IRISH MOVEMENT:THE WESTERN-led military intervention in Libya will make things worse for the people of that country and is unlikely to bring democracy, according to the Irish Anti-War Movement.
The movement’s Jim Roche said the lessons of that experience had to be heeded. The move against the Gadafy regime, he said, set the western world on an escalation of military intervention, involvement in a civil war and an attempt at regime change that would risk ending up with a western occupation of “at least part” of Libya.
“The experience of Iraq shows that genuine democracy and freedom cannot grow from aerial bombardment and foreign occupation.”
Describing the US-led air strikes as an “interventionist act of war”, the movement said the stated intentions of the West as regards Libya could not be trusted.
It said Muammar Gadafy was a dictator who, until very recently, western leaders had been happy to support with military advice and hardware.
“It should be noted that while the UNSC [the United Nations Security Council] was voting to impose a no-fly zone in Libya, at least 40 civilians were killed in a US drone attack in Waziristan in Pakistan, there was a brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain by an invading US-backed Saudi army and 40 protesters were gunned down in Sana’a, Yemen.”
Glenda Cimino said the movement supported Arab pro-democracy movements but was against western military intervention.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Government would not make a comment on the Libyan crisis over the weekend.
