The Communist Party of the USA deplores the attacks by U.S., French and British forces against Libya. With the projection of power by U.S. and other NATO governments, the crisis that was initiated by the government of Libya when its security forces opened fire on unarmed demonstrators calling for democratization stands a chance of turning into a full fledged civil war with sustained imperialist intervention.

With a bold, self-serving interpretation of the U.N. Security Council’s vote on March 17, several member states of NATO, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France, have begun an air and sea bombardment of Libya, increasing the danger of civilian and military casualties on all sides, and threatening the integrity of Libya as a sovereign nation in control of its own resources.

While French and British jets have pounded away at Libyan targets, the United States in the first day hit Libya with at least 100 ship-launched tomahawk missiles, with no end in sight.

In spite of the all-too-evident crimes and abuses of Gadaffi’s regime, a civil war with massive foreign intervention is not in the interests of the either the Libyan or the American people, or humanity in general, which is served only by peace and cooperation among the nations. The Middle East area is one of the most conflict-ridden and unstable in the world, and there is real danger that a civil war in Libya could lead to a wider conflagration.

This situation needs to be deescalated, also, because of the bad precedent it sets for NATO and/or U.S. intervention in situations of internal conflict all over the world. We have only to recall the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia to perceive how such military interventions, carried out under humanitarian pretexts, end up causing more death, suffering and destruction than the situations they were supposed to remedy.

In its recent meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, NATO announced to the world that it would be projecting armed force well beyond the “North Atlantic” area. Clearly, the purpose of this force is neither defensive nor humanitarian, but rather serves the economic interests of the wealthy capitalist countries and multinational corporations.

To understand the hypocrisy of the current attack campaign, we have only to ask: Why no intervention in any of the other Middle East countries ruled by tyrants and currently undergoing popular uprisings? Why not in Yemen, or Bahrain?

We are of the opinion that the special interest on the part of imperialism in intervening in Libya can only relate to the politics of oil. Libya is a major supplier of oil to several of the NATO countries (especially to Italy), and has run its own nationalized oil production since 1969.

The current uprising in Libya is centered in the Eastern part of the country, where a large proportion of Libya’s oil production is also to be found. For the NATO powers to end up in substantial control of Libya’s oil production, even if it is not privatized into the hands of multinational corporations, might have an impact on things like OPEC production quotas.

As it is, the instability in Libya is contributing to a rise in oil prices that affects us in the United States as well.

In addition, the fall of client regimes of Tunisia and Egypt, and the shakiness being experienced by others in the region such as Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco and others, weakens the influence of imperialism in this vital area. We can’t exclude the possibility that imperialism sees the Libya crisis as a means to restoring part of its influence in the Middle East.

Several states and international organizations, some of which voted for the Security Council Resolution, or abstained when they might have voted “no” or even vetoed it, are now having second thoughts about the wisdom of the actions currently being taken. China, Russia, Turkey, India and the Arab League, as well as the Bolivarian Alliance countries in Latin America have all criticized the attacks on Libya.

We hope that the U.S. government, which was not originally enthusiastic about taking military action to create a no-fly zone in Libya, will have such second thoughts also.

Therefore, the CPUSA calls for:

1. An immediate cease-fire by all parties concerned (the Libyan government, the insurgents and outside powers), to be monitored by neutral forces.
2. A negotiated settlement which preserves Libya’s national sovereignty and control of its natural resources, especially its oil and gas reserves and production, while answering the demands of the Libyan people for a democratic transformation of their society and political system, and an end to repression of dissent.
3. Protection for the safety of vulnerable sections of the population of Libya, including foreign migrant workers trapped in a situation not of their making.
4. International action to permit the exit from Libya of refugees whose survival is threatened by the current situation, plus access to humanitarian aid for all areas of Libya, and the restoration of electrical, internet and other services.
5. Support by all progressive people for the struggle of the Libyan people for labor rights, free and democratic elections, freedom of speech, press and association and an end to repression.

Photo: (Vertigogen/CC)

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