Planned regime change in Libya

by Stephen Lendman, 28 March 2011


A March 25 White House press release announced Obama's planned March 28 national TV speech:

"to update the American people on the situation in Libya, including the actions we've taken with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people from the brutality of Moammar Qaddafi, the transition to NATO command and control, and our policy going forward."

Imagine the hypocrisy. US-style "humanitarian intervention" reigns death and destruction "to protect the Libyan people." Recall how "shock and awe" protected Iraqis, how war on Afghanistan helps Afghans and neighboring Pakistanis from predatory drone and ground attacks. Libyans are now tasting imperial viciousness firsthand.

In fact, all US wars are imperial, not humanitarian, a long discredited propaganda ruse major media reports don't explain. Instead they cheerlead for war no matter how lawless, mindless, destructive or counterproductive, spreading malicious misinformation to justify intervention, concealing or downplaying the fallout from all conflicts let alone why they're waged.

As a previous article explained, this one's for regime change like others, to replace one despot with another, control the entire Mediterranean Basin, colonize Libya, perhaps balkanize it, control its oil, gas and other strategic resources, exploit its people, privatize state industries, and establish new US bases for greater regional control.


Gaddafi's Removal Planned in 2010

On March 25, Voltairenet.org headlined, "French plans to topple Gaddafi on track since last November," saying:

"According to right-wing Italian journalist Franco Bechis, plans to spark the Benghazi rebellion were initiated by French intelligence services in November 2010." The progressive ComeDonChisciotte's Miguel Martinez explained that Italy's secret services backed the effort.

"Voltaire Network wishes to point out that Paris promptly paired up with London in its scheme to overthrow Gaddafi (Franco-British expeditionary force). This plan was recalibrated in the context of the Arab revolutions," now controlled by Washington for its own purposes.

Bechis explained the timeline from October 20, 2010 - January 22, 2011, saying Nouri Mesmari, Gaddafi's chief of protocol, "turned himself over to the French secret service, and according to the Italians, he masterminded the revolution against Gaddafi. The document was leaked to the Italian newspaper Libero."

It explained that he revealed "inside information about the regime as well as an account of who's who in Libya and who they should or should not contact." As a result, "by mid-January the French" were ready to begin ousting Gaddafi. The campaign began weeks before the US-led NATO attack.

On March 25, London Daily Mail Online writers David Williams, Tim Shipman and Daily Mail Reporter said before bombing began "it was revealed that hundreds of British special forces troops have been deployed deep inside Libya targeting Colonel Gaddafi's forces - and more are on standby."

"While Chancellor George Osborne repeated that UK ground troops would not be involved, the Daily Mail can reveal there are an estimated 350 already mounting covert operations," along with US Special Forces and Egyptian commandos.

"It is understood that just under 250 UK special forces soldiers and their support have been in Libya since before the launch of air strikes to enforce the no-fly zone against Gaddafi's forces," but they arrived well before its imposition.

Another 100 now supplement the original contingent, comprised of Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) paratroopers. They're drawn from SAS (Special Air Service) and SBS (Special Boat Service) personnel, re-supplied by airdrops from Cyprus. Moreover, 800 Royal Marines "are on five days' notice to deploy to the Mediterranean," a clear sign of impending invasion with 4,000 US marines deployed nearby to join them.


Libya's Rebel Opposition Forces: Democrats They're Not

A London Telegraph Rob Crilly March 23 article headlined, "Libya: it wasn't supposed to be like this in free Benghazi," saying:

So-called rebels "took no chances. They put a knife to the throat of (a) driver before hauling the three men and one woman from (his) car, dragging them through the street into a nearby mosque for a rough round of interrogation."

Inside they were beaten until they admitted planning an attack on the mosque, whether or not true. "It wasn't supposed to be like this in free Benghazi....Rebel leaders admit that dozens of Gaddafi supporters have been arrested or killed."

Every night, vigilante gangs "mop up (suspected) pro-Gaddafi elements." Foreign workers long ago fled the city. Most refugees, in fact, are foreign workers, not Libyan nationals, what major media reports don't explain.

Under rebel control, Benghazi residents are terrorized, many "too frightened to drive through the dark streets at night, fearing a shakedown or worse at the proliferating checkpoints." One man said unless they know you, they assume you're pro-Gaddafi.

Moreover, about 1.5 million black African migrant workers feel trapped under suspicion of supporting the wrong side. Numbers of them have been attacked, some hunted down, dragged from apartments, beaten and killed. So-called "revolutionaries" and "freedom fighters" are, in fact, rampaging gunmen committing atrocities airbrushed from mainstream reports, unwilling to reveal the new Libya if Gaddafi is deposed.

In his latest article, Webster Tarpley supplied more information headlining, "The CIA's Libya Rebels: The Same Terrorists who Killed US NATO Troops in Iraq," saying:

Already France and Portugal recognized anti-Gaddafi rebels "as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people." The names of most of their 30 + delegates aren't revealed. Opposition elements are an armed force, backed by Washington, France and Britain, the main co-belligerents.

A 2007 West Point study examined their backgrounds as "foreign guerrilla fighters - jihadis or mujahedin, including suicide bombers - crossing the Syrian border into Iraq during the 2006 - 2007 timeframe, under the auspices of....Al Qaeda."

Study findings are based on about 600 Al Qaeda captured personnel files by US forces in 2007. Most came from Saudi Arabia, others from Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, and Libya alone supplying almost one-fifth of them, more per capita by far than other regional states. Diverted now from fighting America in Iraq, they were recruited, armed and funded to oust Gaddafi.

A previous article discussed their National Libyan Council leadership, a so-called "transitional government," accessed through the following link:

 http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/03/imperial-war-on-libya.html

Tarpley believes the Harabi tribe may be trying "to seize dominance over the" others. "The Harabi are already practically hegemonic among the tribes of Cyrenaica (Libya's eastern coastal region). At the center of the Harabi Confederation is the Obeidat tribe, which is divided into 15 sub-tribes." Harabi apparently has links to violent elements in Benghazi. They're former US enemies, now allies against Gaddafi to oust him.

However, that begs the question. Will forces opposing US dominance, acquiesce once its imperial hand is evident, or will they resist later the way they're now doing. It's a consideration perhaps not planned for in Washington, London and Paris. In the fullness of time we'll know, including whether imperial forces unleashed a tiger they can't control.

Yet Council on Foreign Relations' (CFR) member Charles Kupchan told IPS, "(T)he six million dollar question is where is this heading and I don't think we have a clear sense of it."

As he knows but didn't say, of course we do. It's not humanitarian as he states. It's to terrorize Libyans until Gaddadi's ousted, then toughen things when he's gone as in Iraq and Afghanistan to assure Washington's hegemonic control. Allied with junior partners Britain and France, they'll carve up Libya for profit, crushing resistance mercilessly. It's how America operates globally, including at home where democracy is just a figure of speech, not reality.




* 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/.