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Herman: U.S., NATO Hypocrisy on Libya Precludes Their Action

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Edward HermanI’m surprised that Phyllis Bennis doesn’t recognize the problems of what we may call “clean hands” — and hypocrisy — in her call for Security Council action on Libya. Do the United States, UK, France and Germany have clean hands that would justify antiwar, anti-imperialist and humanitarians calling upon them to act against Libya? They are daily attacking Afghanistan and Pakistan and have given unstinting support to Israeli ethnic cleansing and international law violations. Doesn’t this discredit the Security Council as an instrument of international justice?

Shouldn’t Bennis be calling on the Security Council to prosecute its NATO members for ongoing crimes, which is of course ridiculous but points up the fact that the SC can hardly be called upon to deal with Libyan crimes without implicitly sanctioning NATO crimes by making it an instrument of justice. Your juxtaposition of  a critique of U.S. protection of Israel with a call for U.S. (NATO) action on Libya highlights this contradiction.

PS — See: 65 civilians killed in U.S. operation, Afghanistan says and Karzai aides decry Petraeus remarks