US contractors are on the ground in Libya with reports of Blackwater being among the Qataris, British, French, Italian, US, and other Special Forces. The Libyan people have been irreparably harmed and with the murder on 20 October of their Chief of all the tribes, Ali, unarmed at his home in Bani Walid, there are rumors of revenge killings already having begun.
Video images of the last moments of what we are told are Muammar and Muatassim Qaddafi, amid shouts of God is Great, make me shudder. In my opinion, the dignity of all of us has been debased by the cumulative images of the US/NATO "humanitarian intervention" in Libya, starting with the meeting in Geneva at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, through the perorations of the US United Nations Ambassador, through all the videos of murders and death and destruction, through the events of 20 October and up to now.
As my fellow peace and human rights activists of the 1960s did, I now proclaim my own humanity: my heart, soul, character, and ethics are intact. I am deeply affected by what I have witnessed. I am deeply disappointed in how far the United States has been steered off course. The people of the United States do have the power still to stop this madness. I recommend the words of our 35th President when he asks that each of us examine our own attitude toward peace. And what kind of peace do we want for our country and the world?
Watch this video and then you, too, will know that everything that has happened to the people of Libya and the people of Africa who depended on them, and to us, too, in allowing this to take place, in some cases even advocating this, has been based on assertions where there is no evidence--admitted by the man who lodged the initial complaint followed by misinformation, propaganda, and deliberate disinformation. I went to Libya with a delegation of journalists to strive to know; I participated in a 29-city tour in an effort to share the truth with those willing to hear. I failed in my effort to stop the madness. Sadly, in this affair, there has been no truth, no justice, no peace, and no dignity.
