Condemn Assassination of Muammar Qaddafi
• Politics of Assassination Shows Criminal and Anti-Democratic Character of U.S. Democracy • U.S. Secretly Flying Drones in Africa
• Obama Sends Troops Into Africa
• The Destruction of Libya and the Murder of Muammar Qaddafi • Deceit in NATO Bombing of Qaddafi Cities and Loyalists Revealed
Condemn Murder of Muammar Qaddafi
Politics of Assassination Shows Criminal and
Anti-Democratic Character of U.S. Democracy
The U.S. Marxist Leninist Organization condemns the brutal murder of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and the criminal U.S.-led NATO war against the Libyan people. The assassination of Qaddafi after he was captured severely wounded and disarmed was a lawless act of revenge, to be denounced and rejected by democratic-minded people. Yet it is being heralded in a triumphal manner by the leaders of the imperialist states and entire world monopoly media.
President Barack Obama said it was a “momentous day in the history of Libya,” and that Libyans now have the “opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya.” Obama added that the U.S. “will be a partner as you forge a future that provides dignity, freedom and opportunity.” This indicates that the U.S. will continue to dictate, as it is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, that the only acceptable content of “democratic” is U.S.-style democracy and its freedom to exploit the peoples at home and abroad. The U.S. determines who can and cannot govern and does not hesitate to unleash aggressive war, assassination, and brutal crimes against humanity. Indeed, this has been the character of U.S.-style democracy from its founding days. It is the chauvinism of U.S. rulers that declares only U.S. democracy is valid and only the armed force of the state that imposes it abroad and keeps it in place in the U.S.
Obama further emphasized the U.S. role in leading the NATO war against Libya, and warned others as to what can now be expected: “Our brave pilots have flown in Libya’s skies, our sailors have provided support off Libya’s shores, and our leadership at NATO has helped guide our coalition. Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives, and our NATO mission will soon come to an end. This comes at a time when we see the strength of American leadership across the world. We’ve taken out al Qaeda leaders, and we’ve put them on the path to defeat. We’re winding down the war in Iraq and have begun a transition in Afghanistan. And now, working in Libya with friends and allies, we’ve demonstrated what collective action can achieve in the 21st century.” U.S-led collective action of aggressive wars and assassinations are to be applauded rather then recognized as lawless and fascist actions against Libya and all humanity.
Leaders of the other imperialist NATO states – British Prime Minister Cameron, French President Sarkozy, German Chancellor Merkel – also made statements echoing this content that the murder of Qaddafi marks a “new beginning” for a “democratic” Libya. Every single one of them participated in this assassination through their savage acts of aggression against the Libyan people yet speak shamelessly of “democracy.” And like the U.S., these imperialist powers are now eager to plunder the wealth of the Libyan people and utilize her as a base for aggression against the rest of Africa. Each is contending for control of Africa while also attempting to block China and other rivals. Already Obama has sent troops into other African countries and is using deadly drones, especially in East Africa, completely trampling on the right to sovereignty. It is a situation that means yet greater dangers face the peoples as they fight for their rights.
Obama puts the war on Libya forward as an example “what collective action can achieve in the 21st century.” The U.S.-led NATO war machine pursued regime change from the start and it was only on the basis of massive and relentless NATO bombing and Special Forces on the ground that this was accomplished. Civilian massacres, destruction of civilian infrastructure and summary executions and ethnic cleansing have characterized the U.S./NATO war against Libya. It is the U.S./NATO forces that organized and guaranteed the capture and murder of Qaddafi. It has been verified that a British warplane led a U.S. drone to bomb the caravan of vehicles carrying Qaddafi away from Serte, followed by an attack by a French warplane. NATO intelligence agents were on the ground with the “rebel forces,” and the latest high-tech listening devices were used to ensure Qaddafi would end up in the hands of the fanatics and murderers who finally executed him with a shot to the head.
This cowardly act and entire war underlines that the tried and tested contribution of U.S imperialism to international diplomacy is the politics of assassination. It is to use aggressive war and genocide to impose anarchy and violence in order to keep the peoples’ striving for liberation and emancipation disorganized while keeping their rivals in check. There is not even a particle of democracy in it.
It is also part of U.S. chauvinism and “democracy” to demonize those they target for enslavement, genocide and regime change. This was true against the native peoples, to justify slavery of Africans, in wars against Mexico, the Philippines and later Korea, Vietnam and installing their puppets in Haiti, Chile, Zaire and elsewhere. According to U.S. rulers, only they know how to govern and only their democracy is valid. And this in a situation where inside the U.S. there is mass racist incarceration, increasing social and political inequality, and elections known for their fraud and disenfranchisement of the voters!
For Libya, before and during the U.S/NATO war Qaddafi was repeatedly demonized in the monopoly media, mainly through wild name-calling and the venting of many grudges. And while there are both real and perceived causes for these grudges, no specific evidence is ever provided of crimes he committed for which he can be held to account in a court of law. His real crime is that he deprived the foreign interests of control over Libya. He was very instrumental in uniting the countries that comprise the African continent against the imperialist interests and assisted countries like South Africa. This stand in defense of Libyan sovereignty is all the more unacceptable to the U.S. and former colonial powers. These powers are initiating a new scramble for Africa such as the one that preceded the First World War and heralded the end of the colonial period and the beginning of the period of imperialism and proletarian revolutions.
The U.S., as head of the imperialist system of states, wants at all costs to block liberation and revolution, to keep the peoples out of power and chain them to U.S.-style democracy. The U.S. Marxist-Leninist firmly rejects U.S.-style democracy and the constitution it is based on. The aggressive U.S. wars, regime change and assassinations are brutal crimes to be thoroughly rejected. We urge all to settle scores with the chauvinism and violence of U.S. dictate abroad and at home. Refuse to submit to the U.S. dictate that says U.S. imperialism decides and the peoples are to be kept from power, abroad and at home. We need a democracy of our own making, one that stands against war and use of force and empowers the people themselves to govern and decide. Let advancing the fight for such a democracy be the focus of our discussion and work.
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U.S. Secretly Flying Drones in Africa
The Air Force has been secretly flying armed Reaper drones in Africa, at present mainly against Somalia. U.S. claims of targeting “terrorists” are being used to further extend U.S. military operations in Africa, especially East Africa. According to news reports, the Air Force has invested millions of dollars to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, where it has built a small annex to house a fleet of drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The Reapers began flying missions against Somalia earlier this year. News reports also indicate that the Ethiopian government has not given the U.S. permission to have the base in the country.
The Obama administration has sought to avoid openly deploying troops to Somalia and has instead relied on lethal drone attacks, a growing CIA presence in Mogadishu, Somalia and criminal mission carried out by U.S. Special Forces. Both the CIA and Special Forces are commonly utilized to identify people for drone attacks. These assassinations in foreign countries are carried out without charges, trial or any norms of international law. In addition, the United States has increased its funding for and “training” of African forces as part of its effort to infiltrate and control African countries. The Air Force confirmed October 27 that Air Force personnel are working at the Ethiopian airfield “to provide operation and technical support for our security assistance programs.”
Arba Minch is located about 300 miles south of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa and about 600 miles east of the Somali border. Standard models of the Reaper have a range of about 1,150 miles, according to the Air Force. The MQ-9 Reaper, known as a “hunter killer,” is an advanced version of the Predator, the most common armed drone used by the military.
The U.S. military deploys drones on attack and surveillance missions over Somalia and likely other African countries from a number of bases in the region. This includes Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and from Djibouti. There are reportedly about 3,000 U.S. military personnel stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The U.S. no doubt expects to secure a military base now in Libya.
Drones are regularly utilized to massacre civilians and assassinate people targeted by Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Their use as a weapon of war against countries the U.S. is not at war with is reflective of the lawless violence of the U.S. as it seeks to impose world empire.
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Obama Sends Troops Into Africa
President Barack Obama is sending about 100 more U.S. troops into Africa. He said the initial team of U.S. military personnel “with appropriate combat equipment” deployed to Uganda October 12. Other forces deploying include “a second combat-equipped team and associated headquarters, communications and logistics personnel.” U.S. forces are also to deploy into South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Obama also said the troops will not engage in combat “unless necessary for self-defense.” Experience in Colombia and elsewhere however, indicates that the troops undoubtedly will participate in combat in some form.
Obama emphasized that “I believe that deploying these U.S. armed forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy,” and will be a significant contribution -toward fighting “terrorism” in Africa. Experience in Libya and Somalia have already made clear that U.S. state terrorism in Africa is the source of great crimes, violence and chaos, not peace and stability. This is further underlined by the fact that the troops being sent are mainly Special Forces, notorious for their assassinations, kidnapping, torture and other criminal actions.
The Pentagon says that U.S. Africa Command is “exploring ways to further support the military” in Sudan and other countries. Drones, Special Forces, CIA are all part of U.S. efforts to control the peoples and resources of Africa while blocking rivals from doing the same. As is occurring elsewhere, the U.S. will no doubt find that the peoples of Africa will not submit to foreign occupation.
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The Destruction of Libya and the Murder of Muammar Qaddafi
I get terribly affected by the kind of things that are happening today, and confess to not being able to be dispassionate.
But some important facts we should keep in view – if we want to remain sane and work out a saving response to European and American criminal aggression against us – are the following.
Muammar Qaddafi came from an Arab tribe living in Libya. He belonged to a culture completely different from American and European culture. He therefore did not – and never pretended to – champion Western values of so-called “democracy” and “freedom.” This, however, did not prevent him from being a force for good for his people and for some other African peoples.
When 42 years ago he took over power through a bloodless coup – mark this, he did not have to slaughter his own people to overthrow King Idriss’s government. (A lethargic government that allowed the Libyan people to live in poverty and underdevelopment). Qaddafi took measures to ensure that Libya’s oil wealth was used for the benefit of the Libyan people. Over the decades a genuine welfare state was created with state-of the-art medical facilities accessible to all Libyans, with state funded educational facilities and forestation of large areas of Libya. […] Non-Libyan black Africans flocked to Libya to seek employment. One Kenyan who was working in a Libya-based company when the Europeans started the troubles in March this year was distraught: he spoke of the high standards of living in Libya and his comfortable life, where you would buy gas for 10 Kenya Shillings a liter!
Qaddafi was not a modern European or American to believe arrogantly and foolishly that good governance consists only in regular elections and the limited term of a ruler. Like a Ghanaian commentator wrote the other day, Qaddafi believed he had devoted those 42 years of his rule taking care of the welfare of his people. The ridiculous thing is that Westerners believe only systems of governance developed by themselves are to be adopted. People forget that there are good alternative systems indigenously developed by others. […]
Qaddafi assisted freedom movements in other countries of Africa, notably South Africa. He armed and financed the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela when the western powers were doing normal business with the white-dominated apartheid regime. When Bill Clinton visited newly independent South Africa and criticized Libya under Qaddafi, Nelson Mandela rebuked him using the following words: “We cannot join you in criticizing the people who helped us in our darkest hour.”
It is an absolute shame to see the mainstream media, including the Kenyan media, join in mouthing clichés about “dictator Qaddafi,” “despot Qaddafi,” and the “tyranny” suffered under Qaddafi. The other day a local newspaper published a tasteless, highly offensive cartoon about Qaddafi. This is all due to ignorance and brainwashing by the Western Media Juggernaut. We have many Africans who are quite incapable of thinking as themselves and for themselves. You can call such people mental and spiritual slaves.
These people miss one aspect of Qaddafi’s character and ideals. Qaddafi believed that the Arabs were the descendants of Black Africans and taught his people that they owed special respect to blacks. (One of his sons, Hannibal, was named after a famous black African general who used elephant-mounted soldiers to fight the Roman army around the time of Christ; Hannibal served the state of Carthage, which was geographically situated in Libya.) And Qaddafi put in place a policy where black Africans were welcomed into Libya as employees and even members of the Libyan army. Qaddafi further championed the idea of the African Union, housing the Arabs of his country and the vast black population of sub-Saharan Africa. It is said that by the time he died, he had conceived the idea of an African Bank, which would compete against the white-dominated World Bank.
Of course the so-called mainstream media would not appreciate such things; and neither would they be horrified by what the “revolutionaries” have been doing – including the rounding up and massacring of black people while putting others in concentration camps.
Neither are these mental slaves capable of grasping the enormous shame, horror and deceit of the campaign of the West against Qaddafi. The Great Lie is that there was a popular uprising against Qaddafi. Rather it was an armed rebellion, engineered in Paris and other western capitals, and its success guaranteed by the use of the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction by America, France and Britain.
One thing is clear: Qaddafi had popular and local armed support and would have defeated the rebels if massive missile rocket and air bombardment had not been used by the American, French and British murderers.
He lasted more than six months, a man leading a country of only 6.5 million people against an alliance of countries housing close to 500 million people. To my mind Qaddafi was a figure fighting against shameless bullies, men absolutely devoid of honor: Barrack Obama, David Cameron, and Nicholas Sarkozy. These assassins have entered the pages of history for their brutal and ignominious acts.
The lesson for us self-respecting Africans?
We can expect more horrors from these people who wield enormous military power. But we have a mighty weapon against them: building awareness about their intentions, crying out loudly against their grotesqueness and unfitness to claim the right to lead the world. We can call them their real names: bullies, greedy predators, robbers of other people’s resources, deceivers and tellers of great lies. And, of course, I can see the rest of the world grouping together for mutual self defense… The days of these mis-rulers are numbered.
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Deceit in NATO Bombing of Qaddafi Cities and Loyalists Revealed
The NATO bombing of the cities of Sirte and Bani Walid tore the mask off NATO’s claim that it intervened in the Libyan conflict in order to “protect civilians.”
It goes against reason that Moammar Qaddafi’s defenders would be killing the very people loyal to thm and, apparently, fighting to the death in support of the former Libyan leader.
It is a Western-propagated racist myth that non-Western peoples like Africans, Asians, Arabs and Indians value human lives less than Westerners do. Western media often claim that non-Western peoples would use “human shields” to protect themselves, or would “kill their own people” to resolve civil or political conflicts.
During the Korean War, American media were saying that the North Korean troops were using “human shields.” But the same accusation was not made against the South Koreans, the allies of the United States.
In the Vietnam war, the U.S. media reported that the North Vietnamese were staging “human wave” attacks against the American military bases because they had “less respect” for human lives, even their own. This presumably justified the carpet bombing of North Vietnam by U.S. B-29s, including the use of napalm and chemicals that converted large swaths of North Vietnam into a wasteland and a graveyard.
In 1901, during the Philippine-American war, U.S. General Jake Smith ordered his soldiers to convert Samar into a “howling wilderness.” He said, “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the more it will please me.” Those to be killed included “anyone over 10 years of age...(who) could carry a rifle and swing a bolo.” To justify the savagery, the Americans had to be taught to look at the Asiatic Filipinos as less than human. Thus in an American newspaper, one Colonel “Marse” Watterson described Filipinos as “the riff-raff; injun, n--ger, beggar-man, thief — both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, and cur of low degree.” (From “Little Brown Brother,” by Leon Wolff, quoting from the Louisville Courtier-Journal.)
To justify the bombing and invasion of Iraq, then-US President George W. Bush painted then Iraq President Saddam Hussein as a madman who was killing his own people with chemical weapons and who was keeping “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) presumably for use in a planned attack on the United States. After the invasion, which killed thousands of Iraqi civilians, no WMD was found.
In the Arab Spring, government forces have killed hundreds of protesting civilians in Yemen and Bahrain, but since their governments were pro-American, the West did not intervene. In Syria, NATO has not yet intervened but has made moves to do so. It is clear that NATO bombed Libya not to protect civilians because civilians have been killed by NATO bombs, but in order to grab its oil and for this, it was necessary to change the Qaddafi regime which had nationalized its oil resources.
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