The Libyan disaster

A day after Clinton’s order, Gathafi was captured and killed near his hometown of Sirte. Today, with Libya having become a “failed state” (the description of BBC experts), all of these facts are being glossed over by the Western media as they attempt to rewrite history.

Today, they say Islamic partisans have sundered Libya into fiefdoms, where the centre has become a vacuum. African culture enjoins us not to rejoice at other people’s calamity, but it galls greatly that Libyans refused to be guided by the lessons of history. They allowed the duplicitous West to lure them into destroying their own country.

I have no access to the huge resources available to the BBC, but I more or less predicted the mayhem that would follow the NATO invasion of the country.

For example, I sent a letter with a list of questions to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, asking why The Netherlands deemed it necessary to join a war to destroy Libya. Aad Meijer of the Press and Information Department of the Dutch foreign ministry wrote back to me, saying:

“The Dutch government is very concerned about the situation in Libya. It condemns the use of force by Qaddafi [his spelling] against peaceful demonstrators, his own people. In doing so it considers Qaddafi to have lost his legitimacy. Qaddafi should step down and give space to a negotiated inclusive political solution by all of the Libyan people who respect human rights, minorities and the rule of law.”

Meijer went on: “The NATO mission, Unified Protector, is mandated by UN Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan population from attacks by the Libyan authorities. The Netherlands supports this goal and contributes to the protection of the Libyan population.”

Responding to my question why the Western powers decided to ignore the publicly-stated position of the African Union on Libya, Meijer said: “The Netherlands believes that the crisis in Libya will not be solved through military means alone and calls for a political process. It welcomes all diplomatic efforts, including those of the African Union to broker a political solution and underlines the importance of international coordination of initiatives. In order for a political process to come to fruition the Netherlands believes that a real cessation of hostilities and pull-back from beleaguered cities is required.”

And what would be the response of the Dutch government to accusations that Africa is being re-colonised? Meijer responded: “The Netherlands believes that the future of Libya should only be decided upon by the Libyan people themselves.

It stresses that the conferences on Libya do in no way purport to provide the Libyan people with an outside political solution. The conferences but serve as an international focal and coordination point to ensure effective international support to the Libyan people.”