After a long time, on 15 August the Libyans were again able to hear the voice of Muammar Gaddafi on the radio. The Libyan leader urged his citizens to armed struggle, which would free the country from the "traitors and NATO." Although it will soon be six months since NATO troops have launched operation "Odyssey Dawn," the dictator, as he had previously announced, does not intend to give up and wants to fight to the end. The end of what? Does Libya have any special meaning? What is it that it has, if it can mobilize a well-equipped army? Why did the Western countries agree so quickly? Is not this Africa where millions of people die without any attention? Why is it that for some charity music concerts are held, and for the others millions of dollars are spent on bombs? Seen in this light, what is the history of the man whose faith is watched by the whole world?
Right after Fidel
After Fidel Castro's resignation from office, he became the longest-ruling non-monarch in the world. At the same time, however, he never served as president or prime minister, using the title of the leader of the revolution and firmly maintaining that power in Libya belongs to the people. He started as a revolutionary and would soon become a terrorist financing bombings, but later became docile when put up against the wall. He would be a guest of presidents and prime ministers of major world powers.
Muammar Gaddafi was, for many years, a politician supporting terrorism. It was him ho after a three-year trial was found responsible for funding the attacks which ended in crash of a Pan Am airplane in Lockerbee, southern Scotland, in 1988. The support for terrorists officially ended when an embargo was posed contributing to the country's destabilization. However, this did not result in Gaddafi being overthrown. He became more liberal after a couple of years, paid huge compensation and, which probably turned out the decisive factor, he opened the national market for western companies. The dictator decided to buy a pardon and became a figure if not accepted, then surely tolerated on the international arena. He was regarded as an impulsive eccentric who, during a foreign visit never slept in a building, ordering a Bedouin tent pitch to be put up on a hotel lawn. The essence of his character transpires from a scandal that occurred several years ago when his son was arrested by the Swiss police for mistreatment of service. Gaddafi immediately ordered all Swiss companies to leave Libya and the postulated in the international forum the partition of Switzerland. Despite these excesses he was tolerated, while enjoying special affinity with the Italian Prime Minister, Sylvio Berlusconi.
Money coming from oil trade was well invested. Libya is a poor, desert country in which infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, was built. Unlike its neighbors, it has a relatively low degree of illiteracy and few Libyans decided to emigrate.
Day of Wrath and Al-Qaeda
Under the banner of democratization of Islamic countries, American analysts have created a concept of "Greater Middle East". This idea to be realized requires a part of local rulers to be removed. Therefore it is hard to believe that the so-called "Arab Spring" was a spontaneous grassroots movement of people fed up with dictatorship. Just as during the "revolution" in Serbia, Kiev or Georgia, the people who inspired the movements, had undergone training in American NGOs. The events of 2011 differed only in that the protesters made full use of modern means of communication such as Facebook and Twitter.
When the former rulers were overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt, it seemed that it was time for Libya, but here, as it turned out, the case was not that simple.
I find it puzzling that in an interview given for the BBC on February 28, Gaddafi claimed that Al-Qaeda stands behind all the revolutions in the Arab world. These words were confirmed in an announcement of 15 August, when he said that the rebels are Al-Qaeda's agents. Al-Qaeda operating for the U.S.? When someone is accustomed to what (s)he hears in the major mass media, (s)he may be surprised because officially this organization is in open conflict with the countries of the West. In fact, many analysts have for years been pointing out that both Al Qaeda and its famous allegedly late leader, Osama Bin Laden, were from the beginning under the control of the CIA.
Gaddafi's words about al-Qaeda influences in Benghazi and the surrounding area can be confirmed by the fact that the eastern part of the country for years was a center where Al-Qaeda recruited the largest number of suicide bombers, it is where the leader of the Syrian rebellion fled after its brutal suppression by the army of president Assad.
The eastern city of Benghazi is where the protests first started, and then a rebel movement against the government of Gaddafi concentrated, is one more important reason. The city is host to many foreign oil companies that have obtained access to Libyan economy after the first Gulf War.
The question of the rebels' equipment remains unclear. Already one week after beginning of the riots it turned out that they were armed to the extent that allowed to defeat the regular Libyan army. Were they also trained? When on March 19, 2011 operation "Odyssey Dawn" started, information showed up saying that Western aid to the rebels does not only include bombing the government buildings, but also sending weapons. Before his mysterious death on July 28, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, a former cabinet minister and leader of the rebel army, admitted that they receive arms delivery from the "friends" whose identity he did not want to reveal. At the same time Great Britain admitted sending about 1,000 sets of body armor for the infantry.
Causes of war - conspiracy theory?
When we take into account the fact that Gaddafi enjoyed a relative support among his citizens and that the revolutions were inspired from the outside, it good to ask yourself what led the U.S., Britain and France to take part in the attack on Libya? For several months a few reasons reasons are officially given.
A piece of information which appeared on the Internet after the start of the civil war in Libya caused a lot of noise. It was said that this country was carrying out a huge investment in the form of irrigation system, which by means of large pumps and piping was to deliver precious water from underground springs beneath the Sahara. This country, though rich in oil, is affected by continuous water and food deficits. This is partly the reason why the embargo imposed on Libya in the 90s was all so painful. Government actions aimed at exploiting the underground water sources and pipelines which could irrigate crops would make this nearly 7-million state largely self-sufficient. It could upset the Western powers, which feared Libya supporting terrorism again, but it could also mean that Gaddafi's even bolder policy would lead completely independence of the great powers.
Another factor that influenced Libya's independence was the fact that thanks to the positive commercial balance this country was not only one of the least indebted countries, but it also had significant gold reserves. One of the first decision of the rebel government in Benghazi, not for no reason, was the creation of its own central bank. For the bankrupting and massively indebted Western countries this oil-rich country, for which they would become creditors, or at least they would trade without looking at the whim of the dictator, could be a very tasty morsel.
So we have water, gold, markets, and oil. All these factors have one common denominator, which is independence. At the time when most countries undergoing globalization without resistance accept the impose rules of the game, Libya was one of the few who wanted to play in their own way.
What you can see and what you cannot see
The decision to launch the operation "Odyssey Dawn" was incredibly fast. Given the problems the Western powers are now currently facing, their leaders should think twice before they decide to launch another costly war. But it was not so. The diplomatic pressure alone was extremely short lasting, while Barack Obama himself was silent on this issue for 6 days before they took the stand. What was he doing and who did he speak to then?
The war continues. Sometimes disturbing reports come to light about the activities of insurgent forces, like these of July 20, when Daily Telegraph reported finding the headless bodies in Libyan uniforms. The bodies were hidden in a water tank, contaminating it effectively. At the same time, the newspaper informed about completely destroyed villages inhabited by tribes that supported Gaddafi.
What kind of future?
Gaddafi, this nearly seventy-year old politician today is one of the most colorful and most controversial figures of the second half of the twentieth century. He ruled his country with a firm hand for over forty years, and until recently one could believe that after his death Libya would plunge into civil war, in which the Libyan tribes would fight for the succession. But it turned out that the war broke out already in his lifetime. It's just that the native tribes played a secondary role in it.
The war in Iraq was a war for oil, Afghanistan is the control drug production. What does control of Libya give? Oil, huge water resources under the desert, close to the coasts of Europe - all this means that Libya will not be left alone. The worst scenario for the "defenders of democracy" is that the country will be divided into two areas of influence in a constant state of cold war, just as Korea. The largest oil reserves are located in the east of the country. Whatever one may write about the war of the dictator, the World will never forget the faces of family members of the victims of Lockerbee.
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