NATO’s Libya generals should be hauled to court, says Dennis Kucinich

“NATO’s top commanders may have acted under color of international law, but  they are not exempt from international law,” Kucinich said in a statement released by his office. “If members of the  Qadhafi regime are to be held accountable, NATO’s top commanders must also be  held accountable through the International Criminal Court for all civilian  deaths resulting from bombing. Otherwise, we will have witnessed the triumph of  a new international gangsterism.”

Kucinich, who in March suggested President Barack Obama’s  authorizing of airstrikes on Libya were “an impeachable offense” and sponsored a July measure to defund the military effort there,  criticized what he called an evolving rationale for the NATO offensive.

The seven-term Cleveland congressman released his statement just as forces  loyal to Qadhafi appeared to have abandoned their defense of his heavily  fortified Tripoli compound. It was not clear where Qadhafi is, though a Russian chess  official said he spoke with the dictator and reported he remains in the  capital.

“The reasons for the U.S./NATO intervention in Libya keep changing,” he said. “First, it was about the potential for a massacre in Benghazi. When the massacre  did not materialize and once the war against Libya was under way, the reasons  for intervention changed.”

And Kucinich questioned the motivation behind U.S. intervention in Libya.

“Was the United States, through participation in the overthrow of the regime,  furthering the aims of international oil corporations in pursuit of control over  one of the world’s largest oil resources?” he asked. “Did the United States at  the inception of the war against Libya align itself with elements of Al Qaeda,  while elsewhere continuing to use the threat of Al Qaeda as a reason for U.S.  military intervention, presence and occupation?”