OBAMA`S LIBYAN SPEECH TO AMERICA

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Margaret Cooper
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I am disappointed at Obama`s take on America`s reason for involvement in `raining missiles on Libya to enforce a no- fly zone . A mandate which which was in my opinion ` fraudulently ` obtained and ratified by a Secretary General who didn`t have a voice of his own than the Big 5 who it would seem make up the United Nations . America was simply rail – roaded into joining the coalition of the willing – Sarkozy`s France , Cameron`s Britain and Hilary Clinton in their shrill insistence of Protecting civilians in Benghazi as if the only civilians in Libya live in Benghazi . The West`s military paraphernelia were already assembled on Libyan waters and land before UN mandate for a no-fly zone .

The sudden backseat taken by Clinton , citing the illegality of a no -fly zone without the Arab League and United Nations agreement was a ruse to give legality to the ` fraudulent MOTIVES of this obscene unnecessary war .

Note Obama was conspicuous by his silence initially and even made a trip to Brazil . A subdued Clinton seen less on world stage in a campaign of war she earlier spearhearded , and a President silently ordering 112 salvo of missiles on Libya without the approval of Congress .
*Here I believe the President was fighting an INNER BATTLE of his own !

I suspect Obama is actually mindful of his African / Muslim heritage , hence the insistence of the Arab League involvement for apart from giving a semblance of legalitiy and multilateral efforts for the sins he`s about to commit , he was doing the biblical PONTIUS PILATE . Just that he did not reckon on the `gutless ` Arab League ` despots themselves to offer Ghadaffi as a sacrificial lamb . He might have thought again that pleasing war -mongering crusaders like the McCains by quickly raining missiles , fire and brimstone by the allies would bring the one sided war to a quick end .

At least we saw Ghadaffi threathening what he would do - saying it as it is . But America , France and Britain under false premises of protecting civiilians of Benghazi , did not have the courage of saying what their mission was really about . WAS / IS it Regime Change ? Partition of Libya ? ( and we thought colonisation was dead ) . Assasination of Ghadaffi ? Control of the rich Libyan Oil Fields ?
THERE JUST WAS NO STRATEGY ! An aerial bombardment of Libya that allows rebels to continuously re-take towns especially oilfields alrady in pro government hands is war short of boots by coaltion soldiers on the ground .

Double talk reigned in his speech –we do not want to oust Ghadaffi ....the multi – lateral efforts of an on going aerial bombardment is meant to oust Ghadaffi . Which is which ? There must be method in this President`s dilly dally . No Fly Zones in Saudi Arabia , Bahrain ,Syria , Yemen , North Korea ? How about AHMADENEJADS`S Iran . I guess Not so small as Libya .

What baffles me is , where is the international community who has just stood by and let the usual culprits of just 3 United Nation countries to wiliy nilly drop their military hadrware on another Independenrt African / Arab nation .

March 29, 2011 12:43 am at 12:43 am |

WHO ARE LIBYAN REBELS ?

ing ... equal rights and duties for all citizens, ... equality between men and women, " the Council said in their statement.
The Council also "reaffirms that Libya's foreign policy will be based on mutual respect and ... respect [for] international law and international humanitarian law," the group said.
(Photo, top: Libyan rebels on the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah: Suhaib Salem/Reuters. Photo, middle: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with Libyan Interim National Council emissaries Mahmoud Jibril (R) and Ali Essawi after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris March 10, 2011: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

• 

  Margaret James-Cooper

  Who are the Libyan rebels? U.S. tries to figure out
  By Laura Rozen
  
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  When a U.S. Air Force pilot ejected from his crashing F-15 Eagle fighter jet and landed in rebel-held eastern Libya overnight Tuesday, he soon found that he was in friendly hands.
  "He was a very nice guy," Libyan businessman Ibrahim Ismail told Newsweek of the initially quite anxious American pilot. "He came to free the Libyan people." Rebel officials dispatched a doctor to attend to the pilot and presented him with a bouquet of flowers, according to Newsweek.
  But the U.S. government, now engaged in a fourth day of air strikes against Libyan regime military targets, does not know very much about the rebels who now see it as a friendly ally in their fight to overthrow Muammar Gadhafi.
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a 45-minute, closed-door meeting with Mahmoud Jibril, a leader of the newly formed Libyan opposition Interim National Council in a luxury Paris hotel earlier this month. But in a clear signal of America's wariness about all the unknowns, Clinton gave no public statement after their meeting and did not appear in photographs with the rebel leader. (By contrast, a week earlier French President Nicholas Sarkozy bestowed formal diplomatic recognition on the Council and was photographed shaking hands with its emissaries Jibril and Ali Essawi on the steps of the Elysee Palace.)
  
  Middle East policy watchers note a glaring disconnect between the buoyant expectations of some rebel supporters that the international military coalition will provide direct air support for their armed struggle, and the insistence of U.S. military commanders that their mandate allows for no such thing.
  The coalition mission doesn't include protecting forces engaged in combat against Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's forces, Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters Monday. His mission, Ham said, is narrowly confined to preventing Gadhafi forces from attacking civilians, getting Gadhafi's forces to pull back from rebel-held towns, and allowing civilians humanitarian access to food, water, and electricity/gas supplies, Ham said.
  So who are the Libyan rebels with whom we now seem (for better or for worse) to be joined with in a shared fight against Gadhafi?
  One view has it that the Libyan rebels are basically peaceful protesters who found their demonstrations against Gadhafi met with bullets and had no choice but to resort to violence.
  "The protesters are nice, sincere people who want a better future for Libya," Human Rights Watch Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert told South Africa's Business Day. "But their strength is also their weakness: they aren't hardened fighters, so no one knows what the end game will be."
  "This is not really a civil war between two equal powers--it started as a peaceful protest movement and was met with bullets," Bouckaert continued. "Now you have a situation where you have a professional and heavily equipped army fighting a disorganized and inexperienced bunch of rebels who stand little chance against them."
  Still, the rebels are largely unknown to the American government, despite initial tentative meetings such as Clinton's and some meetings held by U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz with opposition representatives. (Cretz is now working out of the State Department, as the United States has withdrawn its diplomatic presence.) Last week, President Barack Obama appointed an American diplomat, Chris Stevens, to be the U.S. liaison to the Libyan opposition.
  "We don't have the comfort level with the rebels," said the National Security Network's Joel Rubin, a former State Department official. "We certainly know some things about them, had meetings. It's not as if there's complete blindness. But I don't think at this stage the comfort level is there for that kind of close coordination."
  But the Libyan rebels seem to have found western consultants who have offered advice on reassuring buzzwords the West would like to hear. On Tuesday, the Interim National Council issued just such a soothing statement from their rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
  "The Interim National Council is committed to the ultimate goal of the revolution which is to build a democratic civil state, based on the rule of law, respect for human rights including ... equal rights and duties for all citizens, ... equality between men and women, " the Council said in their statement.
  The Council also "reaffirms that Libya's foreign policy will be based on mutual respect and ... respect [for] international law and international humanitarian law," the group said.
  (Photo, top: Libyan rebels on the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah: Suhaib Salem/Reuters. Photo, middle: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with Libyan Interim National Council emissaries Mahmoud Jibril (R) and Ali Essawi after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris March 10, 2011: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

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  Margaret James-Cooper

  As yet unsaid by the tripple coalition of the willing - America , France & Britain , with blatant rebel support , Is PARTITION, Regime change , scramble for Oil the end game in Libya ? .What is it really all about ? Re-colonization ? Nothing will surprise me .

  

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WHO ARE LIBYAN REBELS ?

When a U.S. Air Force pilot ejected from his crashing F-15 Eagle fighter jet and landed in rebel-held eastern Libya overnight Tuesday, he soon found that he was in friendly hands.
"He was a very nice guy," Libyan businessman Ibrahim Ismail told Newsweek of the initially quite anxious American pilot. "He came to free the Libyan people." Rebel officials dispatched a doctor to attend to the pilot and presented him with a bouquet of flowers, according to Newsweek.
But the U.S. government, now engaged in a fourth day of air strikes against Libyan regime military targets, does not know very much about the rebels who now see it as a friendly ally in their fight to overthrow Muammar Gadhafi.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a 45-minute, closed-door meeting with Mahmoud Jibril, a leader of the newly formed Libyan opposition Interim National Council in a luxury Paris hotel earlier this month. But in a clear signal of America's wariness about all the unknowns, Clinton gave no public statement after their meeting and did not appear in photographs with the rebel leader. (By contrast, a week earlier French President Nicholas Sarkozy bestowed formal diplomatic recognition on the Council and was photographed shaking hands with its emissaries Jibril and Ali Essawi on the steps of the Elysee Palace.)

Middle East policy watchers note a glaring disconnect between the buoyant expectations of some rebel supporters that the international military coalition will provide direct air support for their armed struggle, and the insistence of U.S. military commanders that their mandate allows for no such thing.
The coalition mission doesn't include protecting forces engaged in combat against Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's forces, Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters Monday. His mission, Ham said, is narrowly confined to preventing Gadhafi forces from attacking civilians, getting Gadhafi's forces to pull back from rebel-held towns, and allowing civilians humanitarian access to food, water, and electricity/gas supplies, Ham said.
So who are the Libyan rebels with whom we now seem (for better or for worse) to be joined with in a shared fight against Gadhafi?
One view has it that the Libyan rebels are basically peaceful protesters who found their demonstrations against Gadhafi met with bullets and had no choice but to resort to violence.
"The protesters are nice, sincere people who want a better future for Libya," Human Rights Watch Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert told South Africa's Business Day. "But their strength is also their weakness: they aren't hardened fighters, so no one knows what the end game will be."
"This is not really a civil war between two equal powers--it started as a peaceful protest movement and was met with bullets," Bouckaert continued. "Now you have a situation where you have a professional and heavily equipped army fighting a disorganized and inexperienced bunch of rebels who stand little chance against them."
Still, the rebels are largely unknown to the American government, despite initial tentative meetings such as Clinton's and some meetings held by U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz with opposition representatives. (Cretz is now working out of the State Department, as the United States has withdrawn its diplomatic presence.) Last week, President Barack Obama appointed an American diplomat, Chris Stevens, to be the U.S. liaison to the Libyan opposition.
"We don't have the comfort level with the rebels," said the National Security Network's Joel Rubin, a former State Department official. "We certainly know some things about them, had meetings. It's not as if there's complete blindness. But I don't think at this stage the comfort level is there for that kind of close coordination."
But the Libyan rebels seem to have found western consultants who have offered advice on reassuring buzzwords the West would like to hear. On Tuesday, the Interim National Council issued just such a soothing statement from their rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"The Interim National Council is committed to the ultimate goal of the revolution which is to build a democratic civil state, based on the rule of law, respect for human rights including ... equal rights and duties for all citizens, ... equality between men and women, " the Council said in their statement.
The Council also "reaffirms that Libya's foreign policy will be based on mutual respect and ... respect [for] international law and international humanitarian law," the group said.
(Photo, top: Libyan rebels on the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah: Suhaib Salem/Reuters. Photo, middle: France's President Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with Libyan Interim National Council emissaries Mahmoud Jibril (R) and Ali Essawi after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris March 10, 2011: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

RE: LIBYA----The West`s Two - Faced Diplomacy

• James-Cooper 

  The trophy here for these modern day ` crusaders ` is oil . Like or loathe Ghadaffi , his `cultural` despotic ` rule is no different from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia , Bahrain and most of the Arab world which is burning as we speak . Saudi Arabia a friend of the West has invaded Bhrain by PROXY on the behest of another desopt - to quel Bahrain uprising , . Libya is being bombarded in the name of democracy and protecting civilians . I suppose the only civilians in Libya are to be found in Benghazi - the REBEL Strong hold where most of the countries Oil facilities happened to be located !

  39 minutes ago · 
• 

  Margaret James-Cooper 

  Libya `s problem is an Africa problem , Where is the voice of African union .....if there is one . Just like the `Gutless Arab League that has always sold their brethren down the Israeli / Palestinian river `, they give a carte blanche first salvo to the nu-United Nations for a no fly zone over an Arab nation`s air space . There in lies the crux of Ghadafi`s problem . He is not totally accepted asone of them (Arabs ) . More of an African -whose heads of States see him more as a cash machine for their dubious causes . Am afraid that apart from the scramble for Libya`s liquid gold , to America and her Allies ,its PAYBACK time FOR THE SINS he is perceived to have commited as `terrorrist Paymaster yesteryears ! See my Blog :http://wwwinternational-affairs.blogspot.com/ orhttp://www.politicsandscoundrel.blogspot.com/

United Nation Resolution on No -Fly Zone on Libya

The United Nations in an unprecedented move has approved a Resolution that will see the invasion of an Independent North African Nation . In a 10 - 0 vote with Russia , China , Germany , India and Brazil abstaining , the Proposal of a No- Fly Zone relentlessly pursued by Britain , France and America was approved . A no -fly zone and an authorization of  `` all necessary measures (short of `human occupation )including air strikes to ``protect civilians `` from the advancing forces of Muarmar Ghadaffi towards Benghazi - the stronghold of the rebels . To qoute the United Nations : ``excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on  Libyan territory `` .

Indeed , who is to stop such occupation if America , Britain and France who has already recognised Benghazi as another country decide to send in troops . These measures already give the afore mentioned countries with awesome fire power eager to give Ghadaffi a bloody nose a carte blanche powers to do anything to satisfy their thirst for Gadaffi `s and Benghazi`s LIQUID GOLD - OIL .

That Banky Moon has allowed the United Nations to be outmanouvered in closed door negotiations and used to authorised the literal devide and invasion of of an independent nation in the guise of protecting civilians is extraordinary .

What did Banky Moon do to encourage a dialogue / ceasefire between the combatants before the UN Resolution of a no-fly zone ? Why was the proposal tendered by Russia`s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin for a ceasefire rejected . ? Who will protect the ` other civilians `that are not on the side of the rebels when these air strikes start raining down .

It all started with Libya not being a democracy . Libya is just one of many despotic rulers in the Arab world .At the moment , who is defending Bahrain civilians from the undemocratic , despotic rulers of Barhrain and Saudi Arabia who has invaded Bahrain by proxy ; sending in troops to quell uprisings resulting in deaths of so called civilians . Is there going to be a no-fly zone in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain ?
The Arab League who gave a green light for a no-fly zone is not known for it`s guts because they are worst than Libya ; else why would Israel always run a circle around them when it comes to unsuccessful resolve of the Palestinian question !Of Course Ghadaffi is no friend of the West who until recently were falling oVER themselves to be seen with him and his son because of OIL .

The obvious agenda here is certainly not of civilian casualties but of oil in Libya .Why is the still West still perpetuating a COLONIAL MENTALITY of divide and rule ! Of course China did not use it`s veto power as it`s cupboard is full of skeletons of Tianamen Square .An appaling human rights violations . In time we will know what was offered to Russia to buy her abstention and veto power if they had much misgivings .

The Usual culprits of the west and the UN has done it again , just like Iraq .

Haig Trials and Threats of a No Fly ZONE over Ghadafi`s Libya by America and her usual culprit - allies , What really is their motive ?
The West will never seem to learn .from Past adventurous `military quagmires it emershed itself in . * Iraq has been unjustifiably wrecked and brought to its knees . Who`s sent George Bush & Tony Blair to Haig for `CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY ? *The Palestinian Question has lingered unsolved for so long because of the West `s hypocrisy of interpreting DEMOCRACY when it suit`s their purpose .

The simultaneous uprisings in Arab lands smell of the machinations of American CIA and British intelligence . Not that these long serving ousted rulers of Tunisia and Egypt and ` yet to go` rulers of Bahrain ,Yemen , Libya .Saudi Arabia etc have my sympathy . To commandeer power in perpetuity and leave a section of your people in abject poverty is unforgivable .

What galls me however is ; America & it`s allies true to form are ochestrating Non- democcracy and military intervention in Libya . The Hawks are already circling Libya`s Oil installations .Witness British SAS bungled mission to Benghazi . American war ships are on Tripoli waters . Obama is asking the Saudis who have banned any protest ( undemocratic ) to send in arms to Libyan`s rebels .

It would be better to ask Ghaddafi for the keys to Libya`s `refinneries` than come in through the back door to inherit the countries oil

GadhaffiS Liquid Goldand Democracy

The Arab League tentatively approving a no fly zone = military invasion on Libya would be a `laugh `if it wasn`t a serious matter . A question of `kettles and pots ` !

Ghadaffi seems the easiest whipping despot among many in the Arab region to pick on by these arrogant globe-trotting European / American diplomats who should be dealing with their respective domestic economic mess .

It`s democracy when it suit`s the west . Meantime as these diplomats suddenly find a common reason to wallow around in their own importance in the United Nations , the most despotic of all - SAUDI ARABIA has undemocratically banned any protests, a few who dared gunned down by the police ; send 1000 troops to Bahrain at the behest of another despot to quell unrest .

Meantime , France President Sarkozy from the majestic height of his high heels has arrogantly jumped the gun and recognized Benghazi as another country : and they say COLONIALISM IS DEAD ! It`s thanks to the West`s diplomatic double standards of the interpretation of democracy that the Palestinian problem remains unresolved . Iraq is in a mess

Much as I agree that these despots should disappear into oblivion , I fear America and it`s European allies has ULTERIOR MOTIVES ! in the case of Libya ? OIL and some kind of mission of Vendatta !

DOES ANYONE ELSE AGREE WITH THESE THOUGHTS ?