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<h1>…<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: medium; ">It would be the greatest tragedy for Libya and its people if the anti-Gadaffi opposition allows its struggle to be the pretext and gateway for imperialism to re-subjugate the country.</span></h1><h1>U.S. progressives must tell truth about Libya and impact of foreign intervention </h1>
<h2>Washington looking for a gateway to domination</h2>
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By <a href="http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/pages/biography.html?headlinesauthor_select=brian-becker&author=Brian+Becker&PREVIOUS_URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pslweb.org%2Fliberationnews%2Fnews%2Fus-progressives-must-tell.html">Brian Becker</a>
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<div class="publication_date"> March 9, 2011 </div>
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<img src="http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/assets/images/content/f-14-bombing-libya-1986.gif">
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This F-14 fighter jet, launched from the USS America, participated in the bombing of Libya, 1986.
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<div id="article-body"><p>March 23, 2011, will mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of 35
Libyan sailors whose patrol boat was destroyed by missiles launched
during an aerial and naval assault by U.S. air forces in waters along
Libya’s coast in the Gulf of Sidra.</p><p>The operation began in the evening of March 23, 1986, with an armada
from the U.S. Sixth Fleet. It consisted of three aircraft carriers, 250
fighter aircraft and bombers, 12 destroyers, five cruisers, six frigates
and 27,000 personnel.</p><p>Former President Ronald Reagan and the Pentagon brass carried out the
large scale incursion into Libyan waters as a deliberate provocation.
It was part of a larger, on-going military plan. The goal was to weaken
the Libyan regime and foment an internal rebellion to topple it. It was
similar to the strategy employed five years later against the Iraqi
government led by Saddam Hussein.</p><p>The next phase of the operation began three weeks later. On April 15,
1986, the U.S. Air Force attacked the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi.
The United States dropped 120,000 pounds of bombs in a matter of
minutes. There were scores of Libyan civilian casualties, as homes,
schools and other buildings were destroyed in the middle of the night by
the “surprise” attack. Libyan government buildings were hit, and the
home of Gaddafi was hit with several bombs.</p><p>The Reagan administration claimed that the April 15 bombing attack
was retaliation for an April 5, 1986, bomb explosion in a Berlin
discotheque that claimed the life of a U.S. service member. The
implication was that Libya planted the bomb in Berlin to retaliate for
the March 23 U.S. attack that killed the 35 Libyan sailors. Later
documents proved, however, that advanced planning for the April 15
bombing attack on Tripoli and Benghazi had been going on for at least
one year and that a full scale mock rehearsal, including the use of mock
bombs, had taken place in July 1985—11 months before the explosion at
the Berlin disco.</p><p><strong>‘Regime change’</strong></p><p>The Libyan regime, which came to power in a 1969 coup against the
western-backed monarchy of King Idris, was targeted for regime change by
the United States and Britain after it nationalized Libya’s oil wealth
and used the resources to develop the country.</p><p>During that same time period—the 1980s—the U.S. government armed,
financed and propped up dictatorships in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, other Arab
client states, along with the regime in Tel Aviv. The CIA also funded
Osama Bin Laden and other reactionary forces that sought to topple the
government in Afghanistan. </p><p>U.S. policy had nothing to do with human rights, democracy or the war
on terror. It employed terror to maintain a system of proxy regimes and
to overthrow governments that were outside the U.S. sphere of
influence. These are historical facts. </p><p>Washington did not succeed in toppling the Gadaffi government, but
Libya did indeed go through regime change. The regime itself shifted its
domestic and international policies. It moved steadily to the right. </p><p>In the last decade, it has adopted a variety of neoliberal reforms,
embraced and collaborated with the Bush administration’s so-called war
on terror, increasingly exported Libyan resources to invest in Italian
corporations and banks, while becoming politically friendly with the
right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi, and opened Libyan oil
business to BP. </p><p>If there had been no recent revolt in Libya, the United States,
Britain and Italy would have been content to have the Gadaffi
regime—with its neoliberal orientation—remain in power. Although Gadaffi
was neither a puppet, nor a client, it was clear that the regime’s
neoliberal, collaborationist orientation made it a satisfactory partner
with the imperialist governments of the west.</p><p><strong>Pleading for intervention</strong></p><p>Following the peoples’ uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and throughout the
Arab world, a civil war has broken out in Libya. Disaffected elements
from within the regime, including those inside of its military and
security units took up arms. Long standing regional rivalries also
played a big part. The revolt was particularly strong in Benghazi and
other cities in the oil-rich eastern part of the country.</p><p>Both the regime and its opponents have armed units. Both have a
political and social base within parts of the population. It is not
possible from outside the country to really know the extent of the
support for either side. Within the revolt there are contradictory
political trends. While the opposition is politically heterogeneous,
what is decisive is the position and orientation of the dominant
leadership inside the movement. </p><p>The Libyan people generally have a high anti-colonial consciousness
and are undoubtedly opposed to U.S./NATO intervention. But under the
circumstances of mass upheaval and armed struggle, the orientation of
the leadership is central.</p><p>Leaders of the opposition National Libyan Council (also calling
themselves the National Transition Council), while having initially
opposed foreign intervention, are repeatedly calling for both economic
sanctions and military action by the US and NATO countries.</p><p>“We will complete our victory when we are afforded a no-fly zone,”
Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the rebel National Libyan Council, said in
the rebel base of Benghazi, according to Reuters, March 9.</p><p>It could not be more obvious now that U.S., British and French
imperialism are working hard to influence and support the National
Libyan Council. Covert operations have been reported, and arms shipments
are surely underway. </p><p>While the stakes are high and the outcome is uncertain, U.S., British
and French imperialism see the situation in Libya as a new opportunity.
Just because Gaddafi collaborated with imperialism, especially in the
last decade, does not mean that world imperialism does not see a major
opportunity in the overthrow of the regime now. </p><p><strong>Lessons of Iraq, Yugoslavia</strong></p><p>Let no person who calls themselves progressive forget that U.S.
imperialism eagerly collaborated with Saddam Hussein in its struggle to
bleed and exhaust the Iranian revolution, but then suddenly turned
around in 1988. It began targeting Iraq for regime change and saw the
overthrow of the Baathist regime as a huge opportunity for imperialism
to recapture Iraq’s vast oil reserves.</p><p>A no-fly zone, no matter if it is declared by U.S.-run NATO or a
U.S.-dominated United Nations, would include the massive bombing of
Libyan installations. And as we saw in the case of Yugoslavia and Iraq
in the 1990s, a no-fly zone is both the suspension of sovereignty and
the precursor to a larger war. </p><p>Yugoslavia, a significant regional force, was literally disintegrated
by the onslaught. It has been torn into small pieces that remain under
foreign occupation. Iraq too has been shredded and ripped apart and will
be under U.S. occupation for a very long time, unless the people rise
up as they have in the past.</p><p>It would be the greatest tragedy for Libya and its people if the
anti-Gadaffi opposition allows its struggle to be the pretext and
gateway for imperialism to re-subjugate the country. </p><p>Progressive and ant-war activists inside the United States must
expose the lies of the U.S. war machine and the intrigues of “their own”
ruling class. The U.S. government never says that its wars of
aggression are for imperialist aims; rather, it is always for the
noblest cause. While it condemns Gaddafi for the use of Libya’s air
force in a domestic civil war, it is dropping bombs and missiles on the
children of Afghanistan 7,000 miles from U.S. shores. </p><p>When the Libyan revolt began, some in the U.S. left erroneously
argued that the West would back Gaddafi to the hilt. They mobilized for
street demonstrations against Gaddafi’s government, while neglecting to
include demands opposing U.S. intervention. They attacked those in the
U.S. anti-war movement who insisted on the primacy of the slogan: “No to
U.S. intervention.” </p><p>When U.S. and European imperialist powers proceeded to slap economic
sanctions on Libya, moved warships off its coast, and began rapid
preparations for intervention, these same left forces were caught
flat-footed, apparently in denial. They only began to adjust their
slogans several days later. </p><p>Shame on those U.S. liberal groups and “progressives” who consider
the prospect of U.S. and NATO intervention to be a secondary factor in
this unfolding struggle.</p></div></body></html>