I think there would have been a much better chance of overthrowing Qathafi had NATO not got involved. The uprising had been incredibly successful UNTIL there was talk of NATO intervention, David Cameron, Sarkozy and a few days later Obama started saying we need to intervene in Libya because Qathafi's air force was bombing demonstrations, and then some former Qathafi ministers left the government and supposedly went over to the side of the rebels though at that point there seemed to be conflicting accounts of who was actually in charge and started asking for NATO intervention. It was at that point that things started to go badly for them, most likely because the people who had fought to overthrow the regime in Eastern Libya were not happy at their uprising suddenly being hijacked by Qathafi's crooks inviting NATO to bomb their country. Then quickly hardly anyone wanted to fight for the rebel side any more and they started losing badly. Then NATO used their losing as justiication to intervene because they said if they didn't there would be a big massacre in Benghazi (although how they knew this was never explained, seeing how there had not been massacres in any of the other cities captured by Qathafi's forces in that last week). The only thing we know for sure now is there's now a massacre in Misuratah thanks to to NATO. There was an article in the New York Times which pretty candidly explained how the the latecomers to the uprising took over the thing working with the US and removed the people who started it because they were 'delusional' or whatever.
I don't believe NATO really wants the rebels to win, or anyone for that matter. Their actions only make sense if they're just trying to prolong conflict and create destruction. They are responsible for subverting/aborting the initial uprising by maneuvering to put their corrupt friends in charge (who are really no different from Qathafi anyway as in they're hardly revolutionaries or democrats, Mustafa `Abduljalil is a tool of the Saudis). Also remember the SAS team captured outside Benghazi with maps, foreign passports, guns, ammunition and explosives supposedly on a 'diplomatic mission' although this story made no sense whatsoever? Likewise NATO's tactics now don't make much sense if they really want the rebels to win and the war to be over soon, they could be hitting Qathafi much harder if they wanted to a la Iraq without using ground troops. Trying to assassinate Qathafi or his sons is not going to end the war, more likely it's going to make the regime more desperate and rash which is going to result in more Libyans getting killed, but Libya being torn apart now is fine. A civil war where two sides each led by corrupt thugs is the best situation for NATO in Libya for now. Regionally it takes the wind out of the Arab uprisings because whereas Tunisia and Egypt are an inspiration not many Arabs want their country to end up like Libya is now. The best option now is for some kind of ceasefire to stop the pointless bloodshed and destruction as well as stopping any excuse for further NATO intervention (with the backing of the Arab Dictator's League which I'd forgot to mention until now, you think they're in favour of revolutionary movements?). Then in the long term work to overthrow both Qathafi and Abduljalil's regimes or whatever comes out of the rebel side.
And as for NATO having superior firepower and the rebels 'needing' them, should Husayn ibn `Ali have asked for help from Satan in the Battle of Karbala because he needed superior firepower? I don't go along with this logic at all. Martyrdom does not mean defeat. And anyhow if it was true that the vast majority of Libyans support NATO intervention then I'm seeing strikingly little evidence of this. It's kind of odd for one thing that the rebel side quickly started losing lots of fighters and momentum to the extent that it seems now mostly dependent on NATO bombings just as their usurping leadership who'd just hijacked the uprising after defecting from Qathafi's side started requesting NATO intervention. You'd think their numbers would have been bolstered if Libyans were supportive?
Also just as what I think is an interesting side note the uprising is not just in Eastern Libya there's also been a pretty successful movement against the Qathafi regime in the Nafusa Mountains who've been capturing some border posts with Tunisia lately (here's a video of some of them meeting Tunsians at the border) and there has been fighting in this region. However it never gets reported in the Western/Gulf media (I'm not counting a sentence at the bottom of a page long article) and there have been no NATO airstrikes in this region. Nor have any of Qathafi's former ministers defected to this group. Nor do you ever see them waving American flags or chanting pro-NATO slogans. I think this may be what's left of the ACTUAL uprising that wasn't subverted.
I don't believe NATO really wants the rebels to win, or anyone for that matter. Their actions only make sense if they're just trying to prolong conflict and create destruction. They are responsible for subverting/aborting the initial uprising by maneuvering to put their corrupt friends in charge (who are really no different from Qathafi anyway as in they're hardly revolutionaries or democrats, Mustafa `Abduljalil is a tool of the Saudis). Also remember the SAS team captured outside Benghazi with maps, foreign passports, guns, ammunition and explosives supposedly on a 'diplomatic mission' although this story made no sense whatsoever? Likewise NATO's tactics now don't make much sense if they really want the rebels to win and the war to be over soon, they could be hitting Qathafi much harder if they wanted to a la Iraq without using ground troops. Trying to assassinate Qathafi or his sons is not going to end the war, more likely it's going to make the regime more desperate and rash which is going to result in more Libyans getting killed, but Libya being torn apart now is fine. A civil war where two sides each led by corrupt thugs is the best situation for NATO in Libya for now. Regionally it takes the wind out of the Arab uprisings because whereas Tunisia and Egypt are an inspiration not many Arabs want their country to end up like Libya is now. The best option now is for some kind of ceasefire to stop the pointless bloodshed and destruction as well as stopping any excuse for further NATO intervention (with the backing of the Arab Dictator's League which I'd forgot to mention until now, you think they're in favour of revolutionary movements?). Then in the long term work to overthrow both Qathafi and Abduljalil's regimes or whatever comes out of the rebel side.
And as for NATO having superior firepower and the rebels 'needing' them, should Husayn ibn `Ali have asked for help from Satan in the Battle of Karbala because he needed superior firepower? I don't go along with this logic at all. Martyrdom does not mean defeat. And anyhow if it was true that the vast majority of Libyans support NATO intervention then I'm seeing strikingly little evidence of this. It's kind of odd for one thing that the rebel side quickly started losing lots of fighters and momentum to the extent that it seems now mostly dependent on NATO bombings just as their usurping leadership who'd just hijacked the uprising after defecting from Qathafi's side started requesting NATO intervention. You'd think their numbers would have been bolstered if Libyans were supportive?
Also just as what I think is an interesting side note the uprising is not just in Eastern Libya there's also been a pretty successful movement against the Qathafi regime in the Nafusa Mountains who've been capturing some border posts with Tunisia lately (here's a video of some of them meeting Tunsians at the border) and there has been fighting in this region. However it never gets reported in the Western/Gulf media (I'm not counting a sentence at the bottom of a page long article) and there have been no NATO airstrikes in this region. Nor have any of Qathafi's former ministers defected to this group. Nor do you ever see them waving American flags or chanting pro-NATO slogans. I think this may be what's left of the ACTUAL uprising that wasn't subverted.
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