Libya and the West's Human Rights Hypocrisy

For some time to come, Libya shall stand as an enduring symbol of the West's hypocrisy, and indeed duplicity, on the issue of human rights. While the West, and especially the United States, justified its aerial bombardment of Libya last year on the pretense of saving civilians from a possible, future (rather than actual) attack by Gaddafi forces, the West is silent about the real and ongoing attack of the new Libyan regime upon the town of Bani Walid. Indeed, one must strain hard to even learn of this attack in the press. On October 5, 2012, Amnesty International reported upon the siege of Bani Walid by government forces. As Amnesty explained then, "members of the Libyan army, Libya Shield forces and armed militias from various parts of the country, including Misatra, surrounded Bani Walid," ostensibly on the grounds of trying to hunt down and arrest suspects responsible for the killing of Omran Shaaban, "credited with capturing Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi on 20 October 2011." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/human-rights-libya_b_2001880.html (The Huffington Post)