Tag: Libya

Bullets For Libya

Libya……there is more to the situation than the GOP would have us believe….there is more than the deaths in Benghazi….but then there is little political revenue out of what is truly happening…..

Libya has faded from the news…..there has been some much more important news to cover….like the Oscars…or Madonna falling and breaking a hip (not really…but she is getting old)……or a train wreck that effects less than 1% of the population…..oh so much more……worthless mind numbing fecal matter…..

But while you were being lulled into stupidity by the media….death and destruction continues in North Africa….you remember Libya that country that we had to intervene because of a growing humanitarian crisis, right?

Four years on……since NATO intervene and got Qaddafi murdered….. and so far it is a carbon copy of the Middle East once the US steps in and brings them “freedom”……..so….,what has been accomplished by the removal of the despot?

Civil war…..more civilian deaths…..possible a genocide of black Libyans…..all made possible by the stupidity of American foreign policy…….we sent them a Libyan general that has been on the payroll of CIA for almost 30 years….Haftar is his name…….and now his is positioning himself to become the new tyrant of Libya……

The president of Libya’s elected parliament has proposed the appointment of General Khalifa Haftar, who leads his own troops, as commander of the army loyal to the government based in the east of the country, the parliament spokesman said on Wednesday.

The decision shows the increasing influence of military figures in the official government and parliament, which has been forced to operate from eastern Libya since an armed group called Libya Dawn seized the capital Tripoli in summer.

Keep in mind that is how Qaddafi got his start…in the military and he lead a coup that ousted the king at the time, Idris..

This could be good in only one aspect…..he could bring about a ceasefire among militias…..but then…..at what price?

While I agree that the US has been neglecting the situation in Libya…..a situation that they help create for far too long…..and now people like McCain is once again calling for intervention….but for now he wants to arm the ‘moderates’…………….I do not understand his obsession with moderates but what the Hell…he is calling for more arms in a country flooded with arms…….especially now that a jihad element is showing it head…..ISIS….that is right I said ISIS is supposedly starting to show in Libya.

A few ‘experts’ think that if a possible unity government can be formed that the rise of jihad groups will slow….and that is where Haftar bows in……if CIA can control him then we have a ‘friend’ in the fight…..as it is right now…..there are few friends of the US……

It seems that many are pissed about what the US has created in Libya….since Qaddafi’s death the country has become a stretch of land that has refugees living on handouts, cities like Benghazi are basically ghost towns, no one knows which militia is fighting which militia……and all the while the rest of the world is worried about the oil reserves……I think I can understand why some would be pissed.

The next question to ask is……..Will the US be able to pursue and confront ISIS beyond the borders of Iraq/Syria?  Americans may be willing to go beyond those borders but is it capable of such an over extension?

The Military-Industrial Complex (M-IC) would be thrilled with the necessity to re-arm more frequently than today…..but will the American people allow a war that is truly without end?

Please believe me when I say…..a war without end is exactly what we Americans are looking at and we will allow it to continue as long as the government controls our information on said war.  Apathy will be our downfall and the MSM feeds that apathy.

And that brings us back to Libya…….will the extension of our war on ISIS begin in Libya?

A question that will need to be asked and then answered.

We exacted our revenge on Qaddafi for Berlin and Lockerbie………after that we care not.  And then we will once again fret over a hatred for our foreign policy…..our enemies are of our own making.

Libya’s New Strongman – The New Yorker

You know that recently Libya had their version of the Arab Spring and it resulted in the capture and death of Qaddafi….and then the ensuing battles for supremacy….this faction against that militia…..I am sure that most know the tune…….but did anyone know that the ‘leader’ of the faction that US will support has been on the payroll of the CIA for decades?

Yep, he is the inside man for the “company” inside Libya today….it was a long time coming but now the CIA has its own man as the future leader of the country of Libya…..

Interested?  Then by all means…..read on……..

 

Libya’s New Strongman – The New Yorker.

ABC and NBC Ignore Announcement of Murder Charges for Benghazi Suspect | Media Research Center

I know we Americans are more focused on the newest fodder for conspiracy nuts…Ebola and we do not have much time for those of the past…like immigrants and of course the big one for the Right…Benghazi……

So for those who missed it….I’m pretty sure that is most of you……read on!

This illustrates just how silly all that fake outrage really is….and we Americans buy into it every time!

 

ABC and NBC Ignore Announcement of Murder Charges for Benghazi Suspect | Media Research Center.

Middle East: Shall We Dance?

Most anyone that follows the international news will know that Libya since the ousting of Qaddafi has been a hot bed to violence……this faction fighting that faction and no one is really in control……but recently there was an airstrike on an Islamic faction…….in case you missed it……

(Newser) – Egypt and the United Arab Emirates launched airstrikes at militias in Libya twice over the last week without Washington’s approval, four US officials tell the New York Times. Egypt, in fact, denied any involvement in the attacks. The first strikes came last week in Tripoli, destroying a weapons depot “controlled by Islamist-friendly militias” and blowing up six people, the Times says. The second, on Saturday, struck a warehouse, vehicles, and rocket launchers run by “Islamist-allied militia.” Militants rebounded by seizing Tripoli’s airport, which was then destroyed by fire yesterday amid strikes by “unidentified war planes,” Reuters reports.

The UAE and Egypt had attacked Libya before, US officials say: A military team from Egypt (possibly comprised of Emirates fighters) recently leveled an Islamist camp in Libya. That may have encouraged the UAE and Egypt to think they could attack undetected again, the officials said. The strikes represent a new salvo in the Middle East conflict between Islamists and old-school autocratic leaders, the Times notes. Much Twitter reaction is focusing on how the UAE and Egypt, both close US allies, apparently launched the attacks without calling Washington first, the Atlantic Wire reports. Tweets Yair Rosenberg: “The problem w/ leading from behind is sometimes you get left behind.”

Now that attack has brought an interesting thought….at least to me…..if Saudi and UAE are willing to go it alone against Islamists could they be the partners we need in our fight against the IS?

The US is scrambling to find allies for the war on IS…..but they say assad is NOT one of those considered………

Newser) – After OKing airstrikes in Iraq and spy flights over Syria in an attempt to rein in ISIS, President Obama has started rallying international allies to expand efforts against the militant Sunni group—efforts that may include even more airstrikes in Iraq and possible military action in Syria, reports the New York Times. One thing he won’t be doing: partnering with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who also has a vested interest in purging his country of the insurgents. “We’re not going to ask for permission from the Syrian regime,” a State Department spokeswoman tells the Washington Post.

Although Syria warned Monday that it would consider any US strikes against ISIS in its country “an act of aggression” if not coordinated with its government, it indicated that it’s “ready to cooperate and coordinate on the regional and international level in the war on terror,” notes the Post. This may be part of the reason why the Obama administration is working behind the scenes to bolster its international support: In addition to getting longtime allies Britain and Australia on board for potential air campaigns, unnamed administration officials say they’re asking Turkey for the use of its military bases, trying to gather intelligence from Jordan, and requesting financial assistance from Saudi Arabia, which supports Syrian opposition forces, notes the Times. “Rooting out a cancer like [ISIS] won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Obama said in a speech yesterday, adding “that the militants would be ‘no match’ for a united international community.”

Writer Bobby Ghosh has brought up an interesting premise and ask a valuable question…….since the attack on Libya there is the possibility that we could have found the needed allies for the coming storm……….

Newser) – Neither nation is admitting it exactly, but it seems that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates joined forces earlier this month to bomb sites held by Islamist militants inside Libya. This is actually a huge milestone in the Arab world, writes Bobby Ghosh at Quartz, and one that should cause concern among militants fighting for the Islamic State, or ISIS. “Why is it a game-changer?” writes Ghosh. “Because it marks the first time two Arab nations have teamed up to launch military operations against Islamists in a third.”

What’s more, “it was the first time two Sunni Muslim nations struck radical Sunni groups in a third Sunni country.” With the precedent now set, these two nations and others could be emboldened to form a coalition to go after the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. Considering that other Sunni Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan have plenty of US aircraft in their arsenals, such a coalition could be powerful indeed. The idea of doing anything to help Syria’s Bashar al-Assad may give pause, but “the taboo on intervention has been lifted.” Click for Ghosh’s full column.

If we are to be successful against the rapid advancement of the IS then we will need partners willing to do what needs to be done……will Egypt or Saudis and the UAE be part of the needed coalition?

Libya: A Cautionary Tale | Common Dreams

We do not hear much about Libya these days……well there is the Benghazi thing, but that is a political game played for votes nothing else……I mean the country……in the beginning there was all sorts of condemnation of the prez for his lack of active participation when the fight for control of Libya began….well that is silent know they got all the political advantage out of the situation and now they move on to the next spurious situation……..

There is still fighting in Libya and there is still a chance that it could get worse……but that does not concern the GOP….that is until there is a political advantage to b had…..and then the Mouth-keteers McCain, Graham and Ayotte will be dashing to the  nearest TV camera to make a statement…..

Read on and learn and then you will see just how stupid some politician really are……….

 

Libya: A Cautionary Tale | Common Dreams.

The Making Of A New Somalia?

Inkwell Institute

North African Desk

There you go….a new week and we have not managed to destroy all life….well not yet….but we keep trying.

I have said just about everything I wanted to say on our cracker jack political system so as usual I will move on to more important issues and more important places……..

The US and its allies have done their part brilliantly…..we hve managed to pretty much destroy all opponents……and we did it with a smile and pat on the back…..we showed up to save them from themselves…..and in doing so we have created some of the most dangerous spots in the world……..oh I don’t know Iraq, Syria, and now we are condemning Libya…….been a helluva century so far.

What are talking about Professor……Qadahfi is gone and all is right with the world,……..ain’t it?

All is right….only if you have the attention span of a rabbit in heat.

Eastern Libya hates Tripoli….Southern Libya is just pissed….and then there are the militias (Militias?  Where have I heard the term before?)…..every megalomaniac has a militia (again that sounds vaguely familiar) and the militias do what militias do….they fight whoever is the bad guy of the day.

Recently there was a coup, only we do not call it a coup these days, that put the entire country in a tizzy…….all this stems from the area that Americans know all too well….only they have no idea they know it….Benghazi.

What do the separatists want? They demand not mere autonomy but something close to independence. The territory of Cyrenaica (Barqa, in Arabic) followed concrete steps in this sense: it first established a shadow government, after advocating for a loose federal system of government sharing power for months with Fezzan, the south western region of Libya and in June 2013, Sheikh Ahmed Zubair Senussi, head of the Cyrenaica Transitional Council, declared self-government.

On November 4 2013, it unilaterally declared its condition of “semi-autonomous state.” The separatist region even announced the establishment of an independent oil company after taking over several commercial seaports, a step prior to the creation of a Cyrenaican Defense Force.

The self-proclaimed government of Cyrenaica insists it is not defying the government or Congress, but rather claim their right to export. It has been complaining for decades of being sidelined from the political arena. The east is where most of the country’s wealth lies, in form of oil reserves. It made sense that the uprising started there, as the city has become a hub for intellectuals, dissenters, unsatisfied youth and political activists. Contrary to Tripoli, the city has grown from the meddling of different identities. Cyrenaica has forged its identity on a strong sense of tribal membership that today remains present even among the urban youth.

All this violence makes me think of a country we know all too well…..Somalia.  Libya is looking at a situation that is playing out today….in Syria….In Somalia….and to a lesser extent in Iraq.  all the violence…..all human rights violations……all the lawlessness……tribe against tribe…..clan against clan…..and eventually all against the US.

Libya is flirting with a civil war…..and won’t that be just peachy?

All these countries are countries that our congressional war hawks have made the US a part of the violence………and that will bite us in the butt……..any day now.  These war hawks in their rush to assist the military-industrial complex have lost sight of the consequences of their positions.  And as soon as something goes wrong, and it will go wrong, these hawks are the first to assign blame and it is never their fault.

Time for the US to re-think their failing foreign policy…….19th century answers will not work in the 21st century.

Benghazi Makes “Real” News

Inkwell Institute

North Africa Desk

Yes, Benghazi is in the news….but it has little do with the accusations coming from the Right’s mental midgets….McCain, Graham and Ayotte…..there are others but these give the air of respectability…..not many can claim that……

There is lots going on in Benghazi…….for one….some randomly unidentified army officer is leading an attempted coup…….there has been a lot of violence in the past between the government and  extremists and Eastern Libya….this is the first one that seems to be well rehearsed…..there has been some sort of confrontation brewing……

The Libyan government maintains that it is still in control after a weekend that saw its own parliament building stormed—though whether that is the case remains unclear, reports Reuters. What happened, and what’s happening, in the tumultuous country:

  • Yesterday’s attack on parliament: Loyalists of retired general Khalifa Haftar stormed the building in Tripoli, with local media reporting that roads in the capital were made impassable by men who commanded truck-mounted heavy weapons.
  • How it’s being reported: The Washington Post describes yesterday’s events, which killed two, as “some of the worst fighting the capital has seen since the 2011 revolution.”
  • What they want: Haftar’s allies say the goal of the attack was to eliminate Islamist hardliners from Libya, the BBC reports. The AP reports that the Haftar-aligned troops yesterday declared they had suspended the Islamist-dominated house, blaming it for empowering Islamic extremists, and was replacing it with a 60-member constituent assembly that was elected earlier this year to create a new constitution for the country; Libya’s interim government brushed the announcement off.
  • Background on the breakdown: As per the Los Angeles Times, “lawmakers are divided among Islamist and non-Islamist elements, and the swearing in of a new Cabinet led by an Islamist-leaning prime minister, Ahmed Matiq, has been repeatedly delayed by political infighting.”
  • Who is Haftar? He’s described in US media reports as a “rogue,” “mysterious,” and a “renegade,” with the LAT describing him as having a prominent role in the 2011 uprising against Moammar Gadhafi, who he helped bring to power in 1969 and severed ties with in 1988. Prior to that he lived in … Falls Church, Va., having sought exile in the US in the ’80s. His immediate whereabouts are unclear.
  • The trouble didn’t start yesterday: Forces loyal to Haftar attacked bases in Benghazi controlled by Islamist groups Friday, and 70 reportedly died. Commandeered military aircraft were reportedly used, and officials implemented a “no-fly” zone over the city in an attempt to ground such planes. The LAT notes that some of the country’s military units appear to have defected to Haftar’s side; Reuters says it’s unclear how much support his side has “within Libya’s nascent regular armed forces.”
  • What’s happening today: Islamist-led militias have been deployed to Tripoli on orders of the country’s army chief. The AP reports this could set the stage for a “possible showdown.”

Is this a good thing or just another push for power by some other demented toad?

Or could this be an American covert operation to gain some sort of control over Libya?

Well let’s look at the person leading this violent uprising……..

Gen. Hifter got his start, and his generalship, as a close ally of Moammar Gadhafi, but changed sides when he was captured during the failed late 80′s invasion of Chad. Released at the behest of the US, after which he was set up as a military leader in the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL), a rebel faction based out of Chad which was backed by the CIA.

The NFSL didn’t last much longer in Chad, however, as a takeover of Chad by Gadhafi ally Idriss Deby led the US to evacuate the rebels. Hifter quietly relocated to the DC suburbs after that, and lived there through 2011, when he left to declare himself a rebel leader during the fight that ousted Gadhafi.

Gen. Hifter has bragged about his US backing in the past, though exactly where he stands with the US at present is as unclear as where he stands within Libya’s military command. Anticipatory actions ahead of the coup, however, suggest that whatever prompted Hifter’s attack, it was not a surprise in the US.

Just how will this play out?  That is the $64 million question…..will there be an investigation on whether the CIA had any part in this conflict against an established government?……a government we may not agree with too damn often…..but a legitimate one none the less.

There will be NO Congressional investigation into this right now…..it would serve No political purpose….after all that is all it is about…..the next election.

All this is setting the stage for yet another civil war in the region………

Do You Remember Lockerbie?

Many people will remember the downing of PanAm Flight 103…..it exploded over Lockerbie Scotland killing 259 people….and after much intel work and recriminations it was decided that Libya was the bad guy…..that its leader Gaddafi (you choose the spelling you like) ordered the destruction of the plane in retaliation for the 1986 US attack on Libya…..years later it was found that a Libyan national was responsible and he was later apprehended went to trial convicted and sentenced.  Years later this person, who claimed all along that he was innocent (don’t they always?) was released from prison on a humanitarian release for he had a terminal illness.  The world exploded….the Right wing almost had a stroke because the Scots were such pussies for letting this murder out of prison….does any of this sound familiar?

There seems to be a new twist just coming to light on this affair……..

The Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 went to his grave protesting his innocence—and new evidence suggests he was telling the truth and it was actually Iran behind the Lockerbie attack, an al-Jazeera investigation finds. A former Iranian intelligence officer is among the sources who say the bombing was actually the work of a Syria-based extremist group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, acting under orders from Ayatollah Khomeini to “to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus” that had been downed by the US Navy months earlier, killing 290 people. Prosecutors accused Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi of targeting the plane as revenge for the 1986 US bombing of Libya. The finding is no surprise to former CIA agent Robert Baer, who was involved in the Lockerbie probe and says the Department of Justice ignored intelligence and targeted Libya when the evidence pointed to Iran. “As far as I can tell is someone said, look, Libya’s vulnerable to prosecution, small country, Gadhafi’s hated, let’s go for it,” he says. “It was an executive decision, and then once that happened everybody lined up.” A spokesman for a group of British victims’ relatives says he is “delighted” by the new evidence. It will provide further grounds for appeal in the Megrahi case, he tells the Telegraph, calling the conviction “the tool which the authorities use to block our attempts to find out the truth about who killed our loved ones.”

This is a story that I bet we shall not here much about…..it seems truth is not that important anymore….but that should not surprise anyone these days.

“Questions, I Have Questions”

To quote Roy Batty (now if you got that reference then you are bigger nerd than you think).

First let me congratulate the Right wing for their amazing win!  They have their ‘proof’ on Benghazi and the story of the day will be that win…..but the bigger story will go unnoticed because they have a WIN……..

For months I have trying to expose the BS around the deaths in Benghazi……some think it is a scandal….I think that it is weird….for one the ambassador knew the problems in Benghazi, why would he go in so light in the security part?  If it was a covert meeting why would he go and not the CIA station chief?  Like I said I have questions.

But yesterday I was reading my usual sites about the Middle East and came across some info that makes me think…….

The US government didn’t do enough to prevent the attack on the Benghazi consulate, a long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report concludes. The bipartisan report chastises the CIA for operating out of a different building than the State Department—a facility the military didn’t even know about, the Washington Post reports. It criticizes the State Department for failing to increase security as the situation became more dangerous, and the military for being ill-prepared, and slow (but not intentionally slow) in response. “The attacks were preventable,” the panel wrote. In one attention-grabbing nugget, the report also reveals that during the probe, 15 people “supporting the investigation” have been killed in Libya, though it’s unclear if their deaths are related. The report also addresses the central political conflict around the attacks—the question of whether the Obama administration intentionally mischaracterized the attack as a protest. The report blames intelligence agencies for providing Susan Rice with inaccurate talking points, according to Politico. Testimony declassified Monday, however, indicates that the Pentagon believed it was a terrorist attack right away, the New York Daily News reports.

Coincidence?  After working for a certain organization, especially in the Middle East, I do NOT believe in coincidence.  There is way too much happening around the Benghazi affair….but I think all those screaming “Scandal” are missing the point….they missing the obvious.

In the rush to try and nail Obama for something, anything, they are missing way too much….especially when it pertains to Benghazi…..

Anyone care to pass on some thoughts on this subject?

I Smell A Scandal Brewing

We have had a scandal a month, at least it seems so, since the prez came into office…..we have had some doozys…like NSA…..and the most talked about, at least on the Right, is the Benghazi attack that killed our Libyan ambassador….and today I read some news that will re-fuel this “scandal”, that is if the GOP gets its head out of its butt and pays attention……

Have I wet your curiosity?  Let me past on my news before some start to stroke out……or drwon in their own drool…….

(Newser) – A new revelation, and wrinkle, in the attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi: US officials tell the Washington Post that fighters led by Abu Sufian bin Qumu were involved in the attack. Two notable things about that: One, Qumu was once a detainee at Guantanamo Bay; he was released in 2007 to Libya, which in turn released him the following year. Two, the fighters Qumu leads make up the branch of Ansar al-Sharia located in the Libyan city of Darnah, and it, along with branches in Benghazi and Tunisia, are expected to be soon designated as a “foreign terrorist organization,” and the State Department will likely link Qumu’s branch to the attack at that time.

The Post report specifically states that witnesses have put Qumu’s men in Benghazi, a multi-hour drive from Darnah, in advance of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, though it points out that it’s not clear if they were there by coincidence or plan. It’s not the first time Qumu’s name has surfaced in relation to Benghazi, however: In September 2012, Fox News reported that investigators believed Qumu was involved in and may even have led the attack. The Post notes that officials are looking into whether there are any connections between the Benghazi attackers and American teacher Ronnie Smith, who was shot dead while jogging a month ago.

How long?  How long before this adds fuel to the rabid Right?