Military intervention in Libya

The U.S. (and even Europe in general) is in no moral position to intervene anywhere in the world at this time. Since WWII (which was preceded by the coddling of European fascism and corporate complicity in rearming Germany), U.S. military intervention has resulted in such great numbers of deaths of innocents as to dwarf any possible justification. Vietnam (and Cambodia and Laos), Afghanistan and Iraq were all large-scale wars of choice. They were sold with the usual hoopla and words about democracy: yada yada. They were all military and moral mistakes.

American foreign policy has been largely a bloody and expensive fraud, and the lives of tens of thousands of American troops were, to put it bluntly, wasted. The "other" deaths: of the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of civilians -- maybe millions -- are evidence of a criminal arrogance that will taint our reputation for many generations -- maybe forever.

The last thing we need to do now is send the American bombers -- the Johnny-one-notes of our foreign "presence" -- over Tripoli. The Libyans have a chance to get rid of the murderer Qaddafi. Let's hope they succeed. If they don't, they will try again, or he will die of old age. If we start bombing, you know that thousands will be killed, and not just the dictator's minions and mercenaries. American-caused collateral damage always seems to amount to more than the damage caused by the forces we are nominally fighting.

The Europeans -- France, Germany, England, Italy -- are the faces of old-world imperialism and death, all currently ruled by old-line conservative governments. Their moral claims are hardly redeeming, especially when it comes to oil and other natural resources.

Let's keep the Western death squads contained for once.