DEMOCRACY BEFORE NATO’S INVASION

For Libyans, Gaddafi’s epoch, among other benefits, opened unprecedentedly wide access to education. These days the people in Libya are fully aware of the difference between the Western democracy based on parliamentary representation and the truly inclusive – real and efficient – democracy they enjoyed in the not-so-distant past. Muammar Gaddafi
http://libya360.wordpress.com/gaddafis-speeches/

wrote in his epic Green Book:
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/the-green-book-by-muammar-gaddafi/


“Parliamentarism is an ill solution to the problem of establishing democracy. The main purpose of a parliament is to speak from the name of the people, which in itself is an undemocratic practice, rather than to empower those whom it nominally represents. … The parliaments became legitimized barriers preventing peoples from exercising authority in their countries. Legislatures shut the mases out of politics and sustain the legislatures’ monopoly on power” (4).

In Libya’s new parliament, the National Forces Alliance led by former premier Mahmoud Jibril has 39 seats out of 80, the Justice and Construction Party headed by former political prisoner Mohamed Sowan has 17, and the rest are split among 19 parties having 1-2 seats. At the same time, 120 parliamentarians with unannounced political affiliations and agendas were elected on a district-to-district basis (5). The mosaic mirrors both the fractured state of the Libyan society and the ad hoc character of most political formations which took parts in the parliamentary race (6).

MILITIA RULE AND ONGOING RESISTANCE TO NATO OCCUPATION
Violence accompanied the elections campaign all along, with polling stations torched and boxes with bulletins destroyed. Even the electoral commission’s employee was killed when, on July 6, its copter came under fire in the Benghazi district, the hotbed of the Libyan revolution. In fact, deaths from violence were reported right on the days the elections were held (7).
On the whole, there are no signs that tensions are going down in Libya, where fighting flared up non-stop over the past 5-6 months. Serious clashes between the Toubou brigades and Arab groups began in Sabha, southern Libya, in June and took hundreds of lives.

Later battles raged in Kufra, south-east Libya. The traditional inter-clan dispute over border control in the western part of Libya escalated into a three-day armed conflict between Zuwara city on the one side and the cities of al-Jumail and Reghladin on the other, with around 50 people being killed. Ten people died when Arabs and Tuaregs hammered each other in Ghadames, and around 1,600 Tuaregs were forced to flee to the nearby Derg later on. In June, the Zentan and Mashashia tribes locked horns in the Nafusa mountains, leaving over 70 people dead and some 150 – wounded. Government forces were deployed between Zentan and Shagiga to keep apart two local communities warring over land. The Barki council continued to pursue “federalist” policies in the east of Libya.

Violence spilled even into the premier’s premises where a guard and a “rebel fighter” were killed in a shootout last May. Government facilities, international community representatives, and the security forces come under fire in east Libya with frightening regularity. Finally, the US consulate was devastated in Benghazi, the city which used to be the epicenter of the rebellion which displaced Gaddafi.
In contrast to other attacks on US diplomatic missions across the world – a total of 23 as of September 14 – the one in Libya grew out of the background of permanent bloody fighting which is flooding the country, and out of the wider turbulent context of the post-Gaddafi Libya. No doubt, the demonstration of the spectacular incapacity of the current Libyan administration was an event carefully planned with an array of objectives in mind – from warranting a stronger Western military presence in the Arab world to plunging it into permanent chaos which is the same as a permanent revolution…

NOTES
1. The 2006 survey — the latest in Libya — set the population of the country at 5,670,000, including 350,000 foreign nationals.
2. Curiously, the UN Secretary General’s report on Libya drew no assessments whatsoever. The UN Security Council convened on September 12 to discuss the document but no envoys of UNSC member-countries spoke at the meeting. Libya’s representative delivered an apology over the death of the US ambassador, and that rounded up the agenda.
3. Soviet Union’s chargé d’affaires in Libya Prof. A.Z. Egorin who spent decades in Libya offers an excellent description of how the people’s congresses and committees functioned in the country in his The Will of Gaddafi (Moscow, 2012).
4. M. Gaddafi. The Green Book. Part 1.
5. The Libyan electoral commission: http://www.hnec.ly/en
.
6. Th titles of all of the parties involved in the elections — the Party of Hope, the National Alliance, the Party of Progress, the Well-Being Party — leave the constituency completely in the dark concerning their political leanings.
7. Gaddafi wrote about how parliaments are formed in today’s world: “If a parliament is formed by a party which has won the elections, it is a parliament of his party, not of the nation, and represents the party rather than the nation. The executive authority appointed by such parliament is the authority of the party which won the elections, not the people’s. The same is true of a parliament where several parties get their own numbers of seats. The legislators who get the seats represent their parties, not the people. An administration formed by a coalition of parties means the power of the coalition parties, not the people’s power”.



- Libya 360° - LIBYA: TOWARDS A POLITICALLY DIVIDED STATE
September 15, 2012 WRITTEN BY ALEXANDRA VALIENTE
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/libya-towards-a-politically-divided-state/


Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/mahdi-darius-nazemroaya/

was interviewed by Life Week, a major Chinese magazine based in Beijing. What follows is the English transcript of the interview with Xuxu Jingjing.

XUXU JINGJING: In your opinion, why did Mustafa Abu Shakour win the election? What is Mustafa Abu Shakour’s most important political capital? What do you think about his qualification for the position of Prime Minister?

NAZEMROAYA: Abu Shakour has business ties to the United Arab Emirates and the sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf. He was one of the founders of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which is connected to the CIA. He has already served as the Libyan deputy prime minister since November 2011 until his election on September 12, 2012. His selection appears to reflect or complement the election of Mohammed Magarief, a leading figure in the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, as the new president of Libya.

Like Abu Shakour, Magarief also won against a so-called liberal and secular candidate (Ali Zeidan). Both Ali Zeidan and Mahmoud Jibril were key figures in the regime change operations in Libya and the electing of Magarief and Abu Shakour has removed some focus away from them. Zeidan and Jibril, however, along with Ali Tarhouni will have roles in managing the country for the US and its allies. Jibril’s coalition holds the most legislative seats in the new Libyan Congress followed by the Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. While Magarief’s party holds only a few. All this has to be kept in mind, because in theory two-thirds of the Libyan Congress needs to support key decisions.

XUXU JINGJING: Mustafa Abu Shakour beat liberal Mahmoud Jibril by 96 votes out of 190. It is quite a narrow win. Will this tense competition cause further political chaos? Why? The political scene in Libya comprises diverse broad camps: nationalists, liberals, Islamists and secularists. How is their respective influence now?

NAZEMROAYA: There are immense political differences in Libya and internal rivalries between members of the same groups. This was clear from the birth of the Transitional Council in Benghazi. In effect this is what the US and its allies wanted in Libya from the start. They wanted a divided opposition to Muammar Gaddafi’s government that would only stay united under the control and management of the US, NATO, and the Arab sheikhdoms. The reason for this was that Washington could neutralize any Libyan opposition group that would get out of line by using the others against them. Moreover, if the new political leaders of Libya refuse to listen to Washington then the Americans can make them fight one another.
From Bosnia to Iraq and Afghanistan, wherever the US goes it deliberately creates a fragile political order that can be manipulated and upset from the outside. This way America can maintain influence over these countries by attempting to hold the balance of power between the rival groups.

XUXU JINGJING: What is influence from foreign countries on the Libyan political process now?

NAZEMROAYA: Libya has turned into a virtual colony now. Many of the Libyans who hoped that things would become better in Libya with regime change realize now that they were wrong and foolish. I think by previous answer addresses this question.

XUXU JINGJING: In your analysis, what are the most important factors harming the country’s security and stability?

NAZEMROAYA: The role of the US has been negative in the country, because America wants to keep the different political groups and militias divided. It also wants to prevent the new political leaders of Libya from becoming independent so it is playing them against one another.
I want to add that tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv may be playing out in Libya. The attack on the American consulate in Benghazi may possible be tied to tensions between US President Barak Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu wants to get Obama out of office and help Mitt Romney become president. This has led to maneuvers by Israel to embarrass the Obama Administration. Like in Egypt, I also think that rivalries between the royal families in Qatar and Saudi Arabia are a factor of tension between different groups in Libya — the Qatari’s support the Muslim Brotherhood while the Saudis support the so-called Salafists.

XUXU JINGJING: Washington’s ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed during a late Tuesday attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Who did this is still not clear. In your analysis, will this attack have a continuing and long term affect on US policy on Libya? Will the US put more attention on the country again? Why and how?

NAZEMROAYA: Firstly, the murders of US diplomats in Benghazi are a direct result of the unstable environment that the US has cultivated in Libya. The killings would not have been possible before NATO’s war on Libya. The murderers may very well have been America’s own allies who fought against Gaddafi.
The US government will use the events to its maximum benefit in Libya. The deployment of more US military personnel to Libya can lead to further militarization of the North Africa country. Washington already has long-term plans of establishing a military foothold in Libya.
You also have to understand that Libyan oil is not only a means of control over the economies of certain European Union countries for the United States government, but it is also strategically important with the cutoff of the modest Syrian oil exports that the European Union was receiving and the much larger and important Iranian oil exports to the European Union.

RELATED:
Israel And Libya: Preparing For The Clash Of Civilizations
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/israel-and-libya-preparing-for-the-clash-of-civilizations/

Globalization And The War On Libya Series, Parts I – III
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/globalization-and-the-war-on-libya-series-parts-i-iii/

The Old Imperialist Project To Divide Libya In Three Has Been Executed
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/the-old-imperialist-project-to-divide-libya-in-three-has-been-executed/

Libya And The American Dilema: Bomb, Invade, Partition, Or All The Above
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/libya-and-the-american-dilema-bomb-invade-partition-or-all-the-above/

An Imperialist Project To Create Three Libyas
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/an-imperialist-project-to-create-three-libyas/

Targeting Syrian Christians And Black Libyans: The Clash Of Civilizations Is On The March
http://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/targeting-syrian-christians-and-black-libyans-the-clash-of-civilizations-is-on-the-march/

THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST PROJECT
http://syria360.wordpress.com/copyright-and-contact/

ARAB SPRING
http://libya360.wordpress.com/libya-360/




- Libya 360° - MI6/CIA/AL-QAEDA NEXUS IN THE LYNCHING OF CHRISTOPHER STEVENS IN BENGHAZI
September 14, 2012 WRITTEN BY ALEXANDRA VALIENTE
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/pro-nato-groups-propel-arab-protests-chaos-plays-into-wests/


SEE LIBYA 360° EDITOR’S NOTE HERE >> http://libya360.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/queue-the-hypocritical-reactions-to-the-murder-of-us-ambassador-in-libya/


MI6/CIA/Al-Qaeda Nexus in the Lynching of Christopher Stevens in Benghazi
http://youtu.be/1V4THeDzhNw


'Pro-NATO groups propel Arab protests, chaos plays into West's hands'
http://youtu.be/U4sK8UNtY48




- Libya 360°- LIBYA: “WE CAME, WE SAW, HE DIED” …THE SEQUEL…
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/queue-the-hypocritical-reactions-to-the-murder-of-us-ambassador-in-libya/


EDITOR’S NOTE: THE US AMBASSADOR WAS TORTURED AND MURDERED BY AL QAEDA
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hXK3293FwLY/UFDs0kwBVnI/AAAAAAAACww/6kwBmuJRTT8/s1600/us-libya-ambassador-chris-stevens.jpg

US Ambassador Chris Stevens In His Last Moments

Ambassador Stevens was tortured to death by al Qaeda (see the al-Qaeda flag at protests in Benghazi and Cairo http://libya360.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/islamists-attack-us-embassies-in-egypt-and-libya/
).
The protests were organized by the Muslim Brotherhood well in advance and it is not likely they were motivated by the documentary, but part of a wider agenda related war plans for Syria http://syria360.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/libyan-terrorist-reveals-how-terrorists-are-trained-in-libya-funded-by-arab-gulf-countries-sent-to-syria/
, Iran and Turkey.


Queue the hypocritical reactions to the murder of US ambassador in Libya…
http://lizzie-phelan.blogspot.ca/2012/09/queue-hypocritical-reactions-to-murder.html

Lizzie Phelan

The first thing that comes to mind about the murder of the US Ambassador and his three staff in Benghazi, Libya today is the irony. Indeed this is the man who served as envoy to the rebels/mercenaries during the illegal NATO proxy war against the legitimate government headed by Muammar Gaddafi of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah. His life has been taken by what he helped give birth to, and indeed this is what Gaddafi and other former officials warned the west about time and time again, but it is hard to believe that the west were so naive as to not foresee this and so it seems clear that they were willing to pay this price.

The second thing that stands out is the somewhat mild response of the US, in comparison to say if an act much less grave than this was carried out on one of their embassies in places like Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua, China, Russia, or in any other country that unlike today’s Libya, the government is not its product.

While the US may expect events like this, it is nonetheless embarrassing and comes as close as one can get to the loss of western troops in their theatres of conflict that they have so deviously sought to avoid, not in small part because of the unease it creates with populations at home who can stomach their government’s wars more readily when it is exclusively brown people and people of the south who are losing blood on behalf of the NATO powers.

Finally, since February last year, the extent to which NATO’s mercenaries have been destroying and desecrating the country’s infrastructural and historical and religous architectural wealth has been well documented, and this has only intensified over the last few months, including the bulldozing of a mosque in broad daylight in Tripoli http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/25/us-libya-islamists-idUSBRE87O08Y20120825
at the end of last month. It is hard to escape the irony of these Salafist groups killing US officials in response to a blasphemous Islamophobic film released in the US, when they themselves have been busy destroying a Muslim country and sites that are dear to many Muslims.

Here is a full report about the attack from Reuters:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WH4POMqi0Pw/UFClKS3DouI/AAAAAAAAAfU/IDjGY3zQKBE/s1600/download+%281%29.jpeg

Late US Ambassador Christopher Stephens (right), with NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed as they rushed away from a consulate building in Benghazi, stormed by al Qaeda-linked gunmen blaming America for a film that they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and set fire to the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, late on Tuesday evening as another assault was mounted on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

The California-born ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location as part of an evacuation when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing security personnel to withdraw.

“The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets in their direction,” a Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters. Airport sources said the bodies were due to be flown from Benghazi to Tripoli.

The attack was believed to have been carried out by Ansar al-Sharia, an al Qaeda-style Sunni Islamist group that has been active in Benghazi, a Libyan security official said. Witnesses said the mob also included tribesmen, militia and other gunmen.

The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, the unstable security situation in post-Gaddafi Libya and whether more protests might take place in the Muslim world.

The film portrayed Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake. In one clip posted on YouTube, Mohammad was shown in an apparent sexual act with a woman. For many Muslims it is blasphemous even to show a depiction of the Prophet.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration supported the Libyan insurgency with funds, weapons and training, branded the killing an “outrageous attack” and ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide.

KARZAI CONDEMNS “DEVILISH ACT”

A Danish newspaper caused a storm of protest across Islamic nations in 2005 by printing cartoons lampooning Islam and the Prophet Mohammad in 2005, the most famous depicted him wearing a bomb in his turban. The images touched off riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2006 in which at least 50 people died.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai sharply condemned the film in a statement, calling its making a “devilish act”, saying he was certain those involved in its production represented a very small minority.

U.S. ambassadors in such volatile countries as Libya are accompanied by tight security, usually travelling in well-protected convoys. Diplomatic missions are usually protected by marines or other special forces.

Stevens grew up in California, graduated from Berkeley and worked in North Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. He taught English in Morocco before joining the foreign service where he worked in the Middle East and North Africa.

Libya’s interim government has struggled to impose its authority on a myriad of armed groups that refused to lay down their weapons and often take the law into their own hands. Security experts say the area around Benghazi is host to a number of Islamist militant groups who oppose any Western presence in Muslim countries. The worst-case scenario for Western governments is that a spate of recent attacks could be the start of an Iraq-style insurgency by Islamist militants. That could have an impact on oil exports as the energy sector depends on foreign workers. However, security analysts say an insurgency is unlikely to gain the kind of traction it had in Iraq, mainly because Western states have no military presence on the ground in Libya. Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour condemned the killing of the U.S. diplomats as a cowardly act.

INTENSE ATTACK
The consular officials were killed after heavy clashes between Libyan security forces and Islamist militants around the consulate building. Looters raided the empty compound and some onlookers took pictures after calm returned.

“The Libyan security forces came under heavy fire and we were not prepared for the intensity of the attack,” said Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, spokesman for Libya’s Supreme Security Committee. U.S. pastor Terry Jones, who had inflamed anger in the Muslim world in 2010 with plans to burn the Koran, said he had promoted “Innocence of Muslims”, which U.S. media said was produced by an Israeli-American property developer.

Jones, a pastor in Florida whose latest stunt fell on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, triggered riots in Afghanistan http://uk.reuters.com/places/afghanistan
in 2010 with his threat to burn the Koran.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet as offensive and any depiction of him can cause furious protests in the Islamic world as well as among Muslims in Europe.

CHARRED WALLS, FIRE BURNS
On Wednesday morning, the compound in Benghazi stood empty, with passers-by freely walking in to take a look at the damage.
Walls were charred and a small fire burned inside one of the buildings. A small group of men was trying to extinguish the flames and three security men briefly surveyed the scene.
A Reuters reporter saw chairs, table and food lying alongside empty shells. Some blood stains could also be seen in front of one of the buildings. Three cars were burnt out.

In neighbouring Egypt, demonstrators had torn down an American flag and burned it during a protest against the film. Some tried to raise a black flag with the words “There is no God but God, and Mohammad is his messenger”.
The crowd of around 2,000 protesters in Cairo protesting against the film was a mixture of Islamists and teenage football fans known for fighting police and who played a part in the revolt that toppled Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak last year.

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church condemned in a statement some Copts living abroad who it said financed “the production of a film insulting the Prophet Mohammad”, an Egyptian state website said. About a 10th of Egypt’s 83 million people are Christian.
The fortress-like U.S. mission in Cairo is near Tahrir Square, where Egypt’s uprising began and the scene of many protests since. Youths danced and chanted football songs. A Reuters reporter said they appeared to climb into the embassy compound almost as an afterthought.

“We sacrificed dozens and hundreds during the uprising for our dignity. The Prophet’s dignity is more important to us and we are ready to sacrifice millions,” said mosque preacher Mohamed Abu Gabal who joined the protest.

The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed as they rushed away from a consulate building in Benghazi, stormed by al Qaeda-linked gunmen blaming America for a film that they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and set fire to the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, late on Tuesday evening as another assault was mounted on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
The California-born ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location as part of an evacuation when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing security personnel to withdraw.

“The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets in their direction,” a Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters. Airport sources said the bodies were due to be flown from Benghazi to Tripoli.

The attack was believed to have been carried out by Ansar al-Sharia, an al Qaeda-style Sunni Islamist group that has been active in Benghazi, a Libyan security official said. Witnesses said the mob also included tribesmen, militia and other gunmen.

The attack raised questions about the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya, relations between Washington and Tripoli, the unstable security situation in post-Gaddafi Libya and whether more protests might take place in the Muslim world.
The film portrayed Mohammad as a fool, a philanderer and a religious fake. In one clip posted on YouTube, Mohammad was shown in an apparent sexual act with a woman. For many Muslims it is blasphemous even to show a depiction of the Prophet.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration supported the Libyan insurgency with funds, weapons and training, branded the killing an “outrageous attack” and ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide.
….
The consular officials were killed after heavy clashes between Libyan security forces and Islamist militants around the consulate building. Looters raided the empty compound and some onlookers took pictures after calm returned.

“The Libyan security forces came under heavy fire and we were not prepared for the intensity of the attack,” said Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, spokesman for Libya’s Supreme Security Committee.
…
On Wednesday morning, the compound in Benghazi stood empty, with passers-by freely walking in to take a look at the damage.