{{October 14, 2013 \u201cInformation Clearing House \u2013 Thursday\u2019s seizure by one militia group and subsequent release by another of Libya\u2019s stooge Prime Minister Ali Zidan shed light on the situation in the country. }} <\/p>\n
The fact that the Libyan leader had taken up residence in Tripoli\u2019s Corinthia Hotel \u2013 favoured by oil executives and other corporate representatives \u2013 for reasons of personal safety speaks volumes for the chaos still reigning after Libya\u2019s \u201cliberation\u201d by Western military force two years ago.<\/p>\n
It illustrates that the prime minister\u2019s writ runs less extensively than that of even Afghan puppet President Hamid Karzai, whose sovereignty is limited to Kabul\u2019s Green Zone.<\/p>\n
Karzai\u2019s relative security lies in his preference for protection from US military contractors rather than Afghan troops.<\/p>\n
However, both government \u201cleaders\u201d share a penchant for lecturing their imperialist sponsors about what they will not tolerate.<\/p>\n
Karzai has told Nato that he will not approve air strikes that threaten civilian lives and Zidan declared in the wake of the US kidnapping of al-Qaida-linked Libyan citizen Abu Anas al-Libi: \u201cLibya does not surrender its sons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The net result of their declarations has been sweet FA. Nato warplanes and drones still slaughter civilians in Afghanistan and Washington still lifts whoever it wants wherever it wants.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State John Kerry defended US special forces\u2019 capture of Libi in what is nominally a sovereign state by suggesting that anyone raising international law was \u201csympathising\u201d with terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the perception is in the world that people who commit acts of terror and who have been appropriately indicted by courts of law, by the legal process, will know the US is going to do anything in its power that\u2019s legal and appropriate to enforce the law and protect our security,\u201d he said in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Kerry added that terrorists \u201ccan run but they can\u2019t hide,\u201d borrowing the graphic battle plan of legendary African-American heavyweight boxer Joe Louis.<\/p>\n
However, there is a difference between Louis\u2019s relentless stalking of his challengers within a 400 sq ft boxing ring and US imperialism\u2019s extension of the concept to the entire globe.<\/p>\n
Louis\u2019s opponents signed up willingly but perhaps unwisely to the task. Washington hasn\u2019t asked the world. It simply asserts its right.<\/p>\n
There might be some justice in this approach if it were based on equality and inclusiveness.<\/p>\n
If, for example, one country suffered a terrorist bombing of a civilian airliner in which, say, 73 people were slaughtered and it identified those who carried out the atrocity, would it be justified in taking matters into its own hands?<\/p>\n
Should its special forces make their way into the state harbouring these terrorists and pick them up for interrogation on one of its warships before putting them on trial?<\/p>\n
Or if that proved problematic for a variety of reasons, would a rocket strike be preferable even if this wiped out a number of civilians in Miami as well as the former CIA operatives and lifetime anti-Cuban terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles?<\/p>\n
How would such operations be viewed by our national broadcaster the BBC, which accompanied its reports on the kidnapping of Libi and the attempted capture of al-Shabaab leader Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr in Somalia with reassurances that the US would continue its anti-terrorist work?<\/p>\n
International law didn\u2019t get a look-in. The only implied criticism was that the US navy Seals had failed to get their man.<\/p>\n
South African blogger Dominic Tweedie recorded on October 6 \u201cat least 462 articles produced since yesterday and relayed by Google News\u201d that described the clandestine raids based on a US military news release.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a stealthy seaside assault in Somalia and in a raid in Libya\u2019s capital, US special forces on Saturday struck out against Islamic extremists\u2026\u201d they enthused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US committed a war crime yesterday, not once but at least twice. This is the real story. Who else on this planet is ready to say so?\u201d asked Tweedie.<\/p>\n
In contrast to the 462 and counting articles glorifying US piracy, how much of the media paid attention the following day to an emotional ceremony in Barbados at a monument to commemorate the 1976 Cubana Airlines bombing over the island masterminded by Bosch and Posada?<\/p>\n
Cuban ambassador Lisette Perez Perez praised the Barbados government for its solidarity, noting: \u201cThere is a history of injustice in the waters of Paradise Beach in Barbados.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cold-blooded murder of the people on board that passenger plane was a crime against them, their families and their countries. It was also a crime against Barbados and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez pointed out that this wasn\u2019t an isolated example of US-sponsored terrorism against Cuba.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cruelty of a 50-year war of terror against Cuba is abhorrent. Since the triumph of the Cuban revolution, terrorists have murdered 3,478 Cubans and incapacitated 2 099 others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bosch was pardoned by president George Bush and died peacefully in Miami in 2011.
\nPosada Carriles still roams freely in Miami, being photographed last week with recently released Cuban \u201cdemocracy campaigner\u201d Guillermo Farinas.<\/p>\n
Washington still refuses, despite Kerry\u2019s rhetoric about not sympathising with terrorists, to extradite Posada Carriles to Cuba.<\/p>\n
Kerry\u2019s not alone in his hypocrisy. Western politicians and media remain shamefully complicit in this selective approach to terrorism.<\/p>\n
{This article was originally published at The Morning Star.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{October 14, 2013 \u201cInformation Clearing House \u2013 Thursday\u2019s seizure by one militia group and subsequent release by another of Libya\u2019s stooge Prime Minister Ali Zidan shed light on the situation in the country. }} The fact that the Libyan leader had taken up residence in Tripoli\u2019s Corinthia Hotel \u2013 favoured by oil executives and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2000048831,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"archived_slugs":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[100],"byline":[2256],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-10973","opinion","type-opinion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-africa","byline-john-haylett"],"bylines":[{"id":2256,"name":"John Haylett","slug":"john-haylett","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null,"twitter_handle":""}],"contributors":[{"id":2256,"name":"John Haylett","slug":"john-haylett","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null,"twitter_handle":""}],"featured_image":{"id":2000048831,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton10973.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/10973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/opinion"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/10973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000048831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10973"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=10973"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=10973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}