Al Qaeda is NOT the ISSUE: The East has been fighting Gaddafi since their King was deposed

While Jihadists might expect to expect to take advantage of the "Rebel" successes
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-23/world/libya.islamists_1_libyan-islamic-fighting-group-qaeda-moammar-gadhafi?_s=PM:WORLD
Al Qaeda reps may have ordered all its supporter to back the rebel revolt and their drive to Tripoli
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/b49b7878-4933-4034-9040-ae3f391787e3.aspx
And rebel leaders acknowledge that Al Qaeda -- trained fighters are spear-heading the fight against Gaddafi forces
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html

But Al Qaeda IS NOT THE ISSUE.

It is just a distraction for all sides. The factional opposition to Gaddafi pre-dated the formation of Al Qaeda and pre-dated the Taliban, pre-dated the Bush war in Iraq.

The Cyrenaicans have been in a passionate power-stuggle with Gaddafi that is deeply rooted in their history and culture. King Idris was both the political ruler and the religious ruler -- the Head of the Islamic Senussi Order -- and his followers and clan see themselves as the natural political and and spiritual leadership country. The noble Cyrenaicans have been dispossessed of power and previledge and their children and childern's children will never have their rightful place as long as Gaddafi rules.

Eastern Libya has been a cauldron of discontent and a hotbed of rebellion, coups and assassination attemps because of their hatred of El Gaddafi NOT love for Bin Laden.

At the same time, the men of Cyrenaica could get training in arms and insurgency because of Gaddafi's general policy of decentralization of power and basically of giving militants in Libya a long leash -- releasing leaders of revolts and coup attempts back into their communities after being detained for 're-education.'

In fact, the strongest evidence against charges that Gaddafi was a brutal oppressor liay in the fact that militant opposition groups operated openly in Eastern Libya and even ran the social, cultural and religious institutions in their cities.

But the Cyrenaicans are fighting for their rights as they have been for decades AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

What is DESPICABLE and FRAUDULENT is the use of the "Arab Spring" by the opposition political leadership as a cover for their latest attempts to topple the Government, AND the flood of hypocritical justifications for mass killings by Western powers as they seek to take advantage of the opportunity to achieve the regime-change goals of themselves and their allied dictator/rulers in the Arab world.

What is DESPICABLE and FRAUDULENT is the pretense that the Arab League is anything but a League of Tyrants who have hated Gaddafi for his bellicose rants against the Kings and Emirs for the rabid opulence and repression of their regimes.

What is DESPICABLE and FRAUDULENT is the insidious and pervasive propaganda campaign that has swamped the MSM with the proposition that if we tell enough lies and exaggerations to rally world opinion then the West will have a LICENSE TO KILL, AND KILL AND KILL, and imperialism becomes humanitarianism.

SO NOW THE PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN ROLLS ON:

Gaddafi’s repression is uniquely monstrous – when in reality it was mild compared with that in Yemen, Burma, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia, Syria etc. ;

Gaddafi’s family has stolen the wealth of Lybia – when the opposite is the case, and most family members live relatively modestly, acquire wealth in ways similar to all Western elites, and the Libya sovereign fund has been conservatively invested often in a socially responsible manner when compared to the sovereign funds of the other oil economies in Africa or the Gulf.

Gaddafi is a war criminal -- for opposing a civil, armed, insurrection that was literally taking over towns and cities by force of arms.


But, the war crime is not Gaddafi’s. Nor is it the Rebels’ . The crime is the disproportionate violence of the self-righteous Western military leaders as they slaughter Libyan national soldiers even as they retreat or try to defend themselves from the attacking rebels.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

flag.

Powers all use 'al queda' for their own purposes.

Frankly - none are to be trusted at this point.

"Libya sovereign fund has been conservatively invested often in a socially responsible manner when compared to the sovereign funds of the other oil economies in Africa or the Gulf"?

I read in several places that he'd invested a lot of money building hospitals, social centers and schools which helped the poor who'd previously been cut off, get education and services they'd been denied before but I didn't spend much time following up.

How extensive was this? What else?

in education, technical training, housing and agriculture.

Under the Gaddafi regime, Libya rose from one of the poorest counties in the world (1951 World statistics show that Libya was actually THE POOREST COUNTRY with a per capita income of less than $50 per year) to a population with the highest standard of living in Africa -- life expectancy the same as the United States.

To quote British Libya analysts David Blundy and Andrew Lycett:

“The young people are well dressed, well fed and well educated. Libyans now earn more per capita than the British. The disparity in annual incomes… is smaller than in most countries. Libya’s wealth has been fairly spread throughout society. Every Libyan gets free, and often excellent, education, medical and health services. New colleges and hospitals are impressive by any international standard. All Libyans have a house or a flat, a car and most have televisions, video recorders and telephones. Compared with most citizens of the Third World countries, and with many in the First World, Libyans have it very good indeed.” (see Qaddafi and the Libyan Revolution, David Blundy, Andrew Lycett)

theirs wasn't a bread revolution.

Thanks for explaining, I wasn't aware of that. Do you recommend the book? Amazon only had one review but it was very good.

...the poor Libyan national soldiers stopped shelling the WESTERN towns quite a few less of them would be blown up by NATO.

from rebel attack when they were destroyed by the US british and French assaults.

Clearly you need SP Howitzers and MBTs to take on all those nasty rock throwers.

pro-Gaddafi forces, since the arms come from Gov. military depot taken by the rebels
who have been a well-armed fighting insurgency for decades and according to Western media reports
have been additionally armed by the US via Egypt.

The Rebels had tanks from the brigade in the East and even military aircraft -- the only one to shot
out of the skies after the UN resolutions.

...magic tanks that flew all the way to the western cities?

Sorry D-O I not going to let you get away with vomiting out the Gaddafi party line and pretend the Western revolt never happened.

Don't they need Al Quaeda to fly the Illuminati in their black helicopters to the annual satanic convention in Havana? Or is it East Berlin? One of those places...

:evilfrown:

That is what war crimes are all about -- mercilessly killing people who are trying to leave the battle.