THE HANDSTAND

 2ndWINTER2011 November-December


Libya. Cynthia McKinney has the last word - and let us not forget that she described what was really going on...


 

From Rt Hon Cynthia McKinney:



I really do appreciate this discussion.  But why is it that a discussion of Libya and NATO morphs into a discussion on Qaddafi?  Libya is a country of rich traditions and 7 million people.  To speak of Qaddafi instead of the war of aggression carried out against the people of Libya is changing the subject.  The "events" that sparked the UN Resolutions NEVER happened.  Even the man who lodged the complaint at the UN in Geneva admits that he got all of his information from the National Transitional Council members--"mouth to ear"--and that there was never any evidence to support the statements he made to the UN.  His name is Sliman Bouchiguir and Julien Teil interviewed him and I have sent the link out to the interview several times on my e-list.  The video (for Europeans) can be found at laguerrehumaintaire.com.  ; Why was an unknown journalist able to go directly to the source and get the truth but none of the big named journalists, writers, authors, "progressives," "antiwar activists" chose to investigate the claims rather than parrot them?  Lessons learned after the complete destruction of a country is not good enough.  I can only conclude that, once again, an AFRICAN country was left to rot by everyone who is supposed to matter because AFRICANS and AFRICA don't count in the "progressive," "anti-war" scheme of things.  I went there and wrote about the war crimes being committed by NATO.  But, no one listens to me.  I understand that.  In the scheme of things my voice is muted.  And I'm an AFRICAN, too.  And for those who forgot, Libya is in AFRICA. 

Israel, what did the AFRICANS on your list have to say???  I am highly offended by the discourse that has taken place around this.  But, I must not omit the fact that some people got it immediately and understood what was happening.

Stephen Lendman is one of them.  He wrote about it tirelessly.  As a rare champion of truth.  Michel Chossudovsky "got it" immediately and understands exactly what is going on.  And than goodness for them.  Dirk Andriessens of the Brussells Tribunal on Iraq "got it."  There are many who got it, but they are not the ones who command great audiences on the global scene.  In the end, for them, it was just easier to remain silent or become a cheerleader for the macabre.

There are enough videos of the horrors visited upon the people of Libya, I don't need to add any more to this thread.  But if there are any individuals on this list who want access to more information, the many writings of Mahdi Nazemroay introduced by me, the video of Bouchiguir, other videos of ICC or NATO people saying that maybe the events in Libya were exaggerated but there were other crimes of the past that could justify the action or USA's other man in Libya Mahmoud Jibril saying that Qaddafi knew too many secrets of too many western leaders and so all of Libya and him had to be punished or Qaddafi's wife saying that the US wanted a military base in Libya and had the Jamahiriya said yes, none of this would have happened.  The videos of the dark-skinned Libyans being tortured and killed, NATO use of depleted uranium and now enriched uranium, white phosphorus; journalists tweeting civilian targets in to NATO for bombing.  War crimes, crimes against hum anity, torture, ethnic cleansing, the crime of aggression, collective punishment, persecution.

Libya is for Libyans.  They choose everything about their country.  When the Imams were going to make peace, they were bombed by NATO.  I recently posted the video of the interview that I did with the only one of them who survived.  Now, there is video posted of him being tortured.  Anyone who supported this Western barbarity based on a lie has forfeited any right to characterization as "principled leadership." After-the-fact "learning" will not return the antebellum lives and loves lost of the Libyan people.