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Libya News - Apr 20, 2015
VIDEO: 700 feared dead as migrant boat sinks off Libya - Channel 4
VIDEO: Immigrants sailing from Libya saved - The Guardian
EU refugee policies come under fire amid Mediterranean migrant disaster - DW.DE
The EU's asylum policy is to blame for the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean - Spectator Blogs
Interview with Save the Children' Sarah Tyler: ′Restart search and rescue operation′ - DW.DE
Italian Red Cross chief slams lack of response from Europe to migrant crisis - ITV News
NGOs demand humanitarian corridor, lay blame at the feet of Fortress Europe - MaltaToday.com.mt
EU ending migrant rescue missions has not curbed demand, say smugglers - The Guardian
List: The deadliest migrant boat events in the Mediterranean Sea in recent years - usatoday.com
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Prime Minister Matteo Renzi Says Italy Can't Tackle Mediterranean Migrant Crisis Alone - ndtv.com
European Parliament chief Schulz calls for change of EU migration policy - KUNA
Pope Francis asks world to help Italy with migrants - Updated News
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Islamic State Files Show Structure of Islamist Terror Group - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Libya peace talks 'very close' to final accord: UN - Yahoo News
Heavy clashes in central district, suburb of Tripoli - Reuters
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Brutalizers and the Brutalized
The Nasty Blowback from America's Wars
Editor Note: There are historical warnings to countries that inflict violence abroad, that the imperial impulse will blow back on the domestic society with suppression of public debate and repression of common citizens, that the war will come home — as is happening in the United States.
By Ray McGovern
Brutality thrives in American police treatment of common citizens reflecting an ethos of violence that has flourished over the past dozen years with almost no one in authority held accountable. Much of this behavior can be traced back to U.S. wars of choice – and it is not as though we were not warned of the inevitable blowback.
Credit where credit's due...but only where it's due: How Can Obama Claim the Alternative to a Nuclear Deal with Iran is War?
By Dave Lindorff
A kudo to President Obama. But just one.
If he manages to pull off an agreement with Iran on limiting that country's nuclear fuel enrichment program in the fact of determined resistance from Republicans, Neocons, the Israel Lobby and the warmongers in both the GOP and his own Democratic Party, he will have finally earned at least some small portion of the gold in his Nobel Peace medallion.
Libya News - Mar 5, 2015
Oil fields burned by Islamic State militants, Libyan authorities say - EUROPE ONLINE
Libya Declares Force Majeure on Oil Fields in Central Region - WSJ
Libya asks U.N. for arms, jets, tanks to battle Islamic State: letter - Reuters
Why Libya is ringing alarm bells in Italy - The Local
Italy rescues 1000 refugees from Mediterranean over two days, 10 people found dead - The Guardian
US official: ISIS Has Turned Libya Into New Support Base, Safe Haven (VIDEO) - foxnews.com
Libya FM: 5,000 Foreign Fighters Flock to Libya as ISIS Call for Jihadists - newsweek.com
ISIS Sets Sights on the Mediterranean - gatestoneinstitute.org
Abdelhakim Belhadj, a U.S.-backed rebel, reportedly leads Islamic State in Libya - Washington Times
Libya: clashes between army-ISIS in central Benghazi - ANSAMed.it
Another Copt Beheaded in Libya as Patriarch Meets Families of 21 Martyrs - Breitbart
The Ancient Sites Now Under Threat From ISIS in Libya - newsweek.com
Egypt gearing up for major attack on militants in Libya - Washington Times
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Coverage of Security Council Briefing on Festering Unrest in Libya - ReliefWeb
Anti-ISIS deal between Tripoli, Tobruk 'never closer': UN special envoy - ANSA.it
UN report paints damning picture of foreign complicity in rearming Libya - libyaherald.com
Rival forces in Libya carry out tit-for-tat strikes before UN talks - timesofmalta.com
Libya's Haftar appointed army chief for recognized government - Reuters
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Using Private Email, Hillary Clinton Thwarted Record Requests - NYTimes.com
Clinton’s E-Mail System Built For Privacy Though Not Security - Bloomberg Business
Why Clinton's Private Email Server Was Such a Security Fail - WIRED
Panel's head Democrat: Make Clinton's Benghazi emails public - CNN.com
Hacked emails: Money from “wealthy Sunni Islamists in Saudi Arabia” financed Benghazi attack, Intel reportedly sent to Hillary Clinton by staffer - wnd.com
State Dept. misled on Benghazi bombing three months before the Sept. 11 attack on the same compound? Declassified Pentagon documents show no response to previous terror strike - wnd.com
VIDEO: Hillary Clinton Avoids Email Scandal at Emily's List Gala, Teases Presidential Run - YouTube
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No more AUMFs! No more ‘unitary executives’!: We’re Already Losing Our Democracy and All Our Freedoms to the 2001 AUMF
By Dave Lindorff
Critics of President Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force AUMF) against ISIS have been focused upon its deliberately obfuscatory and ambiguous language, which they rightly note would make it essentially a carte blanche from Congress allowing the president to go to war almost anywhere some would-be terrorist or terrorist copycat could be found who claims affinity with ISIS.
Libya News - Feb 16, 2015
Full text of Dabiq 7, latest issue of the Islamic State magazine - justpaste.it
Coptic Christian Woman Unwittingly Becomes Focal Point of Islamic Clash With Christianity - aina.org
Sisi warns of response after Islamic State kills 21 Egyptians in Libya - Reuters
VIDEO: Egypt President Sisi condemns 'inhuman criminal killers’ - BBC News
Egyptian Police Prevent Two Islamic State Suicide Attacks in Sinai - Sputnik International
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Libya official warns on spread of Islamic State militant threat - Reuters
Libya's El Sarir oil pipeline remains halted after sabotage: official - Reuters
VIDEO: Explosion at Libya's El-Sarir Oil Field - Yahoo Yahoo UK
Libyan army says retook 2 oilfields from Islamic State - Worldbulletin News
Libya Warns of Oil Shutdown as Attacks Escalate - Bloomberg Business
The Battle for Libya’s Oil - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
With Oil Fields Under Attack, Libya's Economic Future Looks Bleak - NPR
Italy seeks military help as Islamic State seizes Gadaffi home town Sirte - The Times
Italy attempting rescue of 1,000 migrants in Mediterranean - UPI.com
VIDEO: Italy: Coastguard moves to rescue at least 1,000 boat migrants - euronews
Islamic State Sprouting Limbs Beyond Its Base - NYTimes.com
VIDEO: Is Islamic State in control of affiliates in Libya and other countries ? - CNN Video
Sunday show wrap-up: Islamic State dominates - TheHill
Benghazi Committee ‘Confirmed’ Forthcoming Testimony From Hillary Clinton, Will Interview White House Officials - TheBlaze.com
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Obama the war president -- War: Where 69¢ of Each Tax Dollar Goes
By Dave Lindorff
The Nobel Peace Laureate President Barack Obama, the guy who once campaigned claiming one US war -- the one against Iraq -- was a “bad” one, and the other -- against Afghanistan -- was a “good” one, turns out to be a man who, once anointed commander-in-chief, can’t seem to find a war he doesn’t consider to be a “good” idea.
Libya News - Jan 30, 2015
Admirals, generals: Pentagon tapes indict Hillary - wnd.com
Admiral: U.S. could have ousted Gadhafi peacefully - wnd.com
VIDEO: Sen Rand Paul calls out Hillary Clinton on Libya - YouTube
VIDEO: Clinton on Qaddafi: We came, we saw, he died - YouTube
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Congressman: Hillary Clinton agrees to testify to House's Benghazi panel (VIDEO) - CNN.com
VIDEO: Trey Gowdy: I cannot question Hillary on Benghazi if I don't have all the documents - YouTube
Gowdy Comes Out Swinging - FrontPage Magazine
Latest Benghazi documents may be a smoking gun, investigators claim - Examiner.com
Smoking Gun Benghazi Documents Show State Department Lied! - Eagle Rising
State Dept. ready to meet with special committee on Benghazi - AP
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Libyan group loyal to ISIS claims Tripoli hotel attack - THE DAILY STAR
ISIS’s Rise in Libya - POLITICO Magazine
Attack in Tripoli: Islamic State heads west - The Economist
VIDEO: Islamic State Branches Out in North Africa - WSJ
Al-Qaeda ‘Islamic Police’ on Patrol in Libyan City of Benghazi Contested With ISIS - Newsweek
VIDEO: Father of American killed in Libya speaks out - CNN
U.N. says plans future Libya talks within country - Reuters
VIDEO: Will this general be Libya's new leader? - BBC News
Misrata feels economic pinch as Libyan infighting spreads - Reuters
Amnesty calls for UN sanctions, war crimes probe in Libya - Yahoo News
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US sides with a colonizer: Africa's Forgotten (And Festering) Freedom Struggle in Western Africa
By Linn Washington, Jr.
Algiers -- The Western Sahara is not just a section of the famous desert that dominates North Africa.
Libya News - Oct 22, 2014
Three Years After Gadhafi's Death, Libya Slides Into Civil War - ibtimes.com
VIDEO: Libya On The Brink Of New Civil War - Fox News
Libyan army advancing in Benghazi: spokesman - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
Benghazi Medical Centre struggles to keep up as 75 bodies arrive in five days - libyaherald.com
Near Benghazi, Libya's army liberates a ghost town - THE DAILY STAR
VIDEO: Near Benghazi Libya's army liberates a ghost town - Frequency
Libya's persecuted Tawergha people displaced for the 2nd time amid Benghazi clashes - usnews.com
VIDEO ARCHIVE: Islamic militants resist general Haftar’s offensive in Benghazi - YouTube
VIDEO ARCHIVE: Ansar al Sharia Seize Libyan Special Forces Base In Benghazi - YouTube
Libya's Tobruk government calls on army to 'liberate' Tripoli - Middle East Eye
ARCHIVE: Tripoli’s new rulers take over Libya government, oil company websites - Reuters
ARCHIVE: Two rival Libyan governments claim to control oil policy - Reuters
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UN: Islamic State already in Libya and expanding - pangeatoday.com
VIDEO: Libya’s Islamist militants parade with Islamic State flags in Derna - YouTube
Analysis: Islamic State expands in Libya - Al-Monitor
The Islamic State's First Colony in Derna, Libya - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Public lashings follow Derna “Sharia Court” verdicts - libyaherald.com
Islamic State to launch Sat-TV station in Libya: Herald - MaltaToday.com.mt
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EU Council Conclusions on Libya - eu-un.europa.eu
In surprise Libya trip, U.N. chief calls for halt to fighting - Al Arabiya News
VIDEO: UN and EU speak out on escalating conflict in Libya - YouTube
Rival Libyan PM meets Turkish envoy in first known meeting with foreign visitor - Reuters
Gaddafi cousin hopes to participate in Libyan peace talks - Yahoo News
Libyan tribal leaders gather in Cairo for unity talks - Daily News Egypt
Egypt, Sudan to coordinate on Libya unrest - Yahoo News
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Libya-Goldman clash sheds light on formerly secretive fund - FT.com
How Goldman's Libya case could disrupt derivatives - cnbc.com
ARCHIVE: Libya’s Sovereign Fund and Goldman Sachs Clash in Court - NYTimes.com
ARCHIVE: Libyans ‘taken for a ride’ by Goldman Sachs, court hears - FT.com
ARCHIVE: SEC Official Backs Libya Fund’s Claim Against Goldman, According to Court Documents - WSJ
ARCHIVE: Goldman Ordered to Pay Some Costs in Libya Case - NYTimes.com
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Break the Vengeance Cycle: Why We Should Not Go To War Over James Foley
By John Grant
Back in June 2011, James Foley gave an hour-long interview to an auditorium of students from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he had graduated three years earlier with a Master’s degree in journalism. It was 15 days after he had been released from 45 rough days of captivity in Libya. He was a handsome young hero returning to his alma-mater.
A Meditation on Peacemaking: Americans Need to Break the Cycle of War
By John Grant
All we are saying is give peace a chance
-John Lennon
Libya News - July 22, 2014
In a week Libya clashes between rival militias over Tripoli airport kill 47 - Fox News
Libya Airlines Cut Operations 70% After Damage to Planes - Bloomberg
Libya: Airport battles lead to at least US$200-mln losses - asiainsurancereview.com
VIDEO: Tripoli airport destroyed by clashing militias - YouTube
VIDEO: Tripoli Airport: Afriqiyah Airways A330 plane explosion - YouTube
Libyan militias' battle for Tripoli airport forces hundreds of families to flee - The Guardian
Libyan air controllers strike to protest against airport shelling - Reuters
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Seven killed in clashes between army and Islamic militants in Libya's Benghazi - Reuters
VIDEO: Army helicopter bombs Ansar Al- Sharia positions in Abu Atni Benghazi - YouTube
U.N. mission pulls staff from Libya - usatoday.com
Update: Kidnappings, Ransoms and Stability In Libya - The Libyan Insider
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Rebels siphoning off Libya’s oil bring Tripoli to halt - The Times
Eni, Repsol Expatriates Evacuated from Libya - WSJ
Libya asks U.N. Security Council for help protecting oil, ports - Reuters
Libyan Turmoil Sends Oil Prices on a Roller Coaster - WSJ
Libya Has Resumed Oil Exports, But Will It Last? - oilprice.com
Recent Violence Will Hurt Libyan Economy, Oil Revenue, Experts Say - ibtimes.com
Reserves crisis jeopardizes Libya's future - Al-Monitor
Libya will exhaust monetary reserves in 5 years - Al-Monitor
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Egyptian border guards killed at a military checkpoint near Libya, gunmen unknown - www.ajc.com
Algeria foils Ansar Sharia plan to assassinate Al-Sisi - Echorouk Online
Egyptians fear Islamist militants gathering on Libyan border - defenceWeb
Foreign ministry urges Egyptians in Libya to take measures of ‘extreme caution’ - Daily News Egypt
Algeria's Sonatrach recalls workers from Libya - TVC NEWS
Tunisia arrests 63 terror suspects, tightens security around militant hideouts - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
Ex-Libyan rebel commander appeals ruling on British torture case - Reuters
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War Stories: Bad Wars and the Voice of Disillusion
By John Grant
When lo! An angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, . . .
Libya News - June 6, 2014
Libya's Supreme Court Declares PM's Election Illegal - VOA
Haftar: some Libyan officials support al-Qaeda - Al Arabiya News
Interview with Haftar - Al-Monitor
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb urges Libyans to fight rogue general - GlobalPost
Red Cross Suspends Libya Operation After Murder - VOA
Four UN staffers 'roughed up' at Libya airport: boss - THE DAILY STAR
Freed Gitmo detainee becomes al-Qaida Libyan commander - wnd.com
VIDEO: Promotional Video of Batalion Ansar Al Sharia From Benghazi - YouTube
REPORT: Libya: Muslim Brotherhood’s tenuous hold - IISS
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Interview with Tunisia foreign minister - Al-Monitor
Tunisia captures Al Qaida operatives near Libyan border - World Tribune
VIDEO: Tunisia alarmed over armed conflict in neighboring Libya - YouTube
Maghreb countries wary of returning Syria jihadists - Al-Shorfa
Algeria: Arab Spring Has Boosted Terror Groups - ABC News
Algeria deploys 5,000 troops to the Libyan border - Middle East Eye
Jihadist Groups' Threat To U.S. Grows, RAND Report Says - WSJ
RAND Analyst Seth Jones: The Accelerating Spread of Terrorism - WSJ
Increase in Jihadist Threat Calls for New U.S. Strategy to Combat Terrorism - RAND
REPORT: A Persistent Threat: The Evolution of al Qa'ida and Other Salafi Jihadists - RAND
CHART: The number of Salafi-jihadist groups has grown 58% since 2010 - Twitter / RANDCorporation
CHART: These Are The Countries Where Terrorists Pose The Greatest Threat To The US - RAND
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Libya News - May 30, 2014
Rogue Libyan General Resumes Airstrikes Near Benghazi Against Islamist Militants (VIDEO) - VOA
Libya standoff emerges as premier refuses to yield to successor - Reuters
Rival cabinets meet in Libya political chaos, polls to be held June 25 as planned - Yahoo News
Analysis: GNC,-Maetig-versus-Haftar - Al-Ahram Weekly
Current alignment of Libyan militias in response to Haftar - TRAC
Pro-Islamist militia attack Libya interior ministry unit as chaos deepens - unyanews.tv
Libya's Haftar hails electoral win by Egypt's Sisi - Anadolu Agency
Statement (English): Declaration by the Conference of Tribes of Libya - tortillaconsal.com
Libya Disorder Dealing Harmful Blow to Oil and Gas Exploration - ibtimes.co.uk
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Obama’s $5 Billion Counterterrorism Fund Already in Trouble in Congress - The Daily Beast
Africa: Laboratory and Battleground for Pentagon's 21st Century Warfare - RIA Novosti
AU to cooperate with Arab League to resolve Libyan crisis - 4-Traders
Egypt's FM dicusses Libyan and Syrian crises with Algerian PM - Ahram Online
Crisis alert level 3 raised in Libya urging Filipinos to leave - philstar.com
10 Chadians killed in southern Libya - GlobalPost
Islamist Gunmen in West Tunisia Attack Interior Minister’s Home, Killing 4 Guards - NYTimes.com
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Libya News - May 28, 2014
New Libya PM's home attacked as unrest over his rule grows - AFP
Renegade former Libyan general says PM must go, vote must wait - AFP
Libyan Journalist Outspoken Critic of Islamists Shot Dead In Benghazi - AP
Prominent journalist Abu Zeid killed in Libya - Committee to Protect Journalists
Libya: Investigate Killing of Benghazi Editor Abu Zeid - Human Rights Watch
Libya: Police officer guarding diplomats killed in Tripoli - panapress.com
Libya: Ansar Asharia calls for institution of Sharia law in Libya - panapress.com
Eastern Libya oil rebel rejects new government - Reuters
Libya Oil Disruption Worsens Amid Anti-Government Protest - Bloomberg
Libyan Oil May Suffer More Disruption, General Says - Bloomberg
VIDEO: Libyans express little optimism with new PM - Al Jazeera
VIDEO: Libya, where militias reign - France 24
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State Dept. Issues Warning For Americans To Leave Libya Immediately - NPR
Libyan Islamists to U.S.: Don't interfere or face worse than Iraq - Reuters
U.S. Training Elite Antiterror Troops in Four African Nations - NYTimes.com
Report: Libya Militia Stole US Weapons in Raid - AFP
Sisi says Egypt will not allow threats to security from Libya - Reuters
In lawless Libya, Egypt's Sisi becomes a star - Reuters
Algeria 'not ready' to coordinate with Libya's Haftar - Worldbulletin News
Tunisian officials divided over Libya crisis - Al-Monitor
Tunisia economy set to suffer blow from Libya violence - Al-Monitor
Maghreb ministers arrange 'urgent' talks on Libya - Magharebia
Failed security cooperation leads to border problems in Sahel - Al-Monitor
The terrorist threat to energy infrastructure in North Africa - polity.org.za
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Libya News - May 22, 2014
Libya's rogue general Haftar gains stream of new allies - Yahoo News
Military Intelligence and Police Join Libyan Rebel General - Matthew Aid
Two Former Libya PMs Jibril and Zeidan back ex-general’s call to dissolve parliament - FT.com
Oil Rebels Back Rogue Libyan General Khalifa Haftar - ibtimes.co.uk
Haftar: I want to cleanse Libya of Muslim Brotherhood, radicals - Ya Libnan
A Q&A with Khalifa Hafter, the mastermind behind Libya’s new revolt - The Washington Post
Libya to vote next month amid rising unrest - Yahoo News
Libya parliament moves to luxury hotel after militia attack - defenceWeb
Muslim Brotherhood Chief Urges Libya Dialogue - haberler.com
Libyan Muslim Brotherhood: Haftar is trying to repeat the Egyptian scenario - middleeastmonitor
Libya Muslim Brotherhood Statement on General Haftar's Desperate Coup Attempt - Ikhwanweb
Libya jihadists vow to defend Benghazi bastion - Cairo Post
Gunmen kill Chinese engineer in Libya's Benghazi: source - Yahoo News
Libya: Final ICC Ruling on Gaddafi - Human Rights Watch
Libya must immediately surrender Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi to the ICC - Amnesty International
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US Weighs Options in Libya - VOA
US ambassador Deborah Jones says Libyan general Haftar is going after 'terrorists' - Al-Monitor
VIDEO: Pentagon: "Prudent Measure" as Libya Unrest Grows - YouTube
After Benghazi, Specialized Crisis Response Teams Are Now the 'New Normal' - NationalJournal.com
Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt agree to deny Jihadists entry into Libya - Euro Asia News
Tunisia arrests eight "terrorism" suspects from Libya - GlobalPost
Tunisia in the Libyan tempest - Al Akhbar English
Newspaper: Egypt establishing training camps for Libyan rebels - middleeastmonitor
Gunmen attack United Arab Emirates Embassy in Libyan capital - middleeastmonitor
Oil Companies Pull Some Staff From Libya on Security Concerns - WSJ.com
Libya: Enough reserves for 4 years: Central Bank - The North Africa Post
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Libya News - May 20, 2014
Rival militias prepare for showdown in Tripoli after takeover of parliament - The Washington Post
Libya crisis deepens as renegade former general gains control of airbase - The Guardian
Libyan special forces commander says his forces join renegade general - Reuters
Al Qaeda-inspired group vows to fight general who attacked Libya's parliament - Fox News
Outgoing Libyan gov't demands parliament halt work, nullify election of PM - chicagotribune.com
Khalifa Hiftar: career soldier leading Libyan rebellion - The Guardian
Coup leader? CIA asset? Mystery surrounds Libya’s rogue General Hiftar - France 24
VIDEO: Gunmen storm Libya parliament - YouTube
VIDEO: Renegade Libyan General Says Parliament Suspended - YouTube
VIDEO (Arabic): Full Statement of Ex Libyan General on TV: "Parliament Suspended" - YouTube
VIDEO: Libya army orders Islamist-led militias to capital - Yahoo News
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Senior U.S. Diplomat Sent to Libya Amid Political Turmoil - ABC News
Libya evacuation decision 'minute by minute,' U.S. official says - CNN.com
VIDEO: US Marines Evacuation in Libya - CNN
Security concerns delay NATO assistance to Libya - Stripes
Algeria's Sonatrach recalls workers from Libya, land border closed: sources - Reuters
Algeria closed Libya embassy over 'real and imminent threat’last Friday - Al Arabiya News
Tunisia to send 5,000 extra troops to Libyan border because of Libya crisis - Lybia Herald
Saudi Arabia closes embassy in Libya due to security concerns - Reuters
Turkey shuts Benghazi consulate due to security threat - hurriyetdailynews
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Washington Fights Fire With Fire in Libya
How Not to End Violence in a War-Torn Land
By Nick Turse, TomDispatch.com
Is the U.S. secretly training Libyan militiamen in the Canary Islands? And if not, are they planning to?
That’s what I asked a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). “I am surprised by your mentioning the Canary Islands,” he responded by email. “I have not heard this before, and wonder where you heard this.”
As it happens, mention of this shadowy mission on the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa was revealed in an official briefing prepared for AFRICOM chief General David Rodriguez in the fall of 2013. In the months since, the plan may have been permanently shelved in favor of a training mission carried out entirely in Bulgaria. The document nonetheless highlights the U.S. military’s penchant for simple solutions to complex problems -- with a well-documented potential for blowback in Africa and beyond. It also raises serious questions about the recurring methods employed by the U.S. to stop the violence its actions helped spark in the first place.
Ever since the U.S. helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with air and missile strikes against regime targets and major logistical and surveillance support to coalition partners, Libya has been sliding into increasing chaos. Militias, some of them jihadist, have sprung up across the country, carving out fiefdoms while carrying out increasing numbers of assassinations and other types of attacks. The solution seized upon by the U.S. and its allies in response to the devolving situation there: introduce yet another armed group into a country already rife with them.
Follow the Money: Three Energy Export Congressional Hearings, Climate Undiscussed
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
In light of ongoing geopolitical tensions in Russia, Ukraine and hotly contested Crimea, three (yes, three!) U.S. Congressional Committees held hearings this week on the U.S. using its newfangled oil and gas bounty as a blunt tool to fend off Russian dominance of the global gas market.
U.S. Sen Mary Landrieu at the U.S. Sen. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; Photo Credit: U.S. Sen. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Though 14 combined witnesses testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Power and U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, not a single environmental voice received an invitation. Climate change and environmental concerns were only voiced by two witnesses.
Using the ongoing regional tumult as a rationale to discuss exports of U.S. oil and gas obtained mainly via hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), the lack of discussion on climate change doesn't mean the issue isn't important to national security types.
Indeed, the Pentagon's recently published Quadrennial Defense Review coins climate change a "threat force multiplier" that could lead to resource scarcity and resource wars. Though directly related to rampant resource extraction and global oil and gas marketing, with fracking's accompanying climate change and ecological impacts, "threat force multiplication" impacts of climate change went undiscussed.
With another LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal approved by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in Coos Bay, Ore., to non-Free Trade Agreement countries on March 24 (the seventh so far, with two dozen still pending), the heat is on to export U.S. fracked oil and gas to the global market.
So, why wasn't the LNG climate trump card discussed in a loud and clear way? Well, just consider the source: ten of the witnesses had ties in one way or another to the oil and gas industry.
A ‘60-Minutes’ Scandal: Lara Logan, Hotness and Benghazi Gone Wild
By John Grant
Lara Logan is a formidable TV reporter who has covered wars and other stories at significant risk. She’s supremely confident and has a powerful journalistic institution supporting her. But as a would-be ethical journalist, she seems to rely too much on her sexual allure and to be too tight with elite elements of the US military establishment.
Humanitarian Wars and Their NGO Foot-Soldiers
By Daniel McAdams
October 05, 2013 "Information Clearing House - In February, 2011, Soliman Bouchuiguir told a lie. It was a big one. As the head of the Libyan League for Human Rights, Bouchuiguir initiated a petition that was eventually signed by 70 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) demanding that the US, EU, and UN “mobilize the United Nations and the international community and take immediate action to halt the mass atrocities now being perpetrated by the Libyan government against its own people.”
The petition invoked the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, a 2005 UN policy shift away from respect for national sovereignty toward green-lighting “humanitarian intervention,” including with military force, anywhere human rights are suspected of being violated.
Bouchuiguir’s petition was designed to tick all the necessary boxes of the R2P criteria. It reported that Libyan leader Gaddafi was deliberately killing peaceful protestors and innocent bystanders. He was using snipers to fire on Libyans at random, using helicopter gunships and fighter jets to attack, and even firing artillery shells into the crowd. The petition was where we first saw the oft-repeated line that the Gaddafi regime was employing foreign mercenaries against his own people.
Speaking in support of his petition before the UN Human Rights Council a few days later, Bouchuiguir claimed that Gaddafi had already killed 6,000 of his own people and was determined to kill many more. Based on his testimony and the petition signed by the 70 NGOs, Libya was suspended from membership in the UN Human Rights Council. On the strength of that suspension the issue was moved along rapidly to the UN Security Council, where teeth would soon be put into the campaign for military intervention.
What is behind this human rights NGO? The Libyan League for Human Rights is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights, which as an organization took up and added the weight of its large membership to Bouchuiguir’s petition. It should not be much of a shock to learn that the International Federation for Human Rights relies heavily on governmental sources for funding. Governmental funding of NGOs has been an increasingly effective tool for mobilizing popular support for governmental policies. A land or resource grab is hardly as compelling to the masses as a claimed human rights crisis when a foreign intervention is planned.
Given this, it should be no surprise that the US government, through its own well-funded “democracy-promotion” NGO, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), is a major supporter of the International Federation for Human Rights. In fact, NED’s long-serving president, Carl Gershman, was one of the first signatories to Bouchuiguir’s Libya regime-change petition.
In the powerful film, Lies Behind the Humanitarian War in Libya,” filmmaker Julien Teil asks Bouchuiguir whether it was difficult to gather 70 NGOs behind his petition. He replies, “to tell the truth it’s not very difficult at all, cause all NGOs are acquainted.” That is key: the NGOs are all under the umbrella of US and other government-funded organizations like the International Federation for Human Rights. The seeming diversity of 70 signatures is in fact a Potemkin Village, masking the true uniformity of opinion and sponsors.
Why is the story of Bouchuiguir’s petition turning into a UN Human Rights Council action turning into a UN Security Council action turning into a NATO war on Libya so important? His claims were all lies. They were all made up, as he himself admits in the Teil documentary.
Asked months later by Teil how his claims of the number of deaths, rapes, wounded, and missing could be documented, Bouchuiguir replied, “there is no way.” He added that he got the numbers he used from the Libyan rebels themselves, a fact which was never pointed out when the numbers were first cited. The UN Security Council took up his claims, passing the fateful UNSC Resolution 1973 authorizing force against Libya, without investigating them. Pressed one last time in the film for evidence of his claims, Bouchuiguir answered finally, “there is no evidence!”
For his efforts, Bouchuiguir was made Libyan ambassador to Switzerland once the NATO invasion was over and the rebel government was put in place. The international community gathered its NGOs together and moved on to the next target: Syria. Close to 99 percent of the mainstream media articles on Syria rely on a single source, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is a one-man operation in London run by Rami Abdulrahman, whose day job is running a small clothing shop. Once again, one man and an NGO have been able to ignite international opinion in favor of “humanitarian” intervention. It would do us well to more closely examine the role of the NGOs in promoting international conflict, particularly the governments behind them.
After decades US still has huge poison gas stash: Washington Demands Syria Destroy Chemical Weapons Lickety-Split
By Dave Lindorff
The US is demanding, in negotiations at the UN, that all Syrian chemical weapons, stocks and production facilities be eliminated by June 30 of next year. This has an element of hypocrisy, because the US itself has been incredibly slow about eliminating its own stocks of chemical weapons.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has referred to Syria as having one of the largest chemical stockpiles in the world. But the US and Russia both still have stocks of chemicals many times as large. Syria’s neighbor Israel, which refuses to admit it has the weapons and has yet to ratify the treaty banning them, is suspected of also having a large arsenal.
We don’t gas children, we shred them: Obama’s Grotesque Hypocrisy over Cluster Munitions
By Dave Lindorff
Syrian civilians and children should count themselves lucky that mass opposition in the US, the UK and much of the rest of the world to the idea of a US bombing blitz aimed at punishing the Syrian government for allegedly using Sarin gas in an attack on a Damascus neighborhood forced the US to back off and accept a Russian deal to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons.
The Bellicose Obama Regime: Once Again, the Answer Is Bombing
By John Grant
Here we go again.
Polls suggest the American people are fed up after two full-bore wars and the killing of an ambassador in Benghazi following our escapade in Libya. Yet, the Obama administration seems poised to launch another war in Syria.
“We can’t do a third war in 12 years!"
Libyan Door to Syrian Door to Iran
"Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin."
I do assess with varying degrees of horror (some of the varying degrees rather high even) that a lot of people are going to die. And how dare they die from chemical weapons when they should be dying from hellfire missiles and cluster bombs and napalm and depleted uranium and white phosphorous. We have a responsibility to protect these people from dying of the wrong type of weapon and in too small numbers.
I'm in Dallas protesting the rehabilitation of our last criminal president because of the precedents he set for our current criminal president. So, precedents are on my mind. One precedent for an illegal humanitarian NATO war on Syria is, of course, the illegal humanitarian war on Libya two years ago. And the pair of precedents (Libya and Syria) will put the target of the neocon/neoliberal cooperative war project squarely on Iran.
Syria will suffer, of course. There will be no more an example of a humanitarian war that actually benefitted humanity after Syria than before. The precedent will not be one of having accomplished something, but of having gotten away with something.
For some truly illuminating background on what was done to Libya, and some relevant discussion of what awaits Syria (if we don't prevent it), I recommend Francis Boyle's new book, Destroying Libya and World Order.
Boyle served as a lawyer for the government of Libya repeatedly, over a period of decades, more than once successfully preventing a military assault by the United States and the United Kingdom. Boyle details the aggression toward Libya of the Reagan administration: the lies and false accusations, the sanctions, the provocations, the assassination attempts, the infiltration, the blatant disregard for international law.
Boyle's history brings us up to and through the 2011 assault, and traces its precedents to a very similar war over a decade earlier in Bosnia. Boyle finds the unconstitutional and illegal assault on Libya a clear impeachable offense for President Obama. And why would we think otherwise? Only because we let Clinton and Bush get away with everything they got away with. It would seem unfair now to impeach Obama for a crime his predecessors committed as well.
But past, as well as current, presidents can be impeached, censured, prosecuted, and/or publicly shamed. Five of them came to Dallas today; there shouldn't be any trouble finding them. And the criminal attack on Libya can be treated as the crime it was. The excuse of protection was used to quite openly pursue the overthrow of a nation's government, bombing large numbers of civilians in the process, while arming brutal thugs and creating predictable blowback in neighboring nations as well.
In contrast, in Bahrain, nonviolent pro-democracy activists are left to their own devices as a U.S.-backed dictatorship jails, tortures, and murders them.
In Syria, the United States has worked against peace and for violence. That violence is not a justification for further and heightened violence. And every member of an intelligence "community" that announces that Syria might possibly have used a chemical weapon should be doing community service for the people of Fallujah and Basra and Baghdad, not prodding the world's only stupor power into another genocide.
