The Western backed rebel Government that took over Libya with help from Al Qaeda forces, has been implicated in the torture of citizens according to reports from two aid organisations today. This should come as no surprise to the UK Government and international community, who murdered thousands of civilians with NATO bombs and then urged the corporations to rush in and pillage the spoils of war. At no point was freedom and democracy a viable conclusion.
Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders), a group that treats victims of war and disaster, made the decision to end part of their operation in Libya when they discovered many of their patients were victims of torture by extremists within the National Transitional Council. The final straw came when they were told to treat torture victims, only for them to be recaptured and tortured all over again [1].
“Some officials have sought to exploit and obstruct MSF’s medical work,” says Christopher Stokes, MSF General Director.
“Patients were brought to us for medical care between interrogation sessions, so that they would be fit for further interrogation.
“This is unacceptable. Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.”
MSF will continue its mental health support activities in schools and health facilities in Misrata, in addition to its assistance to 3,000 African migrants, refugees and internally displaced people in and around Tripoli.
Amnesty International, the world’s largest Human Rights organisation has also collected shocking evidence that pro-Gaddafi citizens and Black immigrants from Africa have been sent to makeshift detention centers where the torture takes place [2].
The torture is being carried out by officially recognised military and security entities as well by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework.
Detainees, both Libyan and foreign nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, told Amnesty they had been suspended in contorted positions, beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars and wooden sticks, and given electric shocks with live wires and Taser-like electro-shock weapons. The patterns of injury observed by the organisation were consistent with their testimonies. Medical reports seen by Amnesty also confirmed the use of torture on several detainees, a number of whom died in custody.
The majority of detainees being targeted are Libyans believed to have stayed loyal to Colonel al-Gaddafi during the recent conflict. Foreign nationals, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, also continue to be randomly detained, including in connection with their irregular legal status, and some are tortured.
Despite meetings and letters from the charities to both the Libyan rebels and western Governments, no formal investigation has been carried out.
The UK Foreign Office issued the following yesterday evening:
“The MSF report is shocking and the Libyan authorities should thoroughly investigate the claims. We condemn all human rights abuses and have repeatedly made clear that the transitional government must live up to the standards that it has set for itself and make a clean break with the past.” [3]
The hypocrisy and lack of responsibility shown in this statement is nothing short of sickening. The “intervention” was sold to the public as a way to prevent civilian casualties at the hands of Gaddafi. No explicit evidence was ever shown of Gaddafi’s crimes, but if we take their reasoning at face value it was still an utter failure. Thousands of civilians were obliterated by NATO’s air strikes [4]. Invading a sovereign country and killing civilians is itself the most extreme form of human rights abuse.
Secondly to then brush off the reports and leave it all at the doorstep of the supposed “government” of Libya to investigate, just goes to show how much Cameron and Co really care about freedom and democracy in the region. If the operation was to liberate the people how exactly does bombing the hell out of them, and handing the reigns over to a rag-tag bunch of Islamic extremists that are torturing citizens, anything close to liberation?
Why Is This Happening?
If you haven’t figured it out already, our Government and its allies in the US and Europe are liars. The attack on Libya, like all modern conflicts is about empire and economics. The majority of mainstream news coverage in the lead up to the conflict was propaganda to get the liberals and wider public on board.
Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the 9th largest in the world. The cost of oil production is also one of the cheapest, at around $1 per barrel. About 75% of Libya has remained unexplored “due to sanctions and stringent fiscal terms imposed by Libya on foreign oil companies” [5]. With Gaddafi out of the picture this opens great potential for corrupt western oil companies. As Defense Secretary Phillip Hammond brazenly told the BBC:
“Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and other companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Libya.” [6]
Libya was also a growing economic powerhouse. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that the out of control western financial system and its worthless fiat currencies are on an apocalyptic downward spiral. Gaddafi was planning to secure the whole of Africa’s economy with a gold backed currency, giving it more intrinsic value than our useless paper and copper.
“If Gaddafi had an intent to try to re-price his oil or whatever else the country was selling on the global market and accept something else as a currency or maybe launch a gold dinar currency, any move such as that would certainly not be welcomed by the power elite today, who are responsible for controlling the world’s central banks,” says Anthony Wile, editor of the Daily Bell [7].
How Did They Pull It Off?
“We didn’t have many people that can fight here. Most people supported Gaddafi,” said a British resident who flew back to his native Libya for the conflict [8].
Most people supported Gaddafi?
We were told there was a civil war brewing in Libya. That would imply that there was a significant split in public opinion that had reached armed violence. However most of the evidence suggests that the majority of citizens were pro-Gaddafi and armed conflict began between a minority of rebels and the state authorities. When a minority of citizens began rioting in the UK last summer, the police moved in to stop them. It’s not that dissimilar. In fact as pressure from the West grew, thousands of citizens were marching in the streets in support of Gaddafi [9]. Can you imagine people taking to the streets in Britain to support Cameron?
The West saw this minority as an opportunity and began backing them. It was a Coup d’etat using Al-Qaeda affiliated mercenaries [10]; the west hand in glove with terrorists to take down a sovereign country for corporate gain.
As reported by The Guardian: The Libyan anti-Gaddafi group with past links to al-Qaida had been the focus of British intelligence interest for 20 years.
There might be some right wingers out there that think this dirty covert op, this war crime, this terrorism, is justified because Britain is getting some of the spoils. Think again, unless you own an oil company or bank YOU aren’t getting any of the spoils. In fact the conflict cost the taxpayer up to £2bn [11]. This was as much a war on us as a war on the Libyans.
