U.S. human rights supporters who called for an end to the genocide by Muammar Gaddafi perpetrated against pretty much everyone else in Libya, are now saying they weren’t really calling for a course of action. Despite urging intervention even after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, said “any no fly zone begins with an act of war”, several groups turned out in New York and Chicago, three days ago, to protest the use of force.
In Chicago, one demonstrator remarked, “When we said that it must be stopped, we didn’t mean by the United States or, if we did, we didn’t mean by the military or, if we did, we didn’t mean using weapons.” The protester was holding a sign that read “Drop daisies from balloons not bombs from planes.”
A protestor in the rally in Times Square, said “We may have wanted to stick up for people’s human rights, but we didn’t mean actually doing anything about it. It was more a suggestion, to Gaddafi, that he be a nicer guy and let the protesters in his country live.” Those thoughts were echoed by another participant, “I would rather every protestor in Libya die under missile attacks by their government than that our government use missiles to stop their missiles. That’s just wrong.”
Even normally hawkish voices oppose US involvement in the coalition to stop the attacks. Newt Gingrich said yesterday, “All war is inherently dirty. I don’t oppose war. I don’t oppose invasion. I don’t oppose attacking anyone. I don’t even oppose suspending the Constitution, secret prisons, torture – if you want to call it that, and making people disappear if we need to. I merely oppose it when the Obama administration does it. If I were the next President, for example, and I were doing it, then it would be OK. Other than that, it’s madness. Just outright madness.” Sources close to Gingrich say he is currently considering a presidential bid in 2012 on a platform of consistency at home and abroad.