Predictable Western political interference in Libya is reminiscent of recent involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Marwan Bishara
Al-Jazeera
"NATO's political mission "should swiftly identify and nurture a national opposition and plot the path for a post-conflict transition to democracy, probably under UN auspices", or so advises the Financial Times in its lead editorial, "Plotting the Way Forward". Both the title and the advice are borrowed from a past era: the post-Afghanistan invasion strategy that plotted the nurturing, financing, and supporting of Hamid Karzai's - the former US corporate oil executive - bid for the presidency. Or another throwback: pre- and post-invasion of Iraq, when London and Washington plotted their invasion as they prepared the Iraq National Congress to hopefully replace Saddam's regime. Except that this FT editorial comes a decade later and proposes the same plan as the way forward in Libya! Where NATO powers are exploiting their military role to define, or at least influence, the post-Gaddafi alternative.
Too much of a sense of deja vu? Or the recurring nightmare of predictable Western political interference that follows military intervention using whichever pretext is available; be it 'war on terror', 'weapons of mass destruction', or 'humanitarian intervention'?
The Libyan National Council, transitional Fortunately, the Council wasn't made-in-the-USA or manufactured by another foreign power. Rather it came into existence, a month ago, at Libyans' own initiative, soon after the winds of revolutionary change blew Libya's way, and after its people rose to the occasion with pride and courage.....
Any aspiring leader who seeks a political future in post-Gaddafi Libya knows all too well that people power - not NATO power - and mandate is indispensable. None of the Council's senior leaders want to be identified or even remotely associated with NATO's plans for Libya. For them, NATO's nurturing of the Libyan opposition means only one of two: Afghanistan's Karzai or Iraq's Chalabi."
Marwan Bishara
Al-Jazeera
"NATO's political mission "should swiftly identify and nurture a national opposition and plot the path for a post-conflict transition to democracy, probably under UN auspices", or so advises the Financial Times in its lead editorial, "Plotting the Way Forward". Both the title and the advice are borrowed from a past era: the post-Afghanistan invasion strategy that plotted the nurturing, financing, and supporting of Hamid Karzai's - the former US corporate oil executive - bid for the presidency. Or another throwback: pre- and post-invasion of Iraq, when London and Washington plotted their invasion as they prepared the Iraq National Congress to hopefully replace Saddam's regime. Except that this FT editorial comes a decade later and proposes the same plan as the way forward in Libya! Where NATO powers are exploiting their military role to define, or at least influence, the post-Gaddafi alternative.
Too much of a sense of deja vu? Or the recurring nightmare of predictable Western political interference that follows military intervention using whichever pretext is available; be it 'war on terror', 'weapons of mass destruction', or 'humanitarian intervention'?
The Libyan National Council, transitional Fortunately, the Council wasn't made-in-the-USA or manufactured by another foreign power. Rather it came into existence, a month ago, at Libyans' own initiative, soon after the winds of revolutionary change blew Libya's way, and after its people rose to the occasion with pride and courage.....
Any aspiring leader who seeks a political future in post-Gaddafi Libya knows all too well that people power - not NATO power - and mandate is indispensable. None of the Council's senior leaders want to be identified or even remotely associated with NATO's plans for Libya. For them, NATO's nurturing of the Libyan opposition means only one of two: Afghanistan's Karzai or Iraq's Chalabi."
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