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Reflections on War ..., A Question of Sanity ...
I wonder whether out of this Norwegian tragedy there cannot be much water found to pour on the war fires around the world.
I have watched keenly this war unfold in Libya, as I have followed previous wars.
One of the servants of the Libyan war’s continuation is public opinion in the West. Sadly, we have elected representative goverments that do not represent the true wishes and feelings of the majority. I say that for two reasons relative to the Libyan war. The mainstream Western media ( include not just Fox News, but the New York Times, the BBC, CNN and others) are propoganda servants to the war agenda.Service to the oligarchic social order is the the other reason ( I shall return to that).
One way to gain public support is to publish outright lies. Another, is that one journalist in a big name newspaper runs a line, and others simply quote the original falsehood. All of this has happened in the coverage of the Libyan war. I noted the size of the pro-Gadaffi demonstrations and also noted the spin given by the BBC and others to diminish its implications. Millions marching in the street was not to be deemed as support by the majority of the Libyans for their leader.
But, the point I am driving at is a link between the recent tragedy in Norway and the bombing of Libya.
I read years ago where Leonardo Da Vinci had designed flying machines, but shelved them when he weighed the great damage to humans that such devices would do if ever made operative. He had some humanity; our modern humanity, by contrast, has been desensitised, but not totally. We do note that in the Western mainstream media’s reporting there are no Libyan human interest stories. Of course not – the Libyan mother who loses a child in a US/NATO bombing is not a human loss and tragedy to be counted. By contrast, in Norway, the Western media will be full of stories of the human loss and tragedy to the Noweigian mother, the Norweigian father, the Norweigian family. There will simply not be a majority of broad-brush politically motivated journalistic commentaries against ’the enemy’. The Norweigians can safely be projected to the reading Western public as humans – the Libyans cannot, excepet to state that there is an on-going ”humanitarian bombing mission” to save the Libyans from a leader that the majority want. Pro-war sentiments have to be nutured; anti-war sentiments have to be suppressed.
How do we en mass bring all of us, human beings, back into contact with our common humanity? Do we juxtapose an image of the
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The Western media for quite some time has utilised Gaddafi’s eccentricities to portray him as mad.
In reflecting on how this war in Libya has progressed, I, however, have reason to doubt the sanity of some Western leaders.
The war has been advanced by mainly three NATO nations, America, France and Britain.
Obama, while bombing Libya has professed that this is not a “war”. With stunning linguistic gymnastics, the war has somersaulted from the feet first “war” to a head over heels “support” mission and merely an “intervention”. I must now conclude that if I dislike my neighbour and start throwing Molotov cocktails on his roof and stones into his windows, I am not at war with him, but in an effort to have him remove from the neighbourhood, I am involved in a support mission and have merely intervened across the fence into his property. Sounds like a defence, then once I run it, I would have provided the Judge a good reason to order a psychiatric examination.
Sarkozy, for his part, is faced with a UN Resolution which prohibits the supply of arms to Libya. He then in seeking to enforce the UN Resolution supplies arms to the rebels, while professing to be upholding that UN Resolution. Candidate number two for mental status assessment.
In Britain, by parity of reason, one must assume that if a community took up arms, set up its own central bank, professed itself the new legitimate government of the UK, then for consistency, David Cameron, would simply fold his arms and direct that the British army not suppress the rebellion? Absolutely, because, no doubt, he would have to be politically consistent with his conduct in Libya – now, would he? On the 1st of July, and after 3 months of bombardment of Libya by NATO, several thousand people have marched in the streets of Tirpoli in support of Gadaffi, yet in the words of Cameron:-
“As I’ve said, we will help fulfil the UN Security Council [resolution] – it is for the Libyan people to determine their government and their destiny. But our view is clear – there is no decent future for Libya with Colonel Gaddafi remaining in power. [The world cannot] stand aside while this dictator murders his own people.”
So, there are no equivalent public mass rallies in Benghazi of any size, and yet Gadaffi’s own people come out in mass support of their leader, but we cannot forget what Obama said:-
“Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave,"
and that Cameron and Obama are of one mind.
All three leaders are, of course, on a “humanitarian mission”. And to implement same, one drops bombs relentlessly on the Libyan people, who then come out in mass support of their leader and demand that the NATO bombing stops. But, as we know, Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron are all great humanitarians and thus they shall not relent from the humanitarian bombing for accomplishment of the noble humanitarian mission of removing the leader who over a million people want, while insisting that a leadership that no one ever heard of before – is installed in power to uphold the democratic wishes of the Libyan people.
Who really needs to consult the psychiatrist, Gadaffi, Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron or the masses of Libyans who marched in Tripoli ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVDIMP-l80)?
P.S. I note now that you tube is busy, yet again, blocking the videos showing the size of the pro-Gadaffi demonstrations. Of course, we have freedom of expression here in the West.
Courtenay Barnett
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William Markiewicz