BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
By Brian Cloughley
On March 19, 2011, the UNITED
STATES led NATO countries in a blitz of aircraft and missile strikes against
the government of MUAMMAR GADDAFI, LIBYA'S batty dictator who was visited in
2004 and 2007 by British prime minister TONY BLAIR, in 2007 by French president
NICOLAS SARKOZY, in 2008 by US secretary of state CONDOLEEZZA RICE, and in 2009
by ITALIAN prime minister SILVIO BERLUSCONI, all of whom cordially assured him
that relations between their countries and his were comfortable.
GADDAFI was a despot and
persecuted his enemies quite as savagely as the dictator HOSNI MUBARAK in
neighboring EGYPT, but life for most LIBYANS was comfortable and even the BBC
had to admit that GADDAFI'S "particular form of socialism does provide
free education, healthcare and subsidized housing and transport", although
"wages are extremely low and the wealth of the state and profits from
foreign investments have only benefited a narrow elite" (which doesn't
happen anywhere else, of course).
The CIA World Factbook
noted that GADDAFI'S LIBYA had a literacy rate of 94.2% (better than MALAYSIA, MEXICO
and SAUDI ARABIA, for example), and the World Health Organization recorded a life
expectancy of 72.3 years, among the highest in the developing world.
But back to the Western
figures who flocked to LIBYA before NATO's war. A leaked 2009 US diplomatic
cable recorded that "Senators MCCAIN and GRAHAM conveyed the US interest
in continuing the progress of the bilateral relationship" while Senator LIEBERMAN
declared LIBYA "an important ally in the war on terrorism".
TO
OBTAIN A SHARE OF THE “OIL –CAKE”, THAT’S WHAT IT WAS ABOUT
CONDOLEEZZA RICE said the
US-LIBYA "relationship has been moving in a good direction for a number of
years now and I think tonight does mark a new phase", and BRITAIN'S BLAIR considered
his meeting "positive and constructive" because his country's
relationship with LIBYA had "been completely transformed in these last few
years. We now have very strong co-operation on counter-terrorism and
defense."
The
BBC reported that "As Mr BLAIR met Mr GADDAFI it was announced that ANGLO-DUTCH
oil giant SHELL had signed a deal worth up to 550 million [BRITISH pounds]
(US$860 million) for gas exploration rights off the LIBYAN coast." The US
oil companies CONOCOPHILLIPS, EXXONMOBIL, MARATHON OIL CORPORATION and the HESS
COMPANY were also deeply involved in LIBYA'S oil production, because it has the world's ninth largest oil
reserves.
GREED OVER OIL WEALTH
PAYBACK TIME FOR BEING
LEFT OUT OF THE LIBYAN EQUATION
Unlike in LIBYA, RUSSIA and CHINA
this time around will not tolerate to be left out of the SYRIAN
equation and energy game
RUSSIA'S REVENGE FOR
LIBYA
As mentioned numerous
times, RUSSIA and CHINA felt that they were left out of the equation regarding
the LIBYAN operation instigated by the USA, FRANCE and BRITAIN. CHINA and
RUSSIA invested heavily in LIBYA prior to the toppling of the LIBYAN regime,
only to find out that they were kept completely out of the picture regarding
the true intentions the Western coalition force had in mind with LIBYA once the
regime was removed, namely tap the oil reserves of LIBYA.
Subsequently RUSSIA
and CHINA learned their lesson and thus would not make the same mistake
regarding SYRIA, permitting LIBYAN style intervention by WESTERN and GULF
STATES coalition forces. No matter that SYRIA lacks oil reserves or other
natural resources worth fighting over, their veto was more of a symbolic
gesture telling WESTERN and GULF STATES coalition forces: that’s how far you
can go this time around, but no further.
Note from the Editor: Above paragraph was written by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring in June 2012 and included into this analysis
Note from the Editor: Above paragraph was written by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring in June 2012 and included into this analysis
THINGS WERE LOOKING GOOD FOR LIBYA
But on January 21, 2011,
Reuters reported that "MUAMMAR GADDAFI said his country and other oil
exporters were looking into nationalizing foreign firms due to low oil
prices". He suggested that "oil should be owned by the State at this
time, so we could better control prices by the increase or decrease in production".
Then in February,
immediately after GADDAFI'S hint of nationalization of LIBYA'S oil resources,
there was an uprising by rebels who wanted to overthrow him and on March 17 the
UN Security Council established a "no-fly zone" in LIBYA "to
take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the
country".
The insurgents were
supported by the US, BRITAIN and 12 of their 26 NATO allies (notably not GERMANY
or TURKEY), three Arab nations (not including SAUDI ARABIA), and SWEDEN which
has abandoned honorable neutrality and become a NATO country in all but name. BRAZIL,
CHINA, GERMANY, INDIA and RUSSIA excluded themselves from the Resolution,
advocating peaceful resolution of LIBYA'S internal conflict and warning against
"unintended consequences of armed intervention."
Two days after the
"no-fly" resolution the US-led NATO onslaught began and continued for
seven months, until the end of October. On April 30, a US missile killed one of
GADDAFI'S sons and three of his grandchildren in what NATO called "a
precision strike" against a "military command and control
building". When asked about a massive attack on GADDAFI'S residential
compound the Pentagon's spokesman announced that "We are not targeting his
residence. We have no indication of any civilian casualties."
At the height of the
attacks on LIBYA, US President OBAMA, BRITISH Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON and SARKOZY
jointly declared that "as we continue military operations today to protect
civilians in LIBYA, we are determined to look to the future. We are convinced
that better times lie ahead for the people of LIBYA ... Colonel GADDAFI must
go, and go for good. At that point, the UNITED NATIONS and its members should
help the LIBYAN people as they rebuild where GADDAFI has destroyed - to repair
homes and hospitals, to restore basic utilities, and to assist LIBYANS as they
develop the institutions to underpin a prosperous and open society."
REBEL
GROUP ASSASSINATION OF QADDAFI, A COINCIDENT, OR STAGED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
FOREIGN ENTITIES?
GADDAFI'S response was:
"You have proved to the world that you are not civilized, that you are
terrorists - animals attacking a nation that did nothing against you."
On October 20, GADDAFI
did indeed "go for good", being brutally murdered by one of the rebel
groups. OBAMA greeted his death with enthusiasm, saying that "Today we can
definitively say that the GADDAFI regime has come to an end. The last major
regime strongholds have fallen. The new government is consolidating control
over the country. And one of the world's longest-serving dictators is no
more."
NATO carried out 9,658
air attacks on LIBYA and the BBC reported that "throughout the seven-month
campaign NATO admitted there had been one weapon 'malfunction'. On June 19,
several civilians were reported to have been killed when a missile hit
buildings in TRIPOLI. A NATO spokesman later said that 'a potential weapon
system failure occurred and this caused the weapon not to hit the intended
target'." (There were also 105 US drone strikes about which nothing is
known.)
ENERGY DEALS RUSSIA
AND CHINA INKED WITH MUAMMAR QADDAFI PRIOR TO THE MILITARY INTERVENTION
According to some
analysts this instability could also be triggered deliberately by certain
foreign entities who invested heavily in LIBYA’S oil and fossil extraction
prior to the military intervention in LIBYA. When coalition forces decided to
intervene in LIBYA they did not consider the consequences such intervention
would have on the geopolitical landscape.
With the aim to gain
control over Libya’s oil reserves WESTERN coalition forces thought they could
outwit CHINA and RUSSIA who also invested heavily in LIBYA’S lucrative oil
industry. Lured into voting in favor of the UN resolution which in the end
paved the way for Military Intervention in LIBYA, RUSSIA and CHINA expected to
receive their fair slice of the “energy cake” once the intervention was
concluded, instead they were left out of the equation, losing millions of
dollars of investments in LIBYA, for all energy deals RUSSIA and CHINA inked
with Muammar Qaddafi prior to the military intervention suddenly became void,
leaving the USA, FRANCE and BRITAIN the sole benefiters of the entire
operation.
Read also:
Note from the Editor: Above paragraph was written
by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring in October 2013 and included into this
analysis
2011:
THE AIM OF THE US-NATO WAR ON LIBYA WAS TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY. 2014: ANARCHY IN
LIBYA
It is astonishing, even
miraculous, that out of 9,658 airstrikes only one killed any civilians. But
Human Rights Watch has a different take on the matter, and records that there
were many civilians killed - although its report is irrelevant because not one
single person of any US-NATO country has been or ever will be independently
investigated for killing any civilian, anywhere in the world, by missile, bomb
or rocket.
We were told that the aim
of the US-NATO war on LIBYA was to achieve democracy by bombing and the UK
prime minister CAMERON declared that "I'm an optimist about LIBYA; I've
been an optimist all the way through and I'm optimistic about the National
Transitional Council and what they are able to achieve. I think when you look
at TRIPOLI today, yes, of course, there are huge challenges - getting water to
that city, making sure there is law and order - but actually so far, the cynics
and the armchair generals have been proved wrong."
Background
Information:
THIS
IS A FAILED STATE
The "cynics" -
better described as realists - and armchair generals were right, of course, in
predicting that the country's collapse was inevitable; just as they had been
right about forecasting chaos in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.
But two highly placed
intellectuals, IVO DAALDER, the US Permanent Representative on the NATO Council
from 2009 to 2013, and Admiral JAMES G ("ZORBA") STAVRIDIS, the US
Supreme Allied Commander Europe (the military commander of NATO) in the same
period, had their own views and wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs in 2012:
"NATO's operation in LIBYA has rightly been hailed as a model
intervention. The alliance responded rapidly to a deteriorating situation that
threatened hundreds of thousands of civilians rebelling against an oppressive
regime. It succeeded in protecting those civilians and, ultimately, in
providing the time and space necessary for local forces to overthrow MUAMMAR
AL-GADDAFI."
According to these
objective analysts, LIBYA was liberated and became a free country thanks to
NATO. And they were supported by columnists like NICHOLAS KRISTOF who wrote
that "LIBYA is a reminder that sometimes it is possible to use military
tools to advance humanitarian causes". That statement would be hilarious
were it not so obscenely bizarre, because LIBYA has collapsed into anarchic
ruin. BRITAIN'S declaration to the UN in 2012 that "today, TRIPOLI and BENGHAZI
are cities transformed. Where there was fear, now there is hope and an optimism
and belief that is truly inspiring" has been shown to be preposterous.
LIBYA’S
INSTABILITY IS ALREADY SPILLING OVER INTO THE MEDITERRANEAN
As CNN reports,
"Assassinations, kidnappings, blockades of oil refineries, rival militias
battling on the streets, Islamist extremists setting up camps, and above all
chronically weak government have all made LIBYA a dangerous place and one whose
instability is already spilling across borders and into the MEDITERRANEAN.
There is effectively no rule of law in LIBYA." How "truly
inspiring", to be sure.
Background
Information:
AFTERMATH
OF THE 2011 MILITARY INTERVENTION IN LIBYA
According to Amnesty
International, "since July 2014 at least 287,000 people have been
internally displaced as a result of indiscriminate attacks and a fear of being
targeted by militias, and a further 100,000 have been forced to flee the
country in fear for their lives". Western nations have withdrawn their
diplomatic missions and BRITAIN warns its citizens "against all travel to LIBYA
due to the ongoing fighting and greater instability throughout the
country".
NATO has done nothing whatever to "repair homes and hospitals, to restore basic utilities, and to assist LIBYANS as they develop the institutions to underpin a prosperous and open society" which OBAMA, CAMERON and SARKOZY declared so necessary while their bombs and rockets and Tomahawk missiles were destroying homes, hospitals and basic utilities. And not one of these people - the excited world leaders, the condescending commentators or the expert intellectuals who foolishly claimed that "NATO's operation in LIBYA has rightly been hailed as a model intervention" - has indicated the slightest regret for their enthusiastic approval of the onslaught that led to devastation and disaster.
DURING THEIR WAR ON LIBYA, OBAMA AND CAMERON DECLARED THAT, "WE ARE CONVINCED THAT BETTER TIMES LIE AHEAD FOR THE PEOPLE OF LIBYA.
"Tell that to the
millions of LIBYANS whose lives have been destroyed by NATO's "model
intervention". The scale of human suffering is not as terrible as that
inflicted on IRAQ by the US-UK war, but it is still appalling. On November 30,
for example, Reuters reported that "about 400 people have been killed in
six weeks of heavy fighting between LIBYAN pro-government forces and Islamist
groups in LIBYA'S second-largest city BENGHAZI". So much for the
"better times" that were to be enjoyed after the coalition forces
seven month blitz of missile and bombing strikes.
And what next for the USA?
Where will it chose to mount its next "model intervention" after its
destruction of LIBYA and its humiliating defeat in AFGHANISTAN?
NATO is desperate for a
cause to justify its survival and is enthusiastically moving forces further
east in EUROPE, involving US troops in "exercises" in UKRAINE and US
and other deployments to POLAND and the BALTIC STATES. It has created a
multi-national "Baltic Air Policing Mission" and is carrying out the
fatuously-named "Operation Atlantic Resolve" to menace RUSSIA.
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