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Libya - A US-Created Terrorist Haven |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| US-led NATO aggression on Libya raped and destroyed its sovereign independence
- one of history’s great crimes. Africa’s developed nation was transformed into a cauldron of failed state, terrorist-infested violence, chaos, deep poverty, mass unemployment, and devastating human misery. Libya was Obama’s war, launched in 2011, orchestrated by Hillary Clinton. Her remark after hearing of Muammar Gaddafi’s death, saying “(w)e came, we saw, he died” alone will long define her pure evil. Claiming Washington’s aim was humanitarian intervention to establish democratic governance was pure subterfuge, the usual imperial Big Lie justifying naked aggression. Libya was terror-bombed to destroy its sovereignty, plunder its oil wealth, privatize the world’s largest aquifer system, dollarize the country, exploit its people, and establish pro-Western puppet rule. Gaddafi supported pan-Africanism, a United States of Africa free from imperial dominance, Libyans sharing in the country’s oil wealth, a notion anathema to America and other Western powers. Under his 1999 Decision No. 111, all Libyans got free healthcare, education, electricity, water, training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability and old-age benefits, interest-free state loans, as well as generous subsidies to study abroad, buy a new car, help couples when they marry, practically free gasoline, and more. Literacy under his rule rose from 20 - 80%. Libya’s hospitals and private clinics were some of the region’s best. Now they're in shambles. Vital public services he provided no longer exist. Pre-war, Libyans had African’s highest standard of living. Homelessness was nonexistent. Gaddafi believed all Libyans had a right to a home or rent-free apartment, notions unheard of in the West. He rejected Western-style money-controlled undemocratic democracy, deplored crony capitalism and neoliberal harshness. During his tenure, women had the right to vote, participate politically, as well as own and sell property independently of their husbands. They were constitutionally granted equal status with men. Libya’s central bank was state-owned, the interest-free Libyan dinar used for productive economic growth, not speculation, profits and bonuses for predatory bankers. Gaddafi advocated a new gold standard, replacing dollars with gold dinars, a plan to provide real monetary wealth and value, free from predatory Western lending agencies. Responsible policies led to his demise. Washington wants control over all other nations - dollar hegemony as the world’s reserve currency the way its dominance is maintained. Economist Michael Hudson calls this system a “sinister dynamic (because) the US payment deficit pumps dollars into foreign economies.” They have “little option except to buy US (debt) which the Treasury spends on financing an enormous, hostile (global) military build-up” - facilitating endless imperial wars. Post-Gaddafi Libya is a dystopian failed state. Dozens of rival factions vie for control, including ISIS, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The main ones are the so-called pro-Western, Tobruk-based, Government of National Accord (GNA) and Tripoli-based National Salvation Government (GNC). Both lack legitimacy. Endless violence rages. On Friday, clashes erupted between both factions for control of Tripoli, the country’s capital and largest city, now a battleground. Dozens were killed, many more wounded, militants and civilians. Fighting continues over the weekend. Violence in other parts of the country rages. Awash with weapons, no end of it is in sight. Nearly six years after Gaddafi’s ouster, Libya is now a haven for terrorist groups, rival factions vying for control, the country ravaged, its people immiserated - victimized by US imperial viciousness. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |