Libyan Blood Oil:An Illegal War of Hypocrisy and Self Interest

[Webster Green]

Written by Solomon Comissiong, Daily Journal (Opinion), Media, War and Peace Mar 25, 2011

"On March 20th 2011 the US and NATO forces began an aggressive aerial assault on the North African nation of Libya under the disingenuous pretext that it was a humanitarian mission to save civilians from being killed by pro Gaddafi “rebel” forces. It is ever clear that they take world for fools just as US government officials take their own politically programmed citizens as mindless sheep. This is the same US government that ostensibly sees nothing wrong with their killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq, and the tens of thousands by way of indiscriminate drone and air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If the US government gave a damn about the killing of civilians and their humanity; they would stop supporting the barbaric and repressive government of Israel for their crimes against humanity in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. However, instead of standing on the side of justice the US government continues to fund the apartheid government of Israel by way of over three billion dollars each year, in military aid."

"Where is the US government’s concern regarding the 6 million Congolese who have perished violently since 1998? America’s conscious is with the billions of dollars its multinational corporations have profited from by way of Congo’s vast mineral resources. There has not been a single legitimate effort on the US government’s part to stop this genocide. Needless to say, the US government and its corporate media lapdogs don’t give a damn about real justice or civilian lives abroad—they care about other people’s natural resources and how they can benefit from. The US corporate media continues to play its role as government sycophant banging the war drums loud and clear—for all the sheeple to follow obediently. The Corporate media from MSNBC to CNN to the right wing white nationalist Fox News is providing as limited and inaccurate a perspective on this situation as they possibly can, for they have to in order to keep US citizens in the virtual dark. Surprisingly even Al Jazeera has provided a limited context of this situation, only showcasing correspondents that spoke of the air strikes as a good thing for the people of Libya. It is pathetic that in order to get some kind of sensible and balanced perspective, regarding this issue, Americans have to turn to the likes of Russia Today (RT/a foreign news channel). There is no coincidence that this station is not offered in most US media markets."


More:
http://dailycensored.com/2011/03/25/libyan-blood-oilan-illegal-war-of-hypocrisy-and-self-interest/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Dailycensored+%28Daily+Censored%29

[rtassi]

1. truth be told ... n/t

[tabatha]

2. I believe that is clap trap.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/03/why-qaddafi-has-to-go.html#ixzz1HkUD2RK7

The rebels BEGGED for a no-fly zone, have THANKED the coalition for their efforts, and have OFFERED to pay for it.

I am tired of this SHIT.

[joshcryer]

3. Easier to ignore it tabatha, truth will bore out.

[bobbolink]

17. Sadly, you are right. We have to suffer the lies of Faux, and now of "progressives".

:cry:

[Amonester]

4. I am tired also, but there is nothing we can do.

These are the same people who would have put the responsability of the brutal massacre of tens of thousands of civilians since last weekend on the shoulders of all the politicians in the western world, and particularly on those of the U.S. (as always), had they 'chosen' to do nothing and stayed on the sidelines to watch it unfold.

They are projecting their hypocrisy.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Of course they wanted a no fly zone, they are using it to take over the

country.

[Amonester]

6. terra? nt.

[David__77]

7. Right. Pol Pot supported US intervention against Vietnam in Cambodia.

And he had an army much larger than the Libyan rebels. Just because some group begs for intervention, in itself, does not mean too much. And, by the way, I am not meaning to say the Libyan rebels are like Pol Pot politically or in their military conduct.

[Amonester]

8. Imagine what the headline would be if nobody did anything to stop the massacre.

Like Libyan Bloodbath: An Immoral Abandonment that Must Stop Immediately, or some other accusation in the same vein...

Blamed when you don't = no hope for less civilian casualties.

or

Blamed when you do = there is hope for less civilian casualties.

[Distant Observer]

13. What EVIDENCE is there regarding this massacre. I know of precedents in Syria, Sudan, Congo

but not in Libya. The Gaddafi revolution at its genesis is noted for
planning everything to seek to avoid bloodshed.

[Amonester]

14. Distant observer.

There is little evidence, I concur, but is it, in part, because the last massacre, you know.... uh... didn't happen when the NFZ was implemented? What kind of fuzzy logic do you expect in order to get the EVIDENCE of a massacre that was prevented from happening in last resort? (I don't get that 'logic')....

OTOH, there are plenty of video clips on what happened since Feb. 17. I am not posting them here. What am I? A search engine?

[bobbolink]

18. Yeah, you are. "Amonester it!" is in the dictionary. ^_^

That was a very good try, and accurate, but.... just like with teabaggers, there is no convincing those whose ears are closed.

amended... not even "convincing"... we all have the right to our own decisions. But just the willingness to hear and to enterain the possiblity of other ideas besides that which is on FAUX would be a breath of fresh air.

:yourock:

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. Arrant nonsense

Gaddafi was quite happy to let Western oil companies operate in Libya. Why go to war over something you already have access to? And the US neither led the call for intervention at the UN nor initially supported it.

[Webster Green]

10. We also had access to Iraqi oil.

why did we go in there? WMDs?

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. This isn't Iraq.

And making the comparison is frankly stupid; if Saddam had been engaged in brutal and violent oppression of, say, a Kurdish uprising in 2003, using tanks and military aircraft and killing indiscriminately...then the comparison might have some validity (because let's not forget that's basically what Gaddafi was doing, it's why the UN voted for sanctions and an arms embargo, it's why they authorised intervention).

[Distant Observer]

11. Not true. Gaddafi only recently opened up to Western Oil interests and the terms were

not very profitable. I access to Libyan oil and gas was as easy as in Algeria, for example,
the Libyan production would be 4 times what it has been, given its vast untapped reserves.

There are billions, nay Trillions, to be made from control of Libyan reserves.

[bobbolink]

19. Oh please!

The truth is just so damned confusing...




:yourock: :hi:

[Catherina]

12. Rec'd.Excellent work and excellent site. "PETROLEUM & EMPIRE IN NORTH AFRICA"

I've been clicking around in there for over an hour now, totally appreciative of their hard work.


I'm reading one of Keith Harmon’s articles now. This is just a short excerpt but the whole thing is great.

...

It's Not Only the Oil, Stupid

Using state-of-the-art satellite remote sensing, the western powers have certainly mapped the mineral deposits that lie beneath the sands of the Libyan desert. For example, Canada's Barrick Gold has for years had concessions in Niger and Mali -- this is the corporation affiliated with former US President George Herbert Walker Bush, former US Senator Howard Baker and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney -- and Libya has a huge landmass with massive untapped mineral potential that goes way beyond the known petroleum deposits



Another strategic geopolitical concern of the western powers is the protection and control of the massive nuclear (uranium) resources both inside Libya and nearby. France and Canada had already signed memorandums (circa 2007-2008) with Libya to explore and exploit uranium in Libya.

France's entire nuclear weapons complex (and massive nuclear power industry) revolves around uranium extracted from Agadez and Arlit in northern Niger and it was built, over the past 50 years, out of the blood, sweat and tears of the Nigerienne people. Japanese companies have been extracting uranium out of Niger through the Overseas Uranium Resources Development Corporation (OURD), in cooperation with U.S., Israeli, German and French corporations. In 2008, France and former colony Algeria signed defense and civil nuclear power accords, including cooperation in research, training, technology transfer and the exploration and production of uranium, all of interest to French nuclear giant Areva Corporation. Canadian and Australian corporations are also mining in Libya's other southern neighbor, Burkina Faso. And yet, unlike Libya, where the people have seen some benefits from the extraction of wealth from their land, Niger remains the second poorest country in the world and Burkina Faso is close behind.

Russia and Ukraine had also signed memorandums with Libya regarding uranium exploration and development. However, China intends to quadruple its uranium consumption and China's largest nuclear power corporation China National Nuclear Corp, has signed an agreement with China-Africa Development Fund to jointly develop uranium resources in Africa. Western nuclear corporations aim to monopolize Libya's uranium sector and exclude China and Russia from the exploration and development -- so they can build the nuke plants themselves and sell uranium to their Asian competitors.

...

http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2011/03/petroleum-empire-maps-for-north-africa/

This is really informative and honest information that cuts through the bullshit.

Thanks so much for this post. Rec'd of course

[Runework]

15. If it's not about Oil, why not intervene in the Congo?

how many have been killed there? a million? two?

obama apologists can say "well there's no un action"...I havent seen obama pushing for it, have you? well?

it's total bs and people supporting this are living in denial

[sabrina 1]

16. The Western powers do not go anywhere unless they are sure

they can profit from it, mostly by controlling resources of the countries they invade or whose dictators they support who in turn are willing to sign over 80% or more control of their resources to Multi-National Corps.

It is ludicrous for anyone to believe that the current intervention in Libya is for humanitarian purposes. It would take an enormous amount of willful blindness to ignore the fact that up to Feb. of this year, when revolutions across the Arab World began, the Western Powers were fully supportive of every, single one of the brutal regimes being protested.

Torture, murder, disappearances, rape, theft and every kind of corruption imaginable were standard procedure in countries whose regimes we supported. Did the U.S. or France, Britain, Canada do ANYTHING to stop the brutality before they wrote the annual billion $$ checks to the murderous leaders they were supporting?

And that includes Qaddafi.

As peaceful dissidents sat in the dungeons of Egypt eg, our 'Diplomats' drank wine at banquets held in their honor by these cruel, evil men. One such dissident wrote to Condi Rice before she visited Mubarak from his dark dungeon desperately hoping that she might try to do something to help his oppressed people.

I could write OPs every day for almost a year telling stories of the evil being perpetrated by our 'allies' on their own people but suffice it to say, that even if before, anyone had any doubts about our choices of allies, the Wikileaks cables shone a bright light on U.S. foreign policy and it is as ugly as we suspected.

So for those who support the Libyan war and claim that those who have serious reservations about it just 'don't care about the Libyan people', that is the height of idiocy. I guess they believe that the same people who just two months ago were admonishing the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordon, Morocco, Yemen, Algeria, to 'show restraint' really cared about those people? What they were asking was 'please keep on suffering because if you don't, you are threatening our interests in your countries' resources'.

Only when there was no choice did the rhetorical, mindless, uncaring, cruel platitudes stop.

I watched and supported the Libyan people from the beginning of their protests, just as I was watching and supporting since Dec. the people of Tunisia and throughout the months since then.

I wonder why I thought the Libyan people could defeat Qaddafi's forces now, but I did. They said from the start they wanted no foreign intervention on their soil, they did not want to become Iraq. And I foolishly thought it was possible. They were being urged to 'march on Tripoli' which in retrospect was asking them to commit mass suicide.

Even with intervention now, Gates et al are stating that this could take months. So, how could this 'rag-tag' army have had any hope of prevailing against a force as strong as we now know they were facing? I feel guilty for cheering them on.

But now, the quandary for those of us who were supporting them and still support them is, since it became clear they were going to need help, the very same people who up to Feb were supporting their brutal government, are the ones they now have to trust with their future. Exactly what they said in the beginning, they did not want.

So, for those who came late to this travesty and are slamming those of us who were rooting for all of these revolutions from way back, to say that it is WE who don't care about the people, while believing the fairy tale that the NATO countries actually DO care about them, I think could not be more Orwellian if it tried.

I am glad Qaddafi's forces were stopped, but I truly fear for the future of the Libyan people whose fate is now in the same hands as that of the people of Iraq and AFghanistan. And I would like someone to explain to me why they believe that people who are bombing and killing civilians on a daily basis in Afghanistan and Pakistan with little to no concern for innocent lives, can suddenly become humanitarians overnight in Libya? I would love to see an answer to that question.

If only Libya did not have so many valuable resources. Then I would say that maybe they went on this mission to make up for their war crimes elsewhere and that they WILL leave once they've cleared the way for victory for the revolutionaries.

But, then I have to be realistic and accept the harsh reality that there is no way that the U.S., Britain, France and the rest of the allied forces are going to leave all those precious resources to the people who own them. It has never, ever happened in their, long, bloody history of wars for resources.

[elias49]

20. Sad but true.. Well said. nt