No to the Politics of Assassination!

[nestopwar]

No to the Politics of Assassination!

Statement of Tyneside Stop the War Coalition

These days the US and British leaders and the other NATO powers are gloating at the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya and their hand in it. Hilary Clinton who went to Libya the day before Gaddafi's death said “I came, I saw, he died.” It almost beggars belief that the Anglo-US powers should be so shameless in the lawless world they are creating and that they have apparently got away with this breathtaking crime against the Libyan people and against progressive world opinion.

Whatever the facts of the case, it is the outcome of the assertion in practice of Britain and the NATO powers that they have the right to decide who should govern Libya. This is their official policy.

These Governments and their obedient media put forward their notorious doctrine of the “responsibility to protect” to fool people, and set out to create the maximum confusion in promoting debates about whether Gaddafi’s regime was dictatorial, or progressive. They covered over the issue of the right of a sovereign country to decide its own destiny. They created and inspired a “revolution” of those it could find to back to topple Gaddafi, and then promoted these forces as the “legitimate” representatives of the Libyan people. Worst of all this “liberation” consisted of massive destruction by NATO's armed might of one of the most advanced and prosperous countries of Africa with untold loss of life and tens of thousands of armed “missions” to rain down death and destruction. The anti-war movement is also concerned that NATO, spurred on by its 'successes' in Libya is using this as a springboard for further aggression against Africa as well as Syria, and Iran.

It is really outrageous that the same neo-liberal values which have brought and are still bringing such crisis to the countries of Europe, of North America and elsewhere are being imposed everywhere these imperialists can possibly do so by any means necessary. Chaos and destruction have also been what these values have brought to Afghanistan and Iraq, and this is what will be brought to Libya also.

The anti-war movement must continue to utterly condemn this armed aggression of NATO which still continues in Libya, and always support the principle that it is the right of all peoples to exercise their sovereignty, to decide their own path without outside interference. They must also go all out to ensure the principle is upheld that conflicts of interests internationally must be sorted out without the use of force of any sort.

Therefore it is up to the people’s movement against war to become the force to establish the new rule of international law, bring our own war criminals to justice and to establish and anti-war government so that society is organised along lines that respects people’s sovereignty as individuals, collectives and nations. This and only this is what is required to safeguard peace, democracy, security and the actual rule of law.

 

[Roger]

Fate, Parallels and the Deity of Hell.

October 23, 2011from An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... by Layla Anwar

I have just spent over 2 hours watching in details almost every video available on the lynching of the Libyan leader and martyr Muammar Gaddafi.

Not that I have a particular perverted penchant for sadism or masochism, nor do I particularly enjoy gory scenes, but it is something I felt I had to do, several times in a row. A bit compulsively, I must admit. I was looking for that one detail, that one image that would make sense of it all...

And I found it.

The images were somehow not unfamiliar to me, it was as if I saw them before, like a déjà vu. Yes they were happening in Libya but they had this eerie resemblance to what happened in Iraq.

It's as if the whole film is being played again, with an uncanny tactical precision, almost scary to see the striking parallels.

Even the words used - rat hole, sewage, drain, pipe, spider hole...the superimposition of the same pictures - the naked bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons, those of Muammar Gaddafi's son for public viewing, for scrutiny.

Then the bodies of Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, tortured before and after their death, bearing marks of bruises, scratches, blows, kicks, blood...also made available for public scrutiny, the last souvenir photo shot for the family album.

There is also the way of capture - the Americans bombed and caught Saddam in a "spider hole", NATO bombed Sirte and Gaddafi's ended up in a "rat hole".

Another version transpired - NATO troops captured Gaddafi for two days and interrogated/ tortured him then handed him to the tribal rebels. US troops captured Saddam Hussein, interrogated, tortured him and handed him to the Shiite militias.

It seems that Hillary Clinton in her éclair visit to Libya had given orders that Gaddafi be killed. Two days later he was lynched. Granted he did not have the "luxury" of a kangaroo court like Saddam did. There was more expediency, urgency to Gaddafi's murder. Maybe the secrets were heavier and had to be buried fast.

Images of naked bodies, stripped of their clothing, of their dignity is also another common theme betwen Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi. Bodies investigated, mouths, eyes, chests, lower parts...

Another common thread are the insults and the "Islamic" flavor to it. Shiite militias chanting Allah Akbar and to Hell in Saddam's case. Rebel militias chanting Allah Akbar and to Hell in Gaddafi's.

The reaction of both leaders was the same. One said "do you know what chivalry and manhood are ?!" and the other said - "do you know what right and wrong are ?!"

Then of course - the dancing, feasting around the corpse both in Saddam and Gaddafi's case, the posing for photos and the withholding of the corpse as a trophy, delaying its lawful burial.

But there is more to it.

On the surface of things, you may argue - these are normal reactions of jubilation from a people who have been "oppressed for so long under the most abject of Tyrannies". And there may be some truth in that. However this is far from the true and complete picture.

This is the meat for your own personal consumption, to give you a good clean conscience, that you've done your job of a Humanitarian Imperialist Savior for the sake of Liberty, Dignity and Freedom.

The picture is way larger than those slogans and clichés that you hold so dear to your heart and which has cost us the destruction of sovereign countries and the loss of thousands of lives.

The picture is not only about Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi as such. The picture is found elsewhere...in those little details that you keep missing or overlooking, in those little details that you refuse to acknowledge...

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi for all their ills, shared the same fate - not because they were tyrants but because they said NO to you. Yes, yes, I know they said YES occasionally, but their long term plan was a NO and you knew it. So they had to go.

These were not ailing Mubaraks of Egypt or Alis of Tunisia. Easily replaced by another clique whom you would guarantee power.

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi had to die violently because they knew all about YOUR violence and they knew how to contain it, and fight it back at you.

In their own ways, they were Resisters to you. They knew it, you knew it. Hence they had to not only be lynched but had to be denigrated, humiliated, found hiding in rat and spider holes. You did the same with Che Guevara by the way. Go consult your annals.

But the story does not end here either...because the plan is way more diabolical than just demonizing and vilifying two sovereign leaders.

The symbolism and the message are all too glaring and can't be ignored.

Beside the rat holes and the spider holes, where sovereign leader supposedly take shelter to escape your deadly air power, the fire from the sky, the wrath of the white god, of the Bush of the Obama, of the Sarkozy, of the Berlusconi, of the Cameron...the wrath of the white god from the pure heavens sending his angel of death Hillary Clinton with the order to kill - "we came, we saw, he died " she shrieked with laughter...but since you are a white god and you don't dirty your hands...you do it differently...you pave the way for it.

You pave the way not just for the killing of sovereign leaders who did not abide by your bible, but you also pave the way for the destruction of the many Sodom and Gomorahs, the Babylons of your minds...you have to see them torn to pieces, otherwise how could you justify your existence as a powerful almighty white god on earth - you the divinely inspired slayer of Goliath incarnate.

So like a god, you fawn the fire from above, thunder and lightening....the superiority of your jets against small nations...then in the final picture before the curtain closes, you give it the tour de force, the o' so necessary tour de force -- you throw a mutilated piece of meat to the barking rabid dogs, to the vultures and hyenas who will feast on it until its final breath -- to the chants of Allah Akbar and recitations from the Koran.

You are hoping to strike several birds with one ball of fire.

First, eliminate those who resist you. Second, hand them over denigrated, humiliated, stripped of power to their militias and rebels who happen to love chanting the name of Allah. And third, you prepare the grounds for more bloodshed through sectarian strife like you did when you handed over Saddam Hussein to be lynched by Shiite militias and like when you handed Gaddafi to be lynched by the tribes of Misrata.

Condi Rice, another angel of death of yours, called it - the concept of Creative Chaos.

And just like in Iraq, Libya will go through that same hell...

But the picture does not stop here either.

In order not to dirty your pure white hands, you leave the dirty job to the brown man while you watch the porn film on your smart phone and make sure clips of it go viral watched by millions. That too serves a purpose.

Look at these bearded men, look at these Muslims, look at this savagery, look at this barbarity, this is their God, this is their religion, this is their Allah.

And this is the message you are after, this is the ultimate message you want to deliver, because you as the only true white god cannot accept having associates and cannot accept any partners ascribed to you.

You are indeed the Deity of Hell.
 
 

[Roger]

BEHIND THE GLOATING OVER GADAFFI'S DEATH

STOP THE WAR COALITION


The killing of Muammar Gadaffi in Sirte has been marked by a
round of celebration by western governments over their
intervention in Libya.

As with the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the killing of
Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, it will be described as a turning
point and a further victory in the seemingly endless 'war on
terror'.

There is little reason for the triumphalism. Nato's war on Libya
was not a 'humanitarian intervention' but a war for regime change
-- illegal under international law. It was about the western
powers attempting to regain control of the region in the face of
the Arab uprisings across the Middle East.

Yet despite its overthrow of the regime in Libya imperialism
faces many problems in the region.

In Libya itself it is already clear that there are many divisions
between the different elements in the new government, and not at
all clear that a stable regime will emerge. Even if it does, the
ordinary people of Libya will see their interests subjugated to
the oil companies and other western business, backed up by Nato,
which has no intention of vacating the scene.

The consequences of the war on terror elsewhere are not outbreaks
of peace and democracy but rather a spreading of the war.

Afghanistan, ten years on, has just experienced its bloodiest two
years of war. Iraq remains a society destroyed by war and
occupation. Somalia remains war torn with Kenyan troops recently
crossing the border. Pakistan suffers drone attacks which have
killed thousands. The Israeli oppression of the Palestinians
continues. There are threats of intervention over Syria.

The recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to
Washington was blamed on sections of the Iranian government and
Saudi and Israel are both urging attacks on Iran.

Far from the west conquering all, it is deep in the mire of war.
The gloating over Gadaffi should not become an excuse for further
interventions that will only spread the carnage further.
 
 

[Roger]

The New Libya. Assassination, Ruination, Broken Promises and Body Snatching

"As usual, we swim in a pile of dishonorable politicians. An Arab poem describes how the rotten rubbish floats to the top of the water while all the gems - corals and precious fish - stay at the bottom."
(An Arab friend.)



If events of the past few days are anything to go by, the UN-NATO insurgent allies are set to bring a grim, lawless, murderous and fundamentalist future to the "New Libya."

Polygamy is set to return as the disenfranchisement of women, the West’s new friend and interim leader, Mr Jalil has declared. (He didn’t put it quite like that, but the particular interpretation of Sharia Law he espouses, does.)

A country which had health, education and welfare services of which most could only dream(i) is also set to instantly revert fifty years. Flying King Idris’ flag, Libya is being plunged seamlessly back to his era of illiteracy and neglect.

It will not get better. Britain is already demanding that bombarded, bereaved, largely broken Libya, pay compensation for its "liberation." No, not satire, see:ii.

Libya also has its very own Falluja, in the fled, dead and now destroyed city of Sirte, flooded, ruined and heart rending. It also has its own Basra Roads. See the melted, bombed vehicles leaving Sirte and across Libya. Those inside them also melted or vaporized, a mirror image of that 1991 US massacre of the fleeing in Iraq..

Soon Libya will also have its own living memorials to their release from free healthcare, gasoline too cheap to meter and the highest living standard in Africa: deformed babies from the radioactive and chemically toxic depleted uranium weapons which rained down on them. Another mirror image of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans where these weapons were also used.

The events though, of the last days, have shone a light on the grim reality of the future for the population. The shocking spectacle of Colonel Quaddafi and his son’s bodies, displayed to the public, in a meat cooler in a mall, until decomposition forced a furtive, body snatch and night time burial in an undisclosed location, hardly bodes well for the "human rights" to come.

Neither does the breaking of the commitment to return the bodies to the remaining, so far, un-murdered family (iii.)

Their: "corpses should be dumped in the desert to be eaten by foxes", stated one "liberator", claiming that at the deaths: "we all took turns to stamp on" the former Leader’s face, some hitting it "with shoes."

When Aisha Quaddafi called her father, minutes after his death, reports state that one of the thugs answered the call telling her: "Fuzzy head is dead."

Aisha lost her husband and baby in a NATO bombing in July. She is an internationally respected lawyer, whose cases have included being part of Saddam Hussein’s defence team and who also defended Muntader Al Saidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush in Baghdad, for: "the widows, the orphans .." the former President had created in Iraq, on his declared "Crusade."

She is also a former Good Will Ambassador for the United Nations. One can only speculate how much good will she feels towards a UN which has endorsed the murder and plunder of family, people and land, now. She had lost her father, four brothers, her baby daughter, with her two little cousins, within little over three months.

One (of many) questions which should be answered over the shoddy, surreptitious disposal of the bodies of Libya’s rightful leader, his son and his Defence Minister, Abu Bakr Younis, is, if the stated reason is because the insurgents did not want his last resting place to "become a shrine", was he really the monster Washington and Whitehall have trumpeted? Or did the "coalition" just have an eye on the resources he stubbornly kept, largely for the benefit of his people?

America’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureate "first black" President, has declared the death of Muammar Quaddafi: "A momentous day in the history of Libya."

This, as rebel forces going by the name of "The Brigade for Purging Slaves (of) Black Skin" have reportedly detained and displaced hundreds, while the people of Tawergha, a town of 20,000, have disappeared without a trace.

Numerous reports record that there are those avowed to ethnically cleanse Libya of dark and black skins. There are two million black Libyans, nearly one third of the population of little over six million.

Moreover, for all the horrific rhetoric over the deaths on 20th October, there are serious questions as to who really carried them out. "Our armed forces have been in action", said Prime Minister Cameron. (Yes, the same Cameron who said there will never be "British boots on the ground …")

Further: "British Special Forces are engaged in a frantic desert manhunt for Colonel Quaddafi’s son Saif .." (iv)

Heaven forbid that this sophisticated man should survive to tell the stories of socializing with Tony Blair, Lord Peter Mendelson and Prince Andrew. Or of Blair’s alleged six visits to his father, twice courtesy the hospitality of Colonel Quaddafi’s private 'plane.

Quaddafi, in the flowery language which is Arabic, had called the insurgents "rats", as Saddam Hussein had referred to them as "carion" and "crows." So the Colonel is "found" in a sewer pipe. Get the connection? Few with a functioning brain would not wonder if this sewer rat image was not thought up by "intelligence" in Washington or Whitehall.

As the great "democracies" plunder and assassinate, do cast a passing thought to the (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (v) which celebrated its sixtieth anniversary on 10th December 2008, with great fan-fare.

"Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

"Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

"Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Sabah Al Mukhtar, President of the London based Arab Lawyers Association, is incandescent. "The US, UN, France and the UK should be seriously concerned regarding what has befallen Quaddafi. The serious legal implications of a killing with no trial, after an eight month bombardment. We have treated the law with contempt - and trampled on it for two decades."

That the murderers are to investigate the murders renders Orwell redundant.

So far, of course, it seems we only have the perpetrators word that there was even a burial, somewhere near the port city of Misrata, disgraceful as it was. Perhaps, as with bin Laden, a precedent was set and the victims were simply fed to the fishes. Erase the evidence?

The burials – or disposals – were on two less than auspicious anniversaries. The British military disaster which was the Charge of the Light Brigade, in 1854, and the more recent, cravenly cowardly invasion of the tiny island of Grenada in 1983.

As ever, ignorance rules. After the disasters of Afghanistan and Iraq, with tope military brass now admitting that they had no idea of the complexity of the societies, (US) Colonel Cedric Leighton writes that in spite of the "celebrations" in Libya: " … it is easy to think our job in the Middle East is over." Buy a map, Colonel. Wrong continent. (vi.)



i. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27280/>
ii. http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=17791/>
iii. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27225/>
iv. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053467/SAS-leading-/>desert-race-trap-Gaddafis-son-Saif-al-Islam-heads-Niger.html ...

v. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr//>
vi.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/col-cedric-leighton/qaddafi-de/>ad_b_1029103.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter ...

 
 

[nestopwar]

Responsibility to protect. the liberation of Sirte

According to NATO figures, coalition aircraft delivered 415 key strikes on the town of Sirte between Sunday 28th August and Thursday 20th October. We have compared this to the bombing of Guernica and other comparisons have been made to the widely condemned levelling of Grozny.

In addition, the rebels, described in NATO circles as a ‘proxy army” were allowed by NATO to indiscriminately shell the town with tank fire, heavy mortar fire and artillery. Here is some footage from the ‘Information Office of the Misrata Mujahid Battalion’ to illustrate the point:
And here is more footage, taken in September, showing heavy mortar and rocket fire into the town. It is crystal clear that NATO, who were patrolling the skies above and bombing the town, purportedly to protect civilians, were making no attempt to protect the civilians of Sirte from this indiscriminate use of heavy weaponry:

NATO has declined to comment on why it did nothing to protect the civilians of Sirte and why it has been complicit in these war crimes.

As rebel infantry moved in on the destroyed centre of Sirte, the footage below shows that the civilian infrastructure of Sirte, including its buildings, water and sanitation systems, had been totally destroyed:
And here is more footage of the town showing the extent of the destruction, it appears from this video that every building has been targeted in a systematic attempt to ensure the town is uninhabitable:

Atrocities in Sirte

In what should be the final death-blow to the notion that NATO air power combined with undisciplined and in some cases genocidal mobs supplied with NATO weaponry on the ground can effectively ‘protect’ a civilian population it has become clear that fifty-three people were summarily executed by the rebels in the garden of the Mahari hotel in Sirte.

Ironically the bodies were found by Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. Some of the bodies had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot. In addition, some of the bodies had bandages over serious wounds, suggesting they had been treated for other injuries prior to being executed, a stark reminder of the earlier murderous rampage of the rebels through the Abu Saleem hospital in Tripoli.

Sirte residents identified four of the dead as residents of Sirte: Ezzidin al-Hinsheri (a government official), Muftah Dabroun (a military officer), Amar Mahmoud Saleh and Muftah al-Deley (both civilians).

Some of the victims had been in Ibn Sina Hospital in Sirte, after being treated for injuries – the same hospital which was treating the children with the horrific injuries we covered in an earlier report.

On the walls of the hotel were the names of the following Misrata brigades: the “Tiger Brigade” (Al-Nimer), the “Support Brigade” (Al-Isnad), the Jaguar Brigade (Al-Fahad), the Lion Brigade (Al-Asad), and the Citadel Brigade (Al-Qasba). Misrata brigades have already been responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Misrata and genocide of the Tawergha.

Meanwhile, Red Cross officials have said they have found two hundred and sixty-seven dead in Sirte, most of whom they believe were killed late on Thursday – the day of liberation.
As HRW point out, violence and murder, inflicted during an armed conflict on combatants who have laid down their arms or are in detention, is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has jurisdiction in Libya for all crimes within its mandate committed since February 15, 2011. Under the court’s treaty, criminal liability applies to both those who physically commit the crimes and to senior officials, including those who give the orders and those in a position of command who should have been aware of the abuses but failed to prevent them or to report or prosecute those responsible.

As Peter Bouckaert says:

“This latest massacre seems part of a trend of killings, looting, and other abuses committed by armed anti-Gaddafi fighters who consider themselves above the law.”

The ICC prosecutor has not pursued action against pro-NATO forces, in fact he has been involved in spreading propaganda and inciting racial hatred during the conflict. Furthermore, the NTC leadership are deeply implicated in the attacks on the civilian population of Sirte. Mustafa Abdel Jalil visited the brigades laying siege to the town on 11 October and declared that:

”You have the support of all the members of the transitional council.”

In addition, Mahmoud Jibril infamously gave the green light to the permanent ethnic cleansing of Tawergha by the Misrata brigades at a meeting in Misrata Town Hall.

Currently what is left of Sirte is being thoroughly looted – with flat-bed trucks loading up cars and personal possessions to take back to Misrata.

Meanwhile, according to the BBC’s Wyre Davies reporting from Sirte, the town will be the last in Libya to be reconstructed or may not be rebuilt at all “but instead left in its destroyed crumbling state as a memorial to Colonel Gaddafi’s victims.”

The Responsibility to Protect

It is clear that the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) doctrine has been hi-jacked by NATO and its supporters as a justification for its military campaigns and has lost its humanitarian content, becoming little more than a weapon in the propaganda war to draw ill-informed citizens into consent for military action.

A genuine responsibility to protect (GR2P) needs to protect people from the ravages of war, in which the most egregious human rights violations usually occur, and needs to be particularly conscious of R2P as a reincarnation of the “white man’s burden” and as justification for NATO imperialism and military adventurism.