If Dr.Susan Rice, America's ambassador to the UN, is sounding more like Dr. Condoleezza Rice, we now have a foreign policy in the Middle East that looks more like a post-cursor to Iraq 2003...using distraction this time, rather than deception, to keep people from reacting or protesting. A young journalist called it, “A brilliant move by men and women who operate with the same cunning as Gaddafi!”
While everybody was busy with the earthquake, tsunami and a possible nuclear reactor blowup in Japan, so was I, there were whole lot of people busy domestically passing conservative policies (in different US States), and pushing for a “No-Fly Zone” over Libya - which may be just a nice public relations word for “invasion and occupation with pizazz”.
Gaddafi went from being a terrorist to being a reasonable leader to being a popular ally to being a...terrorist again – all in forty years! Why? He is the same guy doing the same thing that he has done for years: being an arrogant, autocratic, bombastic, charming, demanding, erratic, fluctuating, shrewd, smart, sometimes-ruthless dictator. What changed?
We know Muammar al-Gaddafi was born in a Bedouin in 1942. As a boy Gaddafi attended a Muslim elementary school, during which time the major events occurring in the Arab world, including the struggles for independence, profoundly influenced him. Gaddafi entered the Libyan military academy at Benghazi in 1961 and, along with most of his colleagues from the Revolutionary Command Council, graduated sometime between 1965 -1966 (according to Wikipedia).
Like so many of his generation who found economic opportunity through military service (much like many minorities in the United States), or social acceptance through a military career (much like elite men in many cultures), Gaddafi joined a military training program at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst, England (though citation for this is needed). Later he attended another military school in Athens, Greece.
While Gaddafi identified strongly with early Arab nationalism, his strong statements against Western interference in the Middle East put him on a “watch target”, and later, he claimed, like Fidel Castro, on an “assassination target”.
Gaddafi and Libya were put on a “terrorist list” by the US government after his admission that he had been responsible for several bombings (including the downing of a Pan Am flight), and assassination attempts against several world leaders (though the latter has not all been confirmed).
Wikipedia states that it is “the frustration and shame felt by Libyan officers, who stood by helplessly at the time of Israel's swift and humiliating defeat of Arab armies on three fronts in 1967”, that fueled Gaddafi's determination to overthrow the Libyan monarchy and bring about Arab unity.
In September 1969 a small group of junior military officers, led by Gaddafi, staged a bloodless coup against King Idris while he was away in Turkey. The King's nephew, the Crown Prince Sayyid Hasan, was formally deposed, put under house arrest, and the new Libyan Arab Republic was born.
In wake of Gaddafi's success a plan was organized by one Sir Archibald David Stirling, a mountaineer and a World War II British Army officer who founded the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1941, to use mercenaries to restore the monarchy at the request of the deposed Crown Prince. The mercenaries were to spring 150 political prisoners from a Tripoli jail as a catalyst for a general uprising – strategy often used in this region to depose unpopular leaders. This particular scheme was called the "Hilton Assignment" - as an ironic comment on the comfort level at Libyan jails. The United States did not find Gaddafi sufficiently anti-Marxist to support this secret plot.
In the fifteen months before Stirling himself was captured the SAS (Special Air Service), which later became the Intelligence wing of the British air force, had destroyed over 250 aircraft on the ground, dozens of supply dumps, roads, wrecked railway communications, and had put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action. Montgomery of Alamein, another officer with the British military, described David Stirling as “mad, quite mad”, but added that one needed men like Stirling in the time of war (Wikipedia).
Bill Stirling, brother of David Stirling, took over the SAS after his brother was captured. He later founded Watchguard International Ltd. - a company that did business with the Gulf States. Bill Stirling was also linked, along with an associate D. Rowley, in a failed attempt to overthrow Gaddafi in 1970-71. Stirling later became the founder of a private military company KAS International - Kas Enterprise (Pretoria Inquiry Confirms...”, The Independent, 18 January 1996).
Having survived several assassination attempts himself, both by the West and from some of his dissidents, Gaddafi was often accused of running the most repressive country in Africa. Gaddafi's regime has executed dissidents publicly, and the executions have often been broadcast on state television channels.
Freedom of the Press Index ranks Libya as one of the most censored countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Amnesty International listed twenty-five assassinations between 1980 and 1987 that Gaddafi supposedly attempted on world leaders. Gaddafi also waged several campaigns against his neighboring country of Chad, and withdrew troops from Chad only at the judgment of the International Court of Justice.
There is no doubt that Gaddafi is a notorious and ruthless dictator. But...what is prompting the sudden attempt (taken in March of 2011) to overthrow Gaddafi after forty years - ten of which Gaddafi spent successfully wooing Western leaders, including those countries that are now calling for a no-fly zone?
It was in March 2004 British Prime Minister Tony Blair became the first of many Westerns leaders to visit Libya. There he praised Gaddafi's acts of peace with the West. Prime Minister Blair had openly stated, before his visit, that he hoped Libya would become a strong ally with England and the United States in their international War on Terror.
He said, as quoted by the editor of The Daily Telegraph (13 of August 2009),
"In his four decades as Libya's 'Brother Leader', Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has gone from being the epitome of revolutionary chic to an eccentric statesman with entirely benign relations with the West."
On May 2006, the US State Department announced that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Libya - once Gaddafi declared he was abandoning Libya's weapons of mass destruction program. Gaddafi did. The State Department removed Libya from the list of nations supporting terrorism.
In July 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited Libya and signed a number of bilateral and multilateral (EU) agreements with Gaddafi. He also successfully pursued Libya's first nuclear program contract.
On 4 March 2008 Gaddafi announced his intention to dissolve his country's existing administrative structure and disburse oil revenue directly to the people. The plan included abolishing all ministries, except those of defense, internal security, foreign affairs and several departments that implement strategic projects (Gaddafi Comes in From the Cold, In Express.co.uk, July 11, 2009).
In September 2008, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Libya and met with Gaddafi as part of a North African tour. This was the first visit to Libya by a US Secretary of State since 1953.
In January 2009, Gaddafi contributed to an editorial in The New York Times - suggesting that he was in favor of a single-state solution that moved beyond old conflicts in the Middle East, and looked to a unified future of shared culture and mutual respect. This was not popular with many Palestinians and Muslims.
There are claims that even two years before Sept 11, 2001 Gaddafi pledged his commitment to fighting Al Queda, and offered to open up Libya's weapons program to international inspection (in a conversation with the Italian Prime Minster, Berlusconi, in 2003). His offer was not pursed actively by the Clinton and Bush administration as Libya's weapons program was not considered a threat.
Obviously Gaddafi was trying to improve his image in, and connections with, the West - though he is known for his extremely erratic statements, with commentators often expressing doubt whether he is being sarcastic or just incoherent.
So what is going on with this sudden No-Fly Zone over Libya?
Is reliable and thorough information on this matter over too?
While everybody was busy with the earthquake, tsunami and a possible nuclear reactor blowup in Japan, so was I, there were whole lot of people busy domestically passing conservative policies (in different US States), and pushing for a “No-Fly Zone” over Libya - which may be just a nice public relations word for “invasion and occupation with pizazz”.
Gaddafi went from being a terrorist to being a reasonable leader to being a popular ally to being a...terrorist again – all in forty years! Why? He is the same guy doing the same thing that he has done for years: being an arrogant, autocratic, bombastic, charming, demanding, erratic, fluctuating, shrewd, smart, sometimes-ruthless dictator. What changed?
We know Muammar al-Gaddafi was born in a Bedouin in 1942. As a boy Gaddafi attended a Muslim elementary school, during which time the major events occurring in the Arab world, including the struggles for independence, profoundly influenced him. Gaddafi entered the Libyan military academy at Benghazi in 1961 and, along with most of his colleagues from the Revolutionary Command Council, graduated sometime between 1965 -1966 (according to Wikipedia).
Like so many of his generation who found economic opportunity through military service (much like many minorities in the United States), or social acceptance through a military career (much like elite men in many cultures), Gaddafi joined a military training program at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst, England (though citation for this is needed). Later he attended another military school in Athens, Greece.
While Gaddafi identified strongly with early Arab nationalism, his strong statements against Western interference in the Middle East put him on a “watch target”, and later, he claimed, like Fidel Castro, on an “assassination target”.
Gaddafi and Libya were put on a “terrorist list” by the US government after his admission that he had been responsible for several bombings (including the downing of a Pan Am flight), and assassination attempts against several world leaders (though the latter has not all been confirmed).
Wikipedia states that it is “the frustration and shame felt by Libyan officers, who stood by helplessly at the time of Israel's swift and humiliating defeat of Arab armies on three fronts in 1967”, that fueled Gaddafi's determination to overthrow the Libyan monarchy and bring about Arab unity.
In September 1969 a small group of junior military officers, led by Gaddafi, staged a bloodless coup against King Idris while he was away in Turkey. The King's nephew, the Crown Prince Sayyid Hasan, was formally deposed, put under house arrest, and the new Libyan Arab Republic was born.
In wake of Gaddafi's success a plan was organized by one Sir Archibald David Stirling, a mountaineer and a World War II British Army officer who founded the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1941, to use mercenaries to restore the monarchy at the request of the deposed Crown Prince. The mercenaries were to spring 150 political prisoners from a Tripoli jail as a catalyst for a general uprising – strategy often used in this region to depose unpopular leaders. This particular scheme was called the "Hilton Assignment" - as an ironic comment on the comfort level at Libyan jails. The United States did not find Gaddafi sufficiently anti-Marxist to support this secret plot.
In the fifteen months before Stirling himself was captured the SAS (Special Air Service), which later became the Intelligence wing of the British air force, had destroyed over 250 aircraft on the ground, dozens of supply dumps, roads, wrecked railway communications, and had put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action. Montgomery of Alamein, another officer with the British military, described David Stirling as “mad, quite mad”, but added that one needed men like Stirling in the time of war (Wikipedia).
Bill Stirling, brother of David Stirling, took over the SAS after his brother was captured. He later founded Watchguard International Ltd. - a company that did business with the Gulf States. Bill Stirling was also linked, along with an associate D. Rowley, in a failed attempt to overthrow Gaddafi in 1970-71. Stirling later became the founder of a private military company KAS International - Kas Enterprise (Pretoria Inquiry Confirms...”, The Independent, 18 January 1996).
Having survived several assassination attempts himself, both by the West and from some of his dissidents, Gaddafi was often accused of running the most repressive country in Africa. Gaddafi's regime has executed dissidents publicly, and the executions have often been broadcast on state television channels.
Freedom of the Press Index ranks Libya as one of the most censored countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Amnesty International listed twenty-five assassinations between 1980 and 1987 that Gaddafi supposedly attempted on world leaders. Gaddafi also waged several campaigns against his neighboring country of Chad, and withdrew troops from Chad only at the judgment of the International Court of Justice.
There is no doubt that Gaddafi is a notorious and ruthless dictator. But...what is prompting the sudden attempt (taken in March of 2011) to overthrow Gaddafi after forty years - ten of which Gaddafi spent successfully wooing Western leaders, including those countries that are now calling for a no-fly zone?
It was in March 2004 British Prime Minister Tony Blair became the first of many Westerns leaders to visit Libya. There he praised Gaddafi's acts of peace with the West. Prime Minister Blair had openly stated, before his visit, that he hoped Libya would become a strong ally with England and the United States in their international War on Terror.
He said, as quoted by the editor of The Daily Telegraph (13 of August 2009),
"In his four decades as Libya's 'Brother Leader', Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has gone from being the epitome of revolutionary chic to an eccentric statesman with entirely benign relations with the West."
On May 2006, the US State Department announced that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Libya - once Gaddafi declared he was abandoning Libya's weapons of mass destruction program. Gaddafi did. The State Department removed Libya from the list of nations supporting terrorism.
In July 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited Libya and signed a number of bilateral and multilateral (EU) agreements with Gaddafi. He also successfully pursued Libya's first nuclear program contract.
On 4 March 2008 Gaddafi announced his intention to dissolve his country's existing administrative structure and disburse oil revenue directly to the people. The plan included abolishing all ministries, except those of defense, internal security, foreign affairs and several departments that implement strategic projects (Gaddafi Comes in From the Cold, In Express.co.uk, July 11, 2009).
In September 2008, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Libya and met with Gaddafi as part of a North African tour. This was the first visit to Libya by a US Secretary of State since 1953.
In January 2009, Gaddafi contributed to an editorial in The New York Times - suggesting that he was in favor of a single-state solution that moved beyond old conflicts in the Middle East, and looked to a unified future of shared culture and mutual respect. This was not popular with many Palestinians and Muslims.
There are claims that even two years before Sept 11, 2001 Gaddafi pledged his commitment to fighting Al Queda, and offered to open up Libya's weapons program to international inspection (in a conversation with the Italian Prime Minster, Berlusconi, in 2003). His offer was not pursed actively by the Clinton and Bush administration as Libya's weapons program was not considered a threat.
Obviously Gaddafi was trying to improve his image in, and connections with, the West - though he is known for his extremely erratic statements, with commentators often expressing doubt whether he is being sarcastic or just incoherent.
So what is going on with this sudden No-Fly Zone over Libya?
Is reliable and thorough information on this matter over too?
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