Tag: North Africa

What Is Morocco Up To?

Today is President’s Day…..where we Americans celebrate all those men that served as leader over the years….

After I graduated from university I went to Tunisia and applied for a job with the UN as an analyst…..did not get the gig some dude with lots more letters after his name got the call.

Not the end of the story I was then approached by a Spanish newspaper to be a researcher/analyst and so began my 4 years of work in the Middle East and North Africa.

I was assigned to Rabat Morocco and was researching a story on the annexation of Western Sahara…I was granted an interview with one of the leaders of the opposition, the Polarsio and spent 2 weeks among the people of Western Sahara….great people.

Since those days I have been watching and writing about the struggles of Western Sahara…..

Source: Where Is Western Sahara? – In Saner Thought

Source: Meanwhile Back In Western Sahara – In Saner Thought

Source: Armed Conflict Could Return To Western Sahara – In Saner Thought

Just a little background for Morocco is making news these days…..they have rejoined the African Union (AU) after a 33 year absence….and some are asking….why now?

Morocco is ready to raise its global stature, flexing its muscle before the world by joining the African Union (AU) and making clear what it can offer — or withhold — in the areas of finance and security.

The country’s investments, security and migration control will remain its power points with which to bargain for political support from the West, which in turn wants a greater presence in Africa.

Morocco wants to put to bed international friction over its decadeslong battle with the Polisario Front independence movement over disputed Western Sahara territory recognized by some countries as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). In fact, Morocco left the AU’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, in 1984 to protest the group’s admission of SADR.

But now Morocco is back.

Some are questioning this move by Morocco…..is it more about trying to salvage their claim to Western Sahara than anything else?

King Mohammed VI’s new African policy reflects the Moroccan monarch’s pragmatism and realism. While in the past, Morocco had adopted a disastrous “empty chair” policy, the new policy is proactive and positive for the outlook of Morocco’s territorial integrity and the controversy it is facing over the Western Sahara.

Owing to Morocco’s absence from the African Union (AU) over the past 33 years, Morocco’s rivals, mainly Algeria and South Africa, have been using the pan-African body to push their self-serving political and ideological agendas.

The two countries have seemingly dominated the organisation and attempted to use it as a tool to weaken Morocco’s position with regard to the Western Sahara.

Source: Moroccan pragmatism: A new chapter for Western Sahara | Morocco | Al Jazeera

This situation will be an interesting one for us IR geeks….what will be the future of Western Sahara?  Who holds the keys?

On The Barbary Coast

Most Americans do not realize that the US involvement in the Arab world is over 200 years old…..its involvement began with the very founding of the country after the great Revolution of independence…..

As usual I cannot help myself…..you will get a bit of my usual historic perspective…….

The US involvement in the Arab world began with its confrontation with the Barbary republics of North Africa……

These actions were called “the Barbary Wars”……

  • The Berber Muslim states of northwest Africa—Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco, collectively known as the Barbary States—regularly attacked ships in the Mediterranean, demanding tribute from various countries.
  • President Jefferson’s administration refused to give the tribute and went to war in the Mediterranean in 1800, ending in an American victory and a treaty of peace in 1805.
  • After the First Barbary War, the United States found its attention diverted to its deteriorating relationship with Great Britain, and the Barbary States took this opportunity to resume attacking American and European merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The Second Barbary War occurred in 1815 under President Madison’s administration again as a result of piracy in the Mediterranean. Like the first war, the second war ended in victory for the United States and granted it full shipping rights in the Mediterranean Sea.

The First Barbary War…..

The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Coast War, was the first of the two wars fought between the United States and the Northwest African Berber Muslim states, known collectively as the Barbary States. These included Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, which were quasi-independent entities nominally belonging to the Ottoman Empire, along with (briefly) the independent Sultanate of Morocco. Pirate ships and crews from the Barbary States regularly attacked and captured ships in the Mediterranean, extorting ransom for the lives of captured sailors and demanding tribute from various countries to avoid further attacks.
The war began when Thomas Jefferson became president of the United States in 1800 and refused to pay the Barbary States a tribute, the amount of which was greatly increased upon his election. Upon Jefferson’s refusal, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha (or Bashaw) of Tripoli, declared war on the United States; however, Algiers and Tunis did not follow their ally in Tripoli. In response, Jefferson sent a U.S. naval fleet to the Mediterranean on May 13, 1801, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale. Throughout the war, the U.S. navy bombarded the various fortified cities along the coast and maintained a blockade in Tripoli’s harbor. After a stunning defeat at Tripoli and wearied from the blockade and raids, Yussif Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805, and the United States was given fair passage through the Mediterranean.
(boundless.com)
Seldom is the end of this conflict covered beyond…the US won the engagement….but there was so much more to this……
In agreeing to pay a ransom of $60,000 for the American prisoners, the Jefferson administration drew a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom. At the time, some argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war. William Eaton, however, remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling that his efforts had been squandered by the state department diplomat Tobias Lear. Eaton and others felt that the capture of Derna should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom. Furthermore, Eaton believed the honor of the United States had been compromised when it abandoned Hamet Karamanli after promising to restore him as leader of Tripoli. Eaton’s complaints generally went unheard, especially as attention turned to the strained international relations which would ultimately lead to the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy from the area in 1807 and to the War of 1812
(wikipedia)
But this was NOT the end of our conflict in this region…..Pres. Monroe had to deal with it also……

After the First Barbary War, the United States found its attention diverted to its deteriorating relationship with Great Britain over trade with France, which culminated in the War of 1812. The Barbary pirate states took this opportunity to resume their practice of attacking American and European merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea and holding their crews and officers for ransom.

The Second Barbary War, also known as the Algerine or Algerian War, occurred in 1815 under President Madison’s administration. At the conclusion of the War of 1812, the United States returned to the problem of Barbary piracy, and on March 3, 1815, Congress authorized deployment of naval power against Algiers. By the final week of June, the U.S. navy had won several battles at sea and reached the coast of Algiers. The United States initiated negotiations and made demands for compensation, and the Algerians signed a treaty under which they agreed to return all American captives and pay $10,000 for seized shipping. The treaty guaranteed no further tributes by the United States and granted the United States full shipping rights in the Mediterranean Sea.

(boundless.com)

As you can see Monroe did not compromise the status of the US at the end of this conflict as Jefferson had with the 1st war…..
But there is so much more to these wars that our history does not teach us…that is unless one is a grad student……
Here are some interesting and little known facts about the First Barbary War.
I do so enjoy teaching little known history to my readers….I know sometimes my historic perspectives are a pain in the ass but knowledge is well worth any momentary discomfort….
Class Dismissed!

Libya: Blood And Sand

It has been years since the fall of Qaddafi and in those years Libya has become a battlefield for terrorists, Westerners and ideologies….the country has sunk into a deadly civil war with different factions claiming control of the country….

We have a new president and the foreign policy toward Libya with his ascent to the tower of power….no one is sure what will come….

Just days before he left his digs in DC Obama called for a massive airstrike in Libya…….

As he’s done several times since last summer, Barack Obama, in one of his final acts as president this week, ordered a bombing raid against Islamic State (IS) militants “in conjunction” with Tripoli’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

The raid on militants who were fleeing the former IS stronghold of Sirte reportedly killed more than 80 fighters and sent a clear message on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration that the Pentagon is fully committed to the fight against the terrorist group. Just as significantly, the Pentagon’s statement highlighting the GNA’s role reminded the incoming administration that the United States has a Libyan partner in that fight.
No one has any idea what the future holds for Libya…that is a future that America will dictate…..
Will Libya find unity or will it slide further down the ladder of civil war?

On January 11, 2017, Field Commander Khalifa Haftar, the head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), was a guest aboard the Russian aircraft carrier The Admiral Kuznetsov, docked off the Libyan coast at Tobruk, en route from Syria back to Russia. During his tour of Russia’s only aircraft carrier, General Haftar held a closed-circuit video conference with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. It was the third time in seven months that Haftar was hosted by Moscow and spoke with Shoigu. Haftar is seeking Russian weapons, banned under a still-in-effect United Nations arms embargo. Russia did provide General Haftar’s LNA with medical equipment and other non-lethal aid during the carrier visit. And in 2016, Russia printed 4 billion Libyan dinars, equivalent to $2.8 billion, in a formal contract with the Libyan central bank. The funds were delivered to a location in eastern Libya under General Haftar’s control. 

Since September 2016, Haftar’s LNA has controlled the four major oil ports in the Gulf of Sirte and two of the country’s largest oil fields in the east.  He enjoys the backing of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and France. Now, with the strong addition of Russia, General Haftar is testing his ability to consolidate military control over parts of western Libya that have been outside of his control since the start of the power struggle, following the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime in late 2011.

Source: Libya at the Crossroad: New National Accord or Full-scale Civil War | Middle East Briefing

Libya has a future but will that future be at the hands of a CIA operative?

The 10th session of Libya’s neighboring countries meeting held in Cairo urged dialogue as the only solution to put an end to the Libyan crisis.

The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, and Niger, and the head of the UN Special Mission to Libya, Martin Kobler, Arab League’s Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, African Union Special Envoy in Libya, Jakaya Kikwete and representatives of international organizations.

The final official communique of the meeting reiterated rejection of any military action or foreign military interference in Libya, highlighted the importance of cooperation among Libya’s neighbors in border security and agreed to hold their 11th meeting in Algeria, but the date has not yet been decided.

Source: Will Haftar Accept a Role in the Libyan GNA Government? – Middle East Observer

You see Haftar has been on the payroll of the CIA for over 20 years…..so is he a agent working for the agency or is he just a Qaddafi-esque mad man waiting to seize total control?

Terminate The Libyan Campaign

We have been involved in the armed conflict in Libya from the beginning in 2011…..it was our participation along with our allies that brought about the end of Qaddafi….and it was our our participation that led to the rise of ISIS in the country and the ensuing civil war…..after 6 years it looks like we will pull our fighting out of the conflict….

A new statement from US Africa Command (Africom) has declared the US military campaign against ISIS in Libya to be “concluded,” following the fall of the last ISIS territory in the city of Sirte in recent weeks. 495 airstrikes were launched over the course of the conflict.

The US launched its war in Libya back in August, promising to defeat ISIS and support the “unity government” in taking the rest of the nation over. That government announced it’s “final push” against ISIS back in early September, but the fighting continued for months more. Even then, ISIS forces mostly withdrew from the city.

Despite nominally presenting the conflict as “over,” Africom’s statement also promised to continue US military involvement in Libya to help the “unity government” fight against ISIS across the country. In effect, they are just rebranding it as something short of a full military campaign.

It may also spell the end of the US directly trying to prop up the “unity government,” one of several factions which styles itself the rightful rulers of the country, and which controls part of the city of Tripoli, along with Sirte.

(antiwar.com)

One down about about 5 major others to go.  At least that is what we are told.

Libya: What Went Wrong?

It has been 5 years since the rule of Qaddafi came to an end…..what began as a popular uprising against a dictator descended into chaos….and what started out as the promise of a more democratic government quickly went south and into the typical death and destruction of the War on Terror…..

It has been nearly five years since Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed by Libyan rebels near his hometown of Sirte on Oct. 20, 2011. Sadly, Libya remains a deeply divided country, both politically and institutionally, and does not have a functional representative government in place. Tragically, Libya’s democratic transition process failed to create an environment conducive for democracy and the rule of law. Instead, Libya became a country where militias ruled, extremist groups flourished and living conditions deteriorated significantly. The country also suffers from a major political crisis, with various competing governments each claiming legitimacy and control over key institutions such as the Central Bank, the National Oil Corporation and the Libyan Investment Authority.

Today, Libyans are forced to choose between two extremes: either chaos with militias and Islamist extremists as the dominant forces, or military rule. No other convincing options are on offer. The choice is quite clear in Libya’s eastern region of Cyrenaica (Barqa in Arabic), where the military is now the dominant armed and political force on the ground, expanding its control over democratically elected and civilian institutions without any public opposition and with clear public support for their actions. On June 19, the president of the Libyan parliament in Tobruk, in his claimed capacity as supreme commander of the armed forces, declared a state of emergency and appointed the Libyan National Army Chief of Staff Abdulrazaq Nadori as military governor for the eastern region. Nadori now has the power to appoint civilian and military committees and can replace local municipal councils with military governors. He also can prohibit demonstrations that do not have prior written consent from his office.
What started as a humanitarian crisis morphed into a hunt for Qaddafi and his death….and then the country broke into factions and the conflict ensued…the same conflict that has inflicted Iraq and Syria…..
Once again NATO has brought death, destruction and confusion to another country….and then it backs out and lets it descend into further chaos to the point that their intervention is seen as giving help to the helpless…..it all looks like the same plan that NATO is using around the world.
Found this article after I posted my thoughts on Libya…..after reading I see that it should have been included…..
On 20 October 2011, former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi was dragged out of his sewage-pipe hideout to meet his inglorious end. Five years on and things in Libya couldn’t be much worse. There is still no centralised authority; killing, abduction and torture are rife; the economy is almost on its knees; and the country has fragmented beyond repair. The triumphalism that accompanied Qadhafi’s removal from power can hardly have been more misplaced.

Much of the chaos that has enveloped the country is down to the Libyans themselves. The blame for the incessant squabbling and local turf wars that have eclipsed all sense of a national good must be laid squarely at the door of Libya’s new powerbrokers. There is also the legacy of forty years of rule by a ruthless dictator whose uncompromising vision of the state stripped the country of functioning institutions and its population of a political culture. In addition, the sudden toppling of a highly centralised authority was always going to mean that the country would struggle to get back on its feet.

Will The Future Be Conflict?

The truth is that I am about as sick of politics as I can get…..foreign policy is also at a basic stand still until after the election…..I am sooooooo Borrrrrrrrred!

And then I read an article about a region that I know from past experiences….Western Sahara…..

Western Sahara is a disputed territory on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria. After Spain withdrew from its former colony of Spanish Sahara in 1976, Morocco annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara and claimed the rest of the territory in 1979, following Mauritania’s withdrawal. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Morocco’s sovereignty ended in a 1991 cease-fire and the establishment of a UN peacekeeping operation. As part of this effort, the UN sought to offer a choice to the peoples of Western Sahara between independence (favored by the Polisario Front) or integration into Morocco. A proposed referendum never took place due to lack of agreement on voter eligibility. The 2,700 km- (1,700 mi-) long defensive sand berm, built by the Moroccans from 1980 to 1987 and running the length of the territory, continues to separate the opposing forces with Morocco controlling the roughly 80 percent of the territory west of the berm. Local demonstrations criticizing the Moroccan authorities occur regularly, and there are periodic ethnic tensions between the native Sahrawi population and Moroccan immigrants. Morocco maintains a heavy security presence in the territory

My interest comes from having been in the country back when I was working overseas and I fell in love with the region and the people.

I have written many posts about the country but there a a few that go better with the happenings these days……

Source: Western Sahara–Will Violence Return? – In Saner Thought

And a little later……

Source: Western Sahara: A New Direction – In Saner Thought

After reading those posts you will see that the people are seeing NO other option than armed conflict….the world especially the US has turned their backs on the old stand-by “The Right Of Self-Determination”…….

There is an old saying…..”Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

“The seed of revolution is repression.”
The people of Western Sahara are beginning to see that they have no other choice but a rebellion……

After evaluating 25 years of peace, Sahrawi officials and some civil society players agree that armed struggle is the only option they can depend on to reach their goal of independence.

Sept. 6 marked the 25th anniversary of the United Nations-sponsored cease-fire agreement in Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement. The peace accord was supposed to be followed by a referendum in which the Sahrawis would choose their system of governance from three options: integration with Morocco, autonomy or independence. But the planned vote was canceled after Morocco refused to allow any process that would include independence as a choice. The dispute is still ongoing, with continued tension.
It is only a matter of time before the world will have to face the situation in Western Sahara…..the simple solution is for the US to step the Hell up and demand Independence for Western Sahara…if they would do that then the rest of the world would follow suit….Morocco would be pissed but they will be alright once the swelling goes down.
(My apologies for missing the anniversary of the accord)

Libya: “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby”

I begin my week and I hope all had a good weekend…..

Think back to those hectic days of 2011……forces decided that Qaddafi had to go and the uprising began…..after lots of violence and destruction the US convinced everyone of its allies that there was a humanitarian crisis brewing in Libya…..and as they say…..the rest is history.

Since the death of Qaddafi the country has slipped into an ever tightening web of violence, deceit and destruction…..the country is divided along East-West lines…..in the East the government is headed by a Col. Haftar a CIA asset for many years….Haftar became the general of the army of the East and now he has been promoted again…this time to the rank of field marshal….

Let’s look at this gentleman shall we?

I am writing about Libyan Col. Haftar and his journey to supreme leader of Libya…..Born in 1943 in the eastern town of Ajadbiya, Haftar was one of the group of officers led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi which seized power from King Idris in 1969.

Gaddafi put Haftar – recently promoted to field marshal – in charge of the Libyan forces involved in the conflict in Chad in the 1980s. This proved to be his downfall, as Libya was defeated by the French-backed Chadian forces, and Haftar and 300 of his men were captured by the Chadians in 1987.

Having previously denied the presence of Libyan troops in the country, Gaddafi disowned him. This led Haftar to devote the next two decades towards toppling the Libyan leader.

He did this from exile in the US state of Virginia. His proximity to the CIA’s headquarters in Langley hinted at a close relationship with US intelligence services, who gave their backing to several attempts to assassinate Gaddafi.  Actually he was recruited By the pres. of Chad on behalf of the CIA where his main objective was leading troops against Qaddafi.

After the start of the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011, Haftar returned to Libya where he became a key commander of the makeshift rebel force in the east.

With Gaddafi’s downfall, Haftar faded into obscurity until February 2014, when he outlined on TV his plan to save the nation and called on Libyans to rise up against the elected parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), whose mandate was still valid at the time.

His dramatic announcement was made at a time when Libya’s second city, Benghazi, and other towns in the east had in effect been taken over by the local al-Qaeda affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, and other Islamist groups who mounted a campaign of assassinations and bombings targeting the military, police personnel and other public servants.

What I want to state is that Khalifa Haftar may not be the man he seems to be. He could act pursuing more selfish intents, aiming to concentrate military and political power only on himself. So let it see from which point of view Haftar’s behavior should be judged. First of all, we should stop to refer to him as a “retired official”: he has been on fully active duty for a year and now he has military powers and firearms supplies at his disposal granted by the internationally recognized Tobruk government and by Egypt, Algeria and United Arab Emirates. Considering him an old retired general could bring the idea of a legendary entity, of a patriot who bravely fights for the unity of his country, even if he is not a soldier anymore. It may be very unwary if we have this way of thinking, not realizing that we should be afraid of Haftar, rather than trust him. Then, I will focus on the ambiguous ideological basis of his action: the fight against every Islamic extremism in favor of the “secularist actors”. Anyone who studies and has studied Libya should know very well that this is a deeply Islam-based country. Although Gaddafi tried to do everything in order to eradicate traditional Islam, willing to spread a personal vision of religion, now Libya can be considered as a conservative country from a religious point of view. Not Islamist (like Saudi Arabia for example) or extremist, but conservative. Thus, it seems that Haftar’s action, often publicized as a secularist crusade against Islamic extremism, might be only a pretext to gain some popularity and support between Europe and the US, where the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens perpetrated by Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia still hurts the White House.

I think that Haftar is playing the CIA like a cheap drum….his only concern is gaining power anyway he can…..the CIA is just a tool along that path.

When Is The Death Penalty Needed

In most cases I am against the death penalty…..in most cases but there are a few that I think should be mandatory……that being when someone knowingly destroys a heritage site or a cultural site……

This guy for instance…….

The trial of a Malian jihadist, charged with war crimes for orchestrating the 2012 destruction of nine Timbuktu mausoleums and a section of a famous mosque, opened  Monday at the International Criminal Court

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi asked for forgiveness as he pleaded guilty to the 2012 attacks on the fabled city of Timbuktum in Mali, Africa, and urged Muslims not to follow such “evil” ways at his unprecedented war crimes trial.

“Your honor, regrettably I have to say that what I heard so far is accurate and reflects the events. I plead guilty,” he said as his trial opened, admitting a sole war crimes charge of cultural destruction.

Source: Muslim extremist pleads guilty to 2012 destruction of Timbuktu treasures | Public Radio International

This prick is sorry?  He knew what he was doing….there is NO excuse!  He should fry!

This destruction was NOT an isolated situation….

The following are examples of world cultural heritage destroyed or damaged during recent conflicts.

– Mali –

The fabled desert city of Timbuktu, named as the “City of 333 saints” and listed by UNESCO, was for months attacked by jihadists bent on imposing a brutal version of Islamic law.

In June 2012, Al-Qaeda-linked militants destroyed 14 of the northern city’s mausoleums, important buildings that date back to Timbuktu’s golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries as an economic, intellectual and spiritual hub.

The reconstruction of the shrines began in March 2014, relying heavily on traditional methods and employing local masons. Several countries and organisations financed the reconstruction, including UNESCO.

Work finished on the site in July 2015, and a ceremony marking the completion was held on February 4, 2016.

– Syria –

More than 900 monuments or archeological sites have been looted, damaged or destroyed by the regime, rebels or jihadists in Syria, where a devastating war has raged since 2011, according to APSA, the association charged with protecting Syrian architecture.

In September 2015, Islamic State (IS) fighters destroyed two of the most important temples in the UNESCO-listed Syrian city of Palmyra as they pressed a campaign to wipe out some of the Middle East’s most important heritage sites.

They include the ancient city’s most famed shrine, the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel, blown up a week after the destruction of the temple of Baal Shamin.

Other notable sites damaged or looted include Dura-Europos in eastern Syria, once known as the “Pompeii of the desert”, Apamea, Ebla and Tal Ajaja.

However, the IS group is not the only one responsible for ravaging Syria’s heritage, with all sides in the fighting looting and destroying ancient sites.

“Two thirds of the ancient city of Aleppo have been bombarded and set on fire,” according to UNESCO.

– Iraq –

IS has carried out a campaign of “cultural cleansing”, razing part of ancient Mesopotamia’s relics and looting others to sell valued artefacts on the black market.

In a video released by IS on February 26, 2015 militants were shown using sledgehammers to smash pre-Islamic treasures in the museum in the country’s second city Mosul, sparking global outrage.

Thousands of books and rare manuscripts were also burned in February in Mosul’s library.

According to the Iraqi government, IS militants on March 5, 2015 bulldozed and blew up Nimrud, an ancient Assyrian city south of Mosul.

They also attacked Hatra, a Roman-period site, in the northern Niniveh province.

– Libya –

Several mausoleums have been destroyed by Islamist extremists since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

In August 2012, Islamist hardliners bulldozed part of the mausoleum of Al-Shaab Al-Dahman, close to the centre of the Libyan capital.

The demolition came a day after hardliners blew up the mausoleum of Sheikh Abdessalem al-Asmar in the western city of Zliten.

In 2013 suspected Islamic extremists destroyed the centuries-old mausoleum of Murad Agha in Tripoli, but the tomb inside withstood the attack.

Afghanistan –

In March 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Omar ordered the destruction of two 1,500-year-old Buddha statues in the eastern town of Bamiyan, because they were judged to be anti-Islamic.

Hundreds of members of the Taliban from across the country spent more than three weeks demolishing the gigantic statues carved into the side of a cliff.

In 2003 the cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley were put on UNESCO’S world heritage list.

– Algeria –

Armed Islamic groups in the 1990s destroyed several sanctuaries which dotted Algerian soil.

(yourmiddleeast.com)

There must be consequences when you destroy a nation’s cultural and historic sites…execution would suit me just fine.

 

Libya’s Chaos

I am proud to say that IST recently got a Libyan born person to comment and follow….I am pleased to have a person that can offer first hand observation and knowledge of the conflict raging in Libya…..I look forward to his input…..

Libya is a situation that has been made worse by the involvement of the US and its NATO thugs…..but they, powers that be, would prefer a “light footprint” in this conflict….meaning they want to work from behind the scene…..

Over the past two weeks, the Obama administration has introduced a significant escalation of U.S. involvement in the ongoing Libyan conflict. On August 1, U.S. forces launched Operation Odyssey Lightning, a campaign of limited airstrikes in support of Libyan militias against Islamic State fighters ensconced along the Libyan coast in Sirte, the birthplace of Muammar Qaddafi. This week, Pentagon officials also acknowledged that U.S. Special Operations Forces are on the ground in Libya, providing direct intelligence support to forces loyal to Libya’s fragile Government of National Accord (GNA). Those actions represent another manifestation of the Obama administration’s “light footprint” approach to military force—the use of standoff strike capabilities in support of allied ground troops—and they highlight the limitations of that approach.

Source: Libya and the Limits of the Light Footprint | World Affairs Journal

But once again the US has had to put troops on the ground in Libya……

A small number of U.S. special operations teams have been seen on the ground in northeast and western Libya for the better part of a year, conducting patrols and advising local militias as part of the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State — or ISIS or ISIL — picks up steam, even as the U.S. and its European allies revealed Monday they have begun shipping weapons and equipment to Libya’s fragile unity government to battle the jihadi threat, despite U.N. sanctions.

Source: U.S. troops deployed to Libya in campaign against ISIS – Washington Times

Once again the excuse is that we have only  “a small amount of US Troops” on the ground…..how many times has that one statement come back to bite us in the ass?

For those that have NO idea what is going on in Libya….other than the Benghazi attacks of several years ago…..maybe this will help explain what is happening in the country.

Source: Libya’s chaos, explained in five graphics – CNN.com

Another problem for the US in Libya is their hand-picked crony to run the country…..

As the US war in Libya moves into its third week, officials and analysts are seeing a lot of problems with their plans, but perhaps the biggest problem is one of their own creation, the Libyan Army and its leader, long-time CIA asset Gen. Khalifa Hifter.

Hifter was a general of Moammar Gadhafi until 1987, when he was captured by Chad. The next year, he became a US proxy for an anti-Gadhafi insurgency, and after that collapsed, moved to Virginia, with occasional trips back to Libya for other failed US-backed plots.

When NATO imposed regime change in 2011, Gen. Hifter was quick to make his grand return, and has been trying to consolidate his power ever since. He announced a coup in 2014, which didn’t amount to much, and is now at the head of the army loyal to the UN-backed Tobruk government.

(antiwar.com)

The last time the CIA did anything right as far as “regime change” goes was the 1950’s and in Guatemala….since then it has been one disaster after another…..so how do you think this situation will play out?

Why Does No One Care?

Before I begin the meat of this post I would like to commit on something in the news recently……I saw where Trump at one of his get-togethers held up a Purple Heart and said that some vet handed it to him…..I want to know who this vet was….none of the vets I know would give away their Purple Heart…for any reason!  If it is true….GIVE ME A NAME!

We have been at war footing for 15 years…..troops go die and are wounded or maimed….and NO one seems to give a shit.  Why is that?

Just recently I wrote an article about more troops for Iraq……

Step by step….inch by inch….we are returning to a full compliment of US troops in Iraq…..we are returning combat troops to “assist” the Iraqi army handle the day against ISIS….recently word came down that as many as 750 American troops would be returning to Iraq……and if you thought that was the end of the build-up…..think again!

Source: Slowly We Turn – In Saner Thought

For instance….we have troops fighting in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya….

US special forces have been on the ground in Libya for months, though when the war against ISIS was expanded into the country last week with airstrikes on Sirte, Pentagon officials were quick to insist that there was no ground component to the new operation. That didn’t last long.

Now, officials are conceding that a “small number” of special forces are operating out of a unity government base on the outskirts of Sirte, supporting the ongoing attempts by the unity government’s forces to conquer the city, as well as forwarding targeting information to US warplanes bombing the city.

Details are still scant, and the officials quoted in the media on the matter insisted on anonymity, because officially the ground forces’ involvement in the war hasn’t been formally announced. The troops were originally sent to Libya to find potential allies for a war that officials had been talking about launching for a long time.

Americans are even linking up with the opponents of ISIS…..

More than 100 Americans have traveled overseas to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) with local forces and militias, according to a new report.

The London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue estimates that more than a third of 300 foreigners who have traveled to Iraq or Syria to fight ISIS or the terrorist group formerly known as al Nusra are from the United States, with many of those being military veterans.

“Ex-military veteran fighters are also motivated by a desire to ‘finish the job’ and ensure previous sacrifices were not in vain,” says the report, released Tuesday. “This is true primarily among military veterans that have served in the region during the ‘War on Terror.’ Many fear that their previous efforts, and those of their colleagues that were killed or injured, will be in vain.”

The report is based on a database of 300 foreign anti-ISIS fighters compiled by the institute from open sources such as news reports and social media. The report cautions that it represents a sample, not a complete picture.

(thehill.com)

WE keep asking more and more of a finite amount of troops…..how long can this continue before a breaking point is reached?