they think that a quick bit of bombing will sort the matter out but in fact i think they will find that it will last far longer than they have gone before the house the white house figured out the clear strategy for libya or is this just a page from history books only see yugoslavia one thousand nine hundred nine. the command and control business is complicated. but we haven't done something like this kind of. on the fly before dropping a hypocritical bomb on the fly war in libya the one other on the fly decisions are being made by western allies. was

a little worrisome. she. got back from her presidential primary. race in. their pale and done it how could be romney and barbara too so does the road to twenty top twelve always pass through israel. it's thursday march twenty fourth four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine freeze out and you're watching our team well today marks the twelfth anniversary of the nato bombings in yugoslavia it was a different time but with recent military outbursts in the west against libya it's hard not to draw some parallels between the two attacks are just on a stance you're going to analyze as the wars past and present. in march seasons change sunshine invites americans onto the streets american politicians invite

themselves to foreign countries. march nine hundred ninety nine the u.s. and its nato allies bomb yugoslavia on forces joined our nato allies and air strikes against serbia and forces responsible for the brutality in kosovo and march two thousand and eleven america's next democratic president and a new coalition of the willing attack libya the un security council passed a strong resolution that demands and to the violence against its. it authorizes the use of force the libya was sanctioned by the one security council in contrast to the bombings of yugoslavia there was no such green light in one thousand nine hundred nine in the bombings were led by nido the first time a military alliance atop a sovereign nation a non nato member posing no threat to the group similarly libya poses no external threat and there are other striking parallels between the conduct of these wars the

enemy then slaughtered on the loss of each job to news hitler's the enemy of today the eccentric non-market offie and power for over forty years as much as cafes does john bell yeah no dressed freak show he modernized leave for a while now similarly villainize by the us how about these to see step down from power and leave the cool now and back very getting rid of a leader no longer favored by the west taking sides with a questionable opposition in what started as a civil war what we're seeing is a four fledged war including attempting evidently to kill the head of state of the targeted country and other leaders of the government that again as you know a page from the yugoslav worker of twelve years ago. what is the world learned evidently not much the official reason for western involvement in a so-called humanitarian mission a term coined amid the bombings of nine hundred ninety nine if you're willing to

use a really good bomber because of it because it's going to save its people. essentially that was. all your stuff rationale still relied upon put widely questioned you need to know the greatest series of surveyors with all those businesses very well off as a source of a lot of the killing received. very little here is a serious the engine of that machine both then and now a no fly zone code for aerial bars. fueled in libya by the additional all necessary measures called for war where the line between the enemy in a foreign land and its civilians afton gets blurred they did it in yugoslavia with thousands of people killed and close to one million displaced after the war when they get a count they found the us nato bombs had destroyed fourteen tanks and serbia fourteen tanks. they had also bombed four hundred thirty seven schools

a similar scenario is now predicted in libya obama vows the anti you could argue war will last days and not weeks that was the field plan and yugoslavia bombings lasted two and a half months to get a quick bit of bombing will sort the matter up but in fact i think they will find that it will last far longer than no campbell for twelve years on serbia still remembers the losses inflicted by us nato bombings the us is now involved in its fourth attempt of a foreign nation in the same twelve years and states and. we were. all right so from two evil dictators to two for humanitarian crises we're just connecting some historical dots here but we should talk about this all deeper so in montreal canada we go to michelle johnson asking editor of global research start. all right michelle first off clearly we're not the only ones drawing these

parallels between libya and the former yugoslavia you know the white house has a lot of intelligence on this what do you think the administration thinks it's doing differently this time. well first of all we have to understand this. in a sense provided her some shims for subsequent humanitarian bombings the way they did it in ninety nine eighty nine i recall or twelve years ago i was involved in it. very much there is that they had a. very detailed list of targets and in fact these were called legitimate military targets but they also included. raids shares t.v. stations schools and seventeenth century churches that historical monuments so that when wrote with a military humanitarian operation to save civilians but very active

bombing the stories lie and destroys a country and. from the reports that we're getting from libya that is exactly what is happening but not strictly directed against military targets. they are also bombing hospitals we heard two or couple of reports of course the media is not covering. what is actually going on on the ground in libya but just taking with this connection we shall i mean i'm wondering what you think people you know who live in the area the former yugoslavia what they say about the u.s. involvement twelve years ago today. well a lot of a lot of people in the serbian community are drawing those parallels and a lot of people who who are allies that are going to those thurles i should mention there's another there's another the mention of this whole thing. the pretext for

intervention in yugoslavia was to come to the rescue of helping. to support a course of old liberation albie. what they were saying is that it was committing atrocities it turned out it was the cause of the whole liberation army links up to organized crime for the drug trade which was in fact responsible for those that flows of things so they came in at least we haven't it's sort of action. or a humanitarian undertaking we're up with siding with the costs of the liberation army even though they knew at the time that the kosovo liberation army was loaded predicted so the sort of the talian bucko but it was also dinks up with al-qaeda. so those those parallels have to be drawn we don't even know to what who this opposition is i think it's without and i think we have to analyze that

but we know there has been acknowledged by western media that there are members of the. mc. lyte a group which is a critic of al-qaeda which has integrated opposition it is supposed to be a minor secular but nonetheless it's also there are i think you're saying twelve years ago the u.s. got involved in this mission just signed with the k.l.a. you're saying the k.l.a. actually worked with maybe was supported by al qaida i think some people would even draw this connection today i mean we think about khadafi saying time and time again that he is fighting osama bin line so if he's fighting us on bin ladin and the us. is fighting him does that mean that we're on the things i do this all along i'm not quoting. because the care if i could get up you would say well here's the good old reliable source i'm quoting c.n.n. now c.n.n.

the. news report couple of days ago they said. all as the bait and i'm not quoting exactly said we told those guys are talking about the opposition and they also acknowledge that they were. elements within the best opposition no i couldn't tell you that in yugoslavia in the you know if you know everybody was against the bombings hit the population even those that were posed for the loss of it were against the public i would suspect but it. including members of the opposition opposed so this military operation is something that we in fact have documented because they were there were groups within the opposition which were actually saying that they didn't want any kind of military intervention and that this was their war and. they didn't see these bombings as helping because i guess

i'm confused a little bit just to clarify michel i mean are you saying that what happened back twelve years ago in the former yugoslavia that that is seen today as somewhat of a success because and fact you know i do not milosevic out i when they said it what it took years they said it would take weeks and the bombing ever went on i think seventy eight days and the u.s. nonfederal army you know sort of the the enemy it was undefeated so i guess i'm confused i mean are you saying that now looking back that people in this country actually see that as an effort that was successful but look at the sort of the success of the point of view of the. coach some twenty five million people though period of whether it was seven. stages and that was the new this logo starting in the early voting oh that was the same so no you could both go ok but kurt supported the post and was a little b. without evidence about. so and so forth i won't get into the serials but it won't

happen is what has happened because the federation of yugoslavia no i speak of dublin for six countries six cookies though that was the results oh oh oh it's a pension support the insurgency is. we know that because it has been mentioned by us official sources that they would also like to see look at that house carved up into one of two or three separate countries and. of course issue there is fifteen shoot only it will be. all of all reserves certainly will be interesting to see what happens especially as we watch these negotiations between nato and the un as they work to try to take this over and shall toss it off he director of the center for research on globalization and owner of global research cia well one week ago the united nations security council adopted resolution one thousand nine hundred three this green light for the u.s. led coalition forces to launch air strikes into libya as we've been talking about

and as we know a no fly zone was established and countries were authorized to use quote all necessary measures to protect civilians from moammar gadhafi and his forces america britain and france blazed in like western cowboys that six days into their bombing campaign the allies well how to clearly explain what exactly they're doing or how the war they started will to at the end archies more important reports. operation odyssey dawn struck with quick mind. france and britain campaigned for the military offensive into libya but it was america that led the way. firing hundreds of tomahawk missiles against president moammar gadhafi stakes compounds and libyan air defenses nearly one week after waging war no country has been able to clarify a clear goal or exit strategy for libya it is u.s.

policy that gadhafi needs to go not so insists coalition partners britain so. do the u.n. resolution sold as a humanitarian intervention to protect libyan civilians from kentucky's firepower allied air strikes are now being blamed for mounting casualties there is also little sign of anti-god forces gaining much traction with only a few government forces switching sides as for the twenty two arab countries that push for the no fly zone their military is nowhere to be found only cutter put up a handful of warplanes prohibited from flying too close to libya meanwhile obama says the u.s. will hand over control of the mission but to whom nato countries are mired in disagreement from the brits and french to the turks have already said that all they want is a no fly zone nothing more than man the germans are now stating that they are

removing their navy from nato control so it seems like this is quite a model job and beat with the cost of this odyssey at a reported one hundred million dollars per day u.s. lawmakers want some answers we would have what is the intelligence that we have would secretary gates leaves us to believe that he doesn't know play and be we would have put it would that just last month u.s. defense secretary robert gates publicly. he opposed american military intervention in libya a third u.s. war he's now forced to defend this command and control business is complicated. we haven't done something like this kind of on the fly before. and and so it's not surprising to me that it would take a few days to get it all sure but also hard to sort out is us senator john mccain's position on libya the republican repeatedly called for gadhafi is removal he is the

blood of american society his hands because he was responsible for the bombing of pan am one o three yet just eighteen months ago mccain was in tripoli peddling american military equipment and shaking hands with the libyan leader and his son do everything we can to know. that the relations between our countries even. right now the rift couldn't be further apart as khadafi vows to fight fire with fire. in the short term we will be in the long term we will be nearly one week after spearheading a military intervention into another arab country the u.s. u.k. and france are coming under increasing pressure to explain the endgame of this scenario what is happening in libya who is in charge what does victory mean and when will this new and third u.s. that mission finally be accomplished or not artsy new york. all right

now on to an invasion of a different kind we're talking about the invasion into israel by could be presidential candidates from these united states there are palin is the latest one but she follows rudy giuliani mike huckabee mitt romney haley barbour and george pataki visits to the holy land all over the last few months are the loyalist areas in our new york studio. and lauren it's almost as if establishing your credentials and tell of eve is as vital as they stumping in new hampshire. well we certainly have seen several jay g.o.p. candidates make the trip seeming to make that case meeting with the leadership in israel claiming according to sarah palin's people for example that the trips are personal not political but yet the republican jewish coalition which is a jewish political organization was in talks with pailin to organize her trip to get her over there and they report that they've made these requests to anybody or

any republican politicians who have been mentioned as possible contenders in two thousand and twelve now experts also say that in the past democratic candidates have made this trip but the big question is why is it important for these politicians to be hobnobbing with the prime minister of another country although of course israel is a close ally but then why are they all doing this and why is this so necessary before they've even as much as announced their candidacy here at home we investigated. the pilgrimage of presidential hopefuls in the western wall a photo op with netanyahu all first stops ahead of a possible run for the u.s. top spot in some ways i think of israel as the new iowa you know it's like sort of the indicator that you're that you're running for president is a trip to israel but why go all the way to tell of the in search of the holy grail that's a rite of passage for presidential candidates. money jewish

and pro israel money accounts for between one quarter and one third of all donations to the major political parties some estimate higher and one former congresswoman put it this way the executive branch state. legislative branch pro israel federal campaign contributions amounted to more than eleven point seven million dollars in two thousand and ten leaving other foreign and defense policy contributions along with human rights women's issues the environment and gun rights donations in the dust and this power of the purse has built a reputation in washington for the most powerful pro israel political group in the country i think what a pack of fun best has impressed upon candidates and upon elected officials they can punish people who vote the wrong way and that they can reward people who are the right way rumblings of which could be heard at the height of tensions between the white house and israel over settlements last spring in the way some members talked about president obama's feet i think he may very well be

a one term president the now in the last few months we've seen a parade of g.o.p. politicians through the holy land a stance of leadership to stare foreign policy credentials have to be romney giuliani barbour and most recently of course people and who is known for her uncompromising support for the state of israel but who is known in the u.s. when it comes. to international aptitude by our infamous lack of it you can actually see russia from land here in alaska and if candidates like pailin are hoping to gain insight into the middle east it doesn't take a political analyst to see a major part of the picture is missing someone asked sarah brown what she thought about the west bank she says you know use well fargo but critics argue an accurate view of the issues is just not really the point just growth from the poor some comes sions. darksome her presidential for the. races

and a broader perspective might not matter much to the future of u.s. foreign policy anyway the people of the united states don't get true representation when it comes to their value versus how you get pro israel lobby so all of this helps to explain why first stop on the international tour is that say china with its rise in the world is taking us bonds or russia which the u.s. is trying to reset relations with or saudi arabia with the planned u.s. sales of sixty billion dollars in arms to counter iran or even the u.k. which is the other part of the so-called special relationship but instead wide potential presidents on the surface looking to boost their foreign policy street kred bypass all of these other countries and head straight to the stump in just one lauren lyster party new york well this certainly seems to be a hot trend right now lauren want to bring you back into this discussion you know

from europe are going to looks like we're seeing is mostly republicans but talk about this and also i'm wondering if you know who's funding these trips. a couple good questions christine and as far as right now yes we are seeing a lot of republican candidates of course president obama is expected to run for reelection in two thousand and twelve so that may be one reason why we're not seeing an exodus of democratic candidates or hopefuls going over to israel but experts say that nonetheless absolutely democrats and republicans both go lots of money and on the line for republican for democratic candidates too it's actually been estimated according to high asked him it by the washington post that democratic presidential candidates and parties look to private jewish money to total sixty percent of what they raise so there's a significant number along on the line for democrats as sturrock lee and for republicans that number drops to estimates between twenty and thirty five percent but still very significant especially when you consider that the american jewish

population is under three percent closer to percent of the u.s. population so yes it is both sides of the aisle that care about this lobby they care about these issues and they travel to israel now an issue of who sends them for these republican candidates in many cases it is the jewish political organizations themselves the republican jewish coalition is who sent haley barbour paid for the costs as well as george w. bush in the past also mitt romney's trip back in two thousand and seven eight pac is reported to have funded his trip in this year according to an israel news source and the republican jewish coalition is also who wanted to send sarah palin but it's been reported that she actually went through a question to her group now the christian right is also an area which these trips play to because christian groups in the united states have some deep and strong support for israel on religious grounds as well so it kind of also plays to that constituency for some of these republican candidates christine and lauren i wanted

to bring up a woman who was in your report i think she implied that a pac and i think she said punish people who vote the wrong way just wondering if you know what she meant by this. yeah absolutely she meant in a pretty direct way. a fact is established a reputation where if you don't vote along a pack lines and you vote against them they can essentially ruin your political career and she said that the major way that this is done is a pouring tons of money into a candidate's opposition and of course there's no way to prove where this really decisively has been the one reason why a candidate has not been reelected but there have been many rumblings and analyses of candidates like former president george h.w. bush who it's been said before that he lost reelection because of opposition from apac also cynthia mckinney a former congresswoman who you saw in my story it's also been discussed in the analyze that atack was your goal in her not getting reelected to congress so those

are those are some of the cases that that's been discussed in analyze laurentiu real briefly i just got to point this out all the candidates of course meeting with benjamin netanyahu one thing you don't see is many of them visiting the rest bank or gaza i don't know if maybe the cameras to follow or if that's not a stop on their tour tour buses what's happening here you know it's certainly not a stop on their tour bus and that's one issue that palestinian activists will say many believe that what's going on in gaza is a human rights a humanitarian crisis the palestinian territories are occupied and it only getting the one side of that situation it is not the whole picture at all or even close joining us from our new york studio and saying on this topic i want to go to petrolia california now where the editor of counterpunch alexander coburn standing by. there alexander we just showed a report that showed many many possible presidential candidates for two thousand

and twelve heading to israel it seems like it's definitely a trend that's not only happened now but that's happened over the last few decades now what do you make of all this. it's a feature of american politics american politics are controlled by. you know factional groups obviously i mean we often talk about the israeli lobby the miami cubans for example it had a huge influence on american foreign policy ever since the late fifty's because it's an important electoral state the jewish vote in new york and california is extremely important politically for every political candidate to hust pious to be president of the united states aspires to be a member of the u.s. congress has to deal with the israeli lobby and be organized a should read a portion represent that look let's broaden this a little bit i can you make any comparisons in terms of what other groups get this kind of treatment these kind of visits i mean christian right in this country

muslims another country or do you think that israel is sort of at the top when it comes to these visits that are becoming i mean i would say mandatory. oh they've been managed through the years other important love is where you can start with the defense industrial complex why is the defense budget higher than it's ever been even though the u.s. military smaller and there's no longer the soviet union to justify the all the expense. that's of hooked into the israeli lobby by the way but no it's one of the most powerful lobbies in the united states no questionable i want to also such here is that throughout the show we've been talking a lot about the situation and libya i was wondering here take certainly it's very interesting to see i just thinking back when i saw the way that the english reacted not the leaders but the public reacted when you know great britain sort of went side by side with the us in iraq now great britain seems to be instigating in some ways what's going on in libya i think like david cameron's been pretty gung ho even

though the public there remains pretty overwhelmingly against it do you have any insight into this well i would have said the french would have been per perhaps as important even maybe more important than they were tish because it was softer also a cosy whose popularity in france is around twenty percent right now who was the one who certainly amazingly recognised the benghazi rebels as the legitimate government of libya this is an extraordinary event i forget somebody said that sarkozy was not only launching bombs but perhaps launching his reelection campaign i thought that was really interesting well he's trying to save his political neck but in this country and people talk about oil i don't they go is a factor in this at all in this country the inspire is of the this i think actually insane military venture probably as stupid as anything since napoleon tried to invade russia through an eighteenth well it's absolutely amazingly stupid because

you had what we call liberal interventionist larvae which was. you know. rice in the u.n. hillary clinton. the advisor in. samantha power in the white house who were pushing for intervention at a certain point obama felt that he was politically exposed and although i don't believe obama was keen on intervention until as lawyers the u.s. military or secretary of defense gates they felt they had to go along of course the joke is that eastern libya is basically the people who are the rebels they provided in the iraq war more young men to commit suicide against us in iraq than any other country all right out of court and they were out of time alexander coburn editor of counterpunch thanks so much and that is going to do it for now for more on this.