WHEN IS A BOOT NOT A BOOT???

       The UN No-fly Zone resolution 1973, specifically ruled out foreign military action on the ground in Libya. The enforcers of the No-fly Zone have always said that in this operation there would be no “boots on the ground”. Of course that doesn't include Special Forces who have been there more or less from the start, probably on a photo shot for some travel agency. Now the UK is sending in high ranking military officers. No doubt to comply with the UN resolution they, like the Special Forces, will go in barefoot. It is the usual creep process. If they can't get what they want with the rules then we can indulge in some euphemisms. First there will be advisers, then training and support, then there is humanitarian help, which will need military protection, and of course then comes the “Peacekeeping Force”.

        Is there anybody out there who believes that we are doing this for the good of the Libyan people? Today the “rebels” stated that there has been 10,000 killed and 50,000 wounded, (the figures can't be independently verified), the city of Tripoli has suffered over 200 strikes by weapons of mass destruction with fancy names like Pathfinder, etc. followed by claims that we killed no civilians. Think of all the money the arms industry will make replacing all those missiles at prices ranging from £500,000 to £800,000 a shot. Very smart missiles these, they don't explode if there are civilians in the area. The country has now been turned into another African nation where civil war rages. Our support has hurtled Libyan against Libyan in a bloody struggle that wont be healed for generations. The country's infrastructure is smashed, now there's an opportunity for Haliburton, what hope now for the Libyan people, with the West calling the shots, one thing for sure, they can say goodbye to their oil.

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NO MONEY FOR HEALTH - MONEY FOR DEATH.

       Since NATO took full command of the Libyan bloodshed, and that is approximately one week, it has carried out over 500 “sorties” (nice word that for “killing exercises”). Each missile fired costs between £700,000 and £850,000, while the running costs of the “sorties” varies from £30,000 to £70,000 depending on the planes involved. During all this devastating bombardment all we hear of is the casualties on the “rebels” side. If the Gaddafi forces can inflict this sort of carnage with small arms fire, tanks and field artillery, what sort of slaughter is the NATO deluge of weapons of mass destruction, doing to the Libyan people on the other side?

        At a time when the ordinary people of every country in the NATO alliance are suffering cuts to every fibre of the fabric of their society, because of the proclaimed lack of money, how can we still afford this massive outpouring of money for the purpose of killing Libyan people. Make no bones about it, all the talk of no-fly zones and protecting the rebel forces, is just double speak for war, slaughter and the destruction of a country's infrastructure. No matter the euphemisms trotted out in the media, this is death and mutilated bodies in large numbers and the largest number will be the result of the UN/NATO operation. Looking around the world at all the brutal dictators and their vicious oppression of their people, and our approach to them, prove to me that in this case, there was no other way!!!

 

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THE HAND OF HYPOCRISY.

     

      As Western Cruise missiles blast holes in Libya's infrastructure, killing Libyans to save Libyans, and possibly laying the ground work for a civil war, nobody is saying where they go from here. How long will the no-fly zone last, don't know. What do we do if the Libyans killing Libyans drags on in a long stalemate, do we send in the Western cavalry to take sides and give one side a wee push, more or less guaranteeing a prolonged civil war and possible occupation. Just to keep the peace mind you. As in Iraq and Afghanistan, the moral policemen are up to the necks in shit. The idea that this will be a nice clean surgical operation with all of Libya being ever thankful to the West is an illusion. We have been “policing” Iraq since 1991 and Afghanistan since 2001. When does our involvement in Libya end and at what cost? Not counting the Libyan deaths and injured, there is already one American plane down with one pilot missing, and we have just started.

        Setting aside the human horror of what is happening in Libya and casting a glance at the financial side, there must be questions. Each time a Tornado jet runs a sortie it takes approximately £30,000 of fuel. How many have we run so far? If a Tornado is brought down there is the £50 million cost of a replacement. Each cruise missile that is fired cost £500,000. There have been more than 110 cruise missiles fired so far. A quick calculation comes up with £55 million already up in smoke and misery from cruise missiles alone, with the arms industry rubbing its hands at the thought of all those being replaced. I don't know what proportion of those cruise missiles were fire by the UK but I reckon that we would fire our fair share. Then of course we have our submarines out there in the Med. and I have no doubt our boys wanted a shot at firing their gear off, I wonder what it cost to send a sub to the Med. and then fire off a few £500,000 missiles? While this little pygmy war is being played out in Libya, let's not forget our long running and on going £4 billion a year affair in Afghanistan.

       I know you can't put a price on human life but at a time when we in the UK are being faced with draconian cuts to every fibre of the social structure of our society, wage cuts and mass unemployment, is this the right policy. Can we in the UK really afford to strut around the world bombing democracy into other countries? When we look at the figures of death and misery resulting from our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan can Libya be justified?

       Meanwhile in nearby Yemen and Bahrain protesters are being brutally crushed but no call for a no-fly zone. Well Bahrain is really a US naval base, which is very handy to have so near all that oil, and Bahrain is also on best buddy terms with that other autocratic despot regime, Saudi Arabia. So we don't want to upset that little power structure do we? Then of course no call for a no-fly zone over Israel while it carried out its policy of genocide in Gaza 2008/09

 

      It's all hypocrisy and is really about oil, resources and power, the Western powers have proved often enough that when it comes to the people of the Middle East and Africa, they don't give a shit.

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THE CARING COMPASSIONATE WEST!!!

      
         No matter what argument that is put forward to justify the bombing of Libya, the REALITY is that it will be ordinary Libyan people that will die, young, old and innocent. Our wonderful cruise missiles do not just hit bad guys and they go off with a helluva big bang, we can be sure that and one certain beneficiary will be the arms industry. Of course, to the politicians sitting ever so safe in their corridors of power, these lives are a price worth paying!! The world is peppered with dictators that repress “their” people with a vicious violence, some we put there and some we help stay there and most of them are armed to the teeth by the same benevolent West, and of course we do lots of profitable business with them. So now the West has placed its bets and we have Libyans cheering and Libyans dyeing. The result will be a divide country potholed by cruise missiles and pockmark with graves of innocent Libyans. I object very strongly to being labelled as a Gaddafi supporter because I oppose the bombing. Is brute force the only answer that the so called moralistic and civilised West has to these problems? If so can we really call ourselves “civilised”? It is surely naive to think that the West is pouring all this money and blasting off all these very expensive missiles out of compassion for the Libyan people. We have proved in the past the the West doesn’t give a shit about the people of the Middle East nor North Africa, and many other places. The ordinary people of the West might care, but the Western state apparatus? Don’t make me laugh, it’s not funny.

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THE DOGS OF WAR SMELL BLOOD.

STOP THE WAR COALITION   19 March 2011

Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stopthewarcoalition

EMERGENCY PROTEST:
HANDS OFF LIBYA: STOP THE BOMBING NOW
SUNDAY 20 MARCH 3-4PM
DOWNING ST, WHITEHALL, LONDON

     Britain and the USA have bombed Libya with more than one hundred Tomahawk  cruise missiles. These are not precision guided weapons but weapons of mass destruction that will create many civilian casualties in Libya. The United Nations resolution authorising a no-fly zone begins as it will continue, with a full-scale military attack on the country.

   

       Stop the War condemns this barbarous attack which will result, not in protecting the people of Libya, but in enslaving them under the domination of the West. We know only too well the death and destruction that imperialism has brought to the peoples of the region. We call on all those who oppose these attacks to demonstrate at Downing Street at 3pm on Sunday 20 March.

SOLIDARITY

LOCAL STOP THE WAR GROUPS

     We are asking all local Stop the War groups around the country to call protests in their area. If you would like to be involved in local protests where you live, contact your nearest Stop the War group: SEE http://bit.ly/dRSlpl

     A leaflet putting the case for non-intervention and a petition, initiated by Tony Benn, John Pilger and others, are both available to download for printing, here:

LEAFLET: http://tinyurl.com/6henp2l

PETITION: http://tinyurl.com/6z9lk2x

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MORE ON WESTERN IMPERIALISM.

More on the West blood lust for military action in Libya. We are eager to fight those we arm to stop them using the arms that we gladly sold them, like they say, "Business is business".



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SO THE ARAB LEAGUE VOTED FOR INTERVENTION???

       Smoke and mirrors sums up the West response to the Libyan situation. Once again the wonderful ethical West goes marching into another Arab country. More blood on the sand, more preaching about saving the Libyan people, while supporting other vicious dictators across the world. The Libyan regime has been repressing the people of that country for years but we could do business with the dictator, just as we do business with the other dictators in the region, from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and anywhere else we can make a buck. It is working class blood that will be shed on both sides, but the gains will be to the big corporate bodies in oil, construction and armaments.

ARAB LEAGUE "VOTE" FRAUD

        Not only a demonization campaign against the Libyan leader, but every form of fraud and propaganda is being used to push for this intervention, including a supposed "vote" by the Arab League supporting the latest U.N. resolution. Left unsaid is the fact that only 11 of the 22 members of the League even attended the meeting, which was held behind closed doors. Two of these 11 attending members, Syria and Algeria, made clear that they were completely opposed to military intervention in Libya.

          Meanwhile the corporate media has ignored a resolution by the African Union, representing 53 countries, which adamantly rejected a no-fly zone or other intervention.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - IRAQ.

  

        January 16 marks the twentieth anniversary of “Desert Storm”, a massive American bombardment against the Iraqi civilian population, mainly around Baghdad the Iraqi capital. The bombing consisted of more than 100,000 sorties dropping more than 85,500 tonnes of bombs. It was the precursor to the the first American lead invasion of Iraq. After this first invasion the people of Iraq suffered more than 10 years of American lead economic sanctions, during which it is estimated that over 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of these sanctions. This was followed by Operation “Southern Watch” which began in August 1992, operation “Vigilant Warrior" began 1994, then “Desert Strike, 1996 which expanded the “no-fly zone over parts of Northern Iraq, then of course there was operation “Desert Fox” which was a 4 day bombing campaign that started on December 16 1998.

          It is estimated that between 1992 and 2001, 2 years before the so called war on Iraq is supposed to have started, American and allied pilots flew over Southern Iraq some 153,000 times. The Americans have never stopped military operations in Iraqi over the last 20 years and have been meddling in Iraqi internal affairs since they helped put Saddam Hussein in power in 1963. That is 48 years of the Iraqi people have been suffering because of American Imperialism. So don't accept the myth that is peddled that the Iraq war is heading for its 8^th anniversary, it is 48 years of American meddling of which 20 years has been brutal military oppression.

         They are still there, still exerting their military might on the Iraqi people. Think of a generation growing up their entire lives spent under these conditions, will they have any love of the Western world? The people of Iraq must be allowed to determine the future of their own country without the interference of Western Imperialism lead by the American military machine. The Iraqi people have suffered a brutal hell because of US policy through four different US Presidents, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Obama. The Iraqi people have suffered more than enough, they have the right to SELF determination, not forced to live their lives according to some Western ideology.

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