US, its war allies at it again

By Kofi Akordor
Their politicians sound like missionaries on a humanitarian mission while the excitement in the voice of their media commentators could not be missed.
The United States of America and its allies in the Western world always find excuse to launch military attacks on less powerful nations when it suits them. They are either fending off communism, defending democracy or fighting terrorism. Whatever the excuse, it offers the opportunity for the US and its European allies to test their latest military weapons while unleashing massive destruction on their hapless victims.
As usual, the powerful Western media is available to justify these military operations while downplaying the atrocities, the destruction and the human suffering these wars bring upon the people on whose behalf those operations were being executed.
As far back as August 6, 1945, the US demonstrated how far it could go to use its massive military power to annihilate and humiliate people when it dropped the first nuclear bomb in human history on Hiroshima, a Japanese city. That operation killed an estimated 80,000 people immediately and the casualty figures rose to between 90,000 and 140,000.
Three days later on August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, another Japanese city, killing an estimated 40,000 people immediately, with the death toll going up to 74,000 over time.
Almost 65 years after these devastating atrocities, the Japanese people are still carrying reminders of the nuclear holocaust unleashed on them by the US. It was, therefore, not surprising that the recent powerful earthquake which struck Japan and triggered a nuclear meltdown from their nuclear plants brought back traumatic memories of those Hiroshima and Nagasaki days.
The US justified the deployment of nuclear weapons in those days, claiming they wanted to bring the Second World War to a speedy end when many historians will tell you that the war had virtually come to an end but for a few pockets of resistance and, therefore, eliminating over 200,000 people from the surface of the earth in three days was the most monstrous thing for any self-respecting military to do.
Japan had since come out of that annihilation to become an industrial and economic giant, partially with American support, apparently to purge their conscience and mostly due to the hard work and ingenuity of the Japanese.
One of the primary goals for the formation of the United Nations Organisation after the end of World War II (WW2), was to end all hostilities and avoid wars, especially taking into account the massive devastation which characterised that war.
Unfortunately the UN could not end wars, because the principal movers of the global organisation spearheaded by the US had national and regional interests which they were determined to use all means to defend and in some cases foist on others. That brought in the Cold War when the military balance was between the Eastern socialist bloc led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Western capitalist bloc led by the US.
All the wars that were fought in the post WW2 era were ideological battles between the West and the East. You can mention the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in the jungles of Laos, Cambodia in south-east Asia and in the Ogaden in the Horn of Africa and forests of Nicaragua, Grenada and Panama and in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Incidentally, the US featured prominently in all these wars either directly or using surrogate forces all in the name of defending democracy or fighting communism.
The bi-polar world did not help Third Countries especially those of Africa, whose leaders took refuge in the ambits of either power depending on the exigencies of the day. That was how many dictators such as Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire, now DR Congo, General Gnasingbe Eyadema of Togo and many others were able to survive on the continent.
The Cold War also cut short the rule of some progressive African leaders whose ideological biases did not conform to the wishes of the US and their allies. But be as it may, the world welcomed the collapse of the Soviet Empire which brought down the Berlin Wall and historically brought to an end the Cold War.
Before the world could settle down to reap the benefits of a world without ideological battles, the US, which emerged as the sole superpower, started picking its own targets especially those that escaped its wrath by seeking protection under the Soviet umbrella during the Cold War era.
In 1992, the US attacked Iraq. Even though the official excuse was to free Kuwait from Iraqi invasion, the hidden ambition to annex the oilfields of Iraq and weaken it militarily on the wishes of Israel were well known to those who follow Middle East politics.
The Operation Desert Storm was never conclusive so the US and its allies were lying in wait for the right time.
In 2001, the US found an excuse to invade Afghanistan, when on September 11, 2001, a group of Arab youth surprised the world by blowing the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York with hijacked aircraft and attacked important buildings in Washington DC.
The attacks were blamed on the Taliban who were ruling in Afghanistan and the US mobilised international forces to invade Afghanistan to chase the Talibans out of office. The war in Afghanistan is still raging and whether the US took a wise decision or not is still being debated.
In 2003, the US mobilised world opinion against President Hussein Saddam, claiming he had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction which were dangerous for the safety and security of the world. Against all voices of moderation, President George W. Bush Jnr managed to get Britain, the traditional ally of the US, and other so-called forces to attack Iraq.
The coalition forces managed to topple and kill Saddam, and also succeeded in destroying the infrastructure of Iraq and reducing a historical civilisation into rubble. No weapons of mass destruction were found.
Everybody knows Col Muammar Gadaffi has overstayed his welcome as leader of Libya. It is also recognised that it is unfair to attack protesters with military might. But can anybody honestly describe as protesters heavily armed men wielding automatic weapons and anti-aircraft missile launchers who are ready to confront the regular army of Libya when peaceful revolutions had taken place in Tunisia and Egypt a few weeks earlier?
As usual, the US and its allies have once again succeeded in hoodwinking the whole world by claiming they want a UN resolution to impose a No Fly Zone over Libyan airspace. They got Resolution 1973 and the rest is another history unfolding.
Those who fought for UN Security Council Resolution 1973 claimed they wanted to protect innocent Libyans from the military attacks of Gaddafi’s army. But who are they protecting now, having unleashed their military might on Libya, destroying everything in sight including oil installations and human settlements?
What would have been the response of the United Kingdom, if some benevolent force were to rally to the protection of the Irish Republican Army which for many years battled the British Armed Forces? What about the Red Brigades of Italy, do they not deserve to be heard? Or the Basque Separatists of Spain. Is their demand for autonomy not a genuine cause which deserves global support?
So why should Libya be destroyed because some of her citizens are justifiably demanding political reforms? How many of those who demonstrated in Tunisia and Egypt used AK-47s, machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons? Only the US, Britain, France, Italy and their allies could tell.
Where next will the war allies move is a wild guess, but the Libyan people and the countries of the Arab League will be making a serious mistake if they think their cause is the prime motive for the calamity befalling Libya from the US and its coalition partners.
If they are still in doubt they should find out why UN Security Resolution 242 passed as far back as 1967, ordering Israel to vacate all Arab lands occupied during the war of that year cannot still be enforced.
The UN, rather than protecting the world against unnecessary aggression and making it a better place for all, has become a tool in the hands of the US and its allies to use as and when they find it convenient to hold the rest of the world to ransom.

fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com