Poem: “I Am Libya”

Tripoli, Libya

I Am Libya
by Tarek

I am Libya.

I am the free Libyan sons,
strong, loyal, and revolutionary.

I am the free Libyan daughters,
independent, empowered, and proud.

I am the university students,
eager and bright.

I am the elders,
kind and revered.

I am the Libya of the tribes and their heritage.
I am the Libya of the cities and their prosperity.

I am the Libya of art, music, and literature
of modernity, industry, and innovation.

I am the Libya where no voice falls on deaf ears
and all people have the power of Kings and Queens.

I am the jeweled crown
of beautiful queen Africa.

I am green, fertile Libya
producing crops in former arid desert.

I am strong-willed and refuse to be exploited.

I am the Libya of Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Honor the Legacy of Muammar Gaddafi: Onwards to World Revolution!

Nina Westbury
Crimson Satellite

Today marks one year since Libya’s revolutionary leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was murdered. Hillary Clinton laughed at the incident and told CBS News, “we came, we saw, he died” — invoking the Roman tyrant Julius Caesar not by accident.

What she forgot to mention was that the invasion of Libya was much harder than the imperialists had anticipated. It took history’s largest military alliance more than six months to bomb and slaughter their way into the capital of a country with a population smaller than that of New York City. The events in Bani Walid and elsewhere show that the heroic resistance of the Libyan people continues to this day.

Muammar Gaddafi was born into a Bedouin family and was raised in a tent. As a child, he walked miles to and from school each day. He was a bright young boy who experienced firsthand how the colonial system oppressed communities under occupation. His experiences and the values instilled in him by his parents would lead him to become a great advocate for the poor and oppressed worldwide, particularly in the Global South. Gaddafi was born to serve the masses and this is exactly what he did dutifully until his murder.

Gaddafi joined the military and even received training in Britain, reflecting the deep ties between British colonialism and the corrupt monarch King Idris. The highest ranking Gaddafi advanced to was Lieutenant.

Despite success in his military life, Gaddafi could not ignore the extreme poverty and exploitation gripping Libya. Under the King, Libya was one of the poorest nations in the world. Less than 1 in 5 Libyans were literate, while laws concerning divorce and other matters enforced inequality for women. After Italian fascism had claimed so many lives and left the country in shambles, the emerging feudal order also worked to prevent any Libyans not a part of the tiny elite from having a future. Libya needed a change of course that developed the country in an equitable way while preserving the rich heritage of Libya’s many tribes. Muammar Gaddafi was the man who would lead the transformation of Libya from impoverished colonial client state into Africa’s most prosperous, equitable, and developed nation.

On September 1, 1969, the Libyan “royal” family awoke to find that their regime was crumbling. A 27-year-old Lieutenant Gaddafi was launching what would come to be known as the al-Fateh Revolution. Supported by the military and the popular masses, a Revolutionary Command Council headed by Gaddafi seized state power. At 7a.m., the goals of the Revolution were announced by the Council in their first communiqué:

In answer to your free will, fulfilling your dearest wishes, welcoming your constant requests for change and eruption as well as your desire for action and enterprise, listening to your calls to revolt, your armed forces have undertaken to overthrow the reactionary and corrupted regime whose stench suffocated and whose vision horrified us.

In a single blow, your valiant army has upset the idols and smashed their effigies. In a single stroke, it has illuminated the dark night in which succeeded one another, first the Turkish and Italian domination, then finally, that of a reactionary and rotten regime where reigned concussion, fractions, felony and treachery. From now on, Libya is a free and sovereign republic, named the Libyan Arab Republic which, by the grace of God is setting herself to work. She will go forward on the path of freedom, union and social justice, guaranteeing each of her sons/daughters the right to equality, and opening before them the door of honest work, from which shall be banished injustice and exploitation, and where no one shall be either master or servant, where everyone shall be free brothers, within a society where shall prosperity and quality, by the grace of God.Give us your hands, open your hearts to us, forget all adversities and make front moulded in a single block against the enemy of the Arab nation, the enemy of Islam, the enemy of humanity, who set our sanctuaries afire, and flouted our honour Thus shall we build our glory, revive our inheritance, vindicate our ravaged dignity and the rights we were deprived of. Oh! You, who witnessed the sacred struggle of our hero Omar Al Mukthar for Libya, for Arabism and for Islam Oh! You, who fought alongside Ahmed Al-Sherif for a just ideal; you sons of the desert; you sons of our ancient cities; you sons of our green countryside; you sons of our beautiful villages; the time for work has arrived. Let us go forward! At this juncture, I am pleased to tell our foreign friends that they must fear neither for their properties nor for their lives.

They are under the protection of the armed forces. Moreover, I wish they would rest assured that our present undertaking is directed neither against nor against any acknowledged international treaty of international law. This is an exclusively domestic affair concerning Libya and her endemic problems. Forward then, and peace be with you.

Col. Gaddafi meets with Nasser.

At first, the orientation of the revolution was Arab nationalist and Gaddafi considered himself a protege of Gamal Nasser. Yet the al-Fateh Revolution ended up being greater because it was far more ambitious.

Power to the People: Libya’s government takes out advertisements in Anglophone media to announce the goals of the al-Fateh Revolution.

In 1977, the largest direct democracy project the world had ever known was announced. Colonel Gaddafi, who would be referred to by his people as the Brother Leader, handed over power to the people through directly democratic institutions. These institutions respected the integrity of tribal systems while allowing large-scale development projects to be pursued by the central government. This period marked the rapid construction of public housing, schools, hospitals, and roads. In addition, rights for women and children continued to be expanded after 1969. Libya would become one of the most advanced places for women outside of the Communist bloc.

Gaddafi authored The Green Book and other works that outlined his ideals. His first love was his family, which was why NATO forces killed his daughter and later his grandsons.

Col. Gaddafi’s wife, Safia, and their children.

While many of the projects pursued under the Jamahiriya government, like the Great Manmade River, were only made possible because of Gaddafi’s revolution, Gaddafi’s key achievement was empowering the Libyan people to control their own destinies and reach their full potential. In 2011, the literacy rate was higher than 80% with 99% literacy for those born after 1969. Libya’s development index was far higher than any other country in Africa, including Egypt and South Africa.

As the 21st century approached, Gaddafi recognized the bankruptcy of Arab nationalism and called on the Jamahiriya to pursue instead pan-African integration. Gaddafi supported development of other African nations and when Libya was under attack in 2011, large demonstrations supporting Gaddafi erupted across the continent. He was especially beloved by poor and working class people on the continent.

There is much to say about the noble man who stood up for humanity against its many enemies. Suffice to say that he will be remembered as one of the world’s greatest leaders and an honest person who gave his life for democracy, equality, and the promise of a better world for all. Even in his final moments, he was full of compassion.

Today is a day to celebrate the life and achievements of Muammar Gaddafi, and rather than feeling sad, to honor his legacy by advancing the just cause of global revolution.

Copyright: If you want to republish this article, please respect the integrity of the article, cite the author, and include a live link to Crimson Satellite.

Libya: Washington’s Imposed “Stability”

Luis E. López Domínguez

ARMED militias have taken control of Libya. After legislative elections – the first attempt to formally share out power since the overthrow and assassination of Muammar al Gaddafi, armed groups are still committing all kinds of violations, torture, theft and killings, while the transition government is doing little about it.

A number of NGO’s have affirmed that armed groups who hunted down the Libyan leader, the way having been opened to them by U.S. and NATO aircraft, are reluctant to hand in their weapons and continue committing all kinds of atrocities.

Things have reached such a point that Amnesty International (AI) has been obliged to acknowledge the disastrous situation in this North African country in a report titled Rule of Law or Rule of Militias?

According to AI, approximately 4,000 people are being held by these militias in appalling conditions in secret detention centers, and subjected to torture. Many of them were detained in an arbitrary manner and for indefinite periods, the report adds.

In 12 of the 15 centers Amnesty visited, there was evidence of beatings and other abuse. Since August last year, the report records at least 20 cases of prisoner deaths after brutal acts of torture: being strung up in painful positions, given electric shocks and beatings with metal bars, sticks or gun butts.

Other NGO’s have informed of thousands of displaced persons after more than 12 months of instability. In cities such as Tauerga, some 30,000 inhabitants have been forced to leave their homes by militias. In other cases, militias are cohabiting with the population and taking women and children hostage as part of territorial disputes.

Transition government sources say that there are from 100-300 armed groups comprising at least 120,000 men. The largest formations are in important cities such as Tripoli, location of the Revolutionary Council and the Military Council. The Zintan and Misrata brigades are equally notorious. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Brigade Coalition is one of the most important operating in Cirenaica.

The situation has become so unstable that the National Transition Council and provisional government prefer not to intervene. They have alleged that the groups, being better armed, have placed them in an inferior position. However, when it comes to confronting the problem, the will is nil. In May of this year they approved a law granting immunity to all those involved in war crimes, with the aim of protecting the “February 17 revolution.”

A July 10 report from the Institute of Strategic Investigations on Africa and its Diaspora, noted that bombings, deaths, and the invasion and occupation of the country have not stopped even for a day and have assumed unimaginable proportions, while the international media present the image that everything is over. But nothing is over, totally the opposite.

The report notes that the West is still financing certain armed groups, in particular those operating in Al Kufrah (a strategic oil-bearing area in the south, close to the border with Chad and Sudan.

In Al Kufrah – where a number of different ethnic communities cohabited peacefully for 40 years – given the threat of displacement, Libyans whose homes have been attacked, who are continuously robbed and frequently killed, are buying weapons to defend themselves. The report states that currently, it is easier and cheaper to buy a bomb or antiaircraft made in the USA than to acquire basic products for human survival.

If the civilian population is suffering from the same situation which allegedly fuelled a revolution 16 months ago, why has NATO not decided to mount a new no-fly zone?

The Libyan scenario is a mirror of what is currently intended for countries such as Syria and Iran, independent nations which have refused to bow down to Western pretensions to dismantle government which does not submit to its mandate. Libya is the kind of stability which Washington and its allies want to impose on the Middle East.

Libyan People’s National Movement: Natural Heir to al Fateh Revolution

Libya’s new election law: NATO rebels consolidate political dictatorship

Gadaffi government beneficiaries excluded from office

By Derek Ford
Party for Socialism and Liberation

January 16, 2011

National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has warned against Gaddafi's children raising an insurrection.

A recent draft election law in Libya is causing outrage among varying sectors of Libyan society. The content of the legislation, posted online by the NATO-installed National Transition Council, focuses on the rules for the national assembly elections to be held in August.

Under the draft law, anyone with ties to Muammar Gaddafi or the previous sovereign Libyan government will be banned from running in the elections, including those who“benefited monetarily” from the government. The provision also bars from participation academics who wrote and published about Gaddafi’s “Green Book.”

The vague legislation is based on the myth that only a small section of Libyans supported the Gadaffi government. It is worth recalling that in fact the largest demonstrations during the eight-month NATO assault on Libya were in support of the government, not the rebels. In other words, in the new “democratic” Libya, only politicians acceptable to the NATO rebels will be eligible to run for political office.

The legislation is also problematic because it eliminates any non-violent avenues for supporters of the former sovereign government and the Green Resistance to participate in reconciliation after the devastating war. Resistance organizations have been regrouping in the southern Sahel region, which provides easy access to several neighboring countries.

Journalist Franklin Lamb, who is currently in Libya, wrote recently, “There is clear and growing pro-Gadhafi political and military activity here and it is why NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the other day warned against the Gadhafi children raising an insurrection.” (Counterpunch, Jan. 13-15)

The Libyan Liberation Front had previously been planning on running in the August elections.

The draft legislation also appears to continue the NTC’s attack on women’s rights in Libya. The draft law may set a quota of 10 percent on women’s representation in the national assembly. This would mean women would be limited to 20 seats out of 200, and has been strongly condemned by women’s and human rights organizations in Libya. It is possible that the language in the draft law needs to be clarified and that the intent is to reserve (but not limit) women to 10 percent of seats. However, it is telling that women in Libya have protested the language, interpreting it as a limitation.

Under the Gaddafi government, there were no restrictions on women’s participation in social, economic or political life.

Libya: NTC Announces Undemocratic Election Laws

World Socialist Web Site
by Will Morrow
13 January 2012

Libya’s self-appointed Transitional National Council (TNC) last week released draft laws governing elections scheduled later this year for a “General National Congress.”

The Congress is supposed to elect a new government to replace the TNC, and draft a new constitution to be put to a referendum. The deeply anti-democratic draft electoral laws make clear that the new governing body, like the NATO-installed TNC, will be carefully vetted by the US and European imperialist powers and will represent different regional and tribal elite cliques against the interests of the Libyan people.

The draft legislation features provisions preventing people nominating themselves as candidates for the Congress. Libyan workers are blocked from participation by the requirement that candidates must have a “professional qualification.” Virtually everyone who worked at any level of Moammar Gaddafi’s former government is barred, unless they can demonstrate “early and clear support for the February 17th revolution.” Those with an academic degree in Gaddafi’s “Third Universal Theory” or Green Book—previously required by many people to advance their careers—are ineligible.

Other statutes reportedly disqualify people who allegedly benefited monetarily from the regime or received diplomas or university degrees “without merit.” Massaoud El Kanuni, a Libyan lawyer specialising in constitutional law, told the Wall Street Journal: “That criteria could be used against three-quarters of the country. How are we going to follow a path of national reconciliation if so many people are excluded from [the country’s] future?”

The electoral laws underscore the fraudulent character of the efforts to provide a democratic veneer to the NATO intervention. From the beginning, the US and European powers aimed to oust the Gaddafi regime and install a pliant administration to secure control of the country’s lucrative oil reserves and bolster their geostrategic position in North Africa.

The TNC largely comprises ex-Gaddafi regime figures, Islamist elements, CIA assets and tribal leaders. On December 17, the Guardian’s Tripoli correspondent reported: “The TNC refuses to say who its members are, or even how many there are. Although it appointed a cabinet last month, policy decisions are taken inside what amounts to a black box. Meetings are held in secret, voting records are not published, and decisions are announced by irregular television broadcasts. Typical was last week’s announcement, which came out of the blue, that the oil and economy ministries would be moved to Benghazi, and the finance ministry to Misrata.”

These moves sow the seeds for the further fragmentation of Libya, as rival regional and tribal cliques vie for power and control over the country’s wealth.

Different militias that served as proxy forces for NATO during its regime-change campaign have carved up Tripoli into zones of influence. Military checkpoints separate brigades from eastern Libya, Misrata, Zintan and different ethnic minorities such as the Berbers, with each outfit flying its town or tribal flag in the areas it controls. Islamist brigades, including one led by former Al Qaeda ally Abdel Haqim Belhaj, who claims authority over Tripoli, are also prominent. Firefights have erupted between militias in recent weeks, including a clash on January 3, which killed four people.

The TNC has attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the militias to integrate into the so-called Libyan National Army. The army is little more than another militia, comprising an estimated 200 fighters from eastern Libya. According to the New York Times, CIA asset Khalifa Hifter has recently “emerged as the army’s most influential officer,” though Yousef Al-Manqoush, a former Gaddafi military commander who retired in 1999, is the official head of the force.

The militias function as mafia-type outfits. A revealing incident occurred on December 10, when Libyan National Army troops failed to capture Tripoli’s main airport from a militia from the small western town of Zintan. The militia is desperate to control the airport so it can secure a cut of the billions of dollars in previously frozen Libyan government assets. “The glittering prize immediately in prospect is a consignment of several billion dinars, printed in Germany, which is due to be flown into Libya on board five cargo planes,” the Guardian explained. “Whoever controls the airport when the cash arrives will be able to levy a hefty security fee for delivering it to the country’s central bank.”

Ongoing militia clashes may provide a pretext for the TNC to postpone the General National Congress elections, planned for July, and the subsequent vote on a new constitution in 2013. On January 3, TNC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil declared that the violence threatened a slide into civil war, warning: “If there’s no security, there will be no law, no development and no elections.”

Behind the scenes, the scramble for control over Libya’s oil continues. Tripoli and Benghazi are nests of intrigue, with the rival imperialist powers vying for energy contracts.

Bloomberg last week published an article entitled, “Italy Last Among Libya Friends for Potential Oil Concessions.” It welcomed statements issued by Ali Tarhouni, who served as the TNC’s minister of oil and finance between March and November last year. Tarhouni declared that the US and France did not come across as “someone who is basically grabbing” and are “playing it right,” while Italy “will take time to figure it out.” The former minister pointedly listed Libya’s “friends” in the following order: France, the US, Britain and Italy. “We are indebted to the French, and I cannot find the right words to say it,” he declared. “If everything else is the same, of course we will remember our friends.”

However, the TNC’s current oil minister Abdul-Rahman Ben Yezza is a former executive with Italy’s oil corporation ENI, which was the dominant foreign oil firm operating under Gaddafi. Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib issued a statement in late December declaring that “contracts signed between ENI and the former regime are going to be reviewed and re-examined to meet Libya’s interests before being executed,” adding that ENI had to prove its loyalty to Libya by “playing a significant role in the reconstruction of the cities destroyed by Gaddafi’s forces.” Yezza was reportedly involved in the subsequent discussions that resulted in Kib disavowing his criticisms of ENI and insisting that his comments on reviewing oil contracts had been misinterpreted.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi: Hero of the Revolutionary Proletariat

A celebration of resistance to imperialism and capitalist tyranny.

Video by: davisoneill

Libyans Continue to Resist NATO-Installed Regime

Chaos reigns, human rights violations abound

Libyan woman from Tawargha protests in Martyr's Square, Tripoli, Nov. 5 (Editor's Note: Notice that the mural in the square depicts white Europeans, not Libyans, carrying the Idris flag)

Party for Socialism and Liberation
by Derek Ford

NOVEMBER 26 — One month after the official “liberation” of Libya was declared, the authority of the National Transition Council remains tenuous at best and the country remains in a state of chaos. There have been signs of renewed resistance and intense factional struggles within the forces that comprise the NTC.

Resentment against rebel militias continues to build across the country. Libyans are angered over the mob-like rule imposed by NTC militias that regularly loot homes and businesses. At military checkpoints, rebels arrest anyone who cannot produce proper identification.

Conditions in the prisons run by the NTC are inhumane, according to reports from international agencies. The U.N. human rights office has found evidence of torture in the prisons, where NTC fighters take revenge on anyone they suspect of supporting the resistance.

A leaked report by Ban ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, indicates that some 7,000 detainees are currently being held in NTC jails with “no access to due process.” The Independent broke the story on Nov. 24. The report affirms that torture in the facilities is widespread. A large number of the prisoners are dark-skinned sub-Sarahan Africans, and there are cases where these prisoners are singled out because of their skin color. Women and children are also among those held. (The Independent, Nov. 24)

The life of Dr. Abuzaid Omar Dorda, once Libya’s prime minister and permanent representative to the U.N. under Gaddafi, has been in grave danger since his capture on Sept. 11. Prison guards broke both of his legs during an attempt on his life, which also caused internal bleeding. He remains untreated from those injuries.

Meanwhile, there are factional struggles erupting between the multitude of brigades that comprise the NTC military forces. On Nov. 12, quarreling units exchanged gunfire 15 miles outside of Tripoli, sending panic-stricken residents running from their homes. There is also evidence that Al-Qaeda forces are among those who have been fighting alongside NATO, as the Al-Qaeda flag was hoisted earlier this month above the Benghazi courthouse that was used as rebel headquarters throughout the year.

Signs of renewed resistance

Just 90 miles south of Tripoli in Bani Walid, residents remain defiant to the new government. In the town’s main hospital, which is under the control of a former NTC fighter, a portrait of Gaddafi lies at the floor of the entrance. The majority of the hospital’s visitors walk around the portrait, so as not to disrespect the former leader.

One NTC fighter told Reuters that “There are shootouts every day with Gaddafi loyalists.” (Reuters, Oct. 26) There have been reports that Warfalla tribe members were hoisting the green flags that symbolize the resistance and marching on Nov. 16. Anti-Gaddafi graffiti in the town has been covered up and painted over with warnings of resistance, including the slogan “the Warfalla tribe hasn’t used its power yet.” Nearly one-sixth of the Libyan population belongs to the Warfalla.

On Nov. 23 there were armed clashes between NTC troops and the Green Resistance in Bani Walid. Reports indicate that 7 people died, most of whom were NTC fighters.

Throughout the west, from Tripoli to Al-Zawiya, there have been clashes between the resistance and NATO forces. On Nov. 11, the resistance launched an offensive against what is known as Camp 27. During the fighting, resistance forces managed to free 300 prisoners. There has even been fighting in the rebel stronghold of Misrata.

Resistance groups have been formally organizing in the Sahel region in the south and have officially formed the Libyan Liberation Front. The region stretches across the borders of Niger, Chad, Sudan and provides easy access to Mali. There are reports that LLF is gathering weapons and providing training in the region. (Counterpunch, Nov. 4-6)

The LLF will likely find sympathy amongst the countries bordering the Sahel. In a recent soccer game between Tunisia and Algeria, the players and fans took a moment of silence to honor Muammar Gaddafi. During the game, fans held up a large composite photo of Gaddafi.

In addition to organizing militarily, the LLF is organizing formal political opposition to the NTC. They plan on running in the promised elections next summer.

Imperialists capture Saif al Islam Gaddafi

On Nov. 19, NTC forces announced that they had captured Saif al-Islam Gaddafi outside of Sabha and Ubari. The verification of his capture by video and cell phone footage came as a surprise, as the NTC had previously reported that they had captured him numerous times and killed him once.

When the plane transporting Saif al-Islam landed in Zintan, an angry crowd of resistance supporters flooded the tarmac and tried to storm the plane.

The International Criminal Court has wanted to try Saif al-Islam for alleged crimes committed during the February rebel uprising, and has had a warrant out for his arrest since June.

There are several problems with this situation. The first is that the alleged crimes for which he is to be tried have been thoroughly disproven by numerous human rights organizations. There was never any massacring of civilians; what happened in Libya was a civil war. The second problem with the ICC’s intervention is that the agency only has jurisdiction over its member nations’ territories and citizens. Libya was not and, at the time of this writing, is not a member.

The Libyan Liberal Youth, a resistance group, issued the following statement online:

“This war has not been about the Gadhaffi family, it’s about the majority of Libyans rejection of foreign invasions, massacres, and intrusion into Libyan affairs.”

Also see:
Urgent Action Petition Campaign for Saif Gaddafi
Terror and Revenge Engulf NATO’s Libya

URGENT ACTION PETITION CAMPAIGN FOR SAIF GADDAFI

Saif al Islam Gaddafi After Capture

LIBYA 360°

Please click the above link to sign a petition for Saif al Islam al Gaddafi.

READ FULL STATEMENT AND PLEASE SIGN!

VIDEO FOOTAGE OF SAIF GADDAFI AFTER CAPTURE

THE ICC AND LIBYA

Interview: NATO Intervention Amounts to Recolonisation

IPS

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 17, 2011 (IPS) – Brazilian journalist and writer Mário Augusto Jakobskind was thwarted in his attempt to visit Libya during the civil war there, but in spite of this he produced a lucid analysis of the situation in the North African country and of the forces that have taken power after the fall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime.

Jakobskind, a 68-year-old correspondent for the Uruguayan weekly Brecha, was invited by the civil society Fact Finding Commission in Libya, along with people from several other nations, to visit Libya in August in the midst of the internal armed conflict and the aerial attacks by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces.

But just as they were about to cross the border between Tunisia and Libya, the Brazilian delegation he was with had to turn back for security reasons, due to the intensified bombing and fighting on the ground.

In his book “Líbia: barrados na fronteira – O que não saiu na mídia sobre a invasão da Líbia” (Libya: Blocked at the Border. What the Media Did Not Publish about the Invasion of Libya), Jakobskind analyses the rebel forces that overthrew Gaddafi with NATO support, and their links with the extremist Al Qaeda network.

Q: Why was the Brazilian delegation unable to enter Libya?

A: The Fact Finding Commission (FFC) invited delegations from several countries to verify in situ what was happening in Libya, and to write an unbiased report on the impact of the NATO bombing, to be delivered to former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.

The Brazilian delegation, made up of nine people, two of whom were official parliamentary delegates, was the last one to arrive, after groups from countries like the United States, Venezuela, France and Italy.

The visit was to last 10 days. We departed from São Paulo and reached Tunis after a stopover in Paris, and then travelled overland towards Tripoli because Libya’s airspace was closed.

We left Aug. 14, and that very day NATO bombings were intensified. The leaders of the FFC in Tripoli themselves told us to go back to Tunis. The situation had changed. If we had arrived 24 hours earlier, we would have been able to get into Libya.

Q: Why did you want to go to Libya, in spite of the risks?

A: No journalist can ever turn down an invitation of this kind. I was psychologically prepared and aware of the risks, and of everything that could happen in a war situation. The idea was to prepare a report, but I also wanted to write something special about the country, the society, and the effects of the bombings.

Besides, the FFC, which issued the invitation, vouched for our security.

Q: What was it that the media did not publish about the NATO invasion of Libya?

A: The role of Al Qaeda, for instance. It is highly unusual for an organisation like Al Qaeda to fight alongside NATO against Gaddafi. I discovered this information by investigating, and from correspondents who have followed events in Libya from the start. This has not been published.

Certain NATO leaders are linked with the extreme right, like NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was prime minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009.

Fogh Rasmussen headed a coalition with the right wing of the Conservative People’s Party and relied for support on the Danish People’s Party, which has affinity with the Norwegian Progress Party. It was a former member of the Progress Party, neo-Nazi activist Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out the attacks in Norway this year that killed dozens of people.

Q: What direction do you envision for the Arab Spring (the wave of uprisings and protests since December 2010 in the Arab world)?

A: I have been covering the Middle East for the past 20 years. What happened in Egypt and Tunisia must be distinguished from Libya. They are different, each with their own idiosyncrasies and consequences.

For example, Libya is the North African country with the highest human development index. Most of its 6.5 million people live in Tripoli and (the northeastern city of) Benghazi. There has always been rivalry between east and west, represented by the country’s two major cities.

Unusually for the oil-rich North African region, the Gaddafi regime managed to use its oil resources to fulfil social goals. Yet in Western eyes, it was a dictatorship.

There are 140 tribes and clans in Libya, 30 of which are politically dominant. Gaddafi took power without bloodshed and managed to unite the country.

After 2003, Gaddafi changed course in order to show the West he was reliable. For example, he received then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and forged friendly ties with the British government.

He stated publicly that Libya had helped finance French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s electoral campaign, and it must also be remembered that Gaddafi owned 10 percent of the shares of Italian car-maker Fiat.

Q: How do you see the future of Libya and its reconstruction?

A: It’s part of the game for the political marketing of ‘democracy.’ Behind the scenes, it will be European powers like France and Italy, as well as the United States, that will dominate Libya.

Libyans have no concept of democracy as understood in the West. What happened in Libya was a process of recolonisation, recreating a dependency that dates back to the 19th century.

The rebels would not have amounted to anything without the backing of NATO, which used human rights violations as a pretext for intervention. But crimes were committed on both sides of the Libyan conflict.

Moreover, it is those who destroyed Libya who are now going to profit from its reconstruction.

Gaddafi’s Legacy Tarnished by Corporate Media

Daily Sundial
by Rosstene Valikhani

With Muammar Gaddafi’s demise, understand that the so-called “reporting” done by the mainstream media has been deliberately distorted to legitimize the NATO invasion of Libya.

Dan Lieberman writes in “NATO Conquers Libya,” that the pretext for invading Libya was the false claim that Gaddafi was mass murdering Libyan’s prompting NATO to intervene with authorization from U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973.

The U.N. Resolutions however, only authorized “to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.”
This makes the NATO presence in Libya illegal whatever the case is. In addition, Alan J. Kuperman writes in “False Pretense for War in Libya,” that Human Rights Watch reported that there has been no civilian bloodbath by Gaddafi. Such as in Misurata, with a population of 400,000 population, after two months of war only 257 people were killed, including combatants.

So if there was no bloodbath or authorization for invasion, why did NATO invade Libya? Again, Dan Lieberman writes that Gaddafi’s portrayal as a ruthless dictator by the mainstream media was used to arouse international sentiment and support for the NATO invasion of Libya.

Consider if Gaddafi was really the tyrant the media said he was. P. Ngigi Njoroge writes in “The Destruction of Libya and the Murder of Muammar Gaddafi. NATO’s Moral Defeat,” on September 1, 1969, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the despotic Western-backed King Idris in a bloodless coup. Gaddafi then ordered the U.S. and Italian militaries to leave, nationalized Libya’s oil reserves, and closed down the Wheelus Air Force Base. To pacify tribal and ethnic tensions within Libya, Gaddafi established a revolutionary political and economic system based upon his Green Book.

Again, Dan Lieberman writes that the ideas expressed in the Green book were a bold far cry from the Western liberal democratic institutions of Europe and Communism of the Soviet Union. Gaddafi understood that a strong leadership was necessary to quickly carry out economic policies committed to help ordinary Libyan’s while weakening unwanted foreign meddling in a sovereign nation. For Libya, writes Dan Lieberman in “NATO Conquers Libya,” and Jean-paul Pougala in “Why the West Wants the Fall of Gaddafi,” adopting a Western style political structure would only inflame tribal and ethnic tensions because western democratic institutions encourage division and sectarianism through partisanship and corruption making progress extremely difficult.

Consider the freedoms Libyans have previously enjoyed under Gaddafi written in an article from Global Research.com titled “Sixteen Things Libya Will Never See Again…”

Gaddafi’s positive effects don’t stop there. Before Gaddafi only 25 percent of Libyans were literate. Today, the figure is 83 percent and 25 percent of Libyans have a university degree.

If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need, the government funds them to go abroad, for it is not only paid for, but they get a U.S.$2,300 per month for accommodation and car allowance.

Libya has no external debt and its reserves amounting to $150 billion are now frozen globally. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession, as if he or she is employed, until employment is found. A portion of every Libyan oil sale is credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Manmade River project, to make clean water readily available throughout the desert country.

Sarah A. Topol writes “Libya’s Path from Desert to Modern Country, Complete with Ice Rink,” Libya’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) rose from 16.7 billion dinars ($12.8 billion) in 1999 to 114 billion in 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The year after the US lifted sanctions, the countrys economy surged 10.3 percent in 2005. Foreign direct investment increased more than 50 percent from $1.5 billion in 2000 to $2.3 billion in 2007, according to the World Bank.

Internationally, according to Farouk Chotia of BBC in “What Does Gaddafi’s Death Mean for Africa,” Gaddafi supported many revolutionary movements such as the Sandinistas of Nicaragua and the African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Mandela was so grateful for Gaddafi’s support in dismantling apartheid in South Africa, that when Bill Clinton visited newly independent South Africa and criticized Libya under Gaddafi, Nelson Mandela rebuked him using the following words: “We cannot join you in criticizing the people who helped us in our darkest hour.” Mr. Mandela would even name one of his grandson’s after Gaddafi!

If these facts are not enough to convince you to at least reevaluate the ridiculous narrative established by the mainstream media that Gaddafi was just a ruthless tyrant who did nothing for his people, then consider this: How long has the illegal NATO operation in Libya been going on for? Thirty days? Sixty days? Ninety days? No! Libyans have been resisting NATO for over two hundred and twenty days and counting or since the offical invasion by NATO began (NATO.com)!

If Gaddafi was as brutal as the mainstream media said he was, wouldn’t ordinary Libyans have cheered on the rebel fighters in overthrowing Gaddafi? Would not this operation have ended quickly and decisively months ago? The NATO mission in Kosovo lasted a measly seventy-eight days (NATO.com) thus, Libya is the longest military invasion since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In conclusion, my claim is that Libyans have resisted NATO not because they were afraid of Gaddafi’s retaliation otherwise, but because they are not willing to abdicate their hard-earned freedom’s to a dubious foreign presence that claims they are protecting Libyan’s.

Would a brutal dictator give so much to his people and to others? Why is NATO intervening in Libya and not in Yemen and Bahrain whose repressive governments have killed untold number of protestors?

Is the brutal killing of Gaddafi, his convoy, and his family without a fair trial taking “all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory?”

This is not to say that Gaddafi was a saint, as forty-two years of control would entail keeping a lid on dissident and anti-state activity.

Nevertheless, as the vicious murder of Gaddafi and wholesale destruction of Libya by NATO sends shock waves all across Africa and the world, we should question the legitimacy and intentions of NATO and whether there was a non-humanitarian goal for their schizophrenic decision to invade Libya.

We, as citizens, should investigate the facts further and draw conclusions from our own efforts and not continue being spoon-fed by the mainstream media whose “reporting” on Libya has been deeply distorted.

Also see:
Muammar Gaddafi: The Prince of Water
From the Archives: Gaddafi in 1976