22 August 2011
Amnesty International has today urged all sides in Libya to protect the rights of civilians and safeguard them from attack as forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) continued to battle for control of the capital, Tripoli.
NTC forces said earlier that they had captured some of Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi's sons, including Saif al-Islam who, like his father, was recently indicted for alleged crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Editor's note: This article was written before Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, the youngest son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was reported killed in a Nato air strike on April 30, 2011. Three of the elder Gaddifi's grandchildren were also reported killed by the strike on the family compound in Tripoli.
As Canada enters the final days in 2011 election campaigning, politicians streaking across the country have offered little more than resounding silence on Canada's military role in Libya.
The brutal massacres of civilians in Libya at the order of the country's dictator, Moammar Gaddafi, have shocked the world. His air force has carried out air strikes against unarmed civilians. On Feb. 25, Gaddafi followers aimed murderous fire at anti-government protests in his last stronghold, Tripoli. The government declares its intention of reconquering the country in civil war.
What can we in Canada do to end the killings?
On Feb. 26, the United Nations Security Council voted for sanctions against the Libyan regime, including an arms embargo and the freezing of assets belonging to Gadhafi and his family. These measures are hardly more than cosmetic, serving to polish up great-power credentials.
In order to provide an intelligible understanding and analysis of the current situation in the Middle East, especially regarding Syria, it is important to briefly discuss the current Middle Eastern context within the larger frame of U.S. and European imperialism.
Throughout the last year, people all over the globe - especially on the left, the young and progressives - have been living the excitement of the achievements of the peoples in various parts of the Arab world, especially Tunisia and Egypt.
I am sure that also many of us were cheering for the NATO invasion - at the request of most members in the Arab League - which at the time we thought of as a life-saving intervention!
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