Chomsky: "Military intervention in Libya is a serious mistake"

http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20110321.htm

Saudi Arabia provides an example of the contradiction in western policy, he says.

"Saudi Arabia is the centre of radical Islamism. It has also been the major ally of the United States and Britain, which have tended over the years to support radical Islam in opposition to secular nationalism. Saudi Arabia is a pretty harsh dictatorship. Prior to the recent Day of Rage the government made it clear that it would not be tolerated Ð and it wasn't."

Further to this, we have seen Saudi troops dispatched into Bahrain with grim consequences.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and British foreign secretary William Hague met in Geneva on February 28th to promote the case for the prosecution of Gadafy by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"One question is whether that would interfere with a preferable option, namely getting Gadafy out of the country.

"Furthermore, as far as the ICC is concerned, we cannot overlook the fact that for most of the world it is regarded as a symbol of western hypocrisy," he says.

He wonders why George Bush and Tony Blair were not taken to the ICC for invading Iraq.

But you know what they say about a broken clock.

:shrug:

He was at one point the most cited living author in the world and I saw his BBC interview recently. He also was asked to address the UN General Assembly by Ban Ki Moon on the issue of humanitarian intervention a few years ago.

And yet we wont see him on any of the corporate channels to discuss this.

How odd.

is just corprat propaganda. I trust Chomsky's judgement more than most anyone on such issues.

Hadn't really thought about the US/UK using radical islam as a hedge against nationalism. But that's Chomsky, succinct.

It will be a big stain indeed.

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Noam Chomsky Warns Against U.S./U.K. Intervention In Libya

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II9lo--U550

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKHKDudUndY

...sharing....

The ICC was called upon after Gaddafi made it clear he was going to "clense his country of the rats." Assuming Gaddafi didn't do anything wrong as he claimed, he could have left the country any time for almost a month.

We have to save them. Who cares if people are suffering in other countries, obviously the suffering of the Libyans is much more important than the suffering of people in Saudi Arabia.

a rebellion -- a revolution?

Gaddafi has tried to say this is a "Civil War" --

it's a revolution by the people to overturn this regime -- a dictator--

Nor should it be necessary to have a rebellion to get someone out of office after

40 years!!

Why wouldn't the international community have tried to deal with that fact?

This situation has been permitted to go on too long which is why there are so few

options now --

Are Libyans not worried about US intervention? Of course they are? But they also

understood that the world armed Gaddafi making it impossible for his own people to

overturn him -- and that they needed help.

Do I trust my US government and/or the CIA -- ? No -- of course not.

But, again, the world is dealing with this late -- and the options are fewer --

Should have been a totally non-violent solution --

but the Gaddafi violence prevented that from happening --

Saleh is meandering about stepping down and it is eerily reminiscent of Libya a month ago. :cry:

This is todays story, imo. But everyone is ignoring Yemen again.

not really familiar -- is Saleh as violence-prone as Gaddafi?

All the pots are boiling over -- some that GOP have put fire under -- but many also

that have to do with neglect and inaction over decades as elites continued to pull

in riches!

Btw, are you still running the Revolution thread -- and what are the re-tweets sahying

about US "help"????

Chomsky is, rightfully so, becoming even more potent and radical in his indictments of the slew of atrocities and bullshit that are raining down on the world.

The WRONG people are in charge of most of it and it seems that they have arranged it so that they will not and cannot be held accountable for the tremendous clusterfuck for most of us that will be the obvious results. Coming to a neighborhood near you.

:applause:

This writing is an atrocity in itself:

"When the United States, Britain and France opt for military intervention, we have to bear in mind that these countries are hated in the region for very good reasons. The rich and powerful can say history is bunk but victims don't have that luxury," he says."
...
and:

He believes the Wall Street Journal accurately observed that the West Ð the US in particular Ð now has a problem.

"It hasn't yet figured out how to control the new rising elements; the assumption is of course that we have to control them," he says."

CONTROL THEM? Who says we "have to control them"?

And if there was support for Gaddafi, then he wouldn't have had to hire 50,000 PLUS

mercenaries to fight for him!

And more -- they were still flying new mercs into the country up to a week or so ago.

OIL is a "national security" issue now -- we're in peak oil -- but what we need to do

is to stop burning fossil fuels -- and to shut down the wars.

We also need to overturn the national security state -- !!

AF is talking about "solar" planes!!

Peak Oil is a threat to our warmongering and warmaking -- so I imagine that the elite

powers have a lot to think about -- but they always find that one of the old tools in

the tool box can be be reworked to apply to new situations!

The one and only time I suggested military force might be a positive thing, and I'm wrong.

No one knows better than Noam. I'm saddened. What a mess we've made.

I'm sooo bummed, I had pegged it as humanitarian liberation against a murderous, dillusional, dictator

:kick:

If protesters in other countries find themselves in similar situations and ask for help to prevent themselves and their families from being butchered and thrown in a pile of bodies, I would hope they could get it.

refuses to look at it.

I lost all respect for him. It is not intellectual to ignore facts and refuse to discuss things.

I always thought he was the fake left limited hangout....and now that he is joining in this heartless chorus to make democrats look mean and stupid, I am now convinced.

Too much violation of chain of evidence / basic protection of evidence.
Too much information wilfully ignord. Too many architects, firefighter witnesses, and engineers to ignore this so completely.

It's not :tinfoilhat:

" now that he is joining in this heartless chorus to make democrats look mean and stupid, I am now convinced"


yeah, considering his decades and decades of critique regarding us foreign policy...that's his motive....

is this for real?

I don't care that Chomsky doesn't touch what happened on 9/11 with a ten foot pole. He's got plenty of other things to talk about.

What you're saying here about 9/11 was always my way of thinking about Chomsky

when many would criticize him for not speaking out re JFK coup!

Keep in mind, I still value Chomsky for what he has told us in the past --

think he has woken up a few on what's really been going on in America ---

history of FBI/CIA coups -- propaganda -- who controls the wealth and natural

resources of the nation -- Israel --

Trust that Chomsky may still be around if we need him -- but sure don't like his

position on this one --

Not that I don't have mixed feelings -- but mainly based on distrust for US government

and Obama!! Especially when it comes to OIL!!

exactly what any of that means, I don't really know --

I've always thought that people like Howard Zinn and Chomsky had enough to

do with the challenges they were offering corrupt government --

but when it came to 9/11, Chomsky not only wasn't dealing with the facts --

Chomsky wrote a book stating that 9/11 happened just the way the administration

said it did! Why was that necessary?

What we do know is that often people involved with subjects that challenge government

are threatened, intimidated -- offered money to NOT say what they're saying, etal --

I wonder about that with Chomsky, especially re that book.

Howard Zinn -- not that I've memorized it all -- but he was very closely watched by

FBI/intelligence -- and imagine that just for washing away the propaganda of white male

history!!!

Just .... :nuke:

1: "At that point there's a game plan that goes into operation. It's being followed in the Arab world, basically to send dictators out to pasture when you can't support them any longer and produce ringing declarations of your love of democracy," he says.

2: He calls out Saudi Arabia for being the oppressive regime they are.

Support for Gaddafi? Based on what? Maybe when this is over some American polling firm can take a survey.

And what pray tell, would Arab opinion be if we ignored Libyans BEGGING us for help for WEEKS. Got an answer to that one?

The pearl-clutching is reaching astronomical proportions.