Author Topic: US - NATO Threats to Libyan Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity  (Read 3515 times)

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US - NATO Threats to Libyan Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity

By Antonio E. Paris
  © Copyright Antonio E. Paris, Global Research, 2011   http://www.globalresearch.ca/



March 04, 2011 ---- The present situation in Libya is grave, with  

Philippine attention focused on the thousands of Filipino workers there  

who are fleeing the turmoil and are in need of immediate repatriation.  

Almost half of the 26,000 Filipino workers in Libya are in conflict areas,  

and many of them are technical and construction workers in the industry  

and infrastructure sectors. Their worksites have become fair game for  

armed mobs and pro-“democracy” protesters extorting money, mobile phones,  

computers and other electronic items, food and other things of value. Some  

of their barracks have been ransacked, and affected Filipino workers had  

to flee for dear life with nothing to bring with them.



The hundreds who were the first to arrive back in Manila were from the  

capital city of Tripoli and nearby areas in western Libya, and their  

orderly departure from Libya (via Malta) was arranged by their European  

and Korean employers with security escorts from forces of Muammar  

Gaddafi’s government. But employers in other conflict areas, in fear of  

being taken as hostages, have fled earlier and abandoned their Filipino  

and other expatriate workers. Areas seized by protesters are left with no  

local government forces which would be able to stop the armed mobs preying  

on worksites manned by expatriate workers.



Hundreds more of Filipina women workers, mostly nurses and laboratory  

technicians, are being prevented from leaving their hospitals, or are  

unable to get any assistance in traveling safely to the Egyptian or  

Tunisian border crossings where Philippine migrant welfare officials have  

set up documentation and repatriation centers. Many Filipino workers have  

to beg for passage in ships chartered by western governments to ferry  

their nationals from Benghazi to the southern Greek island of Crete.



The Turmoil and the Stand-Off



Latest news reports on Libya have it that fighting between pro- and  

anti-Gaddafi forces are occurring in Az-Zawiyah, Tripoli and Misurata in  

the west ; in Sabha in the south ; and in Benghazi, Al-Bayda and Tobruk in  

the east. Hundreds and even thousands are reported to have been killed on  

both sides. Protests have flared hardest in the eastern parts of the  

country, particularly in Benghazi which was the center of  

foreign-supported anti-government agitation in the past. Benghazi is now  

reported to be under the control of anti-Gaddafi forces which have torched  

police stations and government buildings, and which have taken over the  

local radio stations.



The main demand of protesters, according to western news reports, is the  

ouster of Gaddafi who has held unaccountable power as “leader of the  

revolution” for almost 42 years already, and who is preparing a political  

dynasty in Libya. Libya’s justice minister, and ambassadors to the United  

Nations, the Arab League, China, India and Bangladesh, have defected and  

turned against Gaddafi. The earlier defection to the pro-“democracy”  

protesters of some police and military units provided the anti-Gaddafi  

movement with arms and even tanks and artillery. The reported seizure of  

entire cities reflects a high degree of military sophistication, and is  

not just the result of “peaceful protests”.



The Attempts to Again Manipulate the United Nations



Unfortunately for the Philippines, the vast majority of our people are  

getting only one-sided news and propaganda from the western media  

(including Al-Jazeera). These news agencies are trying to show that events  

in Libya are an extension of the democratic upsurge in neighboring Tunisia  

and Egypt ; and that there is now a virtual division of the country. This  

division is allegedly between the pro-“democracy” forces which have seized  

most of the eastern region (particulary the cities of Benghazi and Tobruk,  

in the former Cyrenaica region adjacent to Egypt), and the remaining  

Gaddafi loyalist forces in the western region (particularly the cities of  

Tripoli and Sirt, in the Tripolitania region adjacent to Tunisia).



As usual, Gaddafi is demonized as a tyrant who is bombing his own people,  

and western calls are made for the UN to take action to stop or prevent  

Gaddafi’s genocide. Among the calls are for the UN enforcement of a  

“no-fly-zone” over north-eastern Libya, in order to prevent Gaddafi’s air  

force from attacking “liberated” areas. This would be similar to the  

“no-fly-zone” over parts of Iraq in the 1990s, which was without any UN  

sanction and was only imposed unilaterally by the US-UK forces.



  There are also calls for a blockade and ban of any delivery of weapons  

for Gaddafi forces ; and for the indictment of the Gaddafi family for  

crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).  

However, these would set precedents which could boomerang on the USA and  

its NATO allies. If the UN were to hold the officials of governments and  

corporations providing weapons to the Gaddafi regime accountable for how  

those weapons are being used, then that would set a precedent making US  

and NATO governments and corporations accountable for arming the most  

violent despots known for human rights violations and war crimes in many  

parts of the world.



  Holding Gaddafi and Libyan officials directly accountable for alleged war  

crimes against a civilian population, by referring the issue directly to  

the ICC, would set a precedent that could hold US and NATO political  

leaders also responsible for civilian deaths in their present wars in  

Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. US and NATO warplanes and  

remote-controlled drones have so far killed thousands of civilians in  

Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, and US and NATO leaders could be  

also held liable for genocide.



The Threat to Libyan Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity



             Virulent western media demands for UN and NATO actions against  

Gaddafi are reflections of covetous imperialist designs upon Libya. In  

this situation, the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the  

Libyan people are threatened. A US-NATO invasion of Libya is even imminent.



             In defense of his position, Gaddafi has spoken over Libyan  

state TV and radio to stress that the present turmoil in Libya is not an  

extension of the democratic upsurge in the region, but an imperialist  

conspiracy to take away from the Libyan people their control of their own  

oil resources. Gaddafi claims that this is an armed counter-revolution  

participated in by outsiders and mercenaries, and which aims to bring  

about the imperialist occupation of Libya, similar to the present  

imperialist imposition of suffering and humiliation upon Afghanistan and  

Iraq.



             Huge demonstrations in Tripoli in support of Gaddafi, in  

response to his call for the Libyan people to defend their sovereignty and  

oil wealth, have apparently disturbed the imperialist powers ---  

especially since the protesters in Libya, up to now, have not produced any  

credible organization or leader around which people could be rallied  

politically. The so-called “National Front for the Salvation of Libya  

(NFSL)”, an exile group that has been interviewed constantly by western  

media as a leading opposition force, and which is loudly demanding a NATO  

attack against Gaddafi, has for decades served as a stooge of the CIA.



             The other group usually seen in pro-“democracy” actions  

(assaults on police and military camps, and the burning of government  

buildings and facilities) is that which is backing the return of the  

monarchy which was deposed by Gaddafi in 1969. Pro-“democracy” protesters  

have hoisted Libya’s first national flag, that of the corrupt and  

US-subservient King Idris, over the areas they have seized. However, a  

return to a monarchy could only be considered a step backward for the  

Libyan people, and would stand opposed to those striving for democracy.



             Finally, another group of protesters is the Muslim  

Brotherhood, the sect formed in Egypt in 1928, and which has cooperated  

with the CIA since their joint attempts to oust Gamal Abdel Nasser from  

the Egyptian presidency in the 1950s. Given this situation where US-backed  

protesters lack the force to oust Gaddafi, imperialism is now propagating  

the line that a peaceful transition in Libya not possible, and that  

Gaddafi’s ouster can only be done by external force. But unlike Marcos in  

the Philippines in 1986, and Ben Ali and Mubarak in Tunisia and Egypt  

earlier this year, Gaddafi is not someone who can simply be ordered by a  

US president to step down and yield power to a new US puppet.



The Role of the Western Media



             All efforts are therefore being made to “justify” an  

imperialist intervention in Libya. Thus the reports which make it appear  

that Gaddafi is using aircraft and artillery against “unarmed” and  

“defenseless” protesters. Efforts are also being made by imperialism to  

make every use of the former Gaddafi officials, diplomats and military  

officers who have defected during the past week, in order to use them as  

components of an acceptable and effective client regime to replace Gaddafi.



             However, imperialism has to contend with the fact that there  

is apparently no widespread defection among the 50,000 to 70,000 hard core  

Gaddafi security forces, unlike in Egypt where the army joined the  

protesters on the streets. It is therefore the role of western media to  

propagate the message that the Gaddafi regime is fast collapsing ; that  

its control of Libyan territory and population is dwindling rapidly ; that  

Gaddafi’s last resort is genocide against his own people ; and that the  

international community (meaning again the NATO “coalition of the  

willing”) should strike to take out Gaddafi and pre-empt his use of  

“weapons of mass destruction” and his blowing up of the Libyan oil  

industry.



             It is difficult to see how events will unfold, given the  

continuing stand-off between Gaddafi and his imperialist-backed opponents.  

But we have seen how the imperialists and their “embedded” mediamen fooled  

the world with blatant lies to attack Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein. In  

the Libyan case also, British foreign minister William Hague propagated  

the yarn that Gaddafi has fled to Venezuela. Considering imperialism's  

hatred towards Gaddafi, and its desire to take over control of Libyan oil  

resources (now producing 1.8-million barrels per day, and which has the  

greatest reserve in Africa), the present turmoil in Libya is being used to  

plot the overthrow of Gaddafi and the control of Libya.



Developments Brought About by the Al-Fatah Revolution



             The Al-Fatah (September 1st, 1969) Revolution led by Gaddafi  

overthrew the corrupt and imperialist-subservient monarchy of King Idris.  

It was inspired by the ideas of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, who  

earlier also overthrew a corrupt and imperialist-subservient monarchy in  

Egypt. King Idris earlier allowed the presence of the USA’s very large  

Wheelus Air Base in Libya, but the Al-Fatah Revolution promptly ended any  

US military presence in Libya. Before the revolution, the Libyan people  

were mostly illiterate and in dire poverty, while Libya’s oil resources  

fabulously enriched western oil companies and the Idris monarchy.



             The revolution nationalized the Libyan oil industry, and used  

the oil riches to uplift the social conditions of the Libyan masses ; to  

eradicate widespread illiteracy ; to provide jobs and housing ; to develop  

free higher education ; and to ensure better nutrition through food  

subsidies. The monarchy used to own much of the habitable and arable land,  

until Gaddafi ordered the nationalization of land and the burning of all  

land titles in simultaneous bonfires nationwide in order to pave the way  

for radical changes in housing ownership and agrarian relations.



             Under Gaddafi, Libya became the highest ranked among African  

countries in the Human Development Index — which includes such factors as  

living conditions, life expectancy (now at almost 75 years) and education.  

Gaddafi is also credited with the construction of a broad network of giant  

pipelines (the “Great Man-Made River”) bringing fresh water from an  

enormous lake beneath its large desert, in order to serve the needs of  

Libya’s 6 million population. Under Gaddafi, the Libyan government placed  

the country’s development within a radical and populist context, and  

promoted semi-socialist political and economic concepts. The Gaddafi  

government also provided significant aid to neighboring African states.  

However, Communist advocacy is suppressed, and the role of trade unions is  

marginalized inside Libya.



             It was also under Gaddafi, and with oil money, that Libya  

attained the highest per capita income among African states. However,  

there is now a campaign in the western press to belie this, and to paint a  

picture of widespread unemployment, gaping social inequality and poverty  

among the Libyan people. Indeed, neo-liberal reforms ushered in recent  

years have resulted in inequality, with social programs and subsidies for  

the poor being cut, and the country’s oil wealth increasingly being given  

to foreign corporations. The CIA is now even trying to pass off alleged  

“studies” showing that most Libyans are surviving on less than USD$2.00  

per day. However, such “studies” have no credibility, considering that  

Libya remains a favorite among expatriate workers in the Middle East,  

given the relatively higher pay and better working terms in Libyan work  

sites.



Gaddafi’s Propagation of his “Third Universal Theory”



             When Gaddafi started to propagate his “Green Book” (or the  

“Third Universal Theory”) internationally, he tried to win over sections  

of national liberation and anti-imperialist movements with financial  

support, and this caused opportunist schisms within some national  

movements. His “Third Universal Theory” is a strange mix of utopian  

socialism and Islam --- of non-class anti-capitalism and virulent  

anti-Communism.



             Libyan oil money fed Gaddafi’s megalomania, and he tried to  

play god by interfering in some parts of the developing world ---  

particularly in countries he considered economically inferior and with  

poor people ready to sacrifice as migrant workers with few rights just to  

retain jobs in Libya. He funded Islamic secessionist forces in southern  

Philippines and southern Thailand, claiming support for struggles against  

Christian or Buddhist domination of Moslem minorities.



             In the largely Moslem country of Indonesia, Gaddafi dabbled in  

tribal conflicts by funding the secessionist forces of the Acehnese, in a  

show of support for the supposedly more fundamentalist Sumatrans as  

against the dominant Javanese. Gaddafi’s interference in the internal  

affairs of the Philippines in the 1970s cost the lives of thousands of  

Filipinos, mostly in Mindanao. His interference in the internal affairs of  

other Asian countries cost the lives of thousands more.



             Gaddafi also tried to interfere in some parts of Southern  

Africa, casting aspersion upon the role of Communists, whites and women in  

the anti-apartheid struggle. For a time, he also dabbled in  

inter-Christian conflicts, and on this basis even supported the armed  

struggle of the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. He gave the  

impression of leading a great international anti-imperialist movement (the  

Mathaba or “center”), which in reality was mainly composed of  

anti-Communist ultra-left and fundamentalist Islamic groupings. While  

vociferous in his anti-imperialist rhetoric and antics --- which drew  

sanctions from imperialist countries --- he was objectively sowing  

divisions within anti-imperialist movements, as well as within the  

anti-zionist national liberation movement of the Palestinian people.



             In 1986, Reagan and Thatcher cooperated in an attempt to  

assassinate Gaddafi by bombing his residences in Tripoli and Benghazi.  

Gaddafi survived, but his adopted infant daughter and many more were  

killed, with hundreds also maimed and wounded. Despite Gaddafi’s extremist  

and reactionary policies, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP-1930),  

through its mass organizations, condemned the US-UK terrorist attack on  

Libya. Thereafter, imperialist sanctions were ratcheted up against Libya,  

and more assassination plots were prepared against Gaddafi, finally  

intimidating Gaddafi.



             In 2000, a weary Gaddafi again played god in the Philippine  

south, this time for the purpose of mending fences with the imperialists.  

The Abu Sayyaf, a bandit break-away group from the Islamic secessionist  

movement in Mindanao had taken 21 hostages (including 10 European and  

other western tourists) from the Sipadan dive resort in Malaysia, and kept  

them captive in the southern Philippine island of Sulu. Gaddafi offered  

ransom of USD$1-Million for each hostage. The release of the European and  

other western hostages from the clutches of his former subalterns became  

his first offering to appease imperialism, never mind if the hefty ransom  

he gave only further emboldened these bandits to undertake more terrorist  

activities in our country.



             Further cozying up to imperialism after the Bush-Blair  

invasion of Iraq, Gaddafi dismantled Libya’s nuclear program in 2003,  

which step however gave relief to the whole world. This was followed by  

the payment of compensation to the victims of the bombing of the Pan-Am  

flight over Lockerbie (Scotland), and the granting of privileges to US and  

UK companies in the Libyan oil and other business sectors. Reports then  

have it that Libya disclosed to US intelligence agencies information on  

all the sundry armed groups that it had previously supported. Gaddafi’s  

many concessions to imperialism over the past decade have further  

diminished his credibility among progressive and anti-imperialist forces,  

and understandably, not a few of these forces have declared their  

solidarity with the Libyan revolt.



Prospects



             Some have characterized foreign interference in the Libyan  

conflict as poetic justice, considering Gaddafi’s earlier interference in  

the internal affairs of other countries. But what is at stake in Libya  

today is not just the future of Gaddafi and his family. What is at stake  

are Libya’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is a  

different matter to support steps toward democratic changes in Libya, and  

to support imperialist interference under the guise of assisting  

pro-“democracy” protesters.



             The popular masses of the Libyan people are demanding civil  

rights and democratic freedoms (including workers’ rights), an open system  

of laws not merely based on Sharia (Islamic law), a political system that  

would enhance the role of trade unions and other organizations of the  

working masses, and immediate measures for the amelioration of declining  

living standards.



             The PKP-1930 supports these demands of the Libyan masses who  

truly stand for democratic changes. The taking of immediate steps for the  

realization of these demands could help Gaddafi maintain his dwindled grip  

on power ; however, the Gaddafi regime has no long-term prospects, and  

could not be expected to take these steps while busy fighting for survival.



             It would also be an illusion to expect that the stooges of  

imperialism among the protesters --- the NFSL, the monarchists, the Muslim  

Brotherhood, or other pliant groups that imperialism could find among the  

latest defectors from the Gaddafi camp --- would support real democratic  

changes in Libya. The realization of democratic changes can only come with  

the quick organizing and mobilization of truly democratic Libyan mass  

forces in the midst of the present turmoil.



             While supporting the democratic demands of the Libyan working  

masses, the PKP-1930 at the same time opposes imperialist interference in  

Libya. In particular, the PKP-1930 strongly condemns imperialist plots to  

push a civil war in Libya in order to pave the way for imperialist  

military intervention and the eventual control of Libya.



             No to imperialist intervention in Libya ! Let the Libyan  

people make their own decisions and determine their own future, while  

preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country !



             No to imperialist interference in Libya and the other  

countries of the Middle East and North Africa !



Antonia E. Paris is General Secretary of  PKP-1930, The Philippines



« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 09:19:38 AM by Roger »