NATO AKBAR ! WOW !!
There was a time when Allah Akbar only meant God is great. Alas, times have changed and in the tragedy that is called Libya Allah Akbar now means NATO Akbar, an exultation of the murderous machine called NATO that reduced Libya to rubbles and killed thousands of innocent people (all photos edited/censored-- circulate, nothing to see, thank you!). As Hilary Clinton so stupidly said: wow!
The illegal and grotesque execution of Khadafy is within the realms of a war crime. There was from the outset the decision to execute him if he were ever to be captured alive. The dictator knew too many secrets, just like Ben Laden, and an open public trial was not to be envisaged. One confidential newspaper in London has asserted that the decision to kill Khadafy was endorsed and called for by none other than Obama and Sarkozy. Imagine Khadafy enlightening us on his deals with Condoleezza Rice and the CIA, with that Tony Blair fellow (who has now become a political consultant to the tyrant of Kazakhstan at a yearly price of 8 million British pounds), with Berlusconi and France’s Sarkozy who had hosted him at the the Elysee palace and begged for more oil concessions for TOTAL. Obama has become the father of all disappointments. The man has been given an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize (but then again this prize has been given to criminals like Kissinger and De Klerk too!). He has failed to keep his promises (Guantanamo is still open for example), waged wars, interfered in other people’s affairs using force, approved and enjoyed murders and selective assassinations (Ben Laden/Khadafy) and went on to say with insensitivity that the war has been won in Libya with no casualty and “only” two billion dollars spent. This is Bush talk par excellence—it is apparent that for Obama too the lives of thousands of Libyans are of no consequence whatsoever. Obama hobnobs with dictators and arms and supports tyrants. Meles Zenawi is one example. I am sure Ugandans can point to their own despot, Equatorial Guineans and Djiboutians to theirs and Chadians to American backed Deby. Sarkozy is also obsessed with winning the coming 2012 presidency and has even had a programmed birth to project the “ papa poule” image (it has not stuck) and has resorted to force against other countries (Cote d’Ivoire and Libya) to present himself defender of the imperial and shredded macho image of France.
The destruction of Libya and the commandeered execution of Khadafy is a disgrace to Washington and Europe. Despite the trumpeted claim that the removal of Khadafy has heralded a new era, the reality is bleak. Libya has been taken one step back and there is no sign of a two steps leap foreword other than the adoption of Sharia law, the reintroduction of polygamy and the denial of divorce rights for women. Some forever naïve souls in Africa have hailed the execution of the Libyan dictator and some live tyrants may be shaking in their expensive loafers imagining such a fate being theirs. Outside of this, the murder of Khadafy does not augur well for Libya and Libyans. Reactionary Arab regimes aided the rebels, Qatar sent troops and Sudan sent arms and ammunition. It was a free for all that showed the features of the new scramble for Africa. The old devils are there, hungrier and better armed than ever before. New predators have come from the East with China leading the way. Forget the hollow talk of solidarity and concern for the welfare of Africans. In all this, the African Union has been demonstrated to be in a state of comatose that was the lot of the previous OAU, the puppets of the West dominate the so called Union and it was not long before all these who were beholden to Khadafy ( and enjoyed his gifts and aid) abandoned him in frenzy.
The NATO military fury against Libya has nothing to do with democracy or with helping a people “hungry for democracy”. The composition of the rebel leaders and their religious zeal do not promise any democratic commitments. Compared to Khadafy, they have emerged as more backward, their proclamation of Sharia law affirming the fact. Their tribal or ethnic division has hampered them up to now from forming a sort of government however wobbly. The dictator, like most tyrants, had mauled institutions worthy of the name and so allegiances and loyalties are basic—“tribal”, family, region and religious. Much as Khadafy and his folks antagonized others, the brutal and violent action against Khadafy loyalists (and the Khadafa group) is bound to undermine a trouble free future. Wow! Khadafy is gone and hail the new Libya is thus a hollow and overly optimistic cry unsupported by the facts on the ground and by our experience of “mission accomplished” and continued havoc in Iraq and Afghanistan. If truth be told, Khadafy was attacked for Libya’s oil, for his anti imperialist rhetoric and call for African unity, for his stand against the daylight robbery of the resources of Africa by foreign monsters. Otherwise, the double standard has been laid bare, only fools believe that the war against Libya was a war for democracy and the human rights of the people? What human rights? The rebels killed as many African workers and migrants as the Khadafy who was hailed by Europe for promising “I will serve as a wall to stop the famished hordes coming to your shores and lands”.
Moatassem Gaddafi, meeting Hillary Clinton, 21 April 2009. A murderous criminal who personally executed soldiers who refused to shoot at the protesters, Gaddafi's fifth son and the National Security Advisor, was also killed in Sirte.
The extrajudicial murder or rather the lynching of Khadafy was ordered by those with extensive past experience in the matter. Obama may have forgotten it but black Africans were lynched by white racists in America, the British hanged too many Kenyan and Yemeni patriots and French colonialists murdered thousands in Algeria and many other places. Yet, the “lynchers” hailed and feted Khadafy when it suited them.
Khadafy was kosher, halal, their friend and ally, before they turned against him and planned his ouster and assured his execution. The double standard is so plain to see it needs no detailed comment. The Tunisian uprising was seen in bad light by France and the West. The French interior minister even offered to provide French repressive means and experience to quash the people’s revolt. Hilary Clinton assured us that, Tunisia notwithstanding, the regime of Mubarak was stable. Assad of Syria and Salah of Yemen have murdered thousands with no NATO plane hovering over their skies or no drone bombing their strategic arms depots. Take also the African dictators allied with America (like Meles Zenawi for one) who are enjoying full Western support and no sanctions though they are labeled horrible human rights violators and guilty of genocide (Gambella, Ogaden). Tony Blair is consultant to one of the worst dictators in the world. France backs most tyrants in the so called Francophone Africa. The Libyan tragedy highlights the Western drive to re colonize Africa and plunder its resources. More than 5 million Congolese have died in a war sponsored by Western companies greedily vying to control the gold, diamond, coltan and other precious minerals of this hapless country. Not much hue and cry has been raised, at least not as much as the cry over Darfur. While comparing one tyranny from another and declaring this one is relatively benign is not a good exercise, there is for example no doubt that any comparison between say Khadafy and Meles Zenawi shows the latter crueler and more monstrous. Beshir and Mugabe are softies compared to the West’s darling called Meles Zenawi. American military bases and presence in the Horn of Africa and in Uganda augur disaster for the peoples of the region who may rise up against their western backed tormentors. This is why those Africans who wax lyrical in condemning Khadafy and praising the NATO operation are dupes of the worst kind, alas.
History teaches for those willing to learn. Not all revolutions or popular uprisings lead to democratic change. Not all transitions are for good. In Tunisia the Islamist Ennahda has won the election. This party was financed and bankrolled by Middle Eastern and Gulf countries. The west is clamoring about “moderate Islamists” though such a creature has been extinct for many many years. Ennahda is playing along trying to project a reformist image and declaring itself a Tunisian version of the Turkish regime though situations of Turkey and Tunisia are not all the same and the so called reformist wing within Ennhada is a tiny minority. The Tunisian revolution is more or less hijacked and short circuited as is the Egyptian one. The West can live with hard line Islamists and anti democrats (Saudi Arabia is an example) so long as they are pro west and hand over their oil resources. The financial supporter of Ennahda, the fiery Sheikh Youssef Al Quadrawi who lives in Qatar, did declare that any Moslem who does not vote for Ennahda commits a grave sin. The Libyan sharia will sneak into Tunisia too. France which cuddles the Burmese junta hated Khadafy because of economic interests and not because it was affected by the plight of Libyans. One of the military leaders of the Libyan rebels is none other than an Al Qaeda operative who was captured by the Americans and then handed over to Libya for torture and interrogation by Khadafy’s security. One remembers the time when diverse forces (left, right and center) saw in Khomeini a liberator!
A wanted man has been killed in Mogadishu—wow! Bin Laden has been murdered-wow! Khadafy has been summarily executed—wow! The Obama administration has no shame at all and maybe as the late Steve Jobs had said Obama may be a one term president like Sarkozy. Good riddance is in order. Ivory Coast, Libya, drones flying out of their Ethiopian and Seychelles bases to kill and destroy, American troops in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda, Africa’s land being handed out to foreigners, dictators being supported by the West, NATO being used to bomb African aspirations to smithereens—the reality is frightening. The execution of Khadafy and the destruction of Libya is a clear warning for all Africans who are entering a very dangerous time that makes their struggle for emancipation and freedom even more difficult.
Wow indeed! Just look at Hilary Clinton reveling in the cruel death of Khadafy.
