Oil, hypocrites and evil in Libya

The UK, US and France have attacked Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the first action to enforce a UN-mandated no-fly zone.

Pentagon officials say the US and the UK have fired more than 110 missiles, while French planes struck pro-Gaddafi forces attacking rebel-held Benghazi.

Col Gaddafi has vowed retaliation and said he will open arms depots to the people to defend Libya.

Missiles struck air defence sites in the capital, Tripoli, and Misrata.

A French plane fired the first shots against Libyan government targets at 1645 GMT, destroying a number of military vehicles, according to a military spokesman.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that British planes are in action over Libya.

US President Barack Obama, speaking during a visit to Brazil, said the US was taking “limited military action” as part of a “broad coalition”.

“We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy,” he said.

He repeated that no US ground troops would take part.

After the missile bombardment and the air strikes, Col Gaddafi made a brief speech calling on people to resist.

“Civilian and military targets in the air and sea will be liable to serious danger in the Mediterranean,” he said.

“Arms depots are now open and the masses are being equipped with all sorts of weapons in defence of Libya’s independence, unity and honour,” the Libyan leader warned.

Later, state TV said 48 people were killed and 150 wounded in the attacks. There was no independent confirmation of the statement.

‘Necessary’

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said a British submarine and a number of Tornado jets fired missiles at Libyan military targets.

Mr Cameron said that launching military action against Libya was “necessary, legal and right”.

Libyan state TV reported that what it called the “crusader enemy” had bombed civilian areas of Tripoli, as well as fuel storage tanks supplying the western city of Misrata.

Sources in Tripoli told BBC Arabic that the attacks on the city had so far targeted the eastern areas of Sawani, Airport Road, and Ghasheer. These are all areas believed to host military bases.

After midnight on Sunday, heavy bursts of anti-aircraft fire arced into the sky above Tripoli and several explosions were heard.

The strikes on Misrata targeted a military airbase, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting two residents who denied the state TV reports that fuel stores were hit.

The cruise missiles were fired from one British submarine and a number of American destroyers and subs, said a Pentagon official.

The missiles hit more than 20 air defence sites along the Mediterranean coast, said Navy Vice Adm William E Gortney.

The action came hours after Western and Arab leaders met in Paris to agree how to enforce the UN resolution, which allows “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from forces loyal to Col Gaddafi.

Benghazi battle

Earlier on Saturday, pro-Gaddafi forces attacked Benghazi despite declaring a ceasefire a day earlier.

Reports from the city said that government tanks and artillery had bombarded the city and there was fighting around the university.

Rebels in the city said thousands of people were fleeing the attack, heading east, and the UN refugee agency said it was preparing to receive 200,000 refugees from Libya.

Journalists later said the bombardment ended in the later afternoon and that rebel forces were in control of Benghazi.

The Libyan government blamed the rebels for breaking the ceasefire and said its forces had fought back in self defence.

French planes are reported to have hit government tanks and armoured vehicles around Benghazi.

French planes also flew reconnaissance missions over “all Libyan territory”, military sources in Paris said earlier.

In addition, Canada is sending warplanes to the region, while Italy has offered the use of its military bases. A naval blockade against Libya is also being put in place.

The international community was intervening to stop the “murderous madness” of Col Gaddafi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

“In Libya, the civilian population, which is demanding nothing more than the right to choose their own destiny, is in mortal danger,” he warned. “It is our duty to respond to their anguished appeal.”

Shortly after the airstrikes began, Libyan state TV said a French plane had been shot down near Tripoli. However, French military officials said all their planes had returned safely.

Col Gaddafi has ruled Libya for more than 40 years. An uprising against him began last month after long-time leaders of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt were toppled.

This is naked aggression of a sovreign nation by the combined immense strength of imperial West, who have manipulated the UNSC to gain a semblance of legality for their attacks. It amounts to bullying by the imperial West of a small nation.

Gaddafi was a benevolent dictator in the view of the majority Lybians. He is eccentric but hey love him. They do not mind he is their President for life. Gaddafi’s mistake was to side with the Palestinian cause and the Lockerbie bombing of a US plane in Bitish soil. He had thrown a stone at a hornets nest.

Saddam Hussein was a useful ally of the imperial West, for a while, against Iran. They supplied him with all the arms he needed against Iran. They ignored his mass killings of the Kurds and Marsh Arabs in Iraq. His mistake was to try to annexe Kuwait, an ally of the imperial West. The imperial West toppled him. Iraq is still in the throes of war but the oil flow to the West is secure. Middle East policies of the imperial West is hinged on Arab oil. Without this oil the industries of the West will grind to a halt. Their economies will be in dire trouble.

Lybian leader threatened to cut-off Lybian oil to the West. Big mistake! It roused the ire of the imperial West. Gaddafi threw a stone at a hornets nest. He has now to face the consequences. The imperial West’s crocodile tears over the killings of rebels in Benghazi is just a ploy by the imperial West to depose Gaddafi. They want to secure the oil flow to the West by installing a pro-West government in Lybia.

Imperial West has no right to take the moral high ground and condemn Lybia for quelling the rebellions against him. They have no moral right to invade Lybia with all their combined strenth to depose Gaddafi. It is sheer hypocrisy for imperial West to condemn Gaddafi for action against rebels in Lybia, when imperial West has blood on their own hands, through centuries of brutal massacres they carried out in the countries they colonised and imposed their will, and stripped them of their natural resources.Their war crimes continue in Iraq and Afghanistan unabated.

When nearly a million were killed in Ruwanda in a brutal civil war, no UN secured military intervention was taken by the imperial West. There was no oil in Ruwanda and the country was of no strategic interest. There is brutal repression of the citizens in Zimbabwe by a dictator, and similar atrocities in Burma by the ruling military junta. Imperial West has not intervened in these countries to free the citizens of these brutal regimes. There is no oil in these countries.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent military units to Bahrain to put down the revolution against the monarch of Bahrain. Bahrainis were massacred by these units. But imperial West was strangely silent. No condemnation of SA, UAE and Bahrain monarch. What hypocrisy by the imperial West. They do not want to make an emenmy of SA. The industry of imperial West depends on SA oil. SA is a valuable ally. The imperial West has business interests in SA as well as sell arms to SA. They do not want this jeopardised. Hence they treat SA and UAE differently. This is sheer hypocrisy of the imperial West! Gaddafi is no saint, but imperial West are devils, they are evil.

The imperial West attitude to smaller nations stinks. They secured a UNSC resolution to sanction to patrol a no-fly zone over Benghazi only. This was eye-wash. Once, the imperial West secured UNSC resolution for some semblance of legality, they broke the terms of the resolution, by actually patrolling the air space of the whole of Lybia and attacking even the residence of Gaddafi in Tripoli, stating they have intelligence that military units are based there. Gaddafi has his military units around him for his security against the rebels. So what’s wrong with that? Actually, the objective of imperial West is to cripple Gaddafi security machine in order the rebels gain the upper hand to topple Gaddafi.

The imperial West’s actual objective is ‘regime change’, though they deny it. They want to kill Gaddafi and his sons as they killed Saddam Hussein and his sons. It is a pity that China and Russia did not exercise their veto powers in UNSC against USA and Britain led war against Gaddafi. USA, Britain and EU have made the world’s hot-spots even hotter. Flow of oil would be restricted. Industries would be slowed down. Cost of living would spiral up. I wonder whether China and Russia anticipated this and wanted to punish imperial West by allowing this to happen to the economies of the West.

Who are these rebels in Benghazi? They are actually led by an Al Qaeda sponsored tarrorist group against Gaddafi. Its name is LYBIAN ISLAMIC FIGHTING GROUP. In 2009, CIA had identified this group as a terrorist group sponsored by Al-Qaeda. USA proscribed this rebel group as a terrorist organisation. CIA set-up and trained Lybian security apparatus to counter this threat to Lybian security. However, since change of government in USA the relations between Lybia and USA has soured. By deposing Gaddafi, USA will actually create a vacuum which will soon be filled by rebel leaders sponsored by Al Qaeda, the LIFG, a terrorist group. Far from securing the oil flow to the imperial West, they have muddied the waters and made matters worse for themselves.

In Iraq the imperial West is embroiled in a long drawn out war, with different factions sponsored by Iran and Al Qaeda. It is drain on US, British and EU economies. The imperial West is utterly foolish. They had lost a friend in Lybia and opened the door to Al Qaeda, to gain power in Lybia, through LIFG. Al Qaeda objective is to topple Saudi Arabian monarchy also eventually. That will also come about surely and steadily. Damn good lesson for the imperial West! Down with the imperial West!!!

US is worse than animals, because animals don’t pretend to be better than how they look and sound. US in the contrary, pretends to be innocent, honest and genuine while they actually are quite the opposite and cruel. You never can trust what US says, and this may a symptom of their very young around 350 years old history and hence unmatured cultural values. Deep in their heart they still are very primitive in their human values such as honesty and genuineness.

USA and Britain are peas in the same pod. They are hypocrites and evil. Their leaders lie through their teeth to mislead their own people and Congress/ Parliament in order to gain sanctions to go to war against smaller nations they have a gudge against, on one pretext or another, having de-stablised them first through their INGOs and NGOs and their rent-a-revolutionary within such countries. This is their modus operandi which has happened time and again and go on happening with no one to stop them. It is as easy as stealing candy from a child.

Isn’t it a great pity that China and Russia did not use their veto power in UNSC during the debate and vote on resolution against Lybia, to stop the imperial West from unleashing their fierce combined fire power against Lybia to cause utter destruction and civilian deaths? On the pretext of ‘saving’ the rebels from being put down by the Lybian army, the allied West barrage of more than 120 cruise missiles and indiscriminate bombardment of Lybian capital by wave after wave of imperial West fighter bombers have caused more civilian casualties. The imperial West wants a regime change in order to secure their oil flow to the West to prevent their economies from grinding to a halt.

In 2009, the CIA was cosy with Gaddafi and set-up for him a secret service, in the model of CIA, to combat the growing Al Qaeda funded LYBIAN ISLAMIC FIGHTING GROUP. Today this terrorist organisation, which is proscribed in USA, has grown so big and well armed, it staged a rebellion against Gaddafi. Strangely, USA has decided to side with the rebels. On the pretext of preventing civilian casualties among the rebels, as the Gaddafi fought to liberate Lybia from the insurgents, the imperial West bombarded and killed civilians supporters of Gaddafi in Tripoli, as collateral damage, along with the destruction of the residence of Gaddafi and a few militray targets. By intervening on the side of the insurgents in Lybia in a purely internal matter, the imperial West has clearly shown they are seeking a regime change by killing Gaddafi and his sons as they killed Saddam Husein and his sons, for vested interests.

The imperial West are two-faced hypocrites whose true motivation is to secure Lybian oil flow to the West to prevent their economy economy being affected. The imperial West is strangley silent and inconsistent in their policy towards the violent repression of the peoples’ uprisings in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. We do not witness a heavy bombardment and overkill of Bahrain and Saudi Arabian gavernments, to topple these monarchical dictatorial repressive governments, on the side of the rebel groups. Instead, they are actually siding with the dictatorial, repressive monarchies of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, who are of the Sunni minority detested by the Shiite majority of the respective Countries. 

by Nicholas Dias

March 20, 2011