In the opening days of NATO aggression
against Libya, imperialist politicians emphatically stressed that
intervention in the North African country had nothing to do with
regime change but was being carried out for noble, humanitarian
reasons. U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes stated on
March 22, “We’re clarifying, as we’ve said repeatedly, that the
effort of our military operation is not regime change … it’s the
Libyan people who are going to make their determinations about the
future.”
Less than two months later, NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters, “I am
confident that [the] combination of strong military pressure and
increased political pressure and support for the opposition will
eventually lead to the collapse of the regime.” The altruistic
pretenses of the war are now fading away as the reality of the
intervention becomes ever more apparent: NATO intends to install a
fully subservient regime in Libya through force of arms while
blocking any attempts to negotiate a solution.
Even with the full force of the major
imperialist powers of the world behind them, the Libyan opposition
has so far failed to militarily dislodge the Libyan government.
Rather than the quick victory NATO strategists had hoped for, the
civil war in Libya has ground to a stalemate. While fighting
continues in Misratah, the only major rebel-held city in the West,
and around Ajdabiya, the last city before the rebel stronghold of
Benghazi in the East, no major territorial changes have recently
occurred.
In response, NATO has escalated
bombing, especially targeting the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Civilian
infrastructure like ports and oil tankers are being attacked, and
French and British officials have announced that they will deploy
attack helicopters, signaling a new level of close, tactical support
for the rebels.
Imperialists want to arm rebels,
revealing true aim of mission
One of the most significant recent
developments has been the increased possibility of Western powers
directly providing arms to the Libyan opposition. So far, President
Obama has officially authorized $25 million of “non-lethal” aid
to the rebels, but there are increasing calls from many in the
imperialist establishment for a more aggressive approach.
This requires major political
backpedaling from a coalition that had previously called for an
iron-clad blockade of Libya. Leaning on their false pretext of
protecting civilians, NATO is enforcing an arms embargo on Libya.
Should they overtly arm the opposition, imperialist forces would be
explicitly demonstrating that they have no desire to end the violence
in Libya, but seek only to help the rebels overthrow the Libyan
government.
In tandem with military efforts,
attempts to politically isolate the Libyan government are underway.
On May 16, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court, requested an arrest warrant for Libyan leader
Moammar Gaddafi
and two other government officials.
Despite its lofty human rights
rhetoric, the ICC is a racist, imperialist institution that serves to
legitimize violations of the sovereignty of oppressed countries. The
court almost exclusively targets African leaders and ignores crimes
committed by imperialist states and their clients.
The ICC maneuver also aims at reducing
the possibility of a negotiated solution to the civil war that would
preserve a degree of Libyan sovereignty. An international commission
to seek peace in the conflict was first proposed by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez weeks before the NATO bombing began. The
initiative has since been taken over by the African Union, which has
devised a “roadmap” for the resolution of the civil war.
Most recently, South African President
Jacob Zuma visited Libya May 30 and urged an immediate ceasefire. The
Libyan government has consistently supported such a measure, but the
opposition has never expressed similar sentiments. Negotiations would
be an embarrassment to the rebels and their imperialist backers, who
have thrown their full political and military weight behind the
complete overthrow of the Gaddafi government.
The war in Libya is fundamentally a
conflict between those forces fighting for the preservation of Libyan
sovereignty and independence against those who advocate its complete
abandonment. Whatever the grievances may have been of individuals in
the opposition at the beginning of the conflict, the line taken by
the rebel leadership has left no room for an independent regime
should the opposition come out victorious.
Progressive and revolutionary people
around the world should not accept the racist logic of humanitarian
intervention or provide left cover for imperialism by demonizing
Gaddafi and supporting the right-wing, pro-imperialist rebels. It is
in the interests of all working people to stand in unwavering
opposition to NATO intervention and demand complete respect for the
Libyan people’s right to self-determination.
