Lawmaker: End illegal bombing of Libya

By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- | Last updated: May 26, 2011 - 11:34:55 PM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

“Knowing that this war is immoral, illegal and based on lies, the Obama administration has refused to address the reasons behind initiating yet another war after years of death and destruction in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq”.
—International Action Center

(FinalCall.com) - Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich has vowed to go to Capitol Hill to introduce a bill to end the war in Libya based on the “War Powers Resolution” of 1973, a federal law intended to restrict the power of the president to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.

The congressman, in a statement, listed his responses to what President Barack Obama said during a May 19 press conference. “His recounting of the reasons for U.S. intervention in Libya is at odds with the facts,” Rep. Kucinch said. “There was no clear evidence of an impending massacre in Libya.”

On May 18, the lawmaker wrote: “Notwithstanding both constitutional and statutory prohibitions, the president has repeatedly asked his advisers to find a suitable legal justification for continuing U.S. aggression in Libya.”

Rep. Kucinich also placed a price tag on the two month military intervention in Libya. “The price of the war—the airstrikes, the pilotless drones, the missiles, the bombs, the advisers and intelligence agents in Libya—is likely approaching $1 billion,” he said.

The Council for Foreign Relations warned the White House that public support for the Libya war is eroding. Dr. James Lindsey, a senior vice president at the council and a former director of global affairs at the National Security Council, argued in a position paper that the president's May 19 television talk was meant to solidify, if not increase support for “Operation Odyssey Dawn.”

Dr. Lindsey said public support for White House policy in Libya is polling at less than 50 percent. Then he talked about a Pew Poll released May 16 showing more Americans (50 percent) doubt that the U.S. and its allies have a clear goal; and that 6 in 10 Americans think the country is headed for a lengthy entanglement in Libya—just 1 in 3 respondents think the war will end soon.

Amnesty International in a press release said a more even-handed approach is needed in Obama administration policies for the Middle East and North Africa.

“It has been far less outspoken and effective in addressing the current clampdowns in Bahrain and Yemen or pressing the Saudi Arabian authorities on the need for change,” the AI press release stated.

Kofi Annan, a former UN Secretary-General speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, was critical of those who are demanding Libyan President Muammar Gadhafi must leave, saying it is not helpful. “I think eventually, probably he will have to go, but you cannot put it up front saying Gadhafi must go.”

“And how far do you go?” Mr. Annan asked. “And does it fit with the UN Security Council resolution and the mandate?”

“And we should remember that it wasn't a unanimous decision and some pretty important countries abstained,” Mr. Annan added.

The U.S. anti-war movement entered the debate about the war in Libya by circulating a petition telling Congress to use the “War Powers Act” to stop bombing in Libya.

“It is a question of the will of the American people—their power is obvious—if they would only rise up against the military industrial complex that spreads violence and death all over the world,” said Ramsey Clark, co-founder of the International Action Center.

He told The Final Call President Obama has “created a firestorm of global magnitude,” and with all of the poverty worldwide, Americans should be pressing for peace. Mr. Clark called for a 90 percent reduction in the U.S. military budget. “We only need 10 percent of what we are now spending at the Pentagon to protect our shores,” he said.

Imperialist bombardment, assault on Libya continues (FCN, 05-192011)

Libya Fake Twitter IDs Created to Provide Media With False Information(Mathaba.net, 05-17-2011)

Video:Was Col. Gadhafi's gold-for-oil, dollar-doom plans behind the attack on Libya? (FCN, 05-12-2011)

Libya – Making Sense of the Intervention (American Daily Herald, 05-11-2011)

Ten reasons why the U.S. war in Libya is a CIA operation (FCN, 04-28-2011)

Why the West Want the Fall of Muammar Gaddafi (Analysis by Jean-Paul Pougala, 04, 2011)

‘U.S. provoking China and Russia in Libya,Mediterranean' (Tehran Times, 04-28-2011)

West 'getting away with murder' in Libya (FCN, 04-27-2011)

Farrakhan Questioned on Libya (WPFWRadio Interview, 04-03-2011)

Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective (FCN, 03-08-2011)