Qaddafi's U.S. senators we need to retire now
Compiled, edited, re-reported with comment by Carolyn Bennett
Compiled, edited, re-reported with comment by Carolyn Bennett
U.S. Senators Lieberman and McCain’s love fest ("911 war on terror" arming) then fight with Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi, Libya’s head of state, as compiled in the WikiLeaks website's latest releases of conversations in diplomatic cables.
Senator McCain (2009): Libya’s relationship with the U.S. [is] ‘excellent’
Senator Lieberman: ‘We never would have guessed ten years ago that we would be sitting in Tripoli, being welcomed by a son of Muammar al-Qaddafi.’
Lieberman: ‘Libya is an important ally in the war on terrorism; … common enemies sometimes make better friends.
Lieberman and McCain (2009): Libya’s cooperation on counterterrorism … [justified] the interest of both countries to make the relationship stronger.
McCain Tweets of: “an ‘interesting meeting with an interesting man’ (Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi)."
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| Libya Britannica image |
McCain Tweets two years later [now allied with anti-Qaddafi government factions]: “‘I think we could do the same thing that we did in the Afghan struggle against the Russians.
“‘There are ways to get weapons in without direct U.S. supplying.’”
First, arm Qaddafi; then arm whoever opposes Qaddafi.
First, arm Qaddafi; then arm whoever opposes Qaddafi.
Senator Graham
Cables released by WikiLeaks unveil shadowy figure Lindsey Graham. Re-reported by McClatchy Newspapers, “The cables show Senator Lindsey Graham (member of Senate Armed Services Committee) as “a kind of shadow secretary of state negotiating an array of sensitive matters, from terrorism and war to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, North Korea’s missile tests and China’s currency manipulation.”
August 14, 2009 — In the middle of the night in a tent in Tripoli, U.S. Senator Graham accompanied by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman “help deliver eight C-130 Hercules military transport planes Libya had purchased in 1972 …
“‘Senators McCain and Graham [convey] U.S. interest in continuing the progress of the bilateral relationship and pledge to try to resolve the C-130 issue with Congress and Defense Secretary Gates.’”
This meeting, according to the reports, is mostly with Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s son, national security adviser Mutassim Qaddafi, as the elder Qaddafi was silent, having been fasting in preparation for Ramadan. The younger man complains that the United States “had not adequately rewarded Libya for giving up its nuclear program in 2003 and renouncing terrorism.”
The dark record these ten years seems abundantly clear. U.S. officials have tied a “911” noose around the necks of Americans and used the mantra “911” to conduct endless wars on the world’s peoples — and most especially on those (without power or momentarily out of favor) who adhere to or are believed to practice the religion of Islam.
The “911” mantra is also used as cover or distraction for greed-motivated, nefarious deeds (assassination, plunder, resources looting, repression, law breaking, abuse of human rights, wide-ranging destruction of life, property, relationships) right across the world including in North America and particularly in the United States of America.
U.S. 911 and Greed Wars alphabetically
AFGHANISTAN
Despite the presence of some 150,000 foreign troops in this war-torn country, the security situation deteriorates daily.
Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 reached its worst levels since the Taliban “were toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.”
UN figures released in July 2011 show that the first six months of 2011 were “the deadliest of the war for ordinary Afghans: 1,462 killed, a rise of 15 percent over the same period last year.”
Today, at least four people died in this foreign aggression. Fourteen others suffered wounds when a bomb exploded at an outdoor mosque in the Almar district of Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan. “The victims had been praying.”
BAHRAIN
People around the world are participating in the “International Quds Day” to show their solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.
Quds Day demonstrations have been planned in Pakistan, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and several other countries. The U.S. states of Michigan and California, the city of New York, and the Canadian capital city of Ottawa are cities where people plan to come out to express opposition to the continued occupation of Palestinian lands by the Tel Aviv regime.
Today, in defiance of a government ban on Quds Day rallies in Bahrain, protesters have taken to the streets to mark the international event and have set fire to the Israeli flag.
Witnesses say hundreds of Bahrainis took to the streets in the capital, Manama, and several villages to protest against the government ban on the anti-Israeli rally and to show solidarity with Palestinians.
Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic, in August 1979 declared the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as Quds Day, calling for international rallies in support of Palestinians and against Israel.
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| Jerusalem Britannica image |
Jerusalem or Al-Quds is an ancient city of the Middle East that since 1967 has been wholly [occupied] under the rule of the State of Israel.
LIBYA
“If foreign troops were to go to Libya ... these troops will be seen as occupying forces, and this will provoke a resistance from within the Libyan people who have fought in the past against the Italian occupation,” the political editor of Al Quds online said in an interview with Press TV.
Khaled El Shami said the presence “especially American forces may invite al-Qaeda to open a front in the North African country.”
Shami spoke shortly after the head of the National Transitional Council’s executive board —whom the ANSWER Coalition has termed a Western-oriented Benghazi-based neoliberal before defection part of Libya’s government, diplomatic corps and military ranks — “did not rule out a need for the presence of international military forces in Libya for the establishment of peace and security in a post-Qaddafi Libya.”
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| Nigeria Britannica image |
NIGERIA
A large land abundant in natural resources — notably large deposits of petroleum and natural gas
According to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria claimed the lives of over 14,000 people between 1999 and 2009.
Today, 18 people died when a massive explosion hit a United Nations building near the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. More than 60 people suffered wounds.
Note: Nigeria’s most economically valuable minerals are crude oil, natural gas, coal, tin, and columbite (an iron-bearing mineral that accompanies tin). Petroleum was first discovered in 1956 and is the most important source of government revenue and foreign exchange.
Most of the oil output comes from onshore fields in the Niger delta, although an increasing proportion of the crude is produced at offshore locations.
There are vast reserves of natural gas, but most of the gas produced is a by-product of crude oil; in the past, this was burned off, as there was no market; but efforts have been made to use more of this commodity.
Since 1984, oil companies have been required to re-inject into the ground some of the natural gas produced in the course of pumping crude oil.
Production has often been interrupted by protests, as the inhabitants of the oil-producing regions have demanded a larger share of the revenues.
Nigeria (officially Federal Republic of Nigeria) is a country located on the coast of western Africa. It has an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square km); and is bordered to the north by Niger, the east by Chad and Cameroon, the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and to the west by Benin.
Nigeria is not only large in size (larger than the U.S. state of Texas); it is also Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria has a diverse geography, with climates ranging from arid to humid equatorial. However, Nigeria’s most diverse feature is its people.
Nigerians speak more than 400 languages, including Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio, Tiv, and English.
GREED TAKES without mending, restoring or returning commensurate with labor and human costs
UK Telegraph (August 25, 2011) reports, “UN criticizes Shell over oil spills in Nigeria.”
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| Niger Britannica image |
A United Nations report criticizes Royal Dutch Shell for “contributing to oil spills in the Niger Delta that will need the world’s largest-ever environmental clean-up operation.” The report “found excessive contamination at 10 out of 15 sites that were meant to have been made safe by the joint venture between Shell and the Nigerian national oil company, called Shell Petroleum Development Company. … The UN said ridding Ogoniland’s rivers and drinking water of pollution could take 30 years and cost billions.”
PALESTINE
More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine based on the 1967 borders.
Today, the El Salvadorian government has formally announced its recognition of Palestine as an independent state as the Palestinians plan to petition the UN for full membership at the world body.
SOMALIA
The mayor of Mogadishu has slammed the World Health Organization as well as the UN Children’s Fund for not providing enough health service.
At least 90 more people have died “due to hunger and cholera,” according to Somali officials. They blame UN health and children’s agencies for the increasing death toll. Doctors in Mogadishu hospitals say overcrowding at the camps has been the main challenge to health workers.
War creates and sustains poverty, disease, misery. No one should have to live this way and no one should have to depend on international agencies or foreign nationals for the basic essentials of life.
SYRIA
Since the beginning of the unrest in mid-March, hundreds of people, including security forces, have died in the conflict in this country.
Today, at least eight Syrian security forces died and many others suffered injuries in two separate attacks in the crisis-hit province of Homs.
YEMEN
Yemeni anti-government demonstrators continue protests across the country to achieve what they describe as the “goals of their revolution.” Since the crackdown on anti-government protesters began in January, hundreds of people have died and many more have been injured in Yemen.
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| San'a, Yemen, Britannica image |
This week on Wednesday protesters staged demonstrations in the capital Sana’a as a funeral procession was being held for Yemen’s Chairman of the Shura Council Abdulaziz Abdulghani, who had died on Monday as a result of injuries sustained in June during a rocket attack on the presidential palace.
Sources and notes
“Wikileaks: Sen. John McCain Tried to Help Qaddafi Get U.S. Military Hardware” (Michael Allen), August 24, 2011, http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/wikileaks-sen-john-mccain-tried-help-gaddafi-get-us-military-hardware
On Wednesday, the website WikiLeaks released a U.S. diplomatic cable that reportedly that Arizona Senator John McCain promised to help Libyan [head of state] Muammar Qaddafi obtain U.S. military hardware and become one of the United States’ partners in the war on terror.
“The agreement took place on August 14, 2009, and included Senators Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins along with Senate Armed Services Committee staffer Richard Fontaine.…
“The deal that was being made included helicopters and non-lethal weaponry meant to ensure the security of Libya. In exchange for this and assisting Libya in rehabilitating its image, Qaddafi promised to send his enriched uranium supplies to Russia for disposal.”
Qaddafi later abandons the uranium deal.
“WikiLeaks cables show Graham as senator-diplomat” (James Rosen, McClatchy Newspapers), July 12, 2011,
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/01/113414/wikileaks-cables-show-lindsey.html
“Graham’s meeting with Qaddafi and many other such episodes are described in secret State Department cables that McClatchy obtained from WikiLeaks, a self-described ‘nonprofit media organization’ that has released tens of thousands of U.S. diplomatic documents in the last year in defiance of government secrecy laws.”
“WikiLeaks: McCain promised Qaddafi military help two years ago” (Dylan Smith Tucson Sentinel dot com), August 25, 2011, http://www.prisonplanet.com/wikileaks-mccain-promised-gaddafi-military-help-two-years-ago.html
Last Sunday McCain and Graham said, “‘Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our air power.’”
LIEBERMAN, McCAIN, GRAHAM
Elected as a Republican in 1982 to the Ninety-eighth Congress; reelected to the Ninety-ninth Congress in 1984, elected to the United States Senate in 1986, John Sidney McCain III represents the U.S. state of Arizona; and has sat on the Committee on Indian Affairs, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000303. In the 1980s, McCain was implicated in the Savings and Loan corruption scandal.
McCain was one of “The Keating Five” United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, which ignited a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The five senators were Alan Cranston (Democrat of California), Dennis DeConcini (Democrat of Arizona), John Glenn (Democrat of Ohio), John McCain (Republican of Arizona), and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (Democrat of Michigan). They were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of Charles H. Keating, Jr., chair of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB). The FHLBB subsequently backed off taking action against Lincoln. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
Elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1988, Joseph I. Lieberman represents the U.S. state of Connecticut and has sat on the committees on Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000304
Elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives in 1995 [one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1998 to conduct impeachment proceedings against U.S. President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton] and elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 2002, Lindsey O. Graham represents the U.S. state of South Carolina. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000359
U.S. 911 and Greed Wars alphabetically
“Bomb attack kills four Afghan civilians,” August 26, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195934.html
“Bahrainis defy Quds Day rally ban,” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195907.html
“World marks International Quds Day,” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195864.html
“‘Foreign troops in Libya, big mistake,’” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195809.html
“Nigeria blast death toll reaches 18,” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195908.html
“UN criticizes Shell over oil spills in Nigeria.” August 25, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8682461/UN-criticises-Shell-over-oil-spills-in-Nigeria.html
“El Salvador recognizes Palestine,” August 26, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195793.html
“Anti-Israel protests held in Saudi Arabia,” August 26, 2011, “As people across the world rally in support of Palestinians, thousands of anti-Israel protesters have taken to the streets in several Saudi Arabian cities and mark the International Quds Day.”
“Israel snipers use laser device to kill,” August 26, 2011, “The Israeli military has developed an operational doctrine for snipers using laser designators in anticipation of violent demonstrations following the Palestinian's declaration of statehood.”
“‘90 Somalis die of hunger, cholera,’” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195804.html
“Armed groups kill eight Syrian troops,” August 26, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195896.html
Yemenis continue anti-regime protests, August 25, 2011,
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195662.html
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