<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div id="aer-donate"><p>There's more, at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New'; "><a href="http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html">http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html</a></span></p>
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<h1>The Anti-Empire Report </h1><p class="byline">March 28th, 2011<br>
by William Blum<br>
<a href="http://www.killinghope.org">www.killinghope.org</a></p>
<h2>Libya and The Holy Triumvirate</h2><p>The words they find it very difficult to say — "civil war".</p><p>Libya is engaged in a civil war. The United States and the European
Union and NATO — The Holy Triumvirate — are intervening, bloodily, in a
civil war. To overthrow Moammar Gaddafi. First The Holy Triumvirate
spoke only of imposing a no-fly zone. After getting support from
international bodies on that understanding they immediately began to
wage war against Libyan military forces, and whoever was nearby, on a
daily basis. In the world of commerce this is called "bait and switch".</p><p>Gaddafi's crime? He was never respectful enough of The Holy
Triumvirate, which recognizes no higher power, and maneuvers the United
Nations for its own purposes, depending on China and Russia to be as
spineless and hypocritical as Barack Obama. The man the Triumvirate
allows to replace Gaddafi will be more respectful.</p><p>So who are the good guys? The Libyan rebels, we're told. The ones
who go around murdering and raping African blacks on the supposition
that they're all mercenaries for Gaddafi. One or more of the victims
may indeed have been members of a Libyan government military battalion;
or may not have been. During the 1990s, in the name of pan-African
unity, Gaddafi opened the borders to tens of thousands of sub-Saharan
Africans to live and work in Libya. That, along with his earlier
pan-Arab vision, did not win him points with The Holy Triumvirate.
Corporate bosses have the same problem about their employees forming
unions. Oh, and did I mention that Gaddafi is strongly anti-Zionist?</p><p>Does anyone know what kind of government the rebels would create?
The Triumvirate has no idea. To what extent will the new government
embody an Islamic influence as opposed to the present secular
government? What jihadi forces might they unleash? (And these forces
do indeed exist in eastern Libya, where the rebels are concentrated.)
Will they do away with much of the welfare state that Gaddafi used his
oil money to create? Will the state-dominated economy be privatized?
Who will wind up owning Libya's oil? Will the new regime continue to
invest Libyan oil revenues in sub-Saharan African development projects?
Will they allow a US military base and NATO exercises? Will we find
out before long that the "rebels" were instigated and armed by Holy
Triumvirate intelligence services?</p><p>In the 1990s, Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia was guilty of "crimes"
similar to Gaddafi's. His country was commonly referred to as "the
last communists of Europe". The Holy Triumvirate bombed him, arrested
him, and let him die in prison. The Libyan government, it should be
noted, refers to itself as the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya. American foreign policy is never far removed from the Cold
War.</p><p>We must look closely at the no-fly zone set up for Iraq by the US and
the UK (falsely claimed by them as being authorized by the United
Nations) beginning in the early 1990s and lasting more than a decade.
It was in actuality a license for very frequent bombing and killing of
Iraqi citizens; softening up the country for the coming invasion. The
no-fly zone-cum invasion force in Libya is killing people every day with
no end in sight, softening up the country for regime change. Who in
the universe can stand up to The Holy Triumvirate? Has the entire
history of the world ever seen such power and such arrogance?</p><p>And by the way, for the 10th time, Gaddafi did not carry out the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 in 1988.<sup id="link-1"><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html#note-1" id="link-1">1</a></sup> Please enlighten your favorite progressive writers on this.</p>
<h2>Barack "I'd kill for a peace prize" Obama </h2><p>Is anyone keeping count?</p><p>I am. Libya makes six.</p><p>Six countries that Barack H. Obama has waged war against in his 26
months in office. (To anyone who disputes that dropping bombs on a
populated land is act of war, I would ask what they think of the
Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.) </p><p>America's first black president now invades Africa.</p><p>Is there anyone left who still thinks that Barack Obama is some kind of improvement over George W. Bush? </p><p>Probably two types still think so. 1) Those to whom color matters a
lot; 2) Those who are very impressed by the ability to put together
grammatically correct sentences.</p><p>It certainly can't have much otherwise to do with intellect or
intelligence. Obama has said numerous things, which if uttered by Bush
would have inspired lots of rolled eyeballs, snickers, and chuckling
reports in the columns and broadcasts of mainstream media. Like the one
the president has repeated on a number of occasions when pressed to
investigate Bush and Cheney for war crimes, along the lines of "I prefer
to look forward rather than backwards". Picture a defendant before a
judge asking to be found innocent on such grounds. It simply makes
laws, law enforcement, crime, justice, and facts irrelevant. </p><p>There's also the excuse given by Obama to not prosecute those engaged
in torture: because they were following orders. Has this "educated"
man never heard of the Nuremberg Trials, where this defense was
summarily rejected? Forever, it was assumed.</p><p>Just 18 days before the Gulf oil spill Obama said: "It turns out, by
the way, that oil rigs today generally don't cause spills. They are
technologically very advanced." (<em>Washington Post</em>, May 27, 2010) Picture George W. having said this, and the later reaction.</p><p>"All the forces that we're seeing at work in Egypt are forces that
naturally should be aligned with us, should be aligned with Israel,"
Obama said in early March.<sup id="link-2"><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html#note-2" id="link-2">2</a></sup>
Imagine if Bush had implied this — that the Arab protesters in Egypt
against a man receiving billions in US aid including the means to
repress and torture them, should "naturally" be aligned with the United
States and — God help us — Israel.</p><p>A week later, on March 10, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley
told a forum in Cambridge, Mass. that Wikileaks hero Bradley Manning's
treatment by the Defense Department in a Marine prison was "ridiculous,
counterproductive and stupid." The next day our "brainy" president was
asked about Crowley's comment. Replied the Great Black Hope: "I have
actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been
taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our
basic standards. They assure me that they are."</p><p>Right, George. I mean Barack. Bush should have asked Donald
Rumsfeld whether anyone in US custody was being tortured anywhere in the
world. He could then have held a news conference like Obama did to
announce the happy news — "No torture by America!" We would still be
chortling at that one.</p><p>Obama closed his remark with: "I can't go into details about some of
their concerns, but some of this has to do with Pvt. Manning's safety as
well." <sup id="link-3"><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html#note-3" id="link-3">3</a></sup></p><p>Ah yes, of course, Manning is being tortured for his own good.
Someone please remind me — Did Georgieboy ever stoop to using that
particular absurdity to excuse prisoner hell at Guantanamo?</p><p>Is it that Barack Obama is not bothered by the insult to Bradley
Manning's human rights, the daily wearing away of this brave young man's
mental stability? </p><p>The answer to the question is No. The president is not bothered by these things.</p><p>How do I know? Because Barack Obama is not bothered by anything as
long as he can exult in being the president of the United States, eat
his hamburgers, and play his basketball. Let me repeat once again what I
first wrote in May 2009: </p>
<blockquote><p>The problem, I'm increasingly afraid, is that the man doesn't
really believe strongly in anything, certainly not in controversial
areas. He learned a long time ago how to take positions that avoid
controversy, how to express opinions without clearly taking sides, how
to talk eloquently without actually saying anything, how to leave his
listeners' heads filled with stirring clichés, platitudes, and slogans.
And it worked. Oh how it worked! What could happen now, having
reached the presidency of the United States, to induce him to change his
style? </p>
</blockquote><p>Remember that in his own book, "The Audacity of Hope", Obama wrote:
"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political
stripes project their own views."</p><p>Obama is a product of marketing. He is the prime example of the product "As seen on TV".</p><p>Writer Sam Smith recently wrote that Obama is the most conservative
Democratic president we've ever had. "In an earlier time, there would
have been a name for him: Republican."</p><p>Indeed, if John McCain had won the 2008 election, and then done
everything that Obama has done in exactly the same way, liberals would
be raging about such awful policies. </p><p>I believe that Barack Obama is one of the worst things that has ever
happened to the American left. The millions of young people who
jubilantly supported him in 2008, and numerous older supporters, will
need a long recovery period before they're ready to once again offer
their idealism and their passion on the altar of political activism.</p><p>If you don't like how things have turned out, next time find out exactly what your candidate means when he talks of "change".</p>
<h2><br></h2>
<h2>Notes</h2>
<ol>
<li id="note-1"><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm">killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm</a> <sup><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html#link-1">↩</a></sup></li>
<li id="note-2"><em></em> March 4, 2011, Democratic Party function, Miami, FL, CQ Transcriptions <sup><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer92.html#link-2">↩</a></sup> </li>
<li id="note-3"><em>Los Angeles Times</em>, March 11, 2011 </li></ol><p>William Blum is the author of: </p>
<ul>
<li><em>Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2</em></li>
<li><em>Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower </em></li>
<li><em>West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir </em></li>
<li><em>Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire </em></li>
</ul><p><br></p></body></html>