Sunday, October 23, 2011

LIBYA: Gaddafi's last moments/Libyan commander describes Muammar

 
An NTC fighter points to a drainage pipe in which Col Muammar Gaddafi is said to have been captured, Sirte, 20 October 2011 Omran al-Oweib said his men came under fire after they dragged Col Gaddafi from a drainage pipe

Libya Crisis

The commander of the brigade that captured Col Muammar Gaddafi has said he takes full responsibility for his death.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Omran al-Oweib, a 31-year-old electrical engineer from Misrata, said he tried to save the former Libyan leader's life.
But Col Gaddafi died in his presence while they were on their way to hospital on Thursday.
Mr al-Oweib described in forensic detail the fierce firefight that took place on the outskirts of Sirte.
He said that, as his men dragged the colonel from the by-now infamous drainage pipe, they came under fire from three sides.
In the heat and chaos of the battle, he said, it was impossible to tell who had fired the lethal bullet.
"I didn't see which weapon killed Gaddafi," he said.
"There was [shooting] coming from the hole and from the street. [People were] running from the side, running and shooting to save themselves."
The commander admitted that some of his fighters had wanted to kill the former dictator on the spot. But he said he had pleaded with then not to. He wanted to bring him back alive.
"I tried to save his life," he said, "but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything for him. Even though he was my enemy, I wanted to take him alive to Misrata, to judge him."
"What's up, guys?" Mr Oweib said that Col Gaddafi was already wounded when he was dragged from his hiding place.
But, when he was set upon by a furious mob of fighters, the former dictator managed to take just 10 steps before falling to the ground.

“Start Quote

Omran al-Oweib
Gaddafi passed away on the front line - I am responsible for that”
Omran al-Oweib NTC commander
When his men first caught him, Mr Oweib said the former Libyan leader appeared not to realise that his hold on power had slipped from his grasp.
"When he came out from the hole, he started saying: 'What's up, guys, please wait. What's the problem? I'm with you. You're not allowed to do that. Hey!' He still thinks he is the president or the dictator."
The commander eventually managed to move him into an ambulance and drove towards the nearest field hospital.
"Many, many [check]points asked me to stop. I did not agree to stop. I asked the driver: 'Please go, please don't stop. Hurry up.'"
But when the ambulance arrived at the field hospital they found the entrance crowded with cars and people.
"I decided to carry him to the air-ambulance."
The air-strip was some distance further to the west. But Col Gaddafi died before they got there.
"Suddenly the doctor told me: 'Gaddafi already passed away.'"
Mr Oweib's account appears to support the assertion by the National Transitional Council that the colonel was killed in crossfire rather than summarily executed by vengeful fighters.
But, when asked who he thought was responsible for Muammar Gaddafi's death, he said simply:
"Gaddafi passed away on the front line. I am responsible for that. I am the commander."
Omran al-Oweib now plans to return to his civilian life as an electrical engineer.
"We started with a civilian revolution. After that, Gaddafi changed this revolution to a war. The revolution starts now. Because the revolution means: build our country, correct our mistakes in our country."

Source: BBC News, 22 October 2011 Last updated at 21:40 GMT

Author:  Gabriel Gatehouse,Gabriel Gatehouse BBC News, Misrata 

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LIBYA: Libya's new rulers declare country liberated


NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil: "I pray for the souls of the martyrs who were waiting for this day"

Libya Crisis

Libya's transitional government has declared national liberation before a jubilant crowd in Benghazi, where the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi began.
Tens of thousands of people packed into Freedom Square to hear National Transitional Council (NTC) leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil speak.
Gaddafi's capture and death on Thursday came as Nato-backed NTC forces pursued loyalists in his stronghold, Sirte.
The NTC has come under pressure to investigate how he died.
A post-mortem carried out on the former leader's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.
The body itself, along with that of Gaddafi's son Mutassim, has been put on public display in a cold storage facility in Misrata.
Thousands of people were killed or injured after the violent repression of protests against Gaddafi's rule in February developed into a full-scale civil war.
His government was driven out of the capital, Tripoli, in August.
However he refused to surrender or leave the country, urging his followers to resist the country's new leaders.
'United brothers' NTC deputy head Abdel Hafiz Ghoga announced from the stage that Libya had been freed, declaring: "Declaration of Liberation. Raise your head high. You are a free Libyan."
Thousands of voices echoed him chanting, "You are a free Libyan."
Mr Abdul Jalil bowed down to thank God for victory before making his speech.

At the scene

image of Jeremy Bowen Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor, Benghazi
There is a lot of joy at the big parade ground on the edge of Benghazi that they have renamed Victory Square.
The new Libya faces a lot of challenges. Hating Colonel Gaddafi has been a great unifier. Now he is dead, the differences within the broad coalition that overthrew him are going to be much more noticeable.
The transition to the promised democracy will not be easy. And some national reconciliation between former rebels and former supporters of the regime will be necessary. But Libya has oil money, as much foreign help as it needs and a sense that they own their revolution - even though they could not have done it without the help of Nato and Qatar.
The biggest challenge - building a new system of government from the bottom up - could become their biggest advantage. Unlike Tunisian and Egyptian revolutionaries, they do not have to worry about the survival of parts of the old regime. Here in Libya, it has been smashed.
He thanked all those who had taken part in the revolution - from rebel fighters to businessmen and journalists - and said the new Libya would take Islamic law as its foundation.
"Today we are one flesh, one national flesh. We have become united brothers as we have not been in the past," he said.
"I call on everyone for forgiveness, tolerance and reconciliation," he said. "We must get rid of hatred and envy from our souls. This is a necessary matter for the success of the revolution and the success of the future Libya."
The NTC leader also wished anti-government protesters in Syria and Yemen "victory".
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the declaration of liberation, urging a "new inclusive Libya, based on reconciliation, and full respect for human rights and the rule of law".
Nato, he added, would retain its "capacity to respond to threats to civilians, if needed".
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague greeted Libya's "historic victory", and also urged the country to avoid "retribution and reprisals".
Elections are due to be held by June of next year, Libya's acting Prime Minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said earlier.
The new elected body, he added, would draft a constitution to be put to a referendum and form an interim government pending a presidential election.
Death questions There are conflicting reports as to the whereabouts of Saif al-Islam, and Gaddafi's security chief - who are both at large.
The US, UN, major human rights groups and others have called for a transparent investigation into how Gaddafi died.
Video footage showed him being captured alive. Officials said he had been killed subsequently in a crossfire.
A post-mortem carried out on the former leader's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.
The commander of the forces that captured Gaddafi has given details of the Libyan ex-leader's last moments to the BBC.

NEXT STEPS

  • Elections for a Public National Conference to be held within eight months
  • The new body is to appoint a prime minister, an interim government and a constituent authority which will draft a new constitution within 60 days
  • Constitution to be put to a referendum
  • If the constitution is approved, general elections will be held within six months
Omran al-Oweib said he had been dragged from a drainage pipe and had taken 10 steps before he collapsed amid gunfire between NTC forces and Gaddafi supporters.
"I didn't see who killed, which weapon killed Gaddafi," Mr Oweib said.
NTC spokesman Mustapha Goubrani said Gaddafi's body would be handed over to people from his tribe for burial.
Mr Jibril told the BBC's Hardtalk programme he would have preferred to have Gaddafi alive, to face prosecution for his crimes, and added that he would welcome a full inquiry into his death.
One of Gaddafi's best-known sons, Saif al-Islam, as well as his security chief both remain at large.
Hardtalk with Libyan acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril is being broadcast on BBC World News on Sunday 23 October at 10:30, 12:30 and 23:30 GMT.

Source: BBC News, 23 October 2011 Last updated at 16:38 GMT  
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LIBYA: Tripoli celebrates, but on a smaller scale

 
Women in Martyr's Square, Tripoli, celebrate the announcement of Libya's liberation - 23 October 2011 A small, but demonstrative crowd in Tripoli's Martyr's Square, compared to the masses that gathered in Benghazi for the official announcement of liberation

Libya Crisis

After eight months of bloody conflict, Libyans are on the threshold of a new dawn dubbed by officials as Liberation day - their independence from over four decades of dictatorship.
The crowd that gathered at the main square in Benghazi - the eastern city that will always be remembered as the birthplace of Libyan uprising - was massive.
The turnout was less impressive in the capital Tripoli, but grew as the sun set.
As Libya's interim head Mustafa Abdul Jalil addressed a jubilant crowd in Benghazi, those who showed up in Tripoli's Martyr's Square were cheering and emotional.
Some have attributed the small turnout in Tripoli to the declaration being announced from the east.
Others here, like Youssef, think Tripoli "is just partied out" - they have been out till the early hours since the announcement of Col Gaddafi's death.

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Justice will never be served until we can rebuild a true, democratic nation that our war veterans will be proud of”
Neleufer al-Badri Tripoli resident
Through rolling tears, 29-year old Amal al-Gomati said: "We are happy today, it means everything. Now we are alive, now we are human."
Two camels were brought to Martyr's Square on the back of a pick-up truck for a sacrificial killing to mark the occasion.
New beginnings Libyan officials have announced what is viewed by many here as a "very optimistic" timeline for its journey towards an elected government.
Now that they have officially declared the country's liberation they are expected to form an elected Public National Congress within eight months and eventually - it is hoped - hold general elections another eight months later.
For a nation and a people that has never seen a ballot box, having moved from colonialism to a short-lived monarchy followed by despotic rule for more than four decades, the working timeline appears slightly premature.
Some Libyans have described the country and its people as "politically immature".
However, new beginnings at times bring with them surprising results - some Libyans are pinning their hopes on a success story.
For Tripoli university professor Dr Mahmoud Ramadan, it is an especially new beginning.
A man selling the new flag of Libya in Tripoli's Martyr's Square - 23 October 2011 Libya's new flag for sale in Tripoli's Martyr's Square
The country's freshly declared independence is a vindication of a painful memory unlikely to be forgotten.
His brother Mohamed Ramadan, an outspoken journalist and author who worked for the BBC Arabic Service, was murdered by suspected Gaddafi henchmen in London in 1981.
"I think it's a lot of time" he says of the NTC's schedule.
"The first election will be a practice run… and Libyans will learn from it. We underestimated the Libyan people for a long time. This uprising revealed, for example, how many English speakers we have and that they are educated and internet savvy," says Dr Ramadan.
"We need to hold elections as soon as possible otherwise it will take a decade. I think we are really in limbo now, everyone is doing whatever they want, too many weapons around, and the education sector has not kicked off yet. We need to move quickly."
How that will translate on the ground for the siesta-prone culture that dominates this society is an entirely different matter.
Clean-up time "Justice will never be served until we can rebuild a true, democratic nation that our war veterans will be proud of and be satisfied they fought for the right cause," says Neleufer al-Badri.
She, like others in Tripoli, is celebrating the declaration of the country's liberation with an eye to the journey ahead.
Others have raised concerns over the financial transparency of their new leaders since the old regime's unfrozen cash began to trickle in a few months ago.
Everyone has a view to share these days - substantiated or not -in a "new Libya" with people determined to sidestep the entrapments of revolutionary fervour brought on by the uprising.
There is an inescapable scent of freedom this evening that has cut through the overpowering smell of burning rubbish that has hung over central Tripoli since the early hours of the day.
Disposing the city's waste into the atmosphere is a simple yet toxic way of ridding Tripoli from a minor challenge brought on by a severe shortage of foreign workers who once took care of a job few Libyans are willing to do.
The road to democracy after a war and 42 years of dictatorship is littered with immeasurable challenges: There is no easy way around it and no shortcuts to speak of.
It is this generation of Libyans who will ultimately need to step up and clean up the mess that tyranny so often leaves behind long after it has been disposed of.

Source: BBC News, 23 October 2011 Last updated at 18:25 GMT 

Author: Rana Jawad,Rana Jawad BBC News, Tripoli   
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LIBYA: Gaddafi death: The bloody birth of a new Libya

Image of Gaddafi's capture taken from amateur video, 21 October 2011. Gaddafi was captured alive and dragged along the ground in Sirte

Libya Crisis

The death of Muammar Gaddafi has removed a big problem for this country's transition rulers. It has also imbued the new Libya with original sin it may regret.
The leaders of the National Transitional Council (NTC) during the months of the fight against the colonel often spoke about building a country based on rights, not revenge.
But the iconic image of their moment of national liberation is of Col Gaddafi, a man who spilled oceans of other peoples' blood, not accounting for his crimes in a court, but being set upon by fighters who killed him.
One man here in Tripoli told me he thought Col Gaddafi should have been spared to make him face justice. But everyone else I have spoken to is just pleased he is dead, and they do not care how it happened.
But if the new Libya is going to be a country of rights, then it has some questions to answer.
The most pressing are about what appears to have been the summary executions of Col Gaddafi and his son Mutassim.
But black Africans have also been rounded up as alleged mercenaries, on little or no evidence, without being given access to a lawyer.
I saw several dozen of them today being driven through Tripoli, hands bound, blindfolded with cloths of Gaddafi green, in the back of trucks with welded-on anti-aircraft cannon and heavy machine guns.

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While Col Gaddafi lived, many Libyans could not quite lose the fear that he might come back”
Body quandary
Col Gaddafi was a cruel dictator who ordered appalling acts of murder. He built a system that ran on fear and brutality.
He deserved to face punishment. The one he received was summary justice - of the kind that his own henchmen had meted out for years.
States that have been through deep and violent change tend to do best later on if there is a process of national reconciliation. Old enemies need to learn how to work together.
Maybe dispatching Col Gaddafi and his son will make that easier - or it might make the NTC's promises of fairness and forgiveness harder to believe.
Right or wrong, killing him quickly solved a problem for the National Transitional Council. The arguments about what to do with the body and where to bury it have been difficult enough.
If he had lived, there would have been months of rows about his crimes, his trial and his punishment.
And there would have been the nagging fear that Col Gaddafi's existence, and his first public and no doubt defiant appearance in court, would be a focus for the old regime's loyalists, who are now quietly keeping their heads down.
Women celebrate the Muammar Gaddafi's death in Tripoli, 21 October 2011 Libyans have been celebrating without expressing qualms about the manner of Gaddafi's death
Head down And the death of the colonel has changed the atmosphere in the capital. To get an idea of how profoundly, take a walk through Martyrs' Square in the old part of Tripoli. It was called Green Square in the Gaddafi years.
During the time in the spring and summer that Nato was bombing Libya, the square was the centre of the Gaddafi cult.
Most afternoons and evenings there were demonstrations, all with the same simple message - against Nato, and glorifying the colonel.
The rallies were not comfortable places to be. The crowd would work themselves up to a pitch of anger. On Fridays especially, thousands of bullets would get fired into the sky.
Ask someone a question and you would be surrounded by a jostling, yelling mass of people competing to condemn the West and express their love for Muammar Gaddafi.
As soon as the regime fell at the end of August, it started to change. The faces were different.
I had started recognising the noisiest regulars in the Gaddafi rallies. The new ones in what was soon renamed Martyr's Square often said they had not been to the Square for years.
As in all police states, the best thing to do was to keep your head down so as not to get noticed.
Weight lifted Some things do not change. Libyans are never going to be quiet when they get into a crowd.
People celebrating the death of the Gaddafis, just like his supporters, enjoy driving overloaded cars around the city at speed, as they hang out of the windows and chant slogans.
And Libyan still have an alarming love of expressing their emotions by firing into the air, though I notice they aim the heavy guns out to sea now instead of straight up.
But I have never seen Tripoli so relaxed, which should not be surprising. A heavy weight has been lifted. While Col Gaddafi lived, many Libyans could not quite lose the fear that he might come back.
But now they have seen his body. Crowds in Misrata have even lined to view it and snap it where it lies in a cold store.
Tunisians and Egyptian revolutionaries have a growing fear that they got rid of the man at the top, while important parts of the old regime stay intact and powerful.
Libyans do not need to have that fear. Col Gaddafi's Libya has been smashed. It is, really, a new beginning.
That is why they need to get the fundamentals right from the very start.

Source:  BBC News, 22 October 2011 Last updated at 16:00 GMT

Author: Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor, Tripoli  
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LIBYA: Gaddafi website publishes 'last will' of Libyan ex-leader

Still image from amateur video shot of Colonel Gaddafi after his capture in Sirte on 21 October 2011 In his will, Gaddafi urged Libyans to fight on

Libya Crisis

Muammar Gaddafi's website, Seven Days News, says it has published the last will of the deceased former leader of Libya.
The document was reportedly handed to three of his relatives, one of whom was killed, the second arrested and the third managed to escape the fighting in Sirte.
Here is the English translation:
"This is my will. I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no other God but Allah and that Mohammad is God's Prophet, peace be upon him. I pledge that I will die as Muslim.
Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives.
I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death. The Libyan people should protect its identity, achievements, history and the honourable image of its ancestors and heroes. The Libyan people should not relinquish the sacrifices of the free and best people.
I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.
Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life. We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour.
Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations that choosing to protect the nation is an honour and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise."

Source: BBC News, 23 October 2011 Last updated at 11:06 GMT  
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LIBYE: Comment l’Occident a fait main basse sur la Libye

 

Bien évidemment, l’OTAN et les médias qui lui sont soumis évitent à tout prix de comptabiliser le nombre de victimes, combattants ou civils, qui se chiffrent très probablement à plusieurs dizaines de milliers.Le ministère français de la Défense a affirmé qu’ils l’avaient eu avec un avion de combat Rafale qui a tiré sur le convoi. Le Pentagone dit de son côté qu’ils l’ont eu avec un Predator qui a tiré un missile Hellfire.

Après que le colonel Mouammar Kadhafi, blessé, ait cherché refuge dans une conduite de dérivation sous une autoroute - un écho sinistre du « trou » ou a été trouvé Saddam Hussein - il a été capturé par les « rebelles » du Conseil national de transition (CNT). Et puis dûment achevé.

Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, un médecin libyen qui a accompagné le corps de Kadhafi dans une ambulance et qui l’a examiné, dit qu’il est mort de deux balles, une à la poitrine, une à la tête.

Le CNT - qui a colporté des mensonges, encore des mensonges et rien que des mensonges pendant des mois - jure qu’il est mort dans « dans un échange de tirs ».

Ils sont nombreux à avoir pu faire cela. Cela peu avoir été Mohammad al-Bibi, un jeune de 20 ans arborant une casquette de baseball des New-York Yankees qui a posé pour le monde entier, brandissant le pistolet d’or de Kadhafi - son billet d’entrée peut-être pour ramasser la prime de 20 millions de dollars que l’on a fait miroiter pour capturer Kadhafi « mort ou vif ».

Cela devient de plus en plus curieux quand on se souvient que c’est exactement ce que la secrétaire d’Etat américaine Hillary Clinton, dans sa visite éclair à Tripoli, avait annoncé 48 heures auparavant : Kadhafi devrait être « capturé ou tué ». Clinton a été comblée. Apprenant la nouvelle en consultant l’écran de son BlackBerry, elle a réagi avec toute la sémantique dont elle est capable : « Wow ! »

Et aux gagnants, le butin

Ils y ont tous mis la main : l’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN), le Pentagone et le CNT. A la minute où une résolution des Nations Unies pour imposer une zone d’exclusion aérienne sur la Libye a été votée, elle s’est transformée en feu vert pour un changement de régime. Le plan A a toujours été de capturer et de tuer Kadhafi.Un assassinat ciblé. C’est la politique officielle de l’administration Obama. Il n’y a jamais eu de plan B.

Laissez-moi vous bombarder, pour mieux vous protéger

Comme à propos de la R2P (« responsabilité de protéger » les civils), tous ceux qui ont des doutes devraient écouter l’explication fournie par le secrétaire général de l’OTAN, Anders Fogh Rasmussen : « l’OTAN et ses partenaires ont appliqué avec succès le mandat historique de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour protéger le peuple de la Libye ». Celui qui veut vérifier sur le terrain ce qu’est la protection des civils par l’OTAN n’a qu’à sauter sur un camion pick-up et se rendre à Syrte, le nouveau Fallujah.

Les réactions ont été très instructives. Le bureaucrate du CNT, Abdel Ghoga, se l’est joué « Colisée dans l’Empire romain », en proclamant : « Les révolutionnaires ont eu la tête du tyran ».

Le président américain Barack Obama a déclaré qu’avec la mort de Kadhafi, « nous assistons à la force du leadership américain à travers le monde ». Cela revient à dire : « nous l’avons eu » comme on pouvait s’y attendre, considérant aussi que Washington a payé pas moins de 80% des coûts de cette opération de l’OTAN (plus de 1 milliard au total - que le mouvement Occupy Wall Street pourrait bien estimer avoir été plus utile pour créer des emplois aux États-Unis). Etrange, de dire à présent « nous l’avons fait », parce que la Maison Blanche a toujours affirmé que ce n’était pas une guerre, que c’était quelque chose de secondaire dont ils n’étaient pas en charge.

Il revenait à ce stratège de la politique étrangère, le majestueux vice-président américain Joe Biden, d’être nettement plus instructif qu’Obama : « Dans ce cas, l’Amérique a dépensé 2 milliards de dollars et n’a pas perdu une seule vie. C’est une indication pour savoir comment traiter avec les affaires du monde dans le futur, contrairement au passé. »

Monde, tu es prévenu pour ce qui est de savoir comment l’Empire va traiter avec toi à partir de maintenant !

Sentez mon amour humanitaire

Alors félicitations à la « communauté internationale » - qui comme chacun le sait est composée de Washington, de quelques seconds couteaux de l’OTAN, et des « puissances démocratiques » du Golfe Persique : le Qatar et les Emirats arabes unis (EAU). Cette communauté, au moins, a adoré la fin. L’Union européenne (UE) a salué « la fin d’une ère de despotisme » - alors que hier encore ils caressaient le bas de la tunique de Kadhafi. Maintenant ils se renient eux-mêmes dans des éditoriaux sur le règne de 42 ans d’un « bouffon ».

Kadhafi aurait été l’invité le plus inopportun à la Cour pénale internationale à La Haye, car il aurait aimé rappeler tous les baisemains, les chaudes embrassades et la mendicité de l’Occident pour décrocher des affaires juteuses après avoir été promu « Mad Dog »(Ronald Reagan) et jusqu’à « notre bâtard ». Il se serait régalé en détaillant d’où venaient tous ces louches opportunistes qui se présentent désormais comme « révolutionnaires » et « démocrates ».

Quant à la notion de droit international, elle est tombée dans un drain aussi sale que celui où était Kadhafi, ou que la cache où était retranché le dictateur irakien Saddam, lequel au moins a eu droit à un procès factice devant une cour faite de pantins avant de rencontrer son bourreau. Oussama ben Laden a été tout simplement liquidé, un assassinat dans le meilleur style après une invasion territoriale du Pakistan. Kadhafi a été le suivant, liquidé dans un mélange de guerre aérienne et d’assassinat direct.

De puissants vautours encombrent le ciel. Basé à Londres, Mohammed El Senoussi, l’héritier du trône libyen (le Roi Idris a été renversé en 1969) est prêt pour se placer au premier plan, ayant déjà établi qu’il « était au service du peuple libyen, et que celui-ci décidera ce qu’il voudra ». Traduction : je veux le trône. Il est évidemment le candidat favori de la dynastie contre-révolutionnaire des Saoud.

Et que dire de ces think-tank de Washington, des ânes répétant que ce fut le « moment Ceausescu » du printemps arabe ? Si seulement le dictateur roumain avait amélioré les conditions de vie dans son pays - en termes de soins médicaux gratuits, d’éducation gratuite, de prêts incitatifs pour les jeunes mariés, etc - pour seulement une fraction de ce que Kadhafi a fait en Libye. Plus le fait que Nicolae Ceausescu n’a pas été destitué par les bombardements « humanitaires » de l’OTAN.

Seul un mort cérébral pourrait avoir avalé la propagande de l’attaque « humanitaire » de l’OTAN aux 40 000 bombes ou plus - qui ont dévasté l’infrastructure de la Libye en la faisant revenir à l’âge de pierre (Shock and Awe en version ralentie). Cela n’a jamais rien eu à voir avec le fameux R2P (Right To Protect, et le bombardement implacable des civils à Syrte le prouve.

Comme les quatre premiers membres du BRIC le savaient avant même le vote par l’ONU de la Résolution 1973, l’OTAN considère la Méditerranée comme son lac privé, et il s’agissait d’une guerre de l’Africom contre la Chine et pour la mise en place d’une base stratégique clé. Et les Français et les Britanniques escomptent bien obtenir des contrats juteux pour exploiter les ressources naturelles de la Libye à leur profit. Il était temps que l’Occident impose son discours sur le printemps arabe, après avoir été pris au dépourvu en Tunisie et en Egypte.

Écoutez les gémissements barbares

Bienvenue à la nouvelle Libye. Les milices islamistes intolérantes transformera la vie des femmes libyennes en un enfer. Des centaines de milliers de subsahariens - ceux qui ne pouvaient pas s’échapper - seront impitoyablement persécutés. Les richesses naturelles de la Libye seront pillées. Cette moisson de missiles anti-aériens volés par les islamistes seront une raison extrêmement convaincante pour que la « guerre contre le terrorisme » dans le nord de l’Afrique devienne éternelle. Il y aura du sang - le sang la guerre civile, parce que la Tripolitaine refusera d’être gouvernée par la Cyrénaïque.

Aux dictateurs qui subsistent un peu partout, prenez une assurance-vie de l’OTAN - Hosni Moubarak de l’Egypte, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali de la Tunisie et Ali Abdallah Saleh du Yémen ont été assez intelligents pour le faire. Nous savons tous qu’il n’y aura jamais de R2P pour libérer les Tibétains et les Ouïghours, ou les gens dans ce goulag monstrueux qu’est le Myanmar, ou le peuple d’Ouzbékistan, ou les Kurdes en Turquie, ou les Pachtounes des deux côtés de la Ligne Durand impérialement établie.

Nous pouvons aussi croire que le monde aura vraiment changé le jour où l’OTAN imposera une interdiction de survol sur l’Arabie Saoudite afin de protéger les chiites dans la province orientale, et que le Pentagone lancera un tapis d’Hellfire sur les princes médiévaux et corrompus de la maison des Saoud.

Cela n’arrivera jamais. En attendant, voici la voie choisie par l’Occident : un bombardement de l’OTAN, et mille barbares sans loi qui pleurnichent. Vous êtes dégoûtés ? Offrez-vous un masque de Guy Fawkes [conspirateur catholique du 17e qui a voulu faire sauter le parlement anglais - N.d.T] et plongez dans cet enfer.


Pepe Escobar

* Pepe Escobar est l’auteur de Globalistan : How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) et Red Zone Blues : a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. Son dernier livre vient de sortir ; il a pour titre : Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

On peut le joindre à pepeasia@yahoo.com.

dimanche 23 octobre 2011 - 00h:49
Source:  Info Palestine, du 23/10/2011
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LIBYE: Le Sénégal déplore les conditions du décès de Kadhafi.

DAKAR -- Le ministre sénégalais des Affaires étrangères, Madické Niang, a déploré les conditions de la mort du guide libyen Mouammar Kadhafi, les qualifiant « d'évènements malheureux ».

« Les évènements sont malheureux et personne ne peut s'en réjouir », a-t-il notamment dit vendredi en marge d'une rencontre des ministres africains en charge des TICS.

M. Niang a rappelé les efforts entrepris par le Sénégal dés le début du conflit pour inviter le guide libyen Mouammar Kadhafi à éviter de créer une situation tragique. Le chef de la diplomatie sénégalaise a appelé le Conseil national de transition (CNT) a faire tout pour une évolution positive de la situation.

« Aujourd'hui, ce qui reste à faire, c'est de souhaiter que la Libye puisse s'acheminer vers une démocratie avérée et qu'il y ait une situation de réconciliation des Libyens", a-t-il souhaité.

Ancien allié de Mouammar Kadhafi en Afrique, le président sénégalais a été le premier pays africain à reconnaître le CNT. Le président Wade avait rendu visite aux dirigeants du CNT dans leur fief de Benghazi où s'adressant indirectement à Mouammar Kadhafi, il lui a demandé de quitter le pouvoir dans l'intérêt du peuple libyen.



Source:  Xinhuanet, du 22/10/2011
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