No-fly zone: Clouding words of war

[EFerrari]

The West has used euphemism to deny a state of war against Gaddafi under the guise of a humanitarian mission.

Tarak Barkawi Last Modified: 28 Mar 2011 13:41


Phantasms from the 1990s are upon us: no-fly zones; the rhetoric of humanitarian war in Washington, Europe and the UN; guarantees that no US ground troops will be deployed; an air war which alone cannot decisively affect earthbound events.

President Obama swung for ringing tones in his statement on Libya, condemning idleness in the face of merciless tyrants who brutally assault innocents.

In the legal codes through which the international community acknowledges so untoward a happening as war, the UN resolved to protect civilians and create a cordon sanitaire around the blighted country.

But it was all a faraway echo from the Yugoslav heyday of believing people could be bombed for humanitarian effect.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201132881618969257.html