Obama Talk on Libya 'Disappointing,' Says PANW Editor

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, speaking at the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on April 5, 2008. The event commemorated the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Obama talk on Libya
war 'disappointing'

Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:53PM

President Barak Obama's speech on America's military intervention in Libya has been extremely 'disappointing' to the people not only in the US but also throughout the world, says a political observer.

“Here we are in another period of war... I think the cost is going to be tremendous not only for the people here in the US, but also for the people throughout the North African region and the Middle East,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire, in a Press TV interview on Tuesday.

In a nationally televised address to the American people Tuesday evening, Obama defended the US military intervention in the crisis-hit North African country, claiming that it has saved "countless lives."

Obama also said that the US participation in the coalition against Muammar Gaddafi's regime has been backed by the United Nations Security Council.

Azikiwe, however, noted that the US often utilizes the United Nations to carry out military operations against the affairs and interests of other nations under the pretext of humanitarian assistance.

“We saw it in Korea in 1950, where the war lasted for three years and resulted in the death of millions of Koreans... We also saw it in Congo in 1960 and 1961 that resulted in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. It [also] was done 20 years ago, when they had this so-called first [Persian] Gulf War and they attempted to do it in 2003 but it could not get another UN Security Council resolution to authorize the war against Iraq,” Azikiwe said.

Azikiwe went on to add that the US involvement in Libya will have repercussions not only for the American political leaders but also for the people living in the country.

“It will continue the economic crisis that people in the US have been suffering from for the last two and half years which has spread internationally to all the industrialized and developing countries throughout the world."

According to a Tuesday report by the US Department of Defense, the US military expenditures for the ongoing airstrikes in Libya have topped 550 million dollars.