by Tariq Ali:
THE NATO bombing of Libya was an attempt by the West to regain the "democratic" initiative after its dictators were toppled elsewhere. It has made the situation worse. The so-called pre-empting of a massacre has led to the killing of hundreds of soldiers, many of whom were fighting under duress, and permitted the ghastly Muammar Qaddafi to masquerade as an anti-imperialist.
Here, one has to say that whatever the final outcome, the Libyan people have lost. The country will either be partitioned into a Qaddafi state and a squalid pro-West protectorate led by selected businessmen, or the West will take out Qaddafi and control the whole of Libya and its huge oil reserves. This display of affection for "democracy" does not extend elsewhere in the region.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/05/02/reshaping-the-arab-world
