Article 6 of UN Resolution 1973, "Decides to establish a ban on all
flights in the airspace of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in
order to help protect civilians"; while according to the UN's website
the "Security
Council Approves ‘No-Fly Zone’ over Libya, Authorizing ‘All
Necessary Measures’ to Protect Civilians" [1]. Thus, the
whole world was talking about a no-fly-zone over Libya to protect
unarmed civilians.
No one has ever said anything about a no-fly-zone
over some
selected parts of Libya; to change
the political regime of Libya; to protect "armed rebels" (including
foreign radicals);
and to destroy Libya's entire infrastructure.
Such violations, based on misrepresentation
of truth, Russia merely called "stretching"
the resolution, when the resolutions themselves when read together appear to
imply the inbuilt ability to self-stretch by "all"
necessary measures.
It took the former British Prime Minister 12 years to say "sorry"
for the mistakes committed in relation to the invasion of Iraq,
and even referred "to claims that the invasion was a war 'crime'
– while denying he committed one" [18].
In contrast to this,
the European Union was very quick to admit that they learned
the lessons from their Libya foray, while other international powers simply
scoffed the "Libya
expedition" as
an "unintended
mistake".
On the other hand it took only 2 years for Libya's
chief of the Special Forces to discover what he called the "conspiracy"
against Libya, and 3 years for Libya's Prime Minister, Mr. Althni, to attribute
such conspiracy to the "anonymous
enemy" – still long enough before sponsored, foreign terror
groups took over the created "jihadist
wonderland" to begin the odyssey.
In the modified image (above) the map of Libya was completed by Temehu.com to
illustrate the actual size of the (published) NFZ in relation to the whole
of Libya.
The modified map also shows how all the land borders of Libya are left
out of the map.
Zooming on The Fuzzy No-Fly Zone
Not a single land border is included in the map!
As
premature liberation revealed its hideous face with assassinations and bombs,
Libyan borders dominated the headlines with tragedies that no one seemed
to prevent. The strategic border areas came to bring great
pain not only to Libya and the Libyan civilians but also to the whole region.
One would think mature leaders would calculate the precise consequences of
their military onslaught (else known as humanitarian intervention) to ensure
the alleged protection of civilians can actually
be effected before embarking on such destruction of central authority. But
unfortunately no exit strategy was provided by the UN, and the one proposed
by a British-led team in Istanbul was seemingly rejected.
The installed NTC has pledged in its manifesto to "ensure
territorial security", but shortly after the bombing campaign came
to a sudden end the council was quick to admit being "helpless" and "weak".
The UN too allegedly pledged to protect all Libyan civilians by all necessary
measures, but human rights abuses against civilians continued to be committed
by both the rebels and the loyalists during the bombing campaign, after the bombing
has stopped, and especially after the so-called liberation.
It is
strange, indeed, to leave Libya's borders wide open for
criminals and radicals to exploit as they wish, given the amount of weapons exposed
in Libya and given the international iron fist used to destroy the old.
It is
even stranger than fiction to hear that, 12 months after the transitional
prime minister Ali Zidan declared his air force was out to blast outlaws taking
advantage of Libya's porous borders, the spokesman of the Libyan air force
revealed to Libya TV that only 50% or 60% of Libya's
borders are covered by the air force; leaving nearly half of Libya's
borders totally unprotected (as of January 2014). Instead, a month later Zidan's
air force was shelling Libyan targets inside Libya, after Gaddafi's loyalists'
takeover of a military airbase in Sabha; and in doing so Libya, likewise
Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan and Pakistan,
has started "bombing itself" – the ultimate expression of
"smart" liberation.
According to an Algerian source, quoted by LANA [14], the border
between Libya and Algeria is under the control of extreme Salafist, armed militias, 14
of whom do not belong to the central authority in Tripoli. The Algerian government
has deployed nearly 20,000 soldiers along its
borders with Tunisia and Libya, but reports of advanced
Libyan weapons being found in Algeria continue to emerge [15].
Could such a strategy,
and the lack of exit strategy too, have any connection – any connection at all
– with the ensued consequences of seeing radicals in Libya and in the whole region
being heavily armed with advanced Libyan weapons? It seems certain that the various
Libyan transitional governments (and their international friends)
have found themselves powerless to effect any control over the chaos they helped
bring about, as much as it is plausible that the borders are being remotely controlled
by mysterious forces which continue to distribute Libyan weapons across the region,
as well as flood Libya with narcotics, poisoned foods, explosives and illegal
immigrants.
These strategic
borders are:
Libyan-Tunisian border –> through which analysts now say Tunisian
Salafists armed themselves to the teeth :)
Ghadames border with Algeria –> through which analysts now say Zintani
arms reached In Aminas in Algeria;
Egyptian border –> through which analysts now say Libyan weapons reached
Gaza, Syria and beyond. Wall Street Journal reported that "Egypt's
military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington's
knowledge" [13]; while General Sisi, the head of the Egyptian coup
that toppled elected Morsi, warned that Egypt's border with Libya is the greatest
strategic danger currently facing Egypt.
South Libya –> through which
analysts now say Libyan arms reached Sudan, Chad, Mali, Central Africa, Niger & Nigeria;
the region which analysts now say is a hot bed of radical training camps,
of which the Nigerien president and the Algerian government have recently complained.
Libya's PM Ali Zidan declared the region a "Military
Zone" – out to "blast" outlaws, he said, when in reality
south Libya was turned into "the "Tesco" of
the world’s illegal arms trade" [0], and a "Jihadist Wonderland" seemingly
on its way to declaring its allegiance to the mysterious terror groups left to
flourish in the region beneath the world's top eyes; after which and for which
Libya most-likely will be bombed again.
And, of course, the tiny conspicuous crescent in Cyrenaica itself – which
analysts now say is the centre of radical militants (reportedly funded by some
Arab dictatorial states that took part in bombing Libya), and reportedly involved
in punishing glorious Benghazi with terrible bombs and assassinations. The coastal
area through which foreign ships (from some dictatorial states) were reportedly
loading Libyan arms destined for Misrata and also for some Syrian obscure rebel
groups. The NTC itself was reported by the Libyan media to have given Syrian
rebels 100 million dinars without any consultation with the Libyan people (whom
they claimed to represent) and without saying exactly to whom such money was
paid. Maybe they do not know themselves!
A Google map showing Derna in relation
to the conspicuous area left out by the no-fly zone over [the whole of
] Libya.
All the damage done to Libya (and to the entire region) was mainly due
to these border areas being left wide open and consequently being used by funded
terror groups, criminals, border traffickers and mysterious entities
to launch their own agendas; ironically for which only the Libyans now must take
the blame.
Funding terror groups and radicals while the bombing of Libya was going on
(as reported by PM Mahmoud Jibril and others) is seemingly a "crime"
the UN now says it "will
investigate".
Why leave Libya so soon while civilian homes were still being shelled?
Why leave Libya so soon
while leaving civilians in greater danger than ever before?
Why attack hundreds of munitions bunkers while leaving their contents intact
and Libya's borders wide open?
What is the strategy
behind the policy to destroy central authority in Libya without an exit strategy?
Why back a conspicuous group such as the NTC despite being infiltrated with
Qaida "flicker" and
radical terror?
Why flood the administration of the "uprising" with defectors who were urged
to defect after the bombs fell?
Why ignore the reports of some countries arming militants in
Cyrenaica during the bombing campaign?
Why allow dictatorial states to bomb other sovereign dictators in the
name of standing up to "dictatorship"?
Are such questions for leaders to attend-to before embarking
on such destruction
or are they for people to endure afterwards?
Scratch the back of your head and ask yourself: is there a connection, any
kind of connection at all?
"Still, the deeper question", the New York Times asks,
"is why [the
UN-authorised forces] believed
that international responsibilities to Libya would end with military action,
and that Libya would somehow right itself. We will probably never get to have
a meaningful discussion about this, as long as we are tantalized by theories
about conspiracies or political malfeasance.
. . There is a direct connection between the West’s post-intervention policies,
the Benghazi attack, and the current political crisis in Libya" [2].
The Consequences That Could Have Been Avoided
The UN ought to know better than anyone else that ensuring
the promised protection afforded by the bomb being effected after the
bombs fell is a legal prerequisite to implement its resolutions. The truth of
the matter is that the Libyans are shocked to
lose track of the bombs that went off ever since the protection of civilians
was, the UN said, "completed
with precision".
This is the first time the Libyans
see their borders being left open to destroy the fabrics of the Libyan society.
This is the first time in Libya's entire history that the (protected) Libyans
are subjected to seeing their children's decapitated heads roll across the floor
of glorious Benghazi – the city where victorious foreign leaders chanted "les
arab" to an audience half Berber – the city that is now heavily punished
with assassinations and bombs.
Such "humanitarian" protection imposed by the UN on sovereign
Libya without a Libyan referendum and without an exit strategy is therefore questionable.
Protection, it seems, no longer means a state
of safety felt by the protected as much as it is an imposed state of chaos to
effect yet more "failed states".
The
following are among the current benefits Libya has
ended up with after the humanitarian intervention:
the grotesque killing of Gaddafi;
regime change to the worse;
imposition of unjust Constitutional Declaration by the NTC;
creation of complicated electoral system(s) and laws;
creation of hundreds of political parties while Libyans were still blasting
each other;
destruction of Libya's entire infrastructure;
destruction of central authority;
dismantling border security;
assassination of Libyan
civilians and officials;
assassination of foreign workers and visitors including women;
violation of foreign women;
crime rates going up by 500% including murder and robberies;
burning forests;
demolishing holy shrines and sacred tombs;
infestation of Libya with radical groups;
infestation of Libya with deadly militias;
financial corruption at its best;
administrative corruption at all levels;
destruction of Libyan law;
obliteration of Libyan values that once made Libya one of the safest countries
in the world (on par with Greenland);
introduction of terrorism to Libya;
destruction of Libyan army;
destruction of Libyan police;
terrorising the Libyan civilians with
bombing campaigns;
Libya's first suicide bomber strikes Bersis in 2013;
setting up the Libyans against each other;
oil cuts, power cuts, road cuts, internet cuts, and boycotts;
protests, demonstrations, strikes, and bloody clashes across the stricken
country;
the Berbers' aspirations for dignity and constitutional recognition were
labeled "foreign agenda" once again;
the Berbers' aspirations for constitutional recognition were dashed by the
unjust Constitutional Declaration;
tribal tension and conflicts simmering in the background;
chaos across all government departments;
plundering Libya's wealth on sponsoring violence across
the region and even on dictators such as Sudan's Bashir;
kidnapping human rights activists;
kidnapping free Libyans;
kidnapping and torturing journalists;
kidnapping children (for ransom);
car stealing at gun point;
car bombs;
attacking government offices including those of the GNC and the PMO;
attacking headquarters of various newspapers and media outlets;
flooding Libya with fake goods and poisoned and outdated foods;
flooding Libya with alcohol, narcotics and tramadol;
flooding Libya with illegal immigrants (and thus possibly diseases);
archaeological plunder, vandalism and robberies;
infestation of Libya with
weapons of all kinds;
123,200 Libyans may suffer from severe PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder);
220,000 Libyans are predicted to have 'severe depression' as a result of
being exposed to a high level of political terror;
turning Libya into "the Tesco of
the world’s illegal arms trade" – the largest arms black supermarket
in the world [0].
arming the whole region with advanced Libyan weapons – first sold to installed
Gaddafi during his long 42-year dictatorial reign, stashed in certain location
(including 41 sites in Zintan alone), and then let loose during the war campaign
while advertising their locations with a warning: these munition dumbs extend as
far as the eye could see without a single guard to be seen [ – so what are
you waiting for]?
finally the UN now says (in 2015) that 2.44 million Libyans are in need of
protection. Hence, another revelation that may harbour another implied objective,
or objectives, since the whole of Libya now has been turned into a "Jihadist
Wonderland" threatening Europe with immigrants and terror. The rest is
easy to guess.
The Story of The No-Fly Zone Over [Some Selected Parts of] Libya
No one knows how or why the no-fly zone to protect civilians
was imposed on the Libyan people without a public referendum,
nor how the conspicuous transitional council was quickly formed and suddenly came to speak for the whole of Libya, without even publishing
all their names, and despite the reported Qaida flicker and radical infiltration.
Acting upon an invitation from such conspicuous council is not like
asking the Libyans themselves. The speed with which the no-fly zone was imposed
in response to the imaginary massacre is also astonishing, compared to the
total silence in response to the real massacres still being committed across
the stricken country and the whole region for that matter.
Nonetheless, as soon as Libya was destroyed back to square
one, the NTC shocked the Libyans once more when they admitted being "helpless" and "powerless" to
effect any of the obligations they stepped forward to implement, and instead
urged "armed civilians" including teenagers and criminals to respect the law
they do not have. Strange but true.
In fact many Libyans were shocked to see the scale of the
bombing campaign that followed the NFZ and exclaimed: "we
only asked for a no-fly zone" in the sky. Even the President of the mostly dictatorial
Arab League expressed
his shock on the day following the first night of the devastating bombing campaign,
but by the evening he was brought back to the table by dedicated
diplomacy, of course.
Defector Mahmoud Jibril himself, NTC's transitional prime minister
at the time, was reported to have made it clear to European leaders
that the no-fly zone should not include any military intervention nor
boots on the ground. It later emerged that Libya was infested with foreign forces:
"special" boots
on the ground, CIA operatives [6], E-Squadron specialists, General-Advisors and
Special Forces [7]; "training rebel groups" and pin-pointing
target coordinates [8; 9] for the "pilots" in the sky, when Resolution
1973 excludes any "foreign
occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory" [10].
17 February 2011: the official date assigned
to the February Uprising in Libya, which was started on the 15th of February
2011 by peaceful women and children in Benghazi.
19 February 2011: reports of civilians using
"weapons" against government forces began to emerge from Zawiya and
Misrata. However, according
to the Report of the Independent Civil Society Fact-Finding Mission to Libya [17], "The
UN Commission of Inquiry noted 24 February 2011 as the date of commencement of
the armed conflict"
[16]. It is clear that the government is
engaged in an armed conflict with armed groups, some of whom appeared to be
of foreign origin, and therefore all the following calls for a no-fly zone
over Libya to protect civilians were based on false assumptions because the government
was engaged in armed conflict with armed groups (including foreign radicals)
long before the no-fly zone was imposed on Libya. When Aljazeera asked one Libyan
rebel about the foreign mercenaries fighting alongside the rebels, the rebel
replied that the foreign mercenaries are helping "them"
with the revolution – even though the definition of revolution prohibits the
intervention of foreign forces, let alone the military might of 18 powerful states.
21 February 2011: Libya's UN deputy representative,
Mr. Ibrahim Dabbashi, cried for imposing a no-fly zone on all Tripoli [3].
23 February 2011: France's Sarkozy urged the European Union to freeze Gaddafi's
family's funds abroad.
25 February 2011: Western leaders began talking about "Gaddafi Must
Go", thereby declaring their support for the rebels.
28 February 2011: British Prime Minister calls
for a military no-fly zone [4].
02 March 2011: America dismisses the no-fly
zone as "loose talk",
but then it emerged later that it has led the attacks on Libya via its Odyssey
Dawn Operation. The statistics provided by the Guardian show the bulk of the
military force used to bomb Libyan targets was indeed American.
08 March 2011: British Labour party, "accuses the government of "serial
bungling" over the situation in Libya, following the botched SAS mission" [5].
09 March 2011: defector Mustafa Abdul Jalil,
the self-appointed head of the NTC, calls for a no-fly zone over Libya, "without
any direct military intervention" on Libyan soil, and without any consultation
with Libyan people.
10 March 2011: the International Committee
of the Red Cross calls the events in Libya an "armed conflict" [16],
meaning the peaceful protesters have become armed rebels by then, and therefore
the no-fly zone was imposed on Libya after the peaceful protesters have become
armed rebels.
17 March 2011: the UN Security Council imposes
a no-fly zone over Libya to protect "civilians" by "all
necessary measures" – that is including authorised
violence against a sovereign state.
The resolution demands an immediate end to violence and attacks against civilians
in Libya. The resolution failed to mention if Gaddafi has the right to continue
his attacks against the "armed
rebels" and the reported foreign radicals who were engaged in armed conflict
with government troops.
19 March 2011: France begins the bombing
campaign of Libya, precisely at 16:45 GMT, with around 20 French planes, before
they were joined by British planes and America's first cruise missiles [5] reportedly
without authorisation from US Congress [11; 12]. In total 18 countries took part
in the military operations against Libya, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway,
Holland, Canada, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Spain, Italy,
Greece, Turkey, UK, USA, Qatar, Jordan and United
Arab Emirates.
References
[0] The Sunday Times, London, 16/03/2013.
[1] un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm
[2] nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/the-deeper-blame-for-benghazi.html?pagewanted=2&_r=4&emc=eta1
[3] english.globalarabnetwork.com/201102219941/Libya-Politics/libyan-ambassador-to-un-urges-international-community-to-stop-genocide.html
[4] bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-politics-12821505
[5] bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-politics-12821505
[5] bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12795971
[6] nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html?ref=africa
[7] bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16573516
[8] guardian.co.uk/news/defence-and-security-blog/2011/oct/27/sas-libya
[9] guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/23/sas-troopers-help-coordinate-rebels
[10] temehu.com/un-resolutions-1970-1973.htm
[11] guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/15/irs-ap-benghanzi-not-real-scandals
[12] nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
[13] online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704360404576206992835270906.html
[14] lana-news.ly/ara/news/view/34111/ (صحف جزائرية الجيش الجزائري يأمر وحداته
على الحدود مع ليبيا بعدم التنسيق الأمني مع كل وحدة عسكرية غير نظامية موجودة على
الحدود الجزائر)
[15] worldtribune.com/2013/11/01/al-qaida-said-storing-huge-arsenal-of-sams-in-algeria/
[16] Human
Rights Council, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/17/44, 1 June 2011, para. 65
[17] The Report of the Independent
Civil Society Fact-Finding Mission to Libya, January 2012
[18] dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3287982/I-m-sorry-Blair-takes-blame-Iraq-War-admits-conflict-caused-rise-ISIS-astonishing-apology-TV-show.html
