We are facing soon another illegal war, an invasion to dismantle yet another country in “Western” i.e. U.S. interests.
Libya is the target nation this time, and already has “military advisers” from U.S., Britain and France, and perhaps also from Israel, on its soil. (See below).
Although genuine internal opposition to the regime exists, the Libyan “protesters” we see supported by a Western media frenzy are by and large a military force, now being trained and equipped by foreign powers who are intent on getting hold of Libyan oil to have it “privatized, i.e. to become foreign owned instead as it was nationalized by Gaddafi 40 years ago.
The eastern part of Libya is where the oil fields by and large are, and that eastern part will be yanked out of Libya by separatists working hand-in-hand with foreign powers. Do they already have a name for that new “country”!
It is of essence that we don’t fall for the transparent claptrap that we should be and are supporting “demonstrators” and “protesters”; under no circumstances should we give comfort to those who mouth “Responsibility to Protect” (RTP) while preparing for all-out invasion and occupation of yet another country. No matter how you twist it, RTP is a blatant imperialist doctrine with a false garb of “humanitarianism.”
What is brewing in Libya is not a “protest” or “demonstration” that has spread across the country, but an attempt to overthrow the government, militarily.
We hear already about “rebel soldiers” and see images of men shaking their powerful guns, waving flags from the pre-Gaddafi period, which appear out of nowhere, en masse. The question is who is behind this force and what is its aim? This question is not being addressed in any way in our media and by our political representatives, and any real information and analysis has been replaced by sentimentalizing about “people power.”
It is clear that big powers are in a real rush to attack and dismantle Libya, in the same manner that Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan have been attacked and dismembered. We hear how the eastern part of Libya where the bulk of the oil is from, “wants to separate” (and get the exclusive benefits of the oil, which now belongs to all Libyans, until it, too gets taken over by the western powers who will gladly “privatize” that oil). The same method is being used: demonize to the hilt, turn the Saddams, Milosevics and Gaddafis into absolute monsters and make up horrendous stories about them and their governments that never have to be proven true, and excite and mislead western populations to support military interventions in the name of “Responsibility to Protect.” Surely many Canadians will remember the claim that Iraqi soldiers had taken Kuwaiti babies out of their incubators and left them to die, so they could haul their loot back to Iraq. This was the famous incident, acted out in front of the US Congress that provided the impetus for the first invasion of Iraq in 1990. And yet, soon afterwards it was revealed that the woman who had tearfully testified having been an eyewitness to the atrocity, turned out to be a daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador in the U.S. and was acting out a script prepared by the PR firm Hill and Knowlton, hired by the Kuwaiti government to get Americans to support the invasion of Iraq. (Amnesty International completely fell for this hoax as well.)
“The Responsibility to Protect,” oddly enough, appears only to apply to certain countries: no such thing to protect the Palestinians when Israel launches a massive military attack on Gaza and not a finger lifted when the U.S. invades and occupies Iraq and Afghanistan, where several millions of innocent civilians have died and continue to die. Now the UN appears to be willing to facilitate an attack on yet another country, with a guaranteed loss of thousands upon thousands of Libyan lives.
US military advisers in Cyrenaica
The Israeli intelligence website Debka states (25 Feb) that:
“Hundreds of US, British and French military advisers have arrived in Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern breakaway province, debkafile’s military sources report exclusively. This is the first time America and Europe have intervened militarily in any of the popular upheavals rolling through the Middle East since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution in early January. The advisers, including intelligence officers, were dropped from warships and missile boats at the coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk Thursday Feb. 24, for a threefold mission:
1. To help the revolutionary committees controlling eastern Libyan establish government frameworks for supplying two million inhabitants with basic services and commodities;
2. To organize them into paramilitary units, teach them how to use the weapons they captured from Libyan army facilities, help them restore law and order on the streets and train them to fight Muammar Qaddafi’s combat units coming to retake Cyrenaica.
3. The prepare infrastructure for the intake of additional foreign troops. Egyptian units are among those under consideration.” http://www.debka.com/article/20708/ (this Israeli report remains unverified)
The banners of King Idris Waves
A short piece on Global Research entitled Libya – When historical memory is erased. In the square the banners of King Idris wave, by Manlio Dinucci
gives a brief but oh-so-necessary history lesson that we don’t see even hinted at on our highly complicit media:
“Benghazi captured, the rebels have lowered the green flag of the Republic of Libya, hoisting in its place the red, black and green banner with crescent and star: the flag of the monarchy of King Idris. The same flag was hoisted by protesters (including those of the Partito demcratico and the Rfinadzione comunista) on the gate of the Libyan embassy in Rome, raising the cry: “Here’s the flag of democratic Libya, that of King Idris.” It was a symbolic act, rich in history and burning current events.
The Emir of Cyrenaica
Already the emir of Cyrenaica and Tripoli, Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi was put on the throne of Libya by the British when the country gained independence in 1951. It had been an Italian colony since 1911. Libya became a federal monarchy, in which King Idris was head of state, with the right to pass it on to his heirs. It was always the king who would appoint the prime minister, the Council of Ministers and half the members of the Senate, which had the right to dissolve the House of Representatives.
According to a twenty-year treaty of “friendship and alliance” with Britain, in 1953, King Idris granted to the British, in exchange for financial and military assistance, the use of air, naval and land bases in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. A similar agreement was concluded in 1954 with the United States, which obtained the use of the Wheelus Air Base just outside Tripoli. It became the main U.S. air base in the Mediterranean. In addition, the United States and Britain were able to use firing ranges in Libya for their military aviation. With Italy, King Idris in 1956 concluded an agreement which not only wiped Italy clear of all damages to Libya, but allowed the Italian community in Tripoli to maintain its assets practically intact.
Libya became even more important for the U.S. and Britain when, in the late 1950s, the U.S.-based company Esso (ExxonMobil) confirmed the existence of large oil fields and others were discovered soon after. The major companies, such as the U.S.’s Esso and Britain’s British Petroleum, got advantageous concessions that ensured their control and the bulk of the profit from Libya’s oil. The Italian company Eni also obtained two concessions, through Agip. To better control the deposits, the government’s federal form was abolished in 1963, eliminating the historical regions of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan.
The protests of Libyan nationalists, who accused King Idris of selling out the country, were stifled by police repression. The rebellion grew, however, especially in the armed forces. It resulted in a coup – whose chief architect was Captain Muammar Gaddafi – carried out without bloodshed in 1969 by just 50 officers, calling themselves “Free Officers” on the Nasser model.
The monarchy abolished, the Libyan Arab Republic in 1970 forced the U.S. and British forces to evacuate their military bases and, the following year, nationalized the properties held by British Petroleum and forced other companies to pay the Libyan state a much higher share of the profits.
The propaganda of 1911
The flag of King Idris, which is flying again now in the civil war in Libya, is the banner of those who, by manipulating the struggle of those genuinely fighting for democracy against the regime of Gaddafi, plan to bring Libya back under control of the powers that once dominated it. Those forces, headed by the United States, are preparing to land in Libya under the cover of “peacekeeping.” Meanwhile, in concert with the Pentagon, the Italian Defense Minister Ignacio La Russa announced that from Sigonella military base [Sicily] military airplanes will fly directly to Libya for “purely humanitarian purposes.” The same “humanitarian intervention” that the pacifists and those who waved the flag of King Idris are demanding in an “urgent appeal,” but they forget history. They should remember that a century ago, in 1911, the Italian occupation of Libya, prepared by incessant propaganda, was supported by majority public opinion, while in the cabarets they sang, “Tripoli, sing land of love come sweetly where the syrup runs.” Times change and language, but the rhyme remains, “to the roar of guns.”
A SIMPLE ACTION PLAN ANYONE CAN FOLLOW:
1) Question everything that the media says about Libya! The list of systematic disinformation gets longer every day and the CBC is spearheading this relentless toxic brew in Canada — its news and public affairs programmes need to be vigorously challenged. Most of them have call-back phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Target the programmes that you listen to or watch regularly. Talk up your skepticism!
2) Let our opposition parliamentarians know that you don’t buy into the “Responsibility To Protect” and consider it a dangerous doctrine.
The quickest way to find their contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses is at
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E
3) Strengthen your resistance by reading Jean Bricmont’s powerful and clarifying Humanitarian imperialism: Using human rights to sell war, (what an appropriate title!) available from www.davidorchard.com. Read review in Counterpunch at
http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman06062007.html
