Answer for Glenn Greenwald, for whom I have enormous respect: Yes. Iraq was an illegal war, for no pressing national interest & with no UNSC authorization. The Libya intervention is legal and was necessary to prevent further massacres and to forestall a threat to democratization in Tunisia and Egypt, and if it succeeds in getting […]
Cole/ Van den Heuvel on Libya: Nation Podcast
My conversation with Katrina van den Heuvel, the editor of the Nation, “Do we belong in Libya?” is available at the Nation’s web site. . They also kindly reprinted my open letter to the Left on Libya. Here is the embedded podcast: It looks like you don’t have Adobe Flash Player installed. Get it now. […]
Qaddafi Forces Advance on All Fronts Despite Bombardment
Leaders of much of the world agreed that Qaddafi must go on Wednesday morning at a conference in Europe. Canadian jets pounded an ammunition dump on Wednesday morning near the beleaguered city of Misrata. US naval vessels launched Tomahawks at munitions storage points in Tripoli. And US ships fired on and chased away ships of […]
Debate on Libya: Cole at Democracy Now!
My debate over intervention in Libya with my esteemed colleague Professor Vijay Prashad is available as a transcript and podcast at Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!. Here is the embedded video: And here is part 1 via YouTube for the Adobe Flash challenged: And Part 2:
Iran, Iraq Warn of Gulf Turmoil over Bahrain: Cole in Truthdig
My column at Truthdig is out, entitled “The Sleeping Giants of Tiny Bahrain.” Excerpt: ‘ Risking the radicalization of Bahrain’s Shiite community may be a very bad idea. Worries on that score are what led Vice President Joe Biden to ask again in a phone call Sunday to the king of the island nation for […]
Obama on Libya vs. Trump, Palin, Bachmann, Romney, Gingrich and Carrot Top
President Barack Obama in his Monday evening address to the nation on Libya outlined an effort of limitations. The US could not intervene everywhere, but it could intervene to good effect here. America is acting in concert with the Arab League, the United Nations and NATO, not striking out unilaterally. The most important US contribution […]
Women’s Rallies in Libya Protest Rape
CNN reports that Libyan women in Benghazi staged a demonstration on Sunday to protest the alleged rape of Iman al-Obeidi by Libyan government officials in Tripoli. Al-Obeidi made headlines on Saturday by bursting into a Qaddafi government press conference and telling her story to the reporters. She was bundled away and disappeared, but on Sunday […]
Rebels take Back Oil Centers as Tripoli suffers Gasoline Crisis
Irregulars of the Libyan liberation movement rapidly advanced along the coastal road going West on Sunday, reestablishing control over Brega, Ra’s Lanuf, Ben Jawad and, they say, going all the way to Sirt (no independent source confirms that they actually reached the latter by mid-morning Monday). The path was paved by British Tornado fighter jets […]
An Open Letter to the Left on Libya
As I expected, now that Qaddafi’s advantage in armor and heavy weapons is being neutralized by the UN allies’ air campaign, the liberation movement is regaining lost territory. Liberators took back Ajdabiya and Brega (Marsa al-Burayqa), key oil towns, on Saturday into Sunday morning, and seemed set to head further West. This rapid advance is […]
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