The Final Capitulation - Now Liberals Support An Illegal War Against Libya

The Liberals made great play about their opposition to the illegal War launched by the UK and US against Iraq. First, they gave their support to the proposals by their Liberal-Tory Government to what was bound to end up as yet another illegal War in Libya, now even the cover that was provided for it by a mealy-mouthed UN resolution has been blown away.

The Liberals are now fully involved in the attempt by the major Imperialist powers - the US, UK and France to bring about regime change in Libya and install an Imperialist friendly regime, by means of an illegal war, which can only result in massive death and destruction in the short term, and even more misery for the Libyan people in the longer term. Ironically, although some Tory MP's are calling for the recall of Parliament to discuss that illegal war, so far the Liberals have simply played their part as loyal lap dogs to their Tory masters.

When the Imperialists persuaded the UN to back their demands for a humanitarian intervention it was obvious that the idea that a No Fly Zone would be where it ended was already, obviously a non-starter. Other UN members such as Russia and China did not oppose the resolution for their own strategic reasons. Both Russia and China knew that it would end up with the Imperialists launching an all-out War to remove Gaddafi.

They knew that when the Imperialists went beyond the terms of the original motion, it would enable them to strut the world stage as some kind of moral superior, untainted by the shit that the Imperialists would cover themselves with in the eyes of many of the peoples of the Third World, peoples that Russia and China seek to curry favour with for their own political/strategic reasons.

Everyone knew that a No Fly Zone meant taking out anti-aircraft systems, which means bombing, and means putting Special Forces on the ground to laser mark those facilities etc. Even the US generals had said openly that even just a No Fly Zone would amount to an Act of War, because of the extent of these other operations that would be needed to implement it. But, it was always obvious that a No Fly Zone was not the purpose of obtaining the UN resolution. The addition of the words "all necessary means" indicated that what was really being planned was outright intervention on one side of a Civil War in order to remove Gaddafi.

And there would be no point in Imperialism intervening on one side in that Civil War, unless it WAS going to ensure by such intervention that it armed, trained and put in power its chosen agents!

Sure enough, although the resolution talked about humanitarian goals to protect civilians, it was never going to mean protecting those civilians being bombed, and shelled by the rebels. It was only ever advances by Gaddafi's tanks that were bombed and strafed, whilst the rebel tanks and artillery were provided with air cover by Imperialism in order to advance and launch attacks on towns not under their control. In fact, as many TV reports showed civilians were under if anything more danger from the rebels, who appeared to act with complete recklessness in firing off unguided rockets into towns.

It was one such act of recklessness that, in fact, got them killed in a friendly fire incident when they let off anti-aircraft rounds, which led a NATO plane to think it was under attack.

It is no surprise that when the African Union DID put forward a plan for a ceasefire, and peace negotiations the rebels rejected it, whilst Gaddafi accepted it. Of course, given past experience there is no reason to put great faith in Gaddafi's acceptance of the terms. But, surely it was worth attempting to protect civilians by attempting to introduce such a ceasefire, rather than simply building up the forces on either side, and driving the country into an increasingly bloody Civil War, that has all the hallmarks of being one based at least as much upon sectarian/communalist lines like the war in Rwanda, as one resulting from a genuine social revolt.

Indeed, the fact that the regime is reported to have handed out as many as a million guns to civilians in the West of the country to defend themselves against the "rebels" suggests that it must be reasonably confident about its support in that area, or at least confident that the people there are more afraid of the rebels than of the regime.

But, of course the rebels would not accept a ceafire and peace proposal precisely because they have been led to beleive that Imperialism will provide them with whatever support is needed to put them in power, whatever level of support they actually have within the country - which does not seem to be that much, except in Benghazi and a few other Eastern towns. Last week France 24 and Aljazeera were reporting that negotiations had already been held about a "Bosnian solution". (Incidentally today the War Crimes Court today handed down sentences on some of the Croatian Generals responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Krajina, where hundreds of Serbs were butchered, and 90,000 more ethnically cleansed.)

That is the likely scenario is that the Imperialists will allow things to get to a stage where having fermented the Civil War to a heightened level by providing military support and weapons for the rebels, they will wait until Gaddafi's forces are about to overrun the rebels, and will then argue that a direct intervention on the ground is the only possible solution. They will then put in ground troops in Benghazi and the East. Now the major imperialist powers, despite opposition, it seems from some of the minor powers within NATO, have made it clear that they will only settle for regime change.

As the Tory MP's demanding a recall of Parliament point out, that is illegal under international law, just as was the Iraq War. The line of march seems fairly clear.

Having prepared the ground for regime change, they will now wait for Gaddafi's forces to advance. They will then argue the need to put in ground troops in the East, dividing the country in two. That will ensure they can bolster their chosen agents within Libya, whilst strangling the West of the country with all of the misery and suffering that will entail for civilians in Tripoli, where the vast majority of the population live. That will create the conditions for them then removing Gaddafi and installing their chosen puppet.

It can be guaranteed that whoever that is, they will not be a friend of the Libyan workers. Any Marxist that has studied history could have foretold that this was going to be the course of events, or something very close to it that would occur. That is why they had a responsibility to oppose the intervention of Imperialism into the affairs of Libya in the first place.

It is why they should then, and should now and in the future, argue that the only progressive solution that can be guaranteed is one based upon the international solidarity and action of the working-class. Our duty is to prepare the Libyan workers for what is about to befall them, and warn them against any reliance or confidence in Imperialism or its bourgeois allies in Libya. We need to do whatever we can, even if it is not much, to facilitate the independent organisation of Libyan workers, where possible in alliance with workers in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia to defend themselves against their enemies be they within the regime, within the "rebel" camp, and certainly within the Imperialist intervention.

It is necessary for the Libyan workers to begin to develop their own independent Defence Squads and Militia, and to create their own democratic committees within their communties and workplaces to control them.

Workers in the surrounding countries, and from the developed countries should do what they can to provide the Libyan workers with arms, and finance and other practical material support.