Gary Null - The New American Folly in Libya

Progressive Radio Network, April 1, 2011

“I call them (the Libyan rebels) freedom fighters… now they are retreating… after all that, does the world community stand by and watch the freedom fighters get crushed? The president [Barak Obama] pledged that there would be no US troops on the ground.. but today we learned that CIA operatives are on the ground, so what does that all mean? Still it looks like the freedom fighters only shot for survival at this point is a real injection of military hardware that they say they desperately need… whether or not we arm rebels, freedom fighters, whatever you want to call them,  is a very hard decision. But I think we have to do it… it is a moral decision at this point… we have a state, New Hampshire, (with the motto) ‘live free or die.’ What do you think that Libyan freedom fighter wants?”  - Ed Schultz, MSNBC, March 30, 2011

What happens when we extend the logic and beliefs of Ed Schultz and others, including Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, who accept Obama’s rationale for intervening militarily in Libya, which mirror those of the neocons and personalities like O’Reilly and Hannity on the radical right?  For the reason that Gaddafi was responsible for the bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, killing 259 passengers, we are being told that arming, funding and training any opposition factions in Libya is perfectly justified. But then, is it not also true by that same logic that any civilians or innocent bystanders that were killed, tortured or disappeared as a direct result of America’s interventions in other nations are also justified to attack Americans and US interests globally?  It is this old adage of “an eye for an eye” reactionary posturing that repeatedly leads us into multiple disasters, wars, revolutions, regime changes and a trail of failed foreign policies.

Click to read more ...

Western Corporations "Fight" for Libyan Oil. Who Will Get the Spoils of War?

By A. Tagiyeva

Global Research, October 26, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27321

Foreign companies will begin fighting for the Libyan oil and gas fields, particularly they will be the companies of countries that were active in the struggle to overthrow Gaddafi's regime, said a leading economist at the Egyptian Al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, Ahmed al-Sayed Al-Naggar. "Countries such as France, Italy, UK and USA will compete for exploration and development of oil fields," Al-Naggar told Trend by telephone from Cairo. According to expert, during the struggle to overthrow Gaddafi's regime, "NATO intentionally inflicted air strikes on oil fields, as a result of which, the mining infrastructure of the country was practically destroyed. This was done so that Libya would be in need of foreign investments and Western aid in the energy sector after the war". "The new government of Libya is unlikely to nationalize Libyan oil, since they do not have sufficient capacity for its production. Libya needs foreign investments to restore the oil industry," said Al-Naggar. Al-Naggar also believes that along with major Western companies, smaller firms are also expected to participate, since there are plans to explore new oil fields, which will create a chance for those who have not previously participated in the country's oil sector. Libya is the eighth in terms of crude oil production among the 12 OPEC countries and the third in Africa after Nigeria and Angola. The main importer of Libyan oil is Italy, followed by Germany, France and Spain. Libya's proven oil reserves are estimated at 45 billion barrels. Before the war, Libya produced 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. The Head of Libya's National Oil Corporation Nuri Beruin said in September that currently Libya produces oil only on the Sarir field, but over the next six months, the oil production will begin on country's all oil fields and will reach from 800,000 to 1 million barrels per day.

Click to read more ...

"Maria Golovnina and Alexander Dziados" - Gaddafi Loyalists Resist and Say NATO Kills 354 Libyans

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/17

Published on Saturday, September 17, 2011 by Reuters

by Maria Golovnina and Alexander Dziados

BANI WALID/SIRTE, Libya - Libyan interim government forces licked their wounds on Saturday after a failed assault on the town of Bani Walid, and a spokesman for Muammar Gaddafi accused NATO of killing 354 people in overnight air strikes on the city of Sirte.

An anti-Gaddafi fighter fires a multiple-rocket launcher near Sirte, the hometown of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi, September 17, 2011. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)

Moussa Ibrahim, the deposed leader's spokesman, contacted Reuters by satellite telephone to say Gaddafi was still in Libya, leading the "resistance" against his foes.

He said NATO air strikes on Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace, had hit a residential building and a hotel, killing 354 people.

Click to read more ...

"Chris Hedges" - Libya, Here We Go Again

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/libya_here_we_go_again_20110905/

Posted on Sep 5, 2011

By Chris Hedges

Here we go again. The cheering crowds. The deposed dictator. The encomiums to freedom and liberty. The American military as savior. You would think we would have learned in Afghanistan or Iraq. But I guess not. I am waiting for a trucked-in crowd to rejoice as a Gadhafi statue is toppled and Barack Obama lands on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit to announce “Mission Accomplished.” War, as long as you view it through the distorted lens of the corporate media, is not only entertaining, but allows us to confuse state power with personal power. It permits us to wallow in unchecked self-exaltation. We are a nation that loves to love itself.

I know enough of Libya, a country I covered for many years as the Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times, to assure you that the chaos and bloodletting have only begun. Moammar Gadhafi, during one of my lengthy interviews with him under a green Bedouin tent in the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya army barracks in Tripoli, once proposed marrying one of his sons to Chelsea Clinton as a way of mending fences with the United States. He is as insane as he appears and as dangerous. But we should never have become the air force, trainers, suppliers, special forces and enablers of rival tribal factions, goons under the old regime and Islamists that are divided among themselves by deep animosities and a long history of violent conflict.

Click to read more ...

"Rueters" - Documents Show Links Between CIA, Libya Spy Unit

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/03-1

Published on Saturday, September 3, 2011 by Reuters

WASHINGTON - Documents found in Tripoli detail close ties between the CIA and Libya's intelligence service and suggest the United States sent terrorism suspects for questioning in Libya despite that country's reputation for torture, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan Foreign Minister. Koussa defected from now-fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi's government and flew to Britain on March 30 amid this year's rebel uprising.(EPA)

 The Times reported that the files cover the time from 2002 to 2007, when Moussa Koussa headed Libya's External Security Organization. Koussa most recently had been Libya's foreign minister but defected from now-fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi's government and flew to Britain on March 30 amid this year's rebel uprising.

Click to read more ...

"Julian Borger and Terry Macalister" - The Race Is on for Libya's Oil, With Britain and France Both Staking a Claim

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/01-8

Published on Thursday, September 1, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

Rebel leaders dismiss suggestions that firm promises have been made, but supportive countries look set to benefit

by Julian Borger and Terry Macalister

The starting pistol has been fired on bids by Britain and other western powers to secure a slice of the oil prize in Libya when France said it was "fair and logical" for its companies to benefit.

A rebel fighter throws a stone into a pool of oil allegedly left by Moammar Kadhafi's troops near the town of Brega, Libya, Monday, Aug. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, planted his flag in the sand as the Guardian was told that BP was already holding private talks with members of Libya's interim government.

Click to read more ...

"Robert Parry" - In Libya, a Bloodbath Looms

http://www.opednews.com/articles/In-Libya-a-Bloodbath-Loom-by-Robert-Parry-110831-711.html

August 31, 2011 By Robert Parry NATO's war in Libya, which began with high-minded declarations about "protecting civilians," now appears likely to end with a bloodbath that will claim the lives of many civilians, albeit pro-Gaddafi civilians, not the earlier threatened anti-Gaddafi civilians. Ali Tarhouni, a senior official of the NATO-backed Libyan rebels, summed up this Orwellian reality with a phrase reminiscent of the famous Vietnam War quote that "we had to destroy the village in order to save it." Tarhouni was quoted by the Associated Press as saying "Sometimes to avoid bloodshed you must shed blood -- and the faster we do this the less blood will be shed."

Click to read more ...