According to the Xinhua News Agency, France, UK and the U.S. attacked targets in Libya by air and by sea on March 19. According to a statement by Libya State TV, by noon local time on March 20, 48 people had died. Libya accused the three Western countries of “colonial invasion,” requesting the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting.
The Lie of Protecting Civilians was Punctured by Aircrafts and Artilleries
United Nations resolutions were always respected by Gadhafi. By the time government troops were about to advance on Benghazi, Gadhafi publicly declared his maintenance of United Nations resolutions, and the military strikes against armed reactionaries had gradually evolved into inducing capitulation in town. However, French, American and British bombs crashed the sincerity of peaceful liberation released by Gadhafi. Excused by effectively preventing Libyan air force and protecting civilians, these Western countries started hysteric military air strikes toward Libya, which caused a certain amount of casualties. Such absurd logic of military aggression faced international expressions of disappointment. Meanwhile, such aggression makes the serious United Nations resolution useless.
We cannot find a better reason for the Western countries’ air strikes, since their own aircrafts and artilleries have already exposed the lie of protecting civilians. We cannot find a fair outcome for this “beautiful” error made by Western countries because the past Iraq and Afghanistan wars haven’t earned them more international support and fulfilled their endless desire for energy. Moreover, we should not hold on to the hope of “post-war peace” with such aggressive military provocation, due to the fact that any war that interferes with other countries’ internal political affairs would first of all hurt the countries’ innocent civilians.
From this perspective, the Western countries’ intention to stabilize the domestic situation through military strikes is merely a lame excuse for invasion. (Luo Junfeng)
Air Fight Ban Evolved into a Military Bombing, Violating U.N. Resolution
Being the first of the Western countries to recognize Libyan rebels and spearhead the “no-fly zone” operation, France has already carried out six military operations to Libya in the support of U.S. and British coalition forces, and violated the United Nations prohibition of bombing regional military targets by firing many missiles to blow up Libyan ground tanks. In addition, the U.S. dispatched B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers to bomb civilian targets; more than 200 civilian casualties have been caused by the coalition operation so far. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret. Countries like India, Germany, Russia and Brazil are all standing on the side of China, claiming that they don’t support the “military operation” launched by the U.S., UK, France and other countries.
In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged the U.S., UK and France to stop military strikes, and its former statement claimed that they should not attack Russian citizens randomly. The African Union stated its opposition of any foreign interference. Other countries should respect Libya’s territorial integrity. Latin American countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia sharply pointed out that this is a restoration of Imperial Colonialism in Africa, as well as a dirty trick played by former colonizer France to obtain oil in the disguise of “freedom.”
This kind of “no-fly zone” operation with limited authorization by the United Nations Security Council, once derailed to a wild ground-bombing operation, will bring much more disaster to Libyan civilians wearing the illegal hat. At the same time, it will also cause damage to other related countries around the world. (Bian Hongdeng)
Wanton Conduct of “International Interference;” Is The World in Disorder Now?
The reason why international society is called a “society” is based on the existence of sovereign countries. Any country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and security are inviolable. This is the core of international law as well as the basic assurance of maintaining normal international relations. If this rule is violated — finding different excuses for indulging “international interference” to certain sovereign countries once in a while — then won’t the world be in disorder?
This military interference of Western countries toward Libya — nominally authorized by the United Nations — which has the “green light” to establish “no-fly zones” in Libya, is nevertheless going far beyond the actual military operations required for a “no-fly zone.”
America has subtly changed its attitude already because of this, not only against the scale expansion of the war and the “decapitation operation” targeting certain individuals; the U.S. has also prepared to hand over command of the military intervention. This change of attitude is because what happened was seriously inconsistent with Obama’s publicly promoted concepts, and America didn’t want its image to be entirely overturned. The U.S. approach is sensible.
By Luo Junfeng, Bian Hongdeng, Tian Yifeng
Nanfang Daily, China