Incredible really. Rather than fulfilling his promise to extricate the country from two distant, unpopular, interminable wars, the president embarks on a yet another. Spending another $ billion + to do so, at a time when we're worse than broke. A blatantly illegal invasion of a soverign country with no popular support here at home or abroad -- and with virtually no justification. Indeed as justification tales go -- we're bombing civilians to hell in order to "save lives" [2] -- makes "weapons of mass destruction" look like St. Augustine.
The administration hasn't even provided the press with their talking points. As far as I know, this is a first. There's always been something at least like "Make the World safe for Democracy. Accordingly the press, even the "alternative press," is lost. [3]
So for both the press and public here's a first axiom of the Crisis Era:
The US needs oil like a Nuclear Power plant needs water [4]. We need oil not only for fuel, but also for roads, tarmacs and a vast array of products from paint to plastic. We practically consume it directly. The fourfold increase in agricultural productivity over the past half century is almost entirely attributable to oil-intensive mechanization, fertilizers and pesticides. Without oil, we are immobile, at the mercy of the elements and unable to feed ourselves.
In 2003, the Bush administration used the 9/11 attacks as justification to invade Iraq and take direct control of the world's second largest national oil reserves. They fabricated evidence of weapons of mass destruction and concocted liberation and democratization stories, which were enthusiastically amplified throughout the US media. But as former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledged in his memoir, "everyone knows the Iraq war is largely about oil" [5]
But, still, why Libya? Why now? Libya does have major reserves, approximately 4% of the World's total, [6] much more than teh US. But Obama is not a prime mover. Rather, this is a French undertaking, with Nicolas Sarkozy at the helm. No matter that, unlike Egypt, Yemen and other countries where Obama sided openly with the regime, Libya's uprising is neither popular nor democratic. [6] No matter that Gaddafi's opponents are an armed insurrection and openly anti-American self described mujahideen. [7]
Sarkozy and Gaddafi were among the closest of associates completing deals worth 10 billion euros [8] or that Gaddafi helped underwrite Sarkozy's election campaign. [9]
France imports more oil from Libya than any other country, all told about 12% of its net imports for the 12 months ending Sept 2010. [11] And just as US used Al Qaeda to invade Iraq to get oil, he wants to use mid-east uprisings to attack Libya to get oil.
Sarkozy has been planning this coup for some time. He tried to get Switzerland to go along. No. He tries to get belgium to go along. No. In fact, Sarcozy is widely seen as a clown in his own country. [12]
Eventually, however he gets the US to go along. It seems as though Obama was reluctant. But the press has been taking up the war drums for quite some time.
Presumably Obama’s masters – e.g., oil companies, banks – have been not only directly demanding he take action, but applying all the pressure points: g
Planted stories in US News, e.g., The War Party's Atrocity Porn of Libyan fabrications. These fabrications are actually in every US publication!! E.g, a whole hour of Teri Gross, NPR, on tales of how Khadaffi’s is “out there”
etting the high ranking women in the administration to nag him along. (remember all the talk of how if only women held high office, war would be no more ? )
In the end, Obama agrees that, yes, we must attack to protect Libya’s people.
[1] http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110221/wl_nm/us_libya_protests_jets: (Reuters) – Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli on Monday, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast. "What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said. Saleh, who called himself a political activist, said the bombings had initially targeted a funeral procession."Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth." he said. "Every 20 minutes they are bombing."
[2] http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/03/18/why-are-we-going-to-war-with-libya/
[3] Each of the two Salem (NJ) nuclear reactors need 1,100,000 gallons per minute on to absorb the waste heat left over after making electricity and also to cool the equipment and buildings used in generating that electricity http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nuclear_power/20071204-ucs-brief-got-water.pdf.
[2] http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/03/18/why-are-we-going-to-war-with-libya/
[3] Each of the two Salem (NJ) nuclear reactors need 1,100,000 gallons per minute on to absorb the waste heat left over after making electricity and also to cool the equipment and buildings used in generating that electricity http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nuclear_power/20071204-ucs-brief-got-water.pdf.
[4] Alan Greenspan wrote in his book, The Age of Turbulence. George W. Bush, himself was saying in May 2001: “What people need to hear, loud and clear, is that we’re running out of energy in America.” Evidently, as part of the charade of righteousness in our Iraq invasion, oil-talk became verboten.
One might think the US (as well as France and England) had enough to worry about right now -- two distant endless long-term wars, continued unemployment, precipitous national debts and deficits, collapsing currency, nuclear catastrophe, and a ticking time-bomb of environmental collapse -- to name a few.
[12] http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Sarcozy+clown
No comments:
Post a Comment