destroyed the nation’s infrastructure and tore asunder the societal fabric. By disbanding the entire Iraqi military and bureaucracy, and supporting a sectarian Shia government, the US created a power vacuum – a space for Isisto seize power. Isis currently controls a huge swath of Iraq, some 13,000 square miles, and wreaks havoc on the predominantly Shia population.
Libya is a similarly tragic tale. When the peaceful protests against Muammar Gaddafi were met with government violence, an armed rebellion emerged that called for military help from the west. With Nato’s help in this ‘humanitarian intervention’, Gaddafi was overthrown in October 2011.
Today, Libya is considered a ‘failed state’ run by extremist militias and two opposing governments vying for power. Ex-rebel commanders, former exiles, Islamists, tribal leaders are all fighting for control.
Before the ‘liberation’, Libya was the richest country in Africa. It provided all Libyans with free healthcare and education. Today Libyans have almost no functioning public services, with daily blackouts and water shortages.
On the anniversaries of these two epic failures in Iraq and Libya, anti-war activists are gathering for four days of actions from March 18-21. They are protesting the past interventions, the present-day US participation in wars in the Middle East and the possibility of a new war with Iran.
The activities include a ‘spring cleaning of Congress’, where activists will march into the offices of the most hawkish members of Congress, dusting off the cobwebs of war and the fingerprints of military contractors. They’ll take a bus tour of warmakers and their enablers, including the Pentagon, the FBI, the lobby group AIPAC and the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. The gathering will culminate at a rally at the White House.
Excerpted from: ‘Iraq, Libya...Iran? US Activists Mark War Anniversaries with Spring Rising’.
Courtesy: Commondreams.org