Libya on the edge

[Valin]

The Economist: North Africa's top oil producer is dangerously divided

P.J.W. and L.P.

Oct 20th 2014

 

 

ON THE third anniversary of the death of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, Libyas former ruler, the country is violently split. It has two governments and two parliaments. Both the capital, Tripoli, and the second city, Benghazi, are controlled by Islamist militia groups of various stripes. The internationally recognised government has fled to Tobruk, in the east of the country, and is operating from a hotel. Libyan Dawn, a militia now in control of Tripoli, has established a National Salvation Government, and is promising aid for families.

 

(Snip)

 

The conflict is becoming a proxy war. Last week Khalifa Haftar, a former general, launched a fresh assault on Benghazi with support from the Libyan government, the United Arab Emirates and, allegedly, Egypt. The official government claims Qatar is aiding the Islamist rebels. Earlier this month the al-Qaeda linked militia, Ansar al-Sharia (which also controls much of Benghazi), declared an Islamic emirate in the eastern city of Derna. All this is a far cry from the stable democracy on the Mediterranean that Western leaders had hoped for in 2011 when their air campaign helped overthrow Qaddafi.

 

 

 

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Chalk another one up on the Obama Legacy Chart! Yup, that Hope And Change is really paying off!

[Valin]

Libya: Chronology of a collapsing state

Three years after the death of Moammar Gadhafi, Libya is marching toward civil war. The dream of a new start has given way to political anarchy - and most of the country's problems are self-inflicted.

Kersten Knipp

20.10.2014

 

The young revolutionaries weren't themselves. They couldn't possibly be; they had been drugged by Islamist militias of the terrorist network al Qaeda. That's what Moammar Gadhafi claimed at any rate, as he faced the first protests against his 40-year regime in January and February 2011. The revolutionaries vehemently denied his accusations.

 

But that did not stop Gadhafi from striking back at the spreading protests with all his might. Dozens of people lost their lives.

 

The months that followed only sharpened the conflict, particularly in the east of the country, in the province of Cyrenaica, where the rebels took power. They tried to march on the West but were beaten back by Gadhafi's army.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

Admiral: U.S. Could Have Ousted Ghadafi Peacefully

January 22, 2015

From WorldNetDaily:

 

NEW YORK – As the allied bombing of Libya began in 2011, the Obama administration rejected an offer by Moammar Gadhafi to engage in negotiations to abdicate, according to a retired U.S. Navy officer who says he was prepared to broker the deal.

 

Instead, the U.S. decided to provide weapons to “rebels” consisting of al-Qaida-related local Libyan militia and members of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, contends retired Rear Adm. Chuck Kubic.

 

Kubic began email and telephone contact March 21, 2011, between Tripoli and AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany, to broker an offer by Gadhafi to engage in talks with the U.S. under a white flag of truce, according to testimony he provided the Citizens Commission on Benghazi.

http://www.aim.org/benghazi/admiral-u-s-could-have-ousted-ghadafi-peacefully/