[dehai-news] America's War on Libya

From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Sun Mar 06 2011 - 23:58:21 EST

America's War on Libyahttp://mostlywater.org/americas_war_libya

By *Stephen Lendman*
Created *Mar 6 2011 - 9:32am*
 America's War on Libya
Contributed by Stephen Lendman <http://mostlywater.org/user/stephen_lendman>
[1] on Sun, 2011/03/06 - 9:32am
In sections:

America's War on Libya - by Stephen Lendman

Since WW II alone, America waged direct and proxy wars against Korea,
Southeast Asia, Central and South American countries, African ones, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Palestine, and now Egypt and Libya. One down, one to go,
besides dozens of attempted and successful coups, as well as numerous other
interventions to control world markets, resources and people. Imperial
America doesn't sleep. It plots, deciding where next to strike.

Despite popular passion for democratic change, uprisings in Egypt and Libya
were externally orchestrated, funded and armed by Washington to replace one
despot with another. Democracy won't be tolerated. It's never been at home.

America's media go along, especially when Washington goes to war or plans
one. In the lead: The New York Times, the nation's equivalent of an official
information and propaganda ministry, posing as independent journalism.

It's February 28 editorial headlined, "Qaddafi's Crimes and Fantasies" made
baseless accusations, then called on the International Criminal Court to
investigate potential war crimes. Indeed it should - against America and
Western co-conspirators, not Libya, for instigating regional aggression, a
reality The Times ignored, besides previously against Afghanistan, Iraq, and
other US targets.

On March 4, writer David Kirkpatrick headlined, "Qaddafi Brutalizes Foes,
Armed or Defenseless," saying:

Gaddafi attacked "unarmed protesters....His militia's actions seemed likely
to stir renewed debate over international intervention to limit his use of
military power against his own citizens, possibly by imposing a no-flight
zone." If established, it's an act of war ahead of aggressive air attacks
against a defenseless country, America's latest imperial target.

Kirkpatrick's article read more like bad fiction than real journalism,
borrowing a page from now disgraced former Times writer Judith Miller, who
functioned as a Pentagon press agent, promoting America's planned Iraq
conquest and occupation. Now it's Libya, struggling to defend itself against
naked aggression, covert so far but not for long, claiming "humanitarian
intervention."

US warships are now positioned in the Mediterranean close by. About 1,200
Marines went to Greece for "Operation Libya." "Rebels" are being sent
military and other supplies. Armed intervention is coming, colonial
subjugation planned. Libya's "humanitarian crisis" was made in the USA. The
pattern by now is familiar, used against many past targets.

On March 4, hinting about what's already begun, Obama said:

"So what I want to make sure of is that the United States has full capacity
to act potentially rapidly if the situation deteriorated in such a way that
you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands, or a situation in which
civilians were - defenseless civilians were finding themselves trapped and
in great danger."

He already called on Gaddafi to step down. Among his options, he included a
no-fly zone, saying:

"I don't want us hamstrung. I want us to be making our decision based on
what's going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the
international community."

In Geneva, Hillary Clinton called intervention "an option we are actively
considering," referring to a no-fly zone and other measures. Stiff economic
sanctions were also imposed, effective 8:00PM EST February 25."

The die is cast. Colonizing Libya is planned to exploit its vast energy
reserves, other resources, and people, doing what's best for Washington, not
Libyans, what's always top priority.

Major Media Suppressed Independent Voices

On August 13, 2011, Fidel Castro will be 85. An elder statesman, he remains
active, thoughtful and incisive, now writing commentaries on world issues.
On March 3, the Havana Times headlined, "Fidel Castro Forecasts War on
Libya," publishing his full article in English.

Until America intervened, Libya "occupie(d) the first spot on the Human
Development Index for Africa," including the continent's highest life
expectancy. Authorities gave special attention to healthcare and education.
Poverty is low. "The cultural level of the population is without a doubt the
highest. The population wasn't lacking food and essential social services."
Employment was plentiful, including for "hundreds of thousands of workers
from Egypt, Tunisia, China and other countries (to) carry out ambitious
plans for production and social development."

America plans naked aggression to halt them. "The colossal campaign of lies,
unleashed by the mass media," distorts reality on the ground, including by
Al Jazeera. Its daily commentaries feature misinformation and distortions
based on unverified reports, including about alleged bombings that Russian
satellite imagery proved untrue. Nonetheless, Gaddafi is falsely called an
aggressor, not victim, his regional despot status notwithstanding.

Telesur Journalists Targeted

Reporting from Libya, Pan American broadcaster Telesur's Jordan Rodriguez
said members of his team were threatened, assaulted, and arrested for trying
to report events accurately, including about pro-Gaddafi rallies in
Tripoli's Green Square.

Prior to Mubarak's ouster, Egypt's military junta detained and interrogated
its Cairo team, preventing them from reporting the same way. Other
independent journalists were also accosted. Dozens of incidents were
reported.

Telesur's Rodrigo Hernandez said he and his colleagues were bullied face
down on the pavement, left there for hours, then "forced into an armored
police vehicle, with armed personnel inside, and blindfolded," en route to a
military barracks for questioning.

They were also threatened with imprisonment, deportation, or "something much
worse" if they kept reporting and were detained again. Similar tactics are
ongoing in Libya to prevent accurate reports coming out. Imperial Washington
wants none of its plans exposed.

Accurate Independent Journalism

Keith Harmon Snow is an independent journalist, war correspondent, human
rights investigator, photographer, lecturer, and longtime observer of
African country events. On March 1, his article titled, "Petroleum & Empire
in North Africa: Muammar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide? NATO Invasion
Underway" provided detailed Libyan information. Access it through the
following link:

http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2011/03/petroleum-empi...>
[6]

Key points he stressed included:

-- In 2004, America's sanctions were dropped "in exchange for Gaddafi's
(limited) collaboration, (paving) the way for a new era of US-Libyan
bilateral trade." America's main interest is Libya's vast oil, gas and other
mineral reserves. The Oil and Gas Journal estimates 46.4 billion barrels of
oil and around 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, producing 95% of
Libya's 2010 export earnings. Its petrodollars "were reportedly invested in
US Equity and Big Banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and others,
and into (companies) like the Carlyle Group, one of America's most seedy
arms dealers."

-- the CIA "long wanted" Gaddafi removed and replaced." In 1986,
Reagan-ordered air strikes tried to kill him. His infant daughter was
murdered instead. "The CIA (downed) Pan Am 103," not Gaddafi who had nothing
to do with it.

-- Libya's "opposition" includes "unspecified, unnamed, unidenfied 'rebels'
of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL). These are not
innocent 'pro-democracy' protesters...." They seemingly "appeared out of
thin air." Who they are isn't explained. NFSL, in fact, was established in
1981 by Sudan's Colonel Jaafer Nimieri, a US puppet dictator from 1971 -
1985.

-- For decades, CIA front groups have been operating in Libya, "backing
armed insurgents and interventions" portrayed as "pro-democracy" movements.

-- Western media is reporting misinformation about events on the ground,
including alleged bombings, massacres, and possible nerve gas used. None of
it is credible. Libya, in fact, is being attacked. It's responding in
self-defense.

-- Vicious propaganda is being used to enlist support for imperial
intervention. "US troops have already moved ashore....joining the
'opposition....The US, France and Britain have already set up Bases in
Libya." British and American Special Forces are operating out of Benghazi
and Tobruck. Other covert US forces have been on the ground for weeks.
Nothing humanitarian is planned.

-- More than oil and gas is wanted. So are valued mineral deposits. "Libya
has a huge land mass with massive untapped mineral potential (including
uranium)," besides known energy resources.

-- Accusing Gaddafi of genocide is malicious and untrue, like other major
media fabrications. Their "disinformation frenzy and hysteria knows no
bounds." No verifiable evidence exists, but there's plenty proving US
genocides in Iraq, Afghanistan, and earlier in other targeted countries,
causing many millions of deaths for decades. Western media air brushed them
out, including The New York Times, America's lead propaganda instrument.

In "Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective,"
Gerald Perreira wrote:

"The conflict in Libya is not a revolution, but a counter-revolution. (It's)
fundamentally a battle between Pan-African forces on the one hand, who are
dedicated to the realization of Qaddafi's vision of a united Africa, and
reactionary racist Libyan Arab forces who reject (his) vision of Libya as
part of a United Africa."

"For those of us who have lived and worked in Libya, there are many
complexities to the current situation that have been completely overlooked
by the Western media and 'Westoxicated' analysts who have nothing other than
a Eurocentric perspective to draw on....Libya's system and the battle now
taking place on its soil, stands completely outside the Western
imagination."

As a result, all Western government and media reports lack credibility.
They're malicious imperial agitprop, including from top officials, BBC and
Al Jazeera, each with its own agenda, all serving Western interests, harmful
to Libyans.

A Final Comment

Ongoing events in Libya are familiar. Like many of his past counterparts,
Gaddafi's been targeted for removal. For weeks or much longer, covert CIA
and Special Forces operatives recruited, funded and armed so-called
"opposition forces." They, not Gaddafi, instigated violence, heading for
civil war. He responded in self-defense. Doing less would be irresponsible.

Western media portray instigators as victims, saying Gaddafi's waging war on
his people. America and Western nations are called white knights, offering
"humanitarian intervention" when, if fact, imperial colonization is planned.
The longer violence continues, the more false media reports will exaggerate
it, enlisting support for another nation to be destroyed to save it.

Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Pakistanis, and many other oppressed
people understand, victimized by imperial aggression, occupation,
exploitation, immiseration, and regular drone attacks murdering innocent
men, women and children called militants.

The latest in Afghanistan were nine young children, aged seven to 12,
gathering wood in the mountains near their village. They were murdered in
cold blood, what's escalating in Libya, being softened up in preparation for
colonization and greater harshness.

*Stephen Lendman* lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net [7]. Also visit his blog site at
www.sjlendman.blogspot.com [8] and listen to cutting-edge discussions with
distinguished guests on the *Progressive Radio News Hour* on the *Progressive
Radio Network* Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays
at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-...>
[9]
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