Response to Juan Cole Who Supports the Military Attack on Libya by Western Powers

Tweet Prof. Juan Cole at Informed Comment has an "Open Letter to the Left on Libya." It can be found here: http://www.juancole.com/2011/03/an-open-letter-to-the-left-on-libya.html
He supports the military intervention by U.S./UN/EU/NATO.

My response, which is awaiting moderation on his site (4 pm, Sunday):

Two things (out of many) I disagree with in this letter:

For a professor who is an expert in political affairs, Cole's definition of anti-imperialism is ridiculous:

2. Absolute anti-imperialism (all interventions in world affairs by outsiders are wrong).

Imperialism is defined as:

"the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies."

Anti-imperialism is thus against the moves of empires, not just any "outsiders," as Cole characterizes it.

Which leads me to second problem with Prof. Cole's analysis.

In the US, progressive people actually went to fight in the Spanish Civil War, forming the Lincoln Brigade. That was a foreign intervention.

Cole keeps confusing the people of the world with the institutions that rule over them. The UN, which Cole keeps citing in his article to legitimize his rationalization for the empire's intervention, banned the Lincoln Brigade and the U.S. prosecuted people who joined it.

By early 1937, its [Lincoln Brigade] numbers had swelled from an initial 96 volunteers to around 450 members. In February 1937, the European powers comprising the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee banned foreign national volunteers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Brigade

When you support this intervention, you are giving power to the same entities who are doing this:

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/american-media-bury-story-of-drone-attack-that-killed-40-in-pakistan-incg-many-tribal-elders.html/comment-page-1#comment-299750

The capitalists in this country collaborated with Hitler until they saw the necessity to save investments in Britain and France, to whom they had loaned millions of dollars. Remember their denial Jewish immigration to the U.S.? It did not serve the interest of some sector of the elites.

If more anti-imperialists had stuck to their principles and supported Eugene Debs and Rosa Luxembourg, we may not have had the carnage that was World War I.

Linda J.