The judges in the trial, which was carried out by a Scottish court in the Netherlands, convicted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi solely on flimsy circumstantial evidence, and let Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah go free. It was hardly a triumphant finale for imperialism that the prosecutors, in spite of aid from the U.S. FBI and CIA, were unable to present any witnesses to testify that either Megrahi or Fhimah had constructed a bomb or put it on the plane.

Washington, with London's help, has carried out a relentless campaign of slander, economic pressure, and military aggression against Libya since the uprising that overthrew the U.S.-backed monarch in 1969 forced the U.S. military to vacate its airbase there, and nationalized banks and oil companies owned by U.S. and European capitalists. In one fell swoop the U.S. capitalists lost a compliant regime, a protectorate where they could make large profits from petroleum and use its territory for a regional military base.

Washington's history of aggression against Libya includes not only the bombing of Tripoli, ordered by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, and economic sanctions, but also the demonization of Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar Gadhafi, in the name of the fight against "terrorism."

But it is Washington that is guilty of carrying out state terror, not only in the bombing of Libya, but in the brutal assault and embargo against Iraq, which continues to this day; in the bombing of Vieques, Puerto Rico; two wars against the people of Yugoslavia; and in the assaults and 40-year embargo against revolutionary Cuba.

Bush announced that U.S. sanctions will stay in place. He demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the Pan Am explosion and pay compensation to the families of the 270 victims. Washington has never offered an apology, let alone compensation, for its murderous 1986 assault on Libya.

The Clinton administration lumped Libya along with Iraq, Cuba, and North Korea as "rogue states." It is clear that Bush will continue to target Libya and other countries that don't kowtow to the interests of U.S. capital.

Bush's reaffirmation of an offensive stance toward Libya is of a piece with the administration's announced plans to build on the groundwork laid by Clinton to create a space-based missile system that will give Washington first-strike nuclear capability against its foes, and of the administration's stepped-up efforts to maintain sanctions against Iraq. This brutal imperialist foreign policy is an extension of the attack being waged at home against unions, the social wage, and democratic rights.

It is in the interests of workers and farmers around the world to defend Libya against the attacks on its sovereignty, call for Bush to drop the sanctions, and demand, "U.S. hands off Libya." Equally important is to get out the truth about Washington's history of violence and lies carried out against the world's toilers in the interests of the profits of a handful of capitalist families. Workers and farmers who are resisting the attacks dealt by the capitalists at home--layoffs, high fuel costs, and the erosion of the social wage--will be increasingly open to seeing that they have the same enemy as their brother and sister workers in countries such as Libya.
 
 
Related article:
Pan Am trial is latest U.S. assault on Libya  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home