The Battle For Libya Is Almost Over… As Is The Battle For Its 144 Tons Of Gold
Ron Paul Issues Statement on Libya
Texas– 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul issued a
statement on the situation in Libya. See comments below,
(Or hear his YouTube speech here….“Ron Paul on US Foreign Policy and Relationship with Gaddafi”)
Ron Paul takes to the House floor, August 22, 2011…….
(Transcript)
“The current situation in Libya may be a short term victory for
Empire, but it is a loss for our American Republic. And, I fear it may
be devastating to the Libyan people.
There is no doubt that Moammar Gadhafi is a bad guy, and that he has
brought harm and misery to his country. However, our involvement in
another country’s civil war is costly and unconstitutional.”
We have spent over $1 billion on a war that this administration has
fought not with the consent of Congress but under a NATO flag and
authorization from the United Nations.
It is a serious thing for a President to engage us in a war. He is
bound by our Constitution to seek authority from the People, through
our Congress, prior to engaging in any military action unless that
action is to address an imminent threat to our safety and security.
The situation in Libya is a civil war contained within that country’s
sovereign borders, and it presented no imminent threat to the United
States.
And so, our government continues to spend trillions of dollars in
overseas foreign wars while we face unsustainable debt, a looming
dollar crisis, and our Constitution seems to lose any meaning. These
actions will sink our country if we do not reverse course.
Meanwhile, we must beware of any ‘Mission Accomplished’ euphoria. The
conflict in Libya is far from over, and there could very well be war
in Libya for a long time to come.
While I hope and pray that the hostility draws to a close and the
people there find peace, I fear this is only wishful thinking. We face
a situation where a rebel element we have been assisting may very well
be radical jihadists, bent on our destruction, and placed in positions
of power in a new government.
Worse still, Gadhafi’s successor is likely to be just as bad, or
worse, than Gadhafi himself. Alternately, Libya may descend into
anarchy like Somalia after the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre. Much
like when we removed Saddam Hussein, another thug in Iraq, the
likelihood of either a new brutal dictatorship or tribal violence and
a protracted insurgency are much more likely than the peaceful
transition to democracy we are all hoping for.
With all these problems and the predictable chaos that will likely
ensue, we must ask why this administration was so eager to embark on
this Libyan operation in the name of ‘humanitarianism.’ Governments in
Bahrain and Yemen have this year used military force to put down
democratic protestors. The Saudi regime, which practices Sharia Law,
has also been repressive, yet we have not intervened there. These
countries continue to sell us oil, while Libya had begun to turn their
exports toward Russia, China, India, and Brazil. Could this war
largely be about protecting our oil interests at the expense of our
Constitution?
This episode is all too familiar. We were already involved in two wars
that have dragged on years longer than the people who led us into them
initially predicted. We can no longer afford to police the world, in
terms of both dollars and American lives. We will destroy ourselves if
we do not stop, build a strong national defense at home, and focus on
trade and commerce with the world instead of Empire.”
After covering Libya’s rape since last winter in dozens of articles,
no forgiving or forgetting is possible for one of history’s great
crimes.
Nor is ignoring those responsible, condemning them forthrightly, and
explaining why all wars are waged.
NATO outdid Orwell on this one, killing truth by calling war the
responsibility to protect – by terrorizing, attacking, and
slaughtering civilians like psychopathic assassins.
As a result, honest historians will redefine barbarism to explain
NATO’s savagery. It includes ongoing crimes of war and against
humanity for the most malevolent reasons.
When is war not war? It’s when committing cold-blooded murder is
called the right thing. When major media scoundrels cheerlead it, and
when most people believe it because they’re too indifferent, uncaring
or lazy to learn the truth.
NATO’s rape of Libya is too ugly for proper words to describe. Only
honest images can do it, and lots of them.
Instead, the Big Lie substitutes for honest journalism, especially on
television where real (not fake) visuals can show mangled bodies, mass
destruction, and other evidence of NATO crimes.
Where civilian deaths can be shown graphically in living color. Where
responsibility can be placed where it belongs. Where right and wrong
can best be explained. Where repetition can arouse public outrage.
Where proper analysis in advance perhaps can prevent all wars.
None are liberating, lawful, or virtuous. All are shamelessly
exploitive. Libya’s one of the worst – unscrupulously benefitting
powerful interests criminally, ruthlessly, and diabolically.
It doesn’t get any worse than that. Ask Lybians. They’ll explain.
Leading America’s Pack Journalistic Lying
The New York Times is America’s lead propaganda instrument, its
reports getting enough global coverage to make a difference.
From the start, it cheerled war with Libya. It played the same role in
Afghanistan, Iraq, and all previous US wars, deceiving its readers by
dishonest journalism, commentaries, and editorials.
August 26 was no different. Two articles among others stand out. David
Kirkpatrick wrote one headlined, “As Qaddafi Forces Retreat, a Newly
Freed Imam Encourages Forgiveness,” saying:
Pro-NATO Sheik Abdul Ghani Aboughreis helped incite last winter’s
uprising “with a fiery Friday sermon at the Mourad Agha mosque. His
words sent thousands of demonstrators pouring into the streets. (His)
mosque and neighborhood became a center of revolt and resistance….”
After six months of shamelessly supporting death and destruction
against his own people, he now encourages “forgiv(ing) each other, to
make sure to leave it to the law and not take revenge on each other.”
As in all his Libya war articles, Kirkpatrick left unexplained months
of crimes of war and against humanity, committed by NATO and
paramilitary killers.
Instead, he highlighted alleged evidence of ongoing Gaddafi loyalist crimes.
In times of war, both sides commit them, but whatever government
forces did pale compared to NATO’s savagery and its hired assassins.
Kirkpatrick and other Times writers failed to notice.
Anthony Shadid and Kareem Hahim were no better headlining, “Grim
Evidence of Fighting’s Toll Becomes Clearer in Libya,” saying:
“As the fighting died down in Tripoli on Friday, the scope and
savagery of the violence during the nearly weeklong battle for control
of the capital began to come into sharper focus.”
Evidence he cites is a shameful Amnesty International report (based on
freed Al Qaeda and other paramilitary prisoners), saying:
AI “uncovered evidence that forces loyal to (Gaddafi) have killed
numerous detainees held at two military camps in Tripoli on 23 and 24
August.”
Perhaps so if other insurgents freed them, attacked Gaddafi forces in
the process, and they fought back.
Instead, AI said:
“Loyalist forces in Libya must immediately stop such killings of
captives, and both sides must commit to ensuring no harm comes to
prisoners in their custody.”
Like UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, AI tries to have it both ways,
ruining everything it gets right by reports like this – equating
horrendous NATO crimes with lesser ones committed by Gaddafi forces,
perhaps many less than imagined. The fog of war makes it hard to know
precisely.
Instead, Shadid and Hahim’s article was shamelessly one sided. While
citing clear evidence of rebel-committed atrocities, their article
claimed:
– Tripoli violence is now subsiding when, in fact, it rages;
– rebels say Gaddafi loyalists killed their own, an absurdity on its face;
– it’s hard “to ascertain the fate of….dead men” in hospitals, as
well as chaos committed inside; AP and Reuters reported it resulted
from rebel-committed terror;
– Gaddafi’s “cloak of secrecy (and) mercurial rule” are being
revealed, leaving unexplained why Washington and its NATO partners
wage all wars;
– slogans are being displayed, saying “Libya is free” and “Misurata
is steadfast,” though still Gaddafi controlled, it’s believed, what
Shadid and Hahim ignored, as well as not debunking claims of Libya’s
freedom; and
– documents in Gaddafi’s compound “seemed to show that (his) adopted
daughter Hana, who was supposedly killed at age 4 in (1986), was alive
(and) working as a doctor;” the key words “seemed to show” both Times
writers implied were proof, adding that Tripoli Central Hospital
workers claimed “a spacious and well-appointed office” there was hers.
Throughout the conflict, Times articles, op-eds and editorials backed
it. Their unstated message is war is good, the more the better when
America wages them.
Sadly, that’s the state of managed Western news and opinion. It’s a
shocking indictment of its support for wealth and power, no matter how
lawless and harmful to billions exploited ruthlessly, shameless, and
repeatedly.
Final Comments
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports continued
fighting in Tripoli, inflicting many casualties.
Moreover, many injured can’t be treated because of ongoing violence,
inadequate staff, and enough supplies and capacity at local hospitals.
In addition, “numerous arrests” were made, “including foreign
nationals.” Their welfare is very much at risk, especially those
singled out for revenge.
Fierce fighting also continues around Misrata and elsewhere. The end
of conflict is nowhere in sight. Brega “look(s) like a ghost town.”
In different areas, people are endangered by unexploded ordinance, as
well as shortages of food, clean water, drugs, other medical supplies,
and spotty or no electricity.
Washington-led NATO turned Libya into a hellish inferno – step one
before occupying and exploiting its resources and people. Months ago
its wealth was stolen. Ahead will be its future if Libyans don’t
struggle and win their freedom.
On August 26 on Russia Today (RT.com), journalist Pepe Escobar said
Abdelhakim Belhadj, a former Al-Qaeda insurgent/now CIA asset commands
rebel forces in Tripoli.
He explained that he was trained in Afghanistan by a “very hardcore
Islamist Libyan group.” Earlier he was captured in Malaysia, detained
and tortured in Bangkok, then transferred back to Libya and
imprisoned.
In 2009, he made a deal for freedom, in return for serving Western
interests, Escobar saying:
“I can say almost for sure with 95% certainty that this is the guy”
heading insurgents in Tripoli.
It shows how Washington both demonizes and uses Al Qaeda
advantageously, including bin Laden. He was a longtime CIA asset until
his death in December 2001 – not from Obama’s staged raid.
Notably, Al Qaeda was a 1980s CIA creation during the Soviet-Afghan
war. Moreover, Washington both supports international terrorism
covertly and battles it by imperial wars and persecuting Muslims for
their faith.
It’s part of the fog to scare people enough to believe waging wars
remove threats that, in fact, don’t exist. So they have to be invented
to enlist public support, unaware of the harm caused abroad and at
home.
Only war profiteers benefit, not taxpayers they steal from or victims
they attack. At the same time, corrosive militarism, financial wars,
and other destructive policies destroyed America’s soul. Its future as
a free country is next.
So focused on bread and circus distractions, most people don’t notice.
How else can Washington get away with murder!
Finally, the fate of independent journalists trapped in Tripoli’s
Corinthia Hotel remains unclear. They’re still in harm’s way because a
chartered ship for their safe passage out either hasn’t arrived or
it’s too unsafe to reach it.
Further updates will follow.
In conclusion, Law Professor Francis Boyle’s morning email said the following:
“After Six Months of fighting by the most powerful military alliance
in the history of the world, Ghadafy has now become the Greatest
African Warrior since Hannibal against the Romans – predecessors to
the Americans.”
“Generations from now, people will sing songs, write poems, and
compose odes to Ghadafy all over Africa, the Arab World, the Muslim
World, and the Third World long after Obama is dead and disparaged and
discredited.”
Sic transit Gloria mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world)!”
Keep Libya’s freedom flame alive no matter how imperial monsters try
to destroy it!
We’re all Libyans now! Their struggle is ours!
It’s high time we matched their courageous spirit against the world’s
most pernicious/destructive force.
Bowed perhaps, they’re not broken! Isn’t that enough to raise our
consciousness to support them!
