Dennis Kucinich is correct about Libya

Few congress members in the United States seem to have the bravery and courage to stand up for what is just and honorable. One of those people is Representative Dennis Kucinich who is in the process of attempting to sponsor a piece of legislation that would call for an end to military operations by the United States in Libya.

It is about time that someone in our Congress had the courage to stand up and condemn the war in Libya because it is in direct violation of our Constitution. The United States Constitution says that only Congress has the authority to declare war and not the President. Furthermore, President Obama had to obtain permission from Congress for the operations in Libya and he did not do so.

Let’s consider another valid point here. Muammar Gadaffi has been in power since 1969 and somehow the United States and its allies are having an issue with him now? After 42 years, the United States, France and England are having problems with the fact that Gadaffi is still the leader in Libya. And another question to ask is who Gadaffi going to threaten? He is certainly not a threat to Western countries. Let’s not forget that in 1986 then US President Ronald Reagan authorized air strikes that specifically were targeting Gadaffi. It is against international law to kill foreign leaders. And now this latest current mess in Libya is estimated to be costing the United States close to $1 billion (Kucinich). All this money is being spent in Libya when our country is facing cuts in education and various social services.

Surely the United States can do much better than this. The United Nations only initially said that there should be a no-fly zone over Libya and that civilians should be protected. Clearly, the UN was dishonest about these intentions and civilians are still getting killed. The United States is essentially involved in Libyan civil war between the people who oppose Gadaffi and those who support him. This civil war does nothing to increase the security of the United States and it may actually increase the risk of attacks on US and other Western targets. It is not the responsibility of the United States or other countries to determine who the leader of Libya should be. That is up to the Libyan people to decide.

If the United States is so concerned about freedom and democracy, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan and Ali Khamenei of Iran are leaders that are far more brutal and autocratic compared to Gadaffi. The reality is that in the eyes of the US government, Gadaffi is no longer useful for their interests and that’s why they want to get him out of Libya. This mission has no clear objective and it is not about saving the people of Libya. This is the same kind of story that has been happening since 1945. The United States and now the United Kingdom especially have been going around the world occupying and invading countries and changing their leaders by force. These actions are not only wrong and illegal but they are human rights violations. The United States has absolutely no business to criticize China when their government is guilty of corruption and human rights abuses. These interventions must stop right now. The United States is on the verge of bankruptcy and it cannot afford to continue this disastrous and illegal mission in Libya.

The intervention in Libya is similar to the way the war in Iraq started on the basis of faulty logic and reasoning. In Iraq, the excuse that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction was used as a pretext to attack that country. Saddam Hussein was overthrown and executed and the US military has officially lost almost 5,000 soldiers for nothing. Now, the United States, France and the UK are once again using faulty logic to justify bombing Libya. Does this sound familiar or not?

It is true that Gadaffi has made lots of mistakes and he is far from perfect but the question to ask is what is the purpose of this intervention? No matter how terrible of a person Gadaffi is, in life everything comes at a price. The price for the intervention in Libya is wasted money and lost lives. It is really not worth it.

A true American would stand up for what is right and just and Dennis Kucinich is one of these people. We need more people in this country like him. Our government should be focused on taking care of the needs of its citizens instead of wasting all this money to be involved in a Libyan civil war which is not winnable because it has no clear purpose.

Works Cited

Kucinich, Dennis. The Guardian. 6 July 2011. 7 July 2011 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jul/06/libya-nato1>.