Monday 7 October 2013

The US and Humpty Dumpty.

Imagine that during that in 1986 British Commandos crossed over into the Republic of Ireland and captured a key IRA figure. 

Imagine the reaction in the US Congress to this. Would they support the uK government or denounce it as a illegal act

I am posing this question  because Libya has demanded an explanation for the "kidnapping" of one of its citizens by American special forces, hours after a separate US military raid on a terrorist target in Somalia ended in apparent failure and retreat.
In Tripoli the US army's Delta force seized alleged al-Qaida leader Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Abu Anas al-Liby and wanted for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 220 people.
Libya's government refused to say whether its forces were involved in the arrest and claimed it had not been informed in advance. A statement from the prime minister, Ali Zaidan, said: "The Libyan government is following the news of the kidnapping of a Libyan citizen who is wanted by US authorities. The Libyan government has contacted US authorities to ask them to provide an explanation."

It seems that a a similar action in Somalia had the support of the Somali government  wbut failed in its mission  when they launched an amphibious assault to capture an Islamist militant leader said to be Ahmed Godane, described as Africa's most wanted man and the architect of last month's attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya. The elite Seals were beaten back by heavy fire and apparently abandoned equipment that the Somali militants photographed and posted on the internet.

 US Secretary of State John Kerry s aid the operations in Libya and Somalia showed that the US would never stop "in its effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror".
Those who attacked American interests "can run but they can't hide", he said.
 and that  Anas al-Liby would was a "legal target and face e justice in a court of law".
one can sympathise with the US when it sees known members of a terrorist operating in another country, but the rule of law  and can they say really  something is legal just because they say so.


There is a clear fealing amongst those in the US Government  that they are justified in any action they like and that they can do this in any part of the world.

They should  learn from the British Empire and that a Pax Americana is no more real or stable than a Pax Britannia was and the more you tried to impose it  the more it was resented .

When the UK introduced interment without trial in Northern Ireland  it saw an increase in membership of the IRA from those who had not previously had any enthusiasm for violence.

The US in behaving as they are may in the short term by  arresting  prominent wanted terrorist but in the long term it is building up resentment throughout the Middle East.

I suppose some may accuse me of Anti US rhetoric but the trouble with the "If you are not with us , you are against us." statement of George W Bush  is that you should listen to your friends when they tell you that you are wrong not shun them.
If the US wants to defeat terrorism this is not the way to go about it.

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