering in the country. The Libyan people are a proud people
and, like the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, will never permit a
foreign power or its mercenary forces
on the ground to decide the fate of their country. They will resist and
in doing so face the brutality of the Empire, a brutality seared in the
consciousness of humanity in
the form of the photos released from Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay,
Yugoslavia, amongst other places in recent history.
Canadians must remain vigilant in the face of unfolding
events and the disinformation of the journalists who have become the
informants of the offending war
governments. The disinformation aims to block the ability of the
peoples to take a just stand in defence of the right of the Libyan
people to decide their own affairs, free
from foreign interference. It aims to block the peoples of the world
from realizing their aspiration for a world of peace by presenting NATO
aggression as "humanitarian,"
while the resistance of the peoples of the world to that aggression is
said to be the problem. Only by opposing the use of violence to settle
disputes between and within nations
will the peoples make headway by blocking the danger of a Third World
War.
No to NATO's "Humanitarian" Imperialist
Aggression Against Libya!
No to the Use of Force to Sort Out Conflicts
Within and Between Nations!
Canada Out of NATO Now!
For an Anti-War Government!
Threats of Escalated Violence Against the People
- Jamilé Ghaddar -
The escalation of NATO violence against Libya was
announced with the arrival of the USS Carney last week. The
arrival of the Carney
threatened the Libyan
people with guided missiles.
The threat of NATO using guided missiles is of
particular concern given reports that the USS Carney guided
missile destroyer (DDG 64) arrived in nearby
Malta allegedly on a three-month deployment supporting U.S. war
operations in the region. It is part of the U.S. 6th Fleet responsible
for expanding U.S. maritime power
globally and particularly in partnership with European countries. To
create a pretext for the use of guided missiles against the Libyan
people, pro-war media outlets started
alleging that the Libyan government launched a scud missile and
tried to spread hysteria that it has an alleged 200 more scud missiles
in its
possession.
It once again underscores the importance of opposing all
attempts to create a pretext for escalated NATO aggression against
Libya and the need to take an unequivocal
stand against continued and escalated aggression against Libya and
Canada's role in this imperialist war agenda.
NATO's claim that it is "protecting civilians" with
its aggression has already been exposed as a lie even as the Canadian
people are now being told that guided missiles
must be used to protect civilians from the Libyan government's scud
missiles. This pretext diverts from the reality whereby NATO and its
"rebels" are the greatest threat
to the well-being of the Libyan people. It also diverts from the
reality that the NATO-backed "rebels" have failed to bring down the
Libyan government or galvanize any
popular support. Those who are called "rebel forces" are largely
Special Forces of the big powers which are being landed and provided
with air cover so as to realize the U.S.-European goal of ousting the
government of Colonel Gadhafi.
The NATO bid to replace the Libyan government with its
own creation, which it calls the National Transitional Council, faces
an increasing legitimacy crisis. Meanwhile,
the formidable resistance of the Libyan government and people led to a
stalemate in which NATO failed to achieve its mission of overthrowing
the Gadhafi government.
Now the Empire has decided to escalate the NATO military action to
overthrow Gadhafi and this has greatly increased the humanitarian
crimes NATO is committing against
the people.
Canadians must take a clear-cut stand against attempts
to make them conciliate with these crimes by saying that on the
downside NATO is wrong but on the upside the
people are now free. The aim of the disinformation about what is going
on in Libya is to block the peoples from taking an effective and just
stand
in defence of the right of the
Libyan people to decide their own affairs, free from foreign
interference. By presenting NATO aggression as "humanitarian," the aim
is to block the peoples of the world
from realizing their aspiration for a world of peace. The resistance of
the peoples of the world to that aggression is not the problem, it is
the solution.
For an Anti-War Government!
Press Conference on NATO Massacre in Tripoli
- Statement of Dr. Mussa Ibrahim, Libyan
Government Spokesperson,
August 21, 2011 -
The world is responsible and witness to the crimes being
committed against Libyans in Tripoli, with NATO increasing bombing on
and around Tripoli to offer support
to rebels entering the previously peaceful city. The death toll last
night August 20 was 376 dead and almost 900 injured. This includes
NATO attacks on check points,
army, soldiers and streets and neighbourhoods, and others committed by
rebels.
Confirmation from the Libyan General People's Committee
for Health has meanwhile come to light with statistics showing that
since midday August 21 up to 11 pm,
during 11 hours of violence, 1,300 have been killed in Tripoli alone
and 5,000 injured and the hospitals cannot cope.
The world can see that a peaceful city where journalists
were living for many months is being attacked by NATO which is
attacking the heart of a peaceful civilian
city, an army that is in defensive positions, and volunteers who came
out of their houses, leaving their mothers, fathers, sisters and
brothers, to defend their city. NATO gives direct air cover to
these armed gangs who have no political project.
The rebels want revenge. Filled with hatred, supported
by tribal conflict and bitterness from recent years, they want to
destroy this
city, especially the tribes, citizens and
neighbourhoods that are well known for supporting Muammar Gadhafi.
We expect the death toll to rise beyond anyone's
imagination. Without support by the might of NATO, the armed
gangs would not be able to move a metre,
face our army and tribes and families and volunteers. But because NATO
kills anything that moves in front of the rebels, the rebels are able
to advance.
We appeal to the world, to the heart of this world.
People in my city are being killed, day in and day out, without any way
out without any possible way for negotiations.
We have said before that you cannot place conditions on peace, you
have to sit down, talk and then discuss everything. Who has the right
to take an agenda outside the
peace talks and say you cannot discuss this?
We said before we accept the African Union road
map, we accept negotiations and talks, we can sit down with all
parties, achieve peace and agree how to move
forward for Libya, but no one wants to listen because all NATO cares
about is to destroy the Libyan political system so that it can have a
political system that will fulfil
its own desires, not the desire of the Libyan nation.
A most significant proportion of the Libyan people made
their views very clear when they came out on the streets [with green
flags and photos of Muammar Gadhafi],
in their millions. Should these people not be heard, listened to and
believed?
Thirteen hundred dead, 5,000 injured in just 11 hours --
our hospitals are unable to cope with such a disaster. The Red Cross is
here in Tripoli hoping to help, but the
security situation is quite difficult.
We are very resilient and still very strong, we have
thousands and thousands of fighters still remaining, who have nowhere
to go but to fight, so this will increase and
increase and the death toll will increase because each side is
terrified of the other side should they win. So let us suspend all
military operations and violence.
NATO can order the rebels to stop immediately, we can
order our troops and volunteers to stop immediately and then we can
sit.
And the same as the rebels have their leader
or leaders who will lead their negotiations and without whom the rebels
would be lost or destroyed, we too have our leader, Muammar Gadhafi. We
need him to lead us for
peace and a way out of this. If you take Muammar Gadhafi out of the
equation a whole side will collapse and become easy prey for the other
side. That is why people are
fighting for Gadhafi.
You cannot deprive millions of people of the leader they
choose and want and let them be disorganized, without proper
leadership and easy prey for a vengeful, hateful
side. You saw them -- they killed their own commander of their
army, they are infiltrated with Al-Qaeda elements, they are very
tribal.
So we hold the world responsible. They have already
committed crimes in Tripoli, they have burned houses in Tajoura, in
Souk el Juma, in Tashnoun, in Al-Arada. They
have kidnapped people, they have killed people walking in the streets
who were ordinary citizens just because they were well-known supporters
of the government, not
military people but just normal civilians. They have attacked shops,
they have taken money from shops, and the fight is not over.
We are really fighting and defeating them in many
neighbourhoods, and although they haven't suffered yet, they have
already started their wave of crimes. If burning
houses, burning cars, kidnapping people, killing people in the streets
are not crimes, then what is? The world cannot claim that it did not
know.
Since early morning you have known that you need to
stop
this disaster from taking place. As for us, we will fight. We have
whole cities on our side. They are coming en masse from
everywhere to protect Tripoli and
join the fight. People have the right to fight for themselves, their
families, their property and their future.
People will not give up. I talk to people and ask "Why
are you fighting?" and the answer is always: "I have no other way out.
I would like peace, to sit down, negotiate
and stop this madness, but if I don't fight I will be killed, because
I belong to a family that supported the government, or I belong to a
tribe that made its voice clear, or
I belong to a neighbourhood..." So people are terrified and fighting
out of fear, and the other side are fighting out of fear as well.
NATO should not provide immediate and direct support for
one side in a civil war. This is illegal and immoral. One side is
killing and NATO is giving them support.
NATO will be held responsible, morally and legally, for
the deaths taking place in Tripoli, this night, last night and in the
coming nights. They cannot say that this was
not expected. They are rocketing our city and they have indeed killed
many children, men and women. We will fight because we have
the right to. We have our leader Gadhafi. He led us in this
confrontation for our dignity
and freedom from NATO's agendas. Gadhafi should lead us for peace,
democracy and in our
negotiations.
(Mathaba. Edited for grammar by TML)
"This
Is
a NATO Operation" --
NATO's Psychological Warfare
- Interview, Mahdi Darius
Nazemroaya, Russia Today,
August 22, 2011 -
August 22, 2011 Bulletin • Return to Index • Write to: editor@cpcml.ca
