Cosatu concern around Bin Laden's death
The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) was “extremely concerned” on Tuesday about the manner in which al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday night.
“We have absolutely no sympathy for the late Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organisation, which has murdered hundreds of innocent civilians. There can be no possible justification for their methods, regardless of the political cause for which they are carried out.
“Cosatu is however extremely concerned at the manner in which Bin Laden was killed by US government forces in Pakistan,” said spokesperson Patrick Craven in a statement.
Bin Laden’s death was “following a trend of using armed force, under the excuse of fighting ‘terrorism’, by the USA, Britain and France in particular, to justify invading other countries in order to protect their economic interests and impose their hegemony on the world”, said Craven.
He cited the US invasion of Iraq as an example.
“The invasion of Iraq was justified by claims that Saddam Hussein was holding weapons of mass destruction for use in terrorist campaigns, which to this day has never been proved.”
Similar situations were being played out in Libya, where Nato has launched air strikes in the uprising against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“A similar story is now being played out in Libya, with Britain and France playing the leading role, using the undeniably brutal nature of Gaddafi’s dictatorship as an excuse to bring about a regime change, in order, yet again, to protect their access to oil,” said Craven.
These were all “worrying signs” that “big imperialist powers” were increasingly using military means to maintain their political and economic interests.
“In Bin Laden’s case he was summarily executed, without any chance to plead his case.
The principle of being innocent until proved guilty has been flagrantly ignored in all these cases,” said Craven.—Sapa
