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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - March 24, 2011
Debate Needed on Libyan Intervention
by: Marjorie Cohn
WarIsACrime.org
Since Saturday night, the United States, France and Britain
have been bombing Libya with cruise missiles, B-2 stealth
bombers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets and Harrier attack
jets. There is no reliable estimate of the number of
civilians killed. The US has taken the lead in the punish-
ing bombing campaign to carry out United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1973.
The resolution authorizes UN member states "to take all
necessary measures... to protect civilians and civilian
populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign
occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan
territory." The military action taken exceeds the bounds
of the "all necessary measures" authorization.
"All necessary measures" should first have been peaceful
measures to settle the conflict. But peaceful means were
not exhausted before Obama began bombing Libya. A high
level international team - consisting of representatives
from the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity
and the UN secretary general - should have been dispatched
to Tripoli to attempt to negotiate a real cease-fire and
set up a mechanism for elections and for protecting
civilians.
There is no doubt that Muammar Qaddafi has been brutally
repressing Libyans in order to maintain his power. But
the purpose of the United Nations is to maintain inter-
national peace and security. The burgeoning conflict in
Libya is a civil war, which arguably does not constitute
a threat to international peace and security.
The UN Charter commands that all members settle their
international disputes by peaceful means, to maintain
international peace, security and justice. Members must
also refrain from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any
state or in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of
the United Nations.
Only when a state acts in self-defense, in response to
an armed attack by one country against another, can it
militarily attack another state under the UN Charter.
The need for self-defense must be overwhelming, leaving
no choice of means and no moment for deliberation. Libya
has not attacked another country. The United States,
France and Britain are not acting in self-defense.
Humanitarian concerns do not constitute self-defense.
The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force
for humanitarian interventions. But the UN General Assembly
embraced a norm of "Responsibility to Protect" in the
outcome document of the 2005 World Summit. Paragraph 138
of that document says each individual state has the
responsibility to protect its populations from genocide,
war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Paragraph 139 adds that the international community,
through the United Nations, also has "the responsibility
to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other
peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII
of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide,
war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."
Chapter VI of the Charter requires parties to a dispute
likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace
and security to "first of all, seek a solution by negoti-
ation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration,
judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or
arrangements or other peaceful means of their own choice."
Chapter VIII governs "regional arrangements," such as
NATO, the Arab League and the Organization of African
Unity. The chapter specifies that regional arrangements
"shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement
of local disputes through such regional arrangements..."
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It is only when peaceful means have been tried and proved
inadequate that the Security Council can authorize action
under Chapter VII of the Charter. That action includes
boycotts, embargoes, severance of diplomatic relations
and even blockades or operations by air, sea or land.
The "responsibility to protect" norm grew out of frustr-
ation with the failure to take action to prevent the
genocide in Rwanda, where a few hundred troops could have
saved myriad lives. But the norm was not implemented to
stop Israel from bombing Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009,
which resulted in a loss of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly
civilians. Nor is it being used to stop the killing of
civilians by the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There is also hypocrisy inherent in the US bombing of Libya
to enforce international law. The Obama administration has
thumbed its nose at its international obligations by refus-
ing to investigate officials of the Bush administration
for war crimes for its torture regime. Both the Convention
Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions compel member
states to bring people to justice who violate their
commands.
The United States is ostensibly bombing Libya for humanit-
arian reasons. But Obama refuses to condemn the repression
and government killings of protesters in Bahrain using US-
made tanks and weaponry because that is where the US Fifth
Fleet is stationed. And Yemen, a close US ally, kills and
wounds protesters while Obama watches silently.
Regime change is not authorized by the resolution. Yet,
US bombers targeted the Qaddafi compound and Obama said at
a news conference in Santiago that it is "US policy that
Qaddafi needs to go." The resolution specifically forbids
a "foreign occupation force." But it is unlikely that the
United States, France and Britain will bomb Libya and
leave. Don't be surprised to hear there are Western forces
on the ground in Libya to "train" or "assist" the rebels
there.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates pegged it when he said
that a "no-fly zone" over Libya would be an "act of war."
Although the Arab League reportedly favored a no-fly zone,
Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said,
"what is happening in Libya differs from the aim of
imposing a no-fly zone." He added, "What we want is the
protection of civilians and not the shelling of more
civilians." He plans to call a new meeting of the league
to reconsider its support for a no-fly zone.
The military action in Libya sets a dangerous precedent
of attacking countries where the leadership does not
favor the pro-US or pro-European Union countries. What
will prevent the United States from stage-managing some
protests, magnifying them in the corporate media as mass
actions and then bombing or attacking Venezuela, Cuba,
Iran or North Korea? During the Bush administration,
Washington leveled baseless allegations to justify an
illegal invasion of Iraq.
Moreover, Obama took military action without consulting
Congress, the only body with the constitutional power to
declare war. It is not clear what our mission is there
or when it will end. Congress - and indeed, the American
people - should debate what we are doing in Libya. We
must not support a third expensive and illegal war. There
is a crying need for that money right here at home. And
we should refuse to be complicit in the killing of more
civilians in a conflict in which we don't belong.
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