Youth group Anakbayan staged a surprise rally near the U.S Embassy in Manila today to condemn the ‘growing brutality’ of the airstrike campaign of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), attacking targets beyond the initially-claimed objectives of the so-called ‘no-fly-zone’.
Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo noted the contrast between earlier pronouncements on the ‘no-fly zone’, which said that it merely aimed to protect civilians from attacks, and bombings done by U.S-NATO forces against targets in areas where there is no combat, such as in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The latest example is a cruise missile strike last Sunday against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s residential compound.
He cited the statement of Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa last Sunday, which criticized the ‘no-fly-zone’ initially approved by the 22-country association. He said “The approval of a no-fly zone on March 12th based on a desire to prevent Moammar Gaddafi’s air force from attacking civilians and was not designed to endorse the intense bombing and missile attacks – including Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces. What we want is the protection of civillians and not the shelling of more civillians.”
“Even some U.S supporter-nations are realizing that they have been taken for a ride: it’s not civilians that the U.S is looking after” said the youth leader.
As of press time, Libyan government authorities are claiming 64 civilian casualties since the start of the bombings.
The militant group of young workers, professionals, and students meanwhile took the U.S and NATO to task for practicing a ‘double standard’ towards nations in the MENA (Middle East-North Africa) region.
“Where are the airstrikes against the civilian-slaugthering regimes in Yemen and Bahrain?” said Crisostomo.
Fifty civilians in Yemen and six in Bahrain have reportedly been killed last week after state security forces opened fire with live ammunition against unarmed protesters. Unlike Libya’s Gaddafi, the regimes of the two nations are known allies of the U.S: Bahrain houses the U.S Navy’s 5th Fleet, while Yemen also receives millions of dollars yearly in U.S military aid. Unlike Libya also, the oil industries of the two are not nationalized.
