Significant voices outspoken in their opposition to war in Iraq are more equivocal on military intervention in Libya
Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 May 2011
"Military intervention in Libya, like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is dividing public opinion. Many critics see all three as part of the same neo-imperialist project – to install puppet governments and assert western domination over oil supplies.
That certainly seems to be the view of Tariq Ali [posted here on PP]and many who post in the Guardian's comment threads. A constant refrain is that the conflict in Libya is "all about oil".....
Professor Juan Cole, one of the most prominent American critics of the Iraq war – and who still calls it illegal – takes an entirely different line on Libya....
A more important consideration is to what extent a revolution accomplished with Nato bombers flying overhead can ever be considered authentic. The uprising in Libya began authentically enough, but there is no doubt that seeing the Libyan people overthrow Gaddafi by themselves would have been infinitely preferable to what has happened.
At the same time, though, we should be very wary of adopting familiar templates. The magnitude of the transformation process originally unleashed in Tunisia has still not properly sunk in and we should be prepared to start rethinking the Middle East from scratch.
The assumption that people who have begun overthrowing their dictators will passively allow western puppet regimes to be foisted upon them as replacements is one template that should be junked right away. The new Arab governments, whether they like it or not, and whether the west likes it or not, will have to be far more responsive to their people's demands than they have ever been in the past."
Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 May 2011
"Military intervention in Libya, like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is dividing public opinion. Many critics see all three as part of the same neo-imperialist project – to install puppet governments and assert western domination over oil supplies.
That certainly seems to be the view of Tariq Ali [posted here on PP]and many who post in the Guardian's comment threads. A constant refrain is that the conflict in Libya is "all about oil".....
Professor Juan Cole, one of the most prominent American critics of the Iraq war – and who still calls it illegal – takes an entirely different line on Libya....
A more important consideration is to what extent a revolution accomplished with Nato bombers flying overhead can ever be considered authentic. The uprising in Libya began authentically enough, but there is no doubt that seeing the Libyan people overthrow Gaddafi by themselves would have been infinitely preferable to what has happened.
At the same time, though, we should be very wary of adopting familiar templates. The magnitude of the transformation process originally unleashed in Tunisia has still not properly sunk in and we should be prepared to start rethinking the Middle East from scratch.
The assumption that people who have begun overthrowing their dictators will passively allow western puppet regimes to be foisted upon them as replacements is one template that should be junked right away. The new Arab governments, whether they like it or not, and whether the west likes it or not, will have to be far more responsive to their people's demands than they have ever been in the past."
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