The American or for that matter the Arab “left” must not be fooled by killers and murderers the likes of Mouamar Gaddafi and Bashar Assad, just like they were fooled by the likes of Saddam Hussein before.
The claims of being anti-imperialists, anti-colonialist, anti-Americans, anti-Western, anti-Israeli and anti-Zionists and pro-liberation and resistance to the Israeli Occupation must not be an excuse for these dictators to kill, murder, oppress, run police state and squanders hundreds of billions of the people wealth.
Also it must not be an excuse for those who “left” that have stood up for liberation. That liberation must also apply to the people and citizens of Libya and Syria and Sudan or Yemen to be free to choose their own leaders and to have their own liberations from these oppressive dictatorial regimes.
Reading through Veterans Today and other media, I had to take to the type writer and address, the likes of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and my colleague Franklin Lamb, a man who I much admire and respect for his many years of advocacy of Palestinian rights in Lebanon, who sad to say are taking up the cause of Mouamar Gaddafi in his fight against his own people. Keeping in mind, the first thing Gaddafi did was enlisting Israel to recruit African mercenaries to shoot and kill his own people.
Mouamar Gaddafi has been in power, with absolute power over Libya for over 41 years, running Libya and its own people as his own privately owned estate for his benefits and that of his family, associates and those within his own intelligence services.
Libya should be one the wealthiest countries in Africa with a population some 6 millions, Libya should be no different from Dubai or for that mater Brunei with a standard of living unmatched any where in the Middle East, let alone the world, but for Gaddafi and his family squandering hundreds of billions in Africa and on African corrupt dictators and of course supporting not liberation but terrorist organizations throughout the world from Ireland to Indonesia, Philippines, Italy and Germany.
The issue here is not what happened to the hundreds of billions of the Libyan’s people money, (recently it was announced that the Zionist run banking house of Goldman Sachs lost a mere $1.3 Billions of the people’s money on currency speculations). But the issue here is not what happened to the hundreds of billions of the people money but Mouamar Gaddafi and his criminal enterprise he ran under the name of “ The Great Socialist People Libyan Arabs Jamahiriya”.
Mouamar Gaddafi ran a police state no different from Saddam Hussein Ba’athists Party or Bashar Assad Ba’athist Party or for that matter Kim Jong-Il of North Korea.
Gaddafi followed the East German security and informer’s model where 10-20 % of the Libyan population worked as spies and informers for the Revolutionary Committees, Qaddafi’s own “Communist Brigade”, where “dissent” is officially illegal and punishable according to law 73 of 1973 and where “political” conversations with foreigner are illegal punishable by 3 years of prisons.
While Abu-Ghuraib prison will always remain an indictment of the George Bush occupation of Iraq, and Al-Khyiam Prison will remain forever reminder of the cruel and criminal Israeli occupation of South Lebanon,
Gaddafi was ruthless when dealing with political dissent just like he did when in less than three hours executed over 1200 prisoners in Abu Salim Prison in 1996, executed by Gaddafi security services including one in the name of Fouad Assad ben Omran whose family in an interview with Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 (March 1, 2011) reported how his family and for over a year and half came on regular basis to prison thinking he was alive waiting two or three days to see him, “ they told us he was there, but we weren’t allowed to see him” only. Fouad Assad ben Omran was one of those executed in cold blood by Gaddafi’s regime.
Mouamar Gaddafi was ruthless in dealing with dissent specially student dissent. Mohamed al-Abdallah, the deputy secretary general of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya is quoted to tell Aljazeera “ in the 1970’s against student when he publicly hung students who were marching, demonstrating demanding rights in Benghazi and in Tripoli and other places” Mr. al-Abdallah continues to state “ he executed in probably the most brutal manner that we saw 1,200 prisoners in the Abu-Selim prison who were unarmed and in jail, he executed them in less than 3 hours”. These stories among others are coming out because the wall of fear and silence in the Arab world has been broken and breached forever.
Gaddafi is not the “revolutionary man” he is portrayed to be, he supported the likes of war criminal Slobodan Milosevic as he engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia and he supported die hard Orthodox Serbs in their war against Bosnian Muslims. Gaddafi was also a close friend of right wing Nazi sympathizer anti-Muslim the late Austrian politician Jorge Haider.
Gaddafi not only snuffed local dissent but took his fight against Libyan dissidents all over the world were Libyan diplomat engaged in assassination and cold blooded murder as they did in April of 1984 (I was in London on that day) when Libyan diplomat using the Libyan Embassy shot at 11 Libyan dissident and killing Yvonne Fletcher the British police woman who was guarding the demonstration.
It is also well known that Gaddafi also funded and sponsored some anarchists groups such as the Red Brigade engaged in the bombing attacks on Rome and Vienna airports killing 19 and wounding 140. The bombing of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie and the French UTA over Niger will always remain the largest mass murder committed by Mouamar Gaddafi and his regime.
The Palestinians were not an exception in Gaddafi erratic behavior not withstanding his claims of being a supporter of the Palestinian quest for liberation.
The Journal of Palestine Studies issue 29, winter of 97 carried a full accounting of the cruel abuse and suffering of Palestinians living and working in Libya. In retaliations for Arafat signing Oslo, Gaddafi announced in his 1st of September 94 speech announced his plans to “expel” the more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly skilled and professional workers (unlike most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan). Gaddafi in phone calls ordered the Ministry of Labor not to renew any work permits for Palestinians, not to issue new permits and even not allow the return of any Palestinians with families to Libya. Thousands of Palestinians were forced to march toward the Egyptian borders where Mubarak Egypt will not allow them passage. Thousands were stranded in camps in the hot and cold Libyan Desert.
Gaddafi is quoted as saying “ all I want I will be doing is for their best interest. No matter how they suffer even if they remain in the camps for years to come”.
Israel was never too far in the minds and actions of Mouamar Gaddafi were he engaged in the cultivations of relations with “Libyan” Jews as a way of opening the gate to Washington for Gaddafi and his family.
According to the Israeli publication (Israel Today Magazine of March 4, 2011) Gaddafi regime initiated as far as 2007 relationship with Libyan Jews offering large sums of money for the formalization of a “Libyan political party” to run in the 1997 national Israeli elections.
According to the Israeli publication, Meir Kahlon head of the World Organizations of Libyan Jews” told the Jerusalem Post that between 2005 and 2007 he (Kahlon) traveled to Jordan on a number of occasions to meet with Libyan officials. However these repeated meeting stopped later on.
Using his connections with Israel and with world Zionist groups Gaddafi as a way to seek a foot hold for him in official Washington announced in 2003 his plans to abandon his programs of “weapons of mass destructions”. This of course gave a great relief to Israel and its allies in Washington (not that Gaddafi was a serious threat to Israel) and George Bush formally ended the US trade embargo against Libya.
Tony Blair the war criminal he is, was the first one to visit Mouamar Gaddafi in 2004 with many Western leaders all of sudden discovered the Gaddafi the statesman, the leaders of Africa, the presiding head of the Arab League heads of states and was soon invited to Rome, Paris, Spain among other nations and the UN where he was feted as conquering general, forgetting Gaddafi the criminal who killed Italian, French, Americans and British.
All were too keen in getting piece of the action worth tens of billions of contracts worth of weapons and industrial projects. Sarkozy, Berlusconi, Tony Blair, George Bush, even Barack Obama all forgot the tens of thousands of Libyan executed over 41 years of his reign and forgetting the tens of thousands of people killed in his many wars in Africa and the hundreds killed in Northern Ireland.
Hilary Clinton feted Moatasem Al-Gaddafi at the State Department as late as December 21, 2009. Of course millions of dollars to both NeoCons and Democratic public relationship shops did the trick in polishing the picture of Gaddafi regimes, just like he is doing now feted journalist and liberal leftist activist. When it comes to money and recognition, principals always go out of the window.
Let no be fooled, Gaddafi was a mega maniac, who loved money, much of it, with tens of billions deposited in Austria, Switzerland, France, England and the US. The fact that he always appeared in public receiving officials in his modest “tens” should not hid the fact that Gaddafi and members of his family looted the country.
His children are well known to live the high and wild life style of the rich and famous, throwing wild parties in the Caribbean, in Rome, in Vienna, and in Marrakech, spending millions of dollars on artist such as Maria Carey, pop star Beyonce. The behavior of Gaddafi children was no different from the behavior of the children of Saddam Hussein’s Uday and Quasi.
Gaddafi’s contempt for his people is well know, and it goes back some 41 years and it include his “Green Book” and his “Green Revolution” and his “Jamahiriya” or people governing committee where no one is ever held accountable or in charge. Even Gaddafi himself announced on public television that he is only a “leader” and does not have an official role in government, yet he, his family and his intelligence services run every thing. The Libyan people are not cockroaches and rats as he claimed they are.
With the first public dissent and public demonstration Gaddafi and his family members rather than opening a dialogue decided to send his army against his own people. Musrata and other towns are only a testament to the crimes he committed against his own people. Musrtata according to Kelly Moore former UN spoke person in Bosnian is quoted in the Christian Science Monitor after seeing pictures of Musrata to “ Musrata no different from Sarajevo ” Public relations no matter how expensive or polished should never cover crimes committed by any leaders any where in the world.
