Libya for Libyans

[davidswanson]

War is a crime.
Joining an ongoing war is a crime.
Joining on the side of a friendly lunatic dictator is an immoral tragedy.
Joining on the side of violent rebels who capture and expel British troops there to "help" is an immoral comedy.
Joining on the side of our own nation would be opposed by both of the existing sides plus our own nation.
Limited warfare is limited murder.
Limited warfare almost always traverses the limits.
The military is the worst organization to provide humanitartian relief.
The military is not needed to protect anyone, and would endanger many.
We disguise military defeats by pretending to have stumbled into civil wars.
Actually stumbling into a civil war would add to our military and moral defeats.
Pouring all of our money into our military is what makes imperial warfare possible.
Pouring all of our money into our military is what makes financial crises blamed on teachers and cops possible.
Our military uses as much oil as it will get out of Libya.
Libya will almost certainly sell us its oil without, and only without, US military involvement.
If we don't stop burning so much oil, we'll kill ourselves that way before blowback and weapons proliferation can do the job.
No matter how many troops Obama sends anywhere, his electoral challenger will favor more.
By embracing militarism unwanted by the people of North Africa, while staying far away from Madison, Wisconsin, Obama will dissuade all but the fiercest of lesser-evilists from voting for him.
The aid that U.S. nonviolent-activism scholars and trainers provided to Egyptians disproves the claim that our choices are warfare or nothing.
We don't need more weapons.
We don't need more propaganda.
We don't need more "military aid".
We don't need more training of local militaries to "stand up".
We need more training of nonviolent activists.
Violence by Libyans alone will not bring peace and justice.
Violence breeds violence.
There is no war for peace.
There is no way to peace.
Peace is the way.
U.S. influence in Libya is poisoned by its actual agenda.
Were it not, it would be poisoned by the ongoing US warmaking in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, and dozens of other countries.
The way to bring the troops home does not involve calculations of "stability."
It involves only calculations of how many soldiers will fit on each airplane.