“Help” from Washington

Clinton offers the Libyan insurgents American support — they decline; plus, there will be no prosecution of Gaddafi’s mercenaries, thanks to the U.S.A.

In contrast to Egypt and Tunisia, Libya has a great deal to offer — namely, oil and natural gas. The oil is of the sweet and light variety that is much sought after on global markets. That’s why the self-proclaimed “international community” of imperialist countries in Europe and the Americas is offering to “help” the Libyan revolutionaries and to steer developments there in the direction of economic exploitation.

Shortly before departing for Switzerland to confer with NATO and European Union countries on how to proceed in dealing with Gaddafi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered “any type of assistance” in ousting current leader Muammar Gaddafi. She didn’t specify whether that included military support. Two prominent archconservative U.S. Senators, John McCain and Joe Lieberman, were less squeamish in their choice of words, however. During a visit to Cairo, these two unconditional supporters of Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2008/2009 took on the role of militant defenders of Libyan human rights. They demanded the Obama administration immediately begin supplying the Libyan rebels with arms, apparently to ensure that American arms and military advisers would be on the ground from day one in case it came down to civil war in Libya.

Leaders of the Libyan opposition groups who were meeting in Benghazi during the weekend to form a new national council told reporters, however, that they had not contacted any foreign government nor had they requested any assistance. A spokesman for the council said they had the situation largely under control and that the remainder of the country would be liberated by the people as well. The London-based news agency Al-Arabiya quoted the spokesman as saying that outside interference would be very unwelcome.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had already cautioned the West against interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries in order to try to impose their version of democracy. After conferring with top European Union officials on Feb. 25, Putin said that it hadn’t been very long since the West had supported democratic elections in Palestine: “That’s great, but Hamas won, and that was declared terrorism,” Putin added. He also added, “We need to give people a chance to determine their future themselves. We need to give them an opportunity to take a natural way without any foreign interference to build their future.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a number of sanctions against the remainder of Gaddafi’s regime and has cut off any further arms sales to Libya. The United States was the only nation to reject one portion of the resolution that would have permitted Libyan-hired mercenary soldiers who committed war crimes to be tried by the International Tribunal in the Hague. The United States is afraid of creating a precedent that might permit Americans charged with war crimes to also be put on international trial. Thanks to the United States, Gaddafi’s thugs now enjoy immunity from prosecution for their crimes.