by Stephen Lendman
For over six and a half months, Libyans tied down the world’s mightiest military force despite overwhelming odds against them and enormous loss of life and human suffering.
Established in 1949, NATO was never a “military alliance for peace and security.” It was for offense, not defense. Cold War hysteria was contrived to incite fear and assure an arms race for corporate dominance and enrichment.
Twenty years after Soviet Russia dissolved, NATO interventions under US control threaten world peace and humanity, lurching from one war to another.
Interdicting for corporate predators, it’s a rogue killing machine. Its mission isn’t liberation. It’s slaughtering, ravaging and pillaging for power and profit.
Using a proxy cutthroat mercenary army, Libya was pounded by relentless land and air assaults. A wasteland replaced a once peaceful country. Daily attacks ravage it further.
Corpses pile up on other ones. Human misery is incalculable. Death, disease and starvation haunt the living. Tens of thousands of Sirte residents face ferocious daily terror bombing.
Food, water, medical supplies and fuel were cut off. Indiscriminate mass killing targets civilians. Schools, hospitals, homes and other nonmilitary sites have been destroyed.
NATO’s war on Libya is one of history’s great crimes. Sirte is ground zero, facing genocidal slaughter and mass destruction.
Spread the word! Point fingers! Hold those responsible accountable for unconscionable imperial barbarism!
Start with Obama, an unindicted war criminal multiple times over, planning more wars besides others ongoing. Americans also sacrifice liberties and benefits for them. The worst is yet to come.
The battle of Libya rages. Brave resistance fighters won’t quit. Killing alone sustains NATO control anywhere across the country. Let up and lose it. Unreported by Western media, it’s happening city by city, town by town, and village by village.
Christof Lehmann’s NSNBC provides regular updates Western media and Qatari controlled Al Jazeera suppress, cheerleading instead of denouncing NATO’s imperial project across North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
On October 3, Lehmann said:
“Southern Libya is firmly under” loyalists’ control. “Fighting continues in Tripoli, North Eastern and North Western Libya.” Algerian tribal leaders joined “The War for the Liberation of Northern Africa.”
As a result, NATO plans expanding the war to Algeria. Lehmann said reports he’s getting are that “special operations units and (others) belonging to the 82nd Airborne have been on the ground in Algeria for ‘some time.’ ”
On October 2, they “came under heavy attack and received heavy casualties. A C-130 Hercules transport and paratrooper plane were destroyed on the ground.”
Other intelligence also “provided evidence that Algeria was targeted by NATO….European Embassy chatter” suggests Americans and Europeans are “being psychologically” manipulated to believe Al Qaeda threatens the country.
Maybe Haqqanis as well, Washington’s latest reason for more war, perhaps against Pakistan where Joint Chiefs head Admiral Mike Mullen claims they’re tied to its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
NATO, of course, recruited Al Qaeda elements to fight in Libya and elsewhere. The CIA created group is conveniently used as both friend and foe, depending on where and for what strategic purpose.
Algeria’s pro-Western government apparently willingly cooperates. In contrast, ordinary Algerians, Libyans, Iraqis and Afghans strongly resist.
Libya’s puppet Transitional National Council (TNC) is “in chaos.” Most of its members deserted. About 80% of Tripoli displays Gaddafi’s green banner. It’s the only national flag with one color and no design, insignia or other markings.
Sirte and Bani Walid sieges “are breaking up.” Rebels suffered heavy casualties. Former Al Qaeda insurgent/now CIA asset Tripoli military commander Abdelhakim Belhadj “describes the situation as chaotic.”
Despite omnipotent air power, “NATO is losing the battle on the ground. (Engaging in) heavy clashes around both cities, (resistance fighters) established contact with the military, Tribal and Volunteer Forces that came to their relief.”
Reports indicate “heavy infighting between TNC forces in Misurata and Benghazi with numerous casualties.”
On October 2, “heavy fighting erupted in and around” Tripoli’s Green Square. Libyan forces seized an ammunition depot. Fighting raged at Tripoli’s Mitiga and military airports. Tribal militia fighters “secured several banks in Tripoli and began refunding money” stolen by TNC thieves.
POWs were also freed from prisons. As a result, “The Green Flag is flying over 80% of Tripoli.” TNC puppet head Mustafa Abdul Jalil is “desperate(ly calling) for unity (under) a new government.”
Belhadj called his plea “ridiculous in the face of the fact that almost 90%” of TNC members abandoned ship they see going down.
Tripoli residents and resistance fighters won’t quit. On September 30, Human Rights Watch reported TNC militia groups making arbitrary arrests, and abusing prison detainees across western Libya in makeshift facilities.
Assessing conditions in Tripoli, 53 detainees interviewed reported beatings, electric shocks, and other forms of abuse. Arrested without charge, none were prosecuted before judges.
Since late August, TNC allied brigades and militias “arrested thousands and held them without proper legal review.” Those accused without evidence of serious crimes experienced horrific treatment amounting to torture.
Many arrested were Black African guest workers, accused of being Gaddafi mercenaries or loyalists. An alliance of Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan, and Polisario tribes called for liberating North Africa.
In 1980, Libya recognized the Western Sahara’s Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as do other non-NATO states.
TNC fighters fled Derna after taking heavy casualties. About half of Al-Baida was freed. On October 3, reports indicated “heavy street to street, house to house, and room to room fighting in Benghazi with heavy casualties on both sides.” Half the city is liberated. TNC forces control its center.
A Tobruk TNC detachment sent to help “was literally wiped out….In Sawiah, the green flag is hoisted over a liberated city.”
In Zliten and surrounding areas, TNC representatives and insurgents were told to leave or be “thrown out by the people.” After months of relentless NATO assaults, “an estimated 97% of the Libyan population” stands firmly behind Gaddafi and the legitimate Libyan government.
If close to true, Washington is “considerably worse” off than in Vietnam.
On October 3, Sirte came under heavy ground and air attack. “After heavy fighting, (it ground) to a halt this morning,” suggesting insurgents can’t advance despite relentless air support. They’re also vulnerable to counterattack.
According to Russian intelligence, Tuareg tribal fighters, demonstrated considerable desert warfare skills. Reports said 35 TNC tanks and armored personnel carriers were destroyed.
“The Libyan Youth movement….declared war on the TNC (and began) an assassination campaign” to eliminate anti-Gaddafi elements.
Libyans now await the next onslaught. Tripoli residents remain committed. Well armed by Gaddafi, they’re able to strike back. As a result, TNC forces manning roadblocks “came under sniper fire….resulting in heavy casualties.”
Libyans know their country was the pearl of Africa “worth fighting for.” It’s theirs. They want it back and intend to get it.
Deaths and injuries mount daily as does mass destruction. NATO turned Libya into an inferno, a hellish charnel house.
Never forgive! Never forget!
A Final Comment
America’s media never met an imperial war they didn’t endorse and promote. Regurgitating official lies passes for news, commentaries and analysis.
As a de facto propaganda ministry, The New York Times leads the pack, calling massacres “liberation.”
Despite genocidal slaughter and mass destruction, its September 9 editorial headlined, “A New Start for Libya,” saying:
“There are….signs of progress on military, diplomatic, economic and political fronts….Plans have been drafted for electing a constitutional assembly by early next year.”
“Considering the situation six months ago, there is reason to be encouraged.”
Fact check
Washington and key NATO allies waged lawless imperial aggression against a nonbelligerent country. Corrupted TNC officials were bribed to establish a puppet regime.
Plans include leadership subservient to Western interests. Occupying, raping and pillaging Libya is planned. Democracy won’t be tolerated.
Libyans reacted heroically, fighting back to save what’s left of their country and rebuild. Protracted struggle lies ahead. Like Afghans and Iraqis, Libyans won’t quit until they’re free.
The Times Libya – Revolution (2011) page offers a litany of distortions and canards. Calling planned NATO aggression “revolution,” it mischaracterized hired mercenaries as “rebels.”
Gaddafi’s response to imperial barbarism was called “extreme violence,” not self-defense. Western TNC puppet leaders are portrayed as “a (legitimate) transitional government.”
Gaddafi’s Libya no longer exists. A wasteland replaced a once peaceful country. Dead, dying and injured numbers mount daily.
New York Times correspondents, commentators and editorial writers bear witness to what they know but won’t say.
It’s a Times tradition, presenting sanitized versions of real news, information and analysis.
Its Libya reporting shows how low it sunk, calling a charnel house “a new start.”
It’s why reliable online sources gain followers to learn what NYT and other major media scoundrels won’t say.
Make them a regular habit to learn what everyone needs to know – the truth.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
