[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Green Party: The US must honor Libyan rebels' call for no military attacks

Tue Mar 22 17:56:11 PDT 2011

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The US and other western nations must honor the Libyan rebels' requests for no
military intervention, say Greens

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders today warned that western military
intervention, now unfolding with air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar
Gadhafi's forces allegedly to create a no-fly zone, could escalate into a new
US/NATO war on a Muslim nation rather than the stated goal of humanitarian
protection for Libyan civilians and aid for rebels.

"Libyan rebel leaders have compared their cause to the uprisings in Tunisia
and Egypt and expressed their wish for no military involvement from other
countries.  The resolution of the conflict in Libya should not be led by
foreign powers that have an interest in controlling Libya's oil -- the largest
reserves in Africa.  The military intervention by the US, UK, and France could
easily turn into a situation like Iraq and Afghanistan, in which US bombs
cause widespread civilian death and destruction," said Romi Elnagar, a member
of the Louisiana Green Party and a member of the party's International
Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).

The new Libyan Interim National Transitional Council in Benghazi issued a
decree on March 5 stating "we request from the international community to
fulfil its obligations to protect the Libyan people from any further genocide
and crimes against humanity without any direct military intervention on Libyan
soil."
(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-08/libyan-rebels-appeal-to-un-for-protection-formal-recognition.html)

Human rights lawyer Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, spokesman for the National
Transitional Council, said, "We are against any foreign intervention or
military intervention in our internal affairs... This revolution will be
completed by our people with the liberation of the rest of Libyan territory."

Greens said that the intervention could quickly backfire and incite regional
outrage against the US.  According to the Washington Post, "The Arab League
secretary general, Amr Moussa, deplored the broad scope of the US-European
bombing campaign in Libya on Sunday and said he would call a new league
meeting to reconsider Arab approval of the Western military intervention....
'What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone,'
he said in a statement on the official Middle East News Agency. 'And what we
want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.'"
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/arab-league-condemns-broad-bombing-campaign-in-libya/2011/03/20/AB1pSg1_story.html).

"The conflict in Libya is a civil war -- a rebellion against a violent regime.
  We question whether the enthusiasm among western leaders for a military
assault on Gadhafi's forces, including calls for a ground invasion by some
Republicans in the US
(http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/20/bill-kristol-calls-for-u-s-ground-forces-in-libya/),
is motivated by humanitarian concerns or by an oil grab.  Not content with
escalating the Afghanistan War and expanding it into Pakistan, President Obama
might get his very own war-without-end if he acts without regard for the
wishes, views, and needs of people in north Africa," said Farheen Hakeem,
co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party has supported movements for democracy throughout the Middle
East and Africa and their efforts to remove violently repressive and corrupt
dictators like Muammar Gadhafi.  But Green leaders insisted that the
imposition of a no-fly zone by foreign attack is an illegitimate intervention
in a civil war that Libyans have the right to resolve without interference
from western powers for whom humanitarian claims have been cover for economic
and geopolitical domination.

Greens noted that the US offered no such assistance during the Algerian Civil
War of the 1990s (in which the US encouraged a military takeover after
Islamists won the election, precipitating a civil war that cost between
150,000 and 200,000 lives) or the Congo War, which alone killed 4 million
people (1998-2003), the bloodiest conflict since World War II.

"Greens remain skeptical of US intentions, noting the selective attention to
the suffering of civilians resisting repressive governments in the Middle
East.  Why no intervention when US client-state Bahrain recently slaughtered
its opposition?  Even more shockingly, the US supported Israel's air and
ground assault on illegally occupied Gaza in 2008 and 2009, in which over 1400
Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in contrast to 13 Israelis, 10 of
whom were soldiers.  The history of US failure to protect civilians from
avoidable mass killings in the Middle East should give every thinking person
pause," said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of the Miami-Dade Green Party
(http://www.miamidadegreenparty.org) and a member of the Green Party's
International Committee.

Mr. Malik helped organize a rally at the Federal Courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale
on Feb. 26 against US military intervention in Libya. This summer, he will
address the dangers of military intervention at a forum, entitled
"Self-Determination: Opportunities and Challenges" at Florida International
University.

See also: "The US and NATO must not intervene in Libya, say US Greens," press
release from the Green Party of the United States, March 8, 2011
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=399).

MORE INFORMATION

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"AP Exclusive: Rebels want Gadhafi ousted, not dead"
Associated Press, March 21, 2011
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7484459.html

"Libya Oil Grab Disguised As Humanitarian Assistance: While others clamor for
a no-fly zone over Libya, the Libyan rebels themselves need to be heard"
The Wisdom Fund, March 8, 2011
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2011/0308-Oil.html

"African Union demands 'immediate' halt to Libya attacks"
Associated Press, March 21, 2011
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i-8HhcGv5ZC4Cfeq421M_omVVpvA

'GreenStream Wednesday': Weekly news and discussion on the Green Party's
Livestream channel
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Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

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