Posted by BY J E SOLOMON
The wave of popular uprising now sweeping through the Arab world is gradually brewing into a kind of conflagration that in its wake will plunge the world into deeper economic crisis. Already fuel prices have started to increase.
It all started with anti-government protests, first in Tunisia, followed by similar protests in Egypt, both of them culminating in the ousting of presidents Zine el Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
As if those events were an eye-opener and recognition of peoples’ power in the Arab world, defenseless citizens of Bahrain and Libya have also embarked on anti-government protests aimed at toppling their respective leaders who have been in power for 40 years.
There is a Ghanaian proverb that says, when a bird stays too long on a tree, it is asking for a shot. Nothing can be more appropriate, particularly with regard to Prime Minister Sheikh Al Khalifa of Bahrain and President Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who have ruled for over 40 years. Mubarak was in power for 30 years and Ben Ali ruled for 23 years.
Unfortunately, and very disturbingly, the current events in the Arab world seem to be presented by the mainstream media in ways that show degrees of malicious intent. For instance, while the protests in Egypt and Bahrain have been portrayed as peaceful and devoid of brutalization of protesters, the events in Libya, from the very beginning, appear to be grossly exaggerated. Present media reports indicate that thousands and thousands of protesters have been killed and that the streets of Libya are flowing with blood. Just reports, no available horrific images as yet have been shown reflecting the alleged massacres in Libya. Meanwhile there have been independent reports of deaths and brutalization of protesters in both Egypt and Bahrain where the situations were reported as peaceful by the mainstream media.
Not surprisingly, some Western media correspondents are calling for the invasion of Libya by an international force to liberate the Libyans. Of course, those who are calling for such a war will surely not be among the gallant men and women in uniform who may have to be flown into Libya to engage in a war.
One will be quick to ask the proponents of a Libyan invasion one question. Why Libya? Is the massacre and barbarism that had plagued Sudan for years unworthy of military intervention by the international community? Is it a case of who has oil, and who has no oil?
For eight years, we have had to engage in a needless war in Irag. The painful lessons from that pre-meditated war – the result of blatant lies – are still fresh in our minds. Any hasty attempt to push for an invasion of Libya will be too counter-productive. We may end up with the emergence of a new militant group, possibly Al Qaeda in Libya.
Gaddafi might be authoritative and arrogant as a leader, perhaps even an embodiment of all that is resentful and distasteful in politics, however, to suggest that an international force should be sent to bomb strategic ports in Libya is not the appropriate solution that the peaceful world would love to see applied.
The repercussions of such a dangerous move will be very unwelcome. It will cause a deepening of the present unbearable economic hardship. The price of a barrel of oil has started to go up and it is speculated that, barring any peaceful resolution of the Libyan anti-government protests, a gallon of petrol will hit $5.00 or more by Memorial Day, May 30, 2011.
War is not the answer. No. Not in Libya.