Towards Better Democracy

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11 April, 2011 • 12:01 am 1

Libya: Speak Up!


Once again we have a chorus of Westerners, joined by myself, speaking on behalf of Libya (Libya: Rebels in retreat , Guardian, Comment is Free, April 11, 2011; The enemy we don’t know… , Independent, Jody McIntyre, March 31, 2011, among many examples)

Libyans, please find your voice and let it be heard loud and clear.

Only you can tell us and the rest of the world what it is that you want. The time to speak out is now. If you do not speak out you will watch as, an initiative which was taken by Libyans in the days leading up to February 17, 2011, slips from your grasp. You do not want your future decided by others. If you stay silent you can be assured that this is what will happen.

Najla Abdurrahma ‘s Libya: Making something out of nothing, Al Jazeera English, April 7, 2011, is a fine article, and she makes many good observations. Her point about Bernard Lewis and other Western so called experts on the Middle East is especially telling. I think that Ms Abdurrahma is far too kind to Mr Lewis: (He) “.. may be excused for his ignorance given that he hasn’t spent much time in the Arab world.” No he cannot be excused. His views have past their sell by date and that needs to be recognized.

AJE links the words “hasn’t spent much time” to a report, Resources of Hope published week of March 27, 2003 by Al-Ahram Weekly On-line, where the inestimable, irreplaceable and much missed Edward Said, and a number of political analysts debated the challenges Arabs faced at that point in time.

The link is to that article because Said says, “The two greatest outside influences on the [US] administration’s Middle East policy, are Bernard Lewis and Fouad Ajami. Bernard Lewis hasn’t set foot in the Middle East, in the Arab world, for at least 40 years. He knows something about Turkey, I’m told, but he knows nothing about the Arab world.” As it happens, the Al-Ahram report makes timely reading at this moment.

Would any of us listen to an expert from any other field who had no on the ground knowledge over a 40 year period? Can you imagine an expert on health? Forty years out of date?

What Said understood, and few, if any, in the Middle East have since understood, is that, if you wish for your views to be represented at the tables of discussion where policy is made, you have to make your voice heard.

It is no coincidence that Israel has the most powerful lobby in Washington after the AARP. You do not have to be eloquent, but you have to be there and to be heard. After all, perhaps Nikita Khrushchev’s most eloquent moment was when he banged his shoe on the table during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly, held in New York on October 12, 1960.

Occasional heads of state visits to Washington won’t wash either. You need a lobby. Where is the Libyan lobby in Washington? And in Paris? And in Ankara?

Why do you need to be there?

Because, if you are not, the powers that be; the United Nations, United States, Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, and so on, will make decisions on your behalf. They won’t be to your liking and they may be injurious to your cause and your nation. In fact, they may rebound on those making the decisions.

Dictators tend not to engage in this activity, which is why they are often at the receiving end of the expression of interests of powerful states. But democracies do. Democracies understand that points of view and causes have to be heard.

Democracy is about many things, not least of which is dialogue. The sooner the habit is engaged in, the sooner results are achieved.

The purpose of the dialogue?

To persuade! Libyans, you have a cause that is just, a cause that is right, a cause which most of the United Nations Security Council members feel sympathetic to, even among those who abstained from voting for the No Fly Zone.

So I say to you, Libyans, those of you who seek a Libya free of Gaddafi, you need to get your message out, and you need to get messengers out to convey your message. An envoy is not enough. It has to be a barrage.

Twitter, FaceBook, the Internet are fine at organizing protests. But they do not reach policy makers. Tweeting, “Gaddafi, go,” does nothing but further enrich the founders of Twitter. Saying so to the ear of the powers that be, who already have half a mind to help get rid of him, might clinch it.

Dictators live in isolation. That is a feature of their rule. Democracies do not.

Libyans, as you read this, you may feel that what is said in the Western, or world, press, does not matter. I say to you, “Yes it does.” You should be following what is said closely. Were you to be doing so, you would know that the prevailing view in the world’s capitals is; “We don’t know who you are, we don’t know whom to trust.”

Three countries have so far recognized the Transitional National Council in Benghazi. Do you know which other countries are poised, willing to recognize you? Have you a list of likely prospects?

Why are you not inviting government heads or their representatives to your council? Why should Colonel Gaddafi be favoured? Is his cause any greater or better than yours?

Why is Turkey brokering on your behalf? Why the African Union? And what is this nonsense, a Contact Group meeting in Qatar? Why is it not meeting in Benghazi?

Abdul Fatah Younis impressed many observers when he appeared recently at a press conference, April 5, 2011, which Al Jazeera carried. Why not daily press conferences? Why is the TNC not demanding equal air time every time Gaddafi or his henchmen speak? You are entitled to it and you will get it. You have to ask, you have to demand.

I offer no disrespect to Ms Abdurrahma when I say; Where are the Libyans who live in Libya? Why are they not writing in Al-Ahram, Al Jazeera, the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, El Pais? Why are Libyans not appearing with Anderson Cooper and on all the other network channels?

You may ask once again, “Why do I have to do this?”

Because, “Libya is the only country where the Arab revolution became a military struggle …” (Libya: Rebels in retreat)

Your real audience is in Tripoli, behind a city held hostage by him, a human shield of 2 million people, plus 100 or so captive international press corps, with his own spokespersons commenting ad nauseam on this and that lie. Your situation is not like that of Egypt, or Tunisia, or Bahrain, or Syria , or Yemen.

It is more like that of Palestine, and the difference should frighten you.

Libyans speak up: you have everything to gain by doing so and everything to lose by not.

Malcolm D B Munro April 11, 2011

Filed under: Current Events, , , ,

31 March, 2011 • 1:48 pm 0

An Alert: Two Issues for the Attention of the TNC of Libya


This article is the latest in a series aiming to inform Libyans and to reach policymakers on matters, which because of the conflict on the ground, may not get the attention they merit and this is true of this occasion.

Two issues are worth raising of perhaps equal import.

Calming Fears on Future Libyan Oil Policy

A series of reports over the last seven days, of which those below are a sample, suggest the need for the TNC to make a statement on how the new Libya expects to handle its oil and gas assets. While the oil and gas policy of the future free Libyan government is not known to anybody, the TNC is better placed than most to suggest what future course Libya is likely to adopt.

As the conflict in Libya draws out and no immediate resolution is at present in sight, the need for a competent body to speak on behalf of the Libyan people becomes more urgent by the day.

At the very least, the TNC could calm fears by confirming that Libya will continue to uphold and honour existing agreements. That surely would be the initial position of the new Libyan government whatever policy it sought to put into place after that.

Oil companies fear nationalisation in Libya, Sylvia Pfeifer and Javier Blas, Financial Times, 22 March, 2011,

Oil Companies That Gave ‘Bonuses’ to Libya Also Lobbied Against Disclosure Rule, Marian Wang ProPublica 27 March 2011

Gaddafi Asset Confusion and Future Asset Transfer

The second point to make is that, with the confusion as to the assets to be frozen under the UN mandate, see example story below, the people best placed to clarify the situation are those in Libya with knowledge of who owns what. The TNC would be well advised to establish a Libyan Assets Control Group which could help and communicate with parties seeking clarification on Libyan asset issues, and to assure the safe transfer of those assets in the post-Gaddafi era.

Libya Sanctions Cause Confusion, Cassell Bryan-Low and Deborah Hall, Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2011

US extends Libya sanctions to more oil companies, AP 23 March 2011, carried in the Economic Times of India

Information for Libyans

For Libyans seeking to know more about the oil and gas industry in their country and of the other companies located there here is a link with exhaustive information. And this is the regime’s website, Libyan Investment

The present article constitutes an editorial and represents no other view than the author’s own.

Malcolm D B Munro 31 March, 2011

Filed under: Current Events, , , , , ,

18 March, 2011 • 3:59 pm 3

Gaddafi War Crimes; His Propaganda, Our Media; Dictator Games, Repeat


Supplement dated Thursday March 17, 2011 to Remarks dated Wednesday March 16, 2011 Contained Below

The Arabic is below the English

واللغة العربية هي اللغة الإنجليزية أدناه

Since the Remarks dated March 16, 2011 were posted to this web site, two events and three observations are worth recording.

On Thursday March 17, 2011, a resolution was passed by the United Nations Security Council authorizing a No Fly Zone over Libya. A number of observers commented on the extraordinary strength of the language it contained aimed at protection civilians.

During the course of Thursday March 17, 2011, the United Nations issued a statement strongly condemning the use of excessive and lethal force against its citizens by the government of Bahrain.

War Crimes

The first observation to make is that the mention of the characterization of the violent acts perpetrated by the forces of the regimes in Libya and Bahrain as war crimes needs to broaden into a public discussion so that the serious discussion will serve to deter and restrain the governments in question from such action and ensure that governments which feel threatened by the potential for uprisings are aware that if they engage in such acts are aware of the consequences. Furthermore, if indeed there is grounds for such acts as being construed as war crimes, then the language of the previous resolution passed by the Security Council freezing Libyan assets and addressing concerns of the perpetration of crimes against humanity needs to be amended.

Gaddafi Uses Our Media for His Propaganda

Secondly, the editors of the worlds press need to educate themselves and their journalists both on the regretful situation whereby their media serve as unwitting proxy agents for Colonel Gaddafi’s propaganda campaign and on agreeing terms with which to describe the actions and individuals involved in the uprisings.

Dictator Games, the Repeat

Thirdly, governments and associated agencies need to prepare now on how they will act and speak the next time round. It should now be abundantly clear that the uprisings are going to continue as indeed they are already doing and that repressive regimes, based on the track record established so far for Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and now Bahrain, indicates that, when faced with legitimate demands made by overwhelming peaceful means, the regimes go through a now predictable cycle of acts and behaviours, leading to increasing levels of force, increasingly dreadful acts of violence, resulting in utterly avoidable carnage, injuries and human misery, and damage to property.

What is more, it is imperative that those who have played a leading part in addressing and acting on the uprisings and their outcomes that we have so far witnessed need with all possible speed to come up with strategies and approaches which effectively and realistically address the events as they unfold. There are 22 countries in the Middle East and North African region. Few of them are democracies. The room for more and immediate strife and mayhem is great.

There is no reason next time round we should be rendered hapless, or helpless, you choose which term, inarticulate and not prepared to act. At this point with dictator games we have seen it all before.  Let’s play it our way, not theirs.

In the meantime, with the approach of Friday of each week, we shall be listening closely to announcements from Tripoli.

Middle East Threatens to Descend Into Chaos: Why the UN Needs to Act Now

In the Remarks below, no content has been changed but the text has been heavily revised.

Wednesday March 16, 2011

Introduction

The indications at this moment are that Middle East and the North African region is potentially at the brink of a descent into chaos at a rate which, if it continues, should cause alarm amid acts of utter barbarity and unimaginable ferocity being committed by the hour at the present time by forces of the regimes of Libya and Bahrain, which are indiscriminately perpetrated against their own people.

It seems  prudent to call for the United Nations and the International Community to investigate and act without delay in a manner which brings these savageries to an immediate halt. To not act in a timely manner may result in a humanitarian crisis, and perhaps worse, occurring in the region.

The violence is not being committed by any groups or peoples. The violence is being committed by governments. The ferocity and barbarity of the violent acts by the Bahraini government assisted by forces of the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is not being opposed or resisted by the people of Bahrain against whom it is directed.

A situation, which began in a small village in Tunisia, which spread to Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain, and which threatens to extend to other countries in the region, is now descending into acts of horrendous violence perpetrated at ferocious speed.

These acts are being perpetrated by the forces of repressive regimes against their own peaceful populations.

The crisis is increasing in severity because the increasingly savage acts employed by the forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to quell an uprising in Libya have not been acted against with a view to bringing them to an immediate halt.

World leaders, humanitarian organizations, the United Nations and other relevant agencies have, as yet, not recognized the ferocity and speed with which regimes facing popular uprisings will act to crush by increasingly horrendous means the overwhelmingly peaceful expressions of calls for democracy and representative government by means of free and fair elections.

The lack of action to halt the increasingly dreadful means being employed by Gaddafi’s security forces, which include the use of foreign mercenaries against his own civilian population to eliminate dissent, has given license to other regimes in the region who feel under threat to use tactics and means which exceed even the frightfulness of those employed by Gaddafi.

Section 1 How Gaddafi Deflects Attention From His Committing and Concealing His Crimes

The use of such means, judged by international standards, have already been identified as constituting crimes against humanity by the International Community, and, as such, subject to prosecution by the International Court of Justice at the Hague. This identification is enshrined in UN Resolution 1960, but the extend and depths of them have been cloaked and deliberating hidden by, among others:

Co-opting, confinement, harassment, intimidation and torture of international media attempting to report the situation on the ground

Co-opting and deliberate manipulation and misleading of international media, in a concerted effort to employed lies, deceptions and denials clearly at odd with readily visible reality and evidence based publicly witnessed accounts

Use of media, internet and communications blackouts, extending to the use of power blackouts and water supply shutoff

Use of state propaganda to manipulate, mislead, withhold information, and lie to their own populations, and the use of regime officials outside the country to engage in a similar activity towards officials of other countries in which they are resident

Use of propaganda strategies which have, among other effects, callously played upon Western fears,

Threats of various kinds directed at the international community, including the destruction of oil facilities, the release of chemical weapons, among others

The willful denial in the face of overwhelming evidence of the use of brutal and illegal force

Engaging in an attempt to intimidate and falsely discredit individual international leaders and the deliberate playing off of one individual international leader against another

Section 2 Failures to Address What is Happening on the Ground

International leaders and officials have seriously compromised their approach to the crisis on at least the following counts:

They have failed to offer leadership and speak in a unified voice against the wrongs being perpetrated by regimes in the region against peaceful protests.

They have so far failed to speak out publicly to clearly acknowledge the legitimacy of, and offer support to, the calls for democracy and fair and free elections made by unarmed, peaceful, popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Lybia, and Bahrain, which now threaten to engulf many of the 22 countries of the region.

They have so far failed publicly to acknowledge that the popular uprisings, in the face of extraordinary means of violence being used against them, are nonviolent and resolutely peaceful, are completely unarmed, resorting only when under mortal attack to the barest means of defense, and that these are nonpartisan, are nonsectarian, nonreligious, and non ideological.

Furthermore, the uprisings espouse ideas and values identical to those upheld by most democracies and pose no threat to any government anywhere, with the notable exception of their own. In the face of previous doubt about, and ignorance of, the nature of the aims of the uprisings, living proof of the nature of the aims of the uprisings now exists in post-Mubarak Egypt, if any were needed.

They have been utterly negligent in making any effort to gain knowledge of the nature and message of protestors and sabotaged their own ability to recognize the universal and humane nature of the uprisings. Because of this failure, they have allowed officials and representatives inside their own countries to deliberately misrepresent the nature of the uprisings in an effort to raise and play upon fears associated with ethnic, religious and extremist stereotypes by deliberately and cynically misrepresenting the uprisings in order to make political gains.

They have placed their security and economic interests in the region far ahead of concerns for humaneness and adherence to the values which they uphold in their own countries and have repeatedly said over decades that they support in the region and elsewhere in the world, and have hedged their bets on the outcomes of the uprisings in order to secure oil and other economic interests in individual counties and the region as a whole.

In the face of the popular uprisings, they have expressed support for the regimes that the uprisings were opposing, up to the point when the regimes head was deposed.

On the one hand they have denied the legitimacy of, undermined the integrity of, directly placed in jeopardy the lives of ordinary men, women and children, involved in the uprisings or not, living in, and threatened the security of, the country where the uprising is taking place by publicly discussing and threatening to intervene militarily despite clear calls by voices within the uprisings that such interventions were neither sought nor welcome, and other the hand have been unable, to date, to marshal and put into effect no fly zones in a timely manner such that its speedy and effective introduction would have a seriously chilling effect upon the most flagrant  means of violence being visited upon the population by the entrenched government.

Calls for those perpetrating acts constituting crimes against humanity subject to prosecution by the International Court of Justice were put into place with no means of their being enforced thereby leading to the greater levels of violence against populations on the principle that one might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

Section 3 A Partial List of Crimes

It is not possible at this juncture to list the worst excesses of violence, and heinous crimes being presently committed by security forces and others on behalf of the regimes involved for some have not yet been validated for the reasons given earlier. The regimes so far involved, and the expectation should be that the number of regimes employing these practices will soon rapidly proliferate, are those of Libya, with the assistance of outside governments, the identities of which have not been positively identified, but are alleged to include Algeria and Syria, together with reports that mercenaries are still being flown into Tripoli and other airstrips in Libya and undeclared movements of military transports to and from Bulgaria, and Bahrain, with the publicly declared and widely witnessed assistance of forces from the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A partial and certainly incomplete list of verified or partially verified means of extraordinary violence and repression used in Libya and Bahrain against the unarmed populace includes:

Use of helicopters and military aircraft to fire on and bomb civilians

Use of tanks, heavy arms such as mortars, anti-tank guns, and rocket propelled grenades

Use snipers from rooftops and other places

Forced entry into places of worship during prayer

Chemically debilitating tear gas style canisters whose effects would appear to include rotting of flesh where chemicals have made contact with the skin and the inducement of epileptic fevers from exposure to the fumes.

Use of live ammunition at close and blank range

The use of ambulances as armoured vehicles against unarmed civilians

Holding of hostages of the family members of citizenry resident overseas and the parading of the hostages on state television

The gathering up of migrant workers and inducing them by means of payments or mortal threats to take part in acts of violence against civilians

The entry into hospitals and removal of the injured and of dead bodies

The intimidation of doctors and medical personnel into treating government forces and the displacement of critically injured civilians to free up medical facilities for their care

The intimidation of doctors and medical personnel at the entry to hospitals including the use of fire arms held at point blank range and denial of entry to attend to sick and injured persons

The dismembering of military personnel who refuse to take arms against their fellow countrymen along with the charring by some means of their dead bodies

The use of racial and religious epithets against religious groups to incite divisions carried out, in the case of Bahrain, by soldiers of the neighboring countries dressed in Bahraini police uniforms

The wide spread killing of women, children and babies often as reprisals

The entry into homes of those suspected of having attended protests

The burial of victims in unmarked graves frequently under cover of darkness

Libyan state television has spoken on a number of occasions of “cleansing” town recaptured from opposition forces. Bahraini sources report of hearing the term used by the occupying forces. Until the evidence emerges, one cannot know what precisely has been carried out. With memories of the use of the term in Bosnia, the thought of what it might mean is chilling.

In addition, there are unverified reports coming out of Bahrain from credible witnesses of forms violence and crimes which exceed even the worst of those listed above.

Section 4 UN Needs to Act Not Simply Condemn

The UN and appropriate international bodies need to demand immediate unfettered access to the affected areas in order to verify for themselves the extent of the atrocities being committed

It may be pointed out that humanitarian organizations and human rights groups on the ground and outside the countries involved could do more to record, collect and disseminate evidence of the violence and crimes being perpetrated. This action is necessary because of widespread eye witness accounts of concealment, contamination and destruction of evidence.

The writer is not a citizen of any country in the region, has no connections to any group or organization, nor any religious affiliations.

Malcolm D B Munro

الملحق بتاريخ الخميس 17 مارس 2011 على تصريحات مؤرخة الأربعاء 16 مارس 2011 فيما يلي موجود

 

منذ ملاحظات مؤرخة 16 مارس، 2011 وقد وضعت لهذا الموقع، واثنين من الأحداث والملاحظات الثلاث هي تستحق التسجيل.

الخميس 17 آذار / مارس، 2011، صدر قرار من مجلس الأمن للأمم المتحدة يجيز لمنطقة حظر الطيران على ليبيا. وعلق عدد من المراقبين على قوة غير عادية لأنها تحتوي على اللغة التي تستهدف المدنيين الحماية.

خلال آذار / مارس الخميس 17، 2011، أصدرت الأمم المتحدة بيانا يدين بشدة استخدام القوة المفرطة والمميتة ضد مواطنيها من قبل حكومة البحرين

جرائم الحرب

والملاحظة الأولى لجعل هو أن الإشارة إلى توصيف أعمال العنف التي ترتكبها قوات من نظامي الحكم في ليبيا والبحرين وجرائم الحرب يحتاج الى توسيع في المناقشة العامة بحيث مناقشة جادة سيعمل على ردع وكبح جماح الحكومات في سؤال من مثل هذا العمل والتأكد من أن الحكومات التي تشعر بأنها مهددة من قبل المحتملة للثورات ندرك أنه إذا يخوضوا في مثل هذه الأعمال يدركون العواقب. وعلاوة على ذلك، اذا كان هناك أساس لمثل هذه الأعمال بأنها تفسر على أنها جرائم حرب، ثم لغة القرار السابق الذي أصدره مجلس الأمن تجميد الأصول الليبية ومعالجة الشواغل من ارتكاب جرائم ضد الانسانية ، بحاجة الى تعديل.

الخميس 17 آذار / مارس، 2011، صدر قرار من مجلس الأمن للأمم المتحدة يجيز لمنطقة حظر الطيران على ليبيا. وعلق عدد من المراقبين على قوة غير عادية لأنها تحتوي على اللغة التي تستهدف المدنيين الحماية.

خلال آذار / مارس الخميس 17، 2011، أصدرت الأمم المتحدة بيانا يدين بشدة استخدام القوة المفرطة والمميتة ضد مواطنيها من قبل حكومة البحرين.

القذافي يستخدم وسائل إعلامنا لدعايته

ثانيا ، إن محرري الصحافة في العالم بحاجة إلى تثقيف أنفسهم والصحافيين على حد سواء على الوضع المؤسف بموجبه وسائل الإعلام الخاصة بمثابة وكلاء وكيل غير مقصود لحملة الدعاية العقيد القذافي وعلى الموافقة على الشروط التي لوصف الأعمال والأفراد المتورطين في أعمال الشغب.

ألعاب الدكتاتور ، وكرر

ثالثا ، الحكومات والوكالات المرتبطة بها بحاجة إلى إعداد الآن على الكيفية التي ستعمل والتحدث في المرة القادمة. وينبغي أن يكون واضحا الآن تماما أن الانتفاضات سوف تستمر كما في الواقع يقومون به بالفعل ، وأن الأنظمة القمعية ، استنادا إلى سجل حافل حتى الآن لتونس ومصر وليبيا والبحرين والآن ، يشير إلى أنه عندما واجه مع المطالب المشروعة بواسطة الوسائل السلمية الساحقة ، الأنظمة الذهاب من خلال دورة يمكن التنبؤ به الآن من الأفعال والتصرفات ، مما يؤدي إلى زيادة مستويات القوة ، وأعمال العنف المروعة على نحو متزايد ، مما أدى إلى المذبحة التي يمكن تجنبها تماما ، والإصابات والبؤس البشري ، وأضرار في الممتلكات.

ما هو أكثر من ذلك ، لا بد من أن أولئك الذين لعبوا دورا رئيسيا في معالجة وبناء على نتائجها ، والانتفاضات التي لدينا حتى الآن شهدت الحاجة بكل السرعة الممكنة للتوصل إلى الاستراتيجيات والنهج الذي بفعالية ومعالجة واقعية للأحداث أثناء وقوعها. وهناك 22 بلدا في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا. قليل منهم من الديمقراطيات. الغرفة لمزيد من الصراع والفوضى وعلى الفور أمر عظيم.

ليس هناك من سبب المرة القادمة يجب أن نكون المقدمة التعساء ، أو عاجز ، التي اخترت الأجل ، امفصلي وليس على استعداد للعمل. عند هذه النقطة مع ألعاب الدكتاتور لقد شهدنا ذلك من قبل جميع. هيا نلعب على طريقتنا ، وليس لهم.

في غضون ذلك ، مع اقتراب الجمعة من كل أسبوع ، وسنكون الاستماع عن كثب لاعلانات من طرابلس

 

 

الشرق الأوسط يهدد بالنزول الى الفوضى : لماذا لاحتياجات الأمم المتحدة لقانون الآن

في الملاحظات أدناه ، لم يحدث أي تغيير محتوى لكن تم تنقيح النص بشكل كبير.

الأربعاء 16 مارس 2011
مقدمة

المؤشرات في هذه اللحظة هي أن الشرق الأوسط ومنطقة شمال أفريقيا ويحتمل أن تكون على شفا الانزلاق الى الفوضى بمعدل التي ، إذا ما استمر ، وينبغي أن يسبب القلق وسط أعمال بربرية وحشية لا يمكن تصورها المطلق التي ترتكبها في ساعة في الوقت الحاضر من قبل القوات الأنظمة من ليبيا والبحرين ، والتي ترتكب دون تمييز ضد شعبهم.

يبدو من الحكمة في الدعوة إلى الأمم المتحدة والمجتمع الدولي للتحقيق والتصرف دون إبطاء وبطريقة الذي يجمع هذه الوحشية إلى الوقف الفوري. عدم التصرف في الوقت المناسب قد يؤدي إلى أزمة إنسانية ، وربما ما هو أسوأ ، والتي تحدث في المنطقة.

لم يكن العنف التي ترتكبها جماعات أو أي الشعوب. يجري ارتكابها أعمال العنف من قبل الحكومات. وحشية وهمجية من أعمال عنف من قبل الحكومة البحرينية بمساعدة قوات من حكومتي المملكة العربية السعودية ودولة الامارات العربية المتحدة هي عدم معارضة أو مقاومة من قبل شعب البحرين ضد الذين يتم توجيه.

الحالة ، التي بدأت في قرية صغيرة في تونس ، والتي امتدت الى واليمن وليبيا ومصر والبحرين ، والذي يهدد تمتد إلى بلدان أخرى في المنطقة ، وينحدر الآن إلى أعمال العنف المروعة التي ارتكبت في سرعة شرسة.

ترتكب هذه الأفعال من قبل قوات من الأنظمة القمعية ضد السكان كل منهم السلمي.

الأزمة هو زيادة في شدة لأنه لم يتم الأفعال الوحشية المتزايدة التي تستخدمها قوات العقيد معمر القذافي لقمع انتفاضة في ليبيا ضد تصرف بغية تقديمهم إلى الوقف الفوري.

زعماء العالم والمنظمات الإنسانية والأمم المتحدة والوكالات الأخرى ذات الصلة لديك ، حتى الآن ، لم يتم التعرف على ضراوة وسرعة مع الأنظمة التي تواجه الانتفاضات الشعبية سوف تعمل على سحق من قبل المروعة على نحو متزايد في وسائل التعبير السلمي ساحقة من المكالمات من أجل الديمقراطية والحكومة التمثيلية التي طريق انتخابات حرة ونزيهة.

وعدم اتخاذ إجراءات لوقف المروعة على نحو متزايد الوسائل التي يجري استخدامها من قبل قوات الأمن القذافي ، والتي تشمل استخدام المرتزقة الأجانب ضد السكان له المدنيين للقضاء على المعارضة ، أعطت رخصة لأنظمة أخرى في المنطقة الذين يشعرون تحت التهديد باستخدام تكتيكات و الوسائل التي تتجاوز حتى رعب من تلك المستخدمة من قبل القذافي.

 

القسم 1 كيف القذافي ينحرف الاهتمام من صاحب ارتكاب وإخفاء جرائمه

وقد تم بالفعل استخدام هذه الوسائل ، يحكم حسب المعايير الدولية ، على النحو المحدد تشكل جرائم ضد الإنسانية من قبل المجتمع الدولي ، وكما تخضع ، مثل للمحاكمة من قبل محكمة العدل الدولية في لاهاي. مكرس هذا التحديد في قرار الأمم المتحدة 1960 ، ولكن تم توسيع ويرتدي معطفا طويلا أعماق منهم والتداول خفية ، وذلك من بين أمور أخرى :

اصطفاء ، والحبس ، والمضايقة والترهيب والتعذيب من وسائل الاعلام الدولية التي تحاول تقرير الحالة على أرض الواقع

شارك في اختيار والتلاعب والتضليل المتعمد من وسائل الإعلام الدولية ، في جهد منسق لعمل تكمن ، الخداع والإنكار بوضوح في حكاية واقع مرئية بسهولة والأدلة القائمة على حسابات شهدت علنا

استخدام الإنترنت ووسائل الإعلام وانقطاع التيار الكهربائي والاتصالات ، وتمتد إلى استخدام انقطاع الكهرباء والمياه منع تسرب العرض

استخدام الدعاية الدولة للتلاعب ، تضليل ، حجب المعلومات ، والكذب على شعوبها ، واستخدام مسؤولي النظام خارج البلاد لمزاولة نشاط مماثل نحو المسؤولين من البلدان الأخرى التي كانوا مقيمين

استخدام استراتيجيات الدعاية التي ، من بين الآثار الأخرى ، لعبت على مخاوف الغرب بقسوة ،

التهديدات الموجهة من أنواع مختلفة في المجتمع الدولي ، بما في ذلك تدمير المنشآت النفطية ، والإفراج عن الأسلحة الكيميائية ، من بين أمور أخرى

الحرمان المتعمد في مواجهة الأدلة الدامغة على استخدام القوة الوحشية وغير القانونية

الانخراط في محاولة لتخويف وتشويه سمعة القادة الدوليين زورا الفردية وتعمد اللعب خارج زعيم دولية واحدة ضد فرد آخر

 

القسم 2 القصور في معالجة ما هو يحدث على أرض الواقع

وقد أخلت زعماء العالم والمسؤولين بجدية نهجها للأزمة على التهم التالية على الأقل :

لقد فشلوا في تقديم القيادة والتحدث بصوت واحد ضد المظالم التي ترتكب من قبل الأنظمة في المنطقة ضد الاحتجاجات السلمية.

انها فشلت حتى الان في الحديث علنا ​​أن نعترف بوضوح شرعية ، وتقديم الدعم ل، وتدعو للديمقراطية وانتخابات حرة ونزيهة بواسطة العزل والانتفاضات وشعبية سلمية في كل من تونس اليمن ومصر وليبيا ، والبحرين ، التي تهدد الآن بأن تشمل العديد من البلدان ال 22 في المنطقة.

انها فشلت حتى الان علنا ​​أن نعترف بأن تستخدم الانتفاضات الشعبية ، في مواجهة وسائل غير عادية من العنف ضدهم ، واللاعنفية والسلمية بحزم ، والعزل تماما ، والاحتكام فقط عندما تتعرض للهجوم مميت على ادنى وسيلة للدفاع ، و أن هذه هي غير حزبية ، وغير طائفية ، غير دينية ، وغير أيديولوجية.

وعلاوة على ذلك ، والانتفاضات تبني الأفكار والقيم مماثلة لتلك التي تؤمن بها معظم الديمقراطيات وتشكل أي تهديد لأية حكومة في أي مكان ، مع استثناء ملحوظ خاصة بهم. في مواجهة شك السابقة حول ، والجهل ، وطبيعة أهداف الانتفاضات ، دليلا حيا على طبيعة أهداف الانتفاضات الآن موجود في مصر ما بعد مبارك ، أي إذا كانت هناك حاجة.

لقد كانت مهملة تماما في اتخاذ أي جهد لاكتساب المعرفة لطبيعة ورسالة من المتظاهرين وتخريب قدرتهم على التعرف على طبيعة عالمية وإنسانية من الانتفاضات. وبسبب هذا الفشل ، وقد سمح لهم مسؤولون وممثلون داخل بلدانهم من أجل تشويه متعمد لطبيعة الثورات في محاولة لرفع واللعب على المخاوف المرتبطة القوالب النمطية العرقية والدينية والمتطرفة التي تعمد تشويه بسخرية وانتفاضات من أجل تحقيق مكاسب سياسية.

وضعوا أمنها ومصالحها الاقتصادية في المنطقة متقدما بفارق كبير من اهتمامات إنسانية والتمسك بالقيم التي تتمسك في بلدانهم وقالوا مرارا وتكرارا على مدى العقود التي تدعمها في المنطقة وأماكن أخرى في العالم ، والتحوط لها من يراهن على نتائج انتفاضات من أجل تأمين النفط والمصالح الاقتصادية الأخرى في المقاطعات الفردية والمنطقة ككل.

في مواجهة الانتفاضات الشعبية ، وأعربوا عن تأييدهم لالأنظمة التي كانت معارضة الانتفاضات ، وتصل إلى نقطة عندما كان رئيس المخلوع الأنظمة.

من ناحية نفوا شرعية ، يقوض سلامة ، وضعت مباشرة في خطر حياة الناس العاديين من الرجال والنساء والأطفال ، والمشاركة في الانتفاضات أم لا ، الذين يعيشون في ، وهددت أمن ، البلد الذي يوجد فيه الانتفاضة التي تجري مناقشتها علنا ​​، وتهدد بالتدخل عسكريا على الرغم من دعوات واضحة من أصوات داخل الانتفاضات التي كانت تسعى هذه التدخلات لا ولا مرحبا ، وغيرها من جهة لم تتمكن ، حتى الآن ، إلى حشد ودخلت حيز التنفيذ في مناطق حظر الطيران الوقت المناسب من شأنه أن مثل هذه مقدمة بشكل سريع وفعال لها أثر سلبي على نحو خطير يزورها أكثر الوسائل صارخا للعنف على السكان من قبل الحكومة الراسخة.

وضعت يدعو إلى ارتكاب هذه الأفعال التي تشكل جرائم ضد الإنسانية تخضع للمحاكمة من قبل محكمة العدل الدولية في مكانه مع أي وسيلة لفرض وجودهم وبالتالي تؤدي إلى مستويات أعلى من العنف ضد السكان على مبدأ يمكن أن يكون كذلك واحدة معلقة ل أما بالنسبة للخروف خروف

 

 

الباب 3 قائمة جزئية من الجرائم

ليس من الممكن في هذه المرحلة إلى قائمة أسوأ تجاوزات العنف ، وترتكب الجرائم البشعة في الوقت الحاضر من قبل قوات الأمن وغيرهم نيابة عن الأنظمة المعنية للم يتم بعد التحقق من صحة بعض للأسباب المذكورة سابقا. الأنظمة المعنية حتى الآن ، وتوقع وينبغي أن عدد من الأنظمة التي تستخدم هذه الممارسات سوف تتكاثر بسرعة في وقت قريب ، هي تلك من ليبيا ، بمساعدة من الحكومات خارج ، والهويات التي لم يتم تحديدها بشكل إيجابي ، ولكن يزعم وتشمل الجزائر وسورية ، جنبا إلى جنب مع التقارير التي تفيد بأن المرتزقة لا تزال نقلهم جوا الى طرابلس ومهابط الطائرات الأخرى في ليبيا والحركات غير معلنة من وسائل النقل العسكرية من وإلى بلغاريا ، والبحرين ، مع علنا ​​وعلى نطاق واسع شهد بمساعدة قوات من المملكة العربية السعودية و دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة.

قائمة جزئية وغير كاملة بالتأكيد وسائل التحقق أو التحقق منها جزئيا من العنف والقمع غير عادية تستخدم في ليبيا والبحرين ضد السكان العزل ما يلي :

استخدام طائرات هليكوبتر وطائرات حربية لإطلاق النار على المدنيين وقنبلة

استخدام الدبابات والاسلحة الثقيلة مثل مدافع الهاون والمدافع المضادة للدبابات ، وقذائف صاروخية الدفع

استخدام القناصة من فوق أسطح المنازل وأماكن أخرى

القسري دخول أماكن العبادة في الصلاة

المنهكة كيميائيا الغاز المسيل للدموع نمط آثارها على ما يبدو لتشمل من اللحم المتعفن فيها المواد الكيميائية جعلت تماس مع الجلد ، والتحريض على حميات الصرع من التعرض للأبخرة.

استخدام الذخيرة الحية من مسافة قريبة وفارغة

استخدام سيارات الاسعاف وعربات مدرعة ضد المدنيين العزل

احتجاز الرهائن من أفراد العائلة المقيمين في الخارج والمواطنين تتقاطر من الرهائن على شاشات التلفزيون

وتلملم من العمال المهاجرين وإغرائهم من خلال مدفوعات أو التهديدات القاتلة للمشاركة في أعمال العنف ضد المدنيين

دخول المستشفيات والتخلص من الجرحى وجثث الموتى

التخويف من الأطباء والعاملين في المجال الطبي في علاج القوات الحكومية وتشريد للمدنيين بجروح خطيرة لتحرير المرافق الطبية لرعايتهم

التخويف من الأطباء والعاملين في المجال الطبي في الدخول إلى المستشفيات بما في ذلك استخدام الأسلحة النارية التي عقدت من مسافة قريبة ، والحرمان من دخول لحضور للأشخاص المرضى والجرحى

وتمزيق للأفراد العسكريين الذين يرفضون حمل السلاح ضد مواطنيهم جنبا إلى جنب مع تفحم بعض وسائل جثثهم

استخدام نعوت العنصري والديني ضد الجماعات الدينية للتحريض على الشعب القيام بها ، في حالة البحرين ، من قبل جنود من البلدان المجاورة يرتدون زي الشرطة البحرينية

انتشار واسع قتل النساء والأطفال والرضع في كثير من الأحيان الانتقام

وقد حضر دخول منازل المشتبه فيهم من الاحتجاجات

دفن الضحايا في مقابر لا تحمل علامات في كثير من الأحيان تحت جنح الظلام

وتحدث التلفزيون الرسمي الليبي على عدد من المناسبات من بلدة “التطهير” استعادت من قوات المعارضة. مصادر بحرينية تقرير الاستماع إلى مصطلح يستخدم من قبل قوات الاحتلال. حتى ظهرت أدلة ، لا يمكن للمرء أن يعرف بالضبط ما نفذت. ذكريات مع استخدام هذا المصطلح في البوسنة ، وفكر في ما قد يعني وتقشعر لها الأبدان.

وبالإضافة إلى ذلك ، هناك تقارير غير مؤكدة قادمة من البحرين في الفترة من شهود موثوق بها من أشكال العنف والجرائم التي تتجاوز حتى أسوأ من تلك المذكورة أعلاه.

 

 

القسم 4 الاحتياجات الامم المتحدة لقانون ببساطة لا يدين

الأمم المتحدة والهيئات الدولية المختصة الحاجة إلى الطلب على الفور الوصول غير المقيد إلى المناطق المتضررة من أجل التحقق بأنفسهم مدى الفظائع التي ترتكب

ويمكن الإشارة إلى أن ترتكب المنظمات الإنسانية وجماعات حقوق الإنسان على أرض الواقع وخارج البلدان المعنية يمكن أن تفعل المزيد لتسجيل وجمع ونشر الأدلة على العنف والجرائم. هذا الإجراء ضروري لأن من روايات شهود العيان على نطاق واسع من التلوث، وتدمير إخفاء الأدلة.

الكاتب ليس مواطنا في أي بلد في المنطقة، لا يوجد لديه اتصالات لأية مجموعة أو منظمة، أو أي انتماءات دينية.

مالكولم مونرو ب د

 

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17 March, 2011 • 2:40 am 1

Middle East Threatens to Descend Into Chaos: Why the UN Needs to Act Now


To whom it may concern

Wednesday March 16, 2011

Introduction

The indications at this moment are that Middle East and the North African region is potentially at the brink of a descent into chaos at a rate which, if it continues, should cause alarm amid acts of utter barbarity and unimaginable ferocity being committed by the hour at the present time by forces of the regimes of Libya and Bahrain, which are indiscriminately perpetrated against their own people.

It seems  prudent to call for the United Nations and the International Community to investigate and act without delay in a manner which brings these savageries to an immediate halt. To not act in a timely manner may result in a humanitarian crisis, and perhaps worse, occurring in the region.

The violence is not being committed by any groups or peoples. The violence is being committed by governments. The ferocity and barbarity of the violent acts by the Bahraini government assisted by forces of the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is not being opposed or resisted by the people of Bahrain against whom it is directed.

A situation, which began in a small village in Tunisia, which spread to Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain, and which threatens to extend to other countries in the region, is now descending into acts of horrendous violence perpetrated at ferocious speed.

These acts are being perpetrated by the forces of repressive regimes against their own peaceful populations.

The crisis is increasing in severity because the increasingly savage acts employed by the forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to quell an uprising in Libya have not been acted against with a view to bringing them to an immediate halt.

World leaders, humanitarian organizations, the United Nations and other relevant agencies have, as yet, not recognized the ferocity and speed with which regimes facing popular uprisings will act to crush by increasingly horrendous means the overwhelmingly peaceful expressions of calls for democracy and representative government by means of free and fair elections.

The lack of action to halt the increasingly dreadful means being employed by Gaddafi’s security forces, which include the use of foreign mercenaries against his own civilian population to eliminate dissent, has given license to other regimes in the region who feel under threat to use tactics and means which exceed even the frightfulness of those employed by Gaddafi.

Section 1 How Gaddafi Deflects Attention From His Committing and Concealing His Crimes

The use of such means, judged by international standards, have already been identified as constituting crimes against humanity by the International Community, and, as such, subject to prosecution by the International Court of Justice at the Hague. This identification is enshrined in UN Resolution 1960, but the extend and depths of them have been cloaked and deliberating hidden by, among others:

Co-opting, confinement, harassment, intimidation and torture of international media attempting to report the situation on the ground

Co-opting and deliberate manipulation and misleading of international media, in a concerted effort to employed lies, deceptions and denials clearly at odd with readily visible reality and evidence based publicly witnessed accounts

Use of media, internet and communications blackouts, extending to the use of power blackouts and water supply shutoff

Use of state propaganda to manipulate, mislead, withhold information, and lie to their own populations, and the use of regime officials outside the country to engage in a similar activity towards officials of other countries in which they are resident

Use of propaganda strategies which have, among other effects, callously played upon Western fears,

Threats of various kinds directed at the international community, including the destruction of oil facilities, the release of chemical weapons, among others

The willful denial in the face of overwhelming evidence of the use of brutal and illegal force

Engaging in an attempt to intimidate and falsely discredit individual international leaders and the deliberate playing off of one individual international leader against another

Section 2 Failures to Address What is Happening on the Ground

International leaders and officials have seriously compromised their approach to the crisis on at least the following counts:

They have failed to offer leadership and speak in a unified voice against the wrongs being perpetrated by regimes in the region against peaceful protests.

They have so far failed to speak out publicly to clearly acknowledge the legitimacy of, and offer support to, the calls for democracy and fair and free elections made by unarmed, peaceful, popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Lybia, and Bahrain, which now threaten to engulf many of the 22 countries of the region.

They have so far failed publicly to acknowledge that the popular uprisings, in the face of extraordinary means of violence being used against them, are nonviolent and resolutely peaceful, are completely unarmed, resorting only when under mortal attack to the barest means of defense, and that these are nonpartisan, are nonsectarian, nonreligious, and non ideological.

Furthermore, the uprisings espouse ideas and values identical to those upheld by most democracies and pose no threat to any government anywhere, with the notable exception of their own. In the face of previous doubt about, and ignorance of, the nature of the aims of the uprisings, living proof of the nature of the aims of the uprisings now exists in post-Mubarak Egypt, if any were needed.

They have been utterly negligent in making any effort to gain knowledge of the nature and message of protestors and sabotaged their own ability to recognize the universal and humane nature of the uprisings. Because of this failure, they have allowed officials and representatives inside their own countries to deliberately misrepresent the nature of the uprisings in an effort to raise and play upon fears associated with ethnic, religious and extremist stereotypes by deliberately and cynically misrepresenting the uprisings in order to make political gains.

They have placed their security and economic interests in the region far ahead of concerns for humaneness and adherence to the values which they uphold in their own countries and have repeatedly said over decades that they support in the region and elsewhere in the world, and have hedged their bets on the outcomes of the uprisings in order to secure oil and other economic interests in individual counties and the region as a whole.

In the face of the popular uprisings, they have expressed support for the regimes that the uprisings were opposing, up to the point when the regimes head was deposed.

On the one hand they have denied the legitimacy of, undermined the integrity of, directly placed in jeopardy the lives of ordinary men, women and children, involved in the uprisings or not, living in, and threatened the security of, the country where the uprising is taking place by publicly discussing and threatening to intervene militarily despite clear calls by voices within the uprisings that such interventions were neither sought nor welcome, and other the other have been unable, to date, to marshall and put into effect no fly zones in a timely manner such that its speedy and effective  introduction would have a seriously chilling effect upon the most flagrant  means of violence being visited upon the population by the entrenched government.

Calls for those perpetrating acts constituting crimes against humanity subject to prosecution by the international court of justice were put into place with no means of their being enforced thereby leading to the greater levels of violence against populations on the principle that one might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Section 3 A Partial List of Crimes

It is not possible at this juncture to list the worst excesses of violence, and heinous crimes being presently committed by security forces and others on behalf of the regimes involved for some have not yet been validated for the reasons given earlier. The regimes so far involved, and the expectation should be that the number of regimes employing these practices will soon rapidly proliferate, are those of Libya, with the assistance of outside governments, the identities of which have not been positively identified, but are alleged to include Algeria and Syria, together with reports that mercenaries are still being flown into Tripoli and other airstrips in Libya and undeclared movements of military transports to and from Bulgaria, and Bahrain, with the publicly declared and widely witnessed assistance of forces from the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A partial and certainly incomplete list of verified or partially verified means of extraordinary violence and repression used in Libya and Bahrain against the unarmed populace includes:

Use of helicopters and military aircraft to fire on and bomb civilians
Use of tanks, heavy arms such as mortars, anti-tank guns, and rocket propelled grenades
Use snipers from rooftops and other places
Forced entry into places of worship during prayer
Chemically debilitating tear gas style canisters whose effects would appear to include rotting of flesh where chemicals have made contact with the skin and the inducement of epileptic fevers from exposure to the fumes
Use of live ammunition at close and blank range
The use of ambulances as armoured vehicles against unarmed civilians
Holding of hostages of the family members of citizenry resident overseas and the parading of the hostages on state television
The gathering up of migrant workers and inducing them by means of payments or mortal threats to take part in acts of violence against civilians

The entry into hospitals and removal of the injured and of dead bodies
The intimidation of doctors and medical personnel into treating government forces and the displacement of critically injured civilians to free up medical facilities for their care
The intimidation of doctors and medical personnel at the entry to hospitals including the use of fire arms held at point blank range and denial of entry to attend to sick and injured persons
The dismembering of military personnel who refuse to take arms against their fellow countrymen along with the charring by some means of their dead bodies
The use of racial and religious epithets against religious groups to incite divisions carried out, in the case of Bahrain, by soldiers of the neighboring countries dressed in Bahraini police uniforms
The wide spread killing of women, children and babies often as reprisals
The entry into homes of those suspected of having attended protests
The burial of victims in unmarked graves frequently under cover of darkness

Libyan state television has spoken on a number of occasions of “cleansing” town recaptured from opposition forces. Bahraini sources report of hearing the term used by the occupying forces. Until the evidence emerges, one cannot know what precisely has been carried out. With memories of the use of the term in Bosnia, the thought of what it might mean is chilling.

In addition, there are unverified reports coming out of Bahrain from credible witnesses of forms violence and crimes which exceed even the worst of those listed above.

Section 4 UN Needs to Act Not Simply Condemn

The UN and appropriate international bodies need to demand immediate unfettered access to the affected areas in order to verify for themselves the extent of the atrocities being committed

It may be pointed out that humanitarian organizations and human rights groups on the ground and outside the countries involved could do more to record, collect and disseminate evidence of the violence and crimes being perpetrated. This action is necessary because of widespread eye witness accounts of concealment, contamination and destruction of evidence.

The writer is not a citizen of any country in the region, has no connections to any group or organization, nor any religious has affiliations.

Malcolm D B Munro

Filed under: Current Events, , , , , , , , ,

11 March, 2011 • 7:16 pm 0

When Will the US White House Take the Free People of Libya Seriously?


Distorting the Present

Leadership in the US may not be aware of the extent to which Libyans, especially those on the ground in Libya, striving, against appalling odds and at horrific cost of loss of human life and property,  to create a free democratic, unified civil state, are perplexed and dumbfounded at the continued issuance of mixed messages, reversals and lack of coherence of the statements coming out of the mouths of various officials in Washington. An example is the lack of clear statements as to the reasons for the movement of hugely expensive military assets in and around the Mediterranean, which has Libyans on both sides of the struggle and their neighbors wondering as to the motives of the US Government for such moves.

The deliberations by White House officials on what actions the US should take to assist those seeking the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi are conducted as if considerations of US foreign policy are at play here, when it is clear to the rest of us, that the US does not have a policy with regard to the events presently unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa.

Sins of Omission

Of the many sins of omission stemming from the lack of a considered and thought through US foreign policy for the region two stand out.

From the beginning of an uprising which seeks the overthrow of the incumbent head of state, up to and including his overthrow, the US administration has shown itself promiscuous in its willingness to continually switch sides, based on its betting on any one day as to which side will win out. This is unnerving for players on both sides of the struggle, and for allies and onlookers. Those seeking the overthrow of the dictator lose morale, allies lack leadership, nations willing to offer assistance are unable to do so, and the incumbent misinterprets such messages as signs of weakness.

The second example of a sin of omission has much more impact on the actors involved in the strife and on the effect it may have on the eventual outcome of  the conflict. Specifically, where Libya is concerned, the US has announced that it is talking to groups both inside and outside the country. By adopting this strategy, the US has the potential to cause untold damage to the process whereby a clear, unified, single leadership emerges from those opposing Colonel Gaddafi’s rule. In choosing to announce that it is talking to groups outside and inside the country, the US would appear to wish to effect the outcome of the process, in effect wanting to keep a hand on the scales, in an effort to ensure that Washington’s man is mounted to the seat of power. The incalculable damage this has done to the process of creating credible, stable governments in Iraq and Afghanistan is clear to all.

Errors in Commission

The result of such misguided and historically out of tune policies is to assist into power a person who is ineffective in that role because the person has little or no mandate from the people and lacks credibility with them. The imposition from outside of the imperialist’s favoured man subverts the development of a stable political process for decades to come. No country would willingly wish this upon themselves.

This imperialist behaviour on the part of the United States undermines its credibility with free, thinking people, and is only favoured by political opportunists who wish further harm American interests. The US needs to discard policies which were formulated during the cold war, which may not have been effective then but which in the present time fail to provide Washington with a set of lenses through which to view current events in the Middle East, thus rendering the US helpless to act in a way that reflects an accurate assessment of the realities on the ground. The mindset with which policy makers and officials in the US view the present day Middle East is through the eyes of a superpower, whereas what events in the region require is for America to act from the standpoint of being a highly respected beacon of democracy, able to offer clear leadership in pursuit of the values America holds dear.

The US, therefore, needs to speedily and quickly adopt a foreign policy which seeks to fully support the emergence of democracy in the region, which temporarily puts aside its interests in the region, and which works to provide a partnership with a single group which identifies itself as the authentic voice of the free Libyan people and to engage in a dialogue with that group.

Even before America talks about military force and Libya in the same breath, the US must ask what free Libyans would like by way of military assistance, and engage in dialogue with them, and America’s allies, as to what can be provided and under what circumstances.

Shop Soiled Goods

Two outcomes of the present US policy, if what constitutes the current American approach to the situation in Libya can be dignified as policy and not something which is ad hoc, are the following.

Firstly to discussions among officials in Washington and with the EU member countries about possible use of military force, without discussing this in advance with the free Libyans themselves, serves only to alienate Libyans outside Tripoli and to inflate the Colonel, and add fuel to his assertions that the uprising is a product of a US led plot to colonize  Libya for its oil.

The second outcome has potentially long term damaging effects on Libya and on the emerging democracies in the region whether or not Colonel Gaddafi is overthrown. This damage will occur if the US insists on pursuing its present desire to talk to groups inside and outside Libya. One has to wonder if one of those groups includes the Colonel himself.

Confidence Restored

There are two actions America must take immediately if it wishes to be seen as a legitimate and respected voice in the region.

The first, on a domestic level, is convene a panel charged with formulating a policy which addresses what is happening presently in the Middle East and North Africa in a coherent and straightforward manner. This policy must, at its heart, separate America’s desire to support the ongoing emergence of fully democratic states for the first time in the Arab world from America’s strategic and oil interests in the region. It is only with the formulation of this policy, which reflects the current realities in the Middle East, that America will be able to offer strong and consistent leadership, which the present crisis in Libya, and impeding uprisings, require and around which America’s allies, and nations willing and eager to assist, can rally, and out of which can come effective and concerted action, which will assure security in the region.

For, let it be clear in the mind of everyone, including the minds of those who still impose power upon their populations, that stable, homogeneous, fully democratic states in the Middle East and North Africa are by far and away the best parties with whom America can work in the long term to assure America’s strategic and oil interests.

The second, on an international level, is to appoint a special envoy who is charged with establishing the necessary channels for dialogue and support; with the implementation of American policy towards the insurgencies and emerging democracies, and with reporting the content and nature of these dialogues back to Washington.

The uncertainties and complexities of the present situation in Libya are bound to be repeated in future uprisings in the region. Sound policies established now will serve America’s aims and interests for a long time to come.

Filed under: Current Events, , , , ,

9 March, 2011 • 11:50 pm 7

Denial: Our Complicity with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi -الإنكار : التواطؤ لدينا مع العقيد معمر القذافي


العربية يتبع الإنجليزية

The Arabic follows the English

The article comprises:

Part One: Denial, Our Acceptance of the Legitimacy of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as Head of State of Libya

Part Two: Denial, Why We Allow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to Slaughter the People of Libya

Explanatory

If, as your begin reading Part One of this article, you find it is not to your taste, let me urge you to skip down to Part Two, about halfway down. I assure you you will find that Part Two is a very different from Part One.

In many of the posts of this blog I have attempted to identity ideas, issues and institutions which are under discussion in the public space, in the US, in other countries and in the world at large, which are continually and consistently obscured by a lack of thought, examination or analysis. I have sought ,and seek, to draw attention to words, ideas and issues which are used emotionally rather than thoughtfully, used with a lack of awareness of their meaning or impact on, or understanding of, their use in the context with which they are being used. Such use seriously impairs dialogue. And in the public sphere, dialogue is all and thoughtful, informed dialogue even better.

I am not an expert in any field and lack real knowledge in most of the areas I touch upon. I do not hope to write well or always with clarity. What I wish and hope for is that with each article posted, I touch some part of my readers to the extent that readers are induced or provoked into thinking and expressing themselves more clearly on what it is that has caused them to think, “Oh yes, OK, he has a point.” My hope and wish is that readers will disagree as much (or more, if you like) as you agree, for, if I, in any way, caused you to think about what you read and what you think on the topic, then, with each post, I have more than achieved my goal.

If ever a post provokes indifference, then you had better fill the comment box below the offending post.

Part One: Denial, Our Acceptance of the Legitimacy of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as Head of State of Libya

Deposing Dictators

In a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa we have witnessed the deposition of the corrupt dictatorial head of state, or are witnessing this as a likely outcome of the present unrest in the region, with more in the wings, due any moment now, a similar fate.

In order to explore the topic stated in the title to the post I am going to select and focus on one example and ask you to find and expand in your mind those other examples that seem to you to fit, and to draw your own conclusions and surmises on those despots recently deposed or likely to be in the not too distant future.

What compels me to write on this occasion is a word I continually hear used by media, commentators, experts, and those who live in the countries concerned.

The word, the first word of the title, has been applied to Muammar Gaddafi (Arabic: معمر القذافي), presently under siege in Tripoli, Libya facing the will of his people who in apparently overwhelming numbers wish him to relinquish his present position however he wishes to characterize it.

In the title I speak of mental state because the mind of any despot should be of interest to us. The power held by such individuals is frequently used so arbitrarily and with such consequences that any insight that we may have into the mind and motivations of the perpetrator of such actions would surely serve us well. I will agree that access to the minds of such people is difficult for any of us, no less than their motivations.

It seems to me, nonetheless, that if we introduce discussion of such matters into the public sphere we achieve at least two important results.

The first is that we, or at least those governments, heads of state, officials, and media personnel external to the unfortunate country over which the despot holds sway, who are charged with interacting and responding to the person in question, have some sense of what constitutes an appropriate and suitable response to what are frequently irrational and unsupportable utterances and behaviors.

The second is of greater consequence. Through public discussion we, at least those of us beyond the reach of the dictator’s power, bring to an end our enabling on the world’s stage the psychosis that constitutes the power of such  individuals. We cease to support the fantasies that they have any legitimacy to the power they claim to hold.

Recognition of States

At present a state is recognized internationally on the basis on two conditions: that the body claiming to represent the state can assure the integrity of the land within the borders of the state and the security of its borders, and that that body undertakes to uphold all international agreements and obligations.

To my mind there is a fundamental condition fatally missing from from the above formulation. The body making the two claims stated above must equally be charged with being able to assure, and provide proof to, the international community that the body is representative of at least the majority of the people who are citizens of the area being claimed as a state.

If this condition is not a requirement of statehood, how can the international community expect that the state in question will uphold international laws, such as the Berne Convention and laws pertaining to human rights.

Furthermore, such a condition must be granted by the international community on the basis that, at all times, the body representing the state is verifiably representative of the citizens of the state.

The recognition of the state by the international community based on this condition must never be absolute but must rest on the condition being continually met.

If at any point in time the condition is not met, for whatever reason, then the international community must place recognition of the state on a provisional basis, this lasting for a fixed period of time, say six months, after which, if the condition is not met, the state has its recognition suspended by the international community.

The impact of the acceptance of this condition of statehood will have a profound affect on the behavior of states both towards their citizens and towards other states and the international community at large.

The case for the adoption of the above is compelling. I urge readers who agree with the above proposal, wholly or in part, who are in the fortunate position of being able to do so, to campaign and press for its adoption within the international community, until such times as the state can once more show that is meets the necessary condition.

Power and Legitimacy

Let us turn back to what we were initially considering. I will be trying your patience, dear readers, if I delineate too extensively the mind and metal makeup of despots. I would ask you to engage in the public space in a further discussion of the metal complexities of such people. Let me point to only two of the many absurdities usually held to be true by despots. The first is the patently self-obvious absurdity that a person who imposes on a state his position as head of that state by force using whatever means he decides, be it by military or police force, usurpation of the ballot box, or any other. A head of state who claims such a position cannot claim to be the representative of that state. For what legitimacy can he claim such a position? This applies equally to their offspring.

And there is no grandfather clause here. Those presently occupying such position through hereditary claims of whatever antiquity are not exempt and are no less illegitimate.

In short, the position of head of state held by virtue of power disqualifies that state from recognition by the international community as a state.

The second obvious absurdity is that a head of state holding that position by virtue of power cannot claim to be representative of the citizens of that state. He cannot speak for them, nor on their behalf. The only person he speaks for is himself.

Part Two: Denial, Why We Allow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to Slaughter the People of Libya

Enabling Denial

The response of many people to some of the recent claims made by Muammar Gaddafi has been to say of him that he is in denial.

It is this phrase “in denial” that has driven me to write the present piece. Because I wonder if those who have publicly used the term understand it. Are those people who have used the term simply used it as a label, albeit accurately, to proscribe the state of mind of the person making such obviously absurd and nonsensical claims.

I wonder how many of those who have used the term “in denial” of Muammar Gaddafi understand the term for, it seems to me, that, if those who have used the term understood it, they would equally be able to state what response was appropriate or necessary to such obviously false claims and the clear denial of reality. Much of what he claims are lies. We know they are lies. Whether he knows them to be lies or not for the present, I don’t think matters. Why do we not call him a liar to his face? Why do we not publicly  say so?

In not a single, single case have I heard from anyone suggest the appropriate and necessary response. To simply say of a person who is perpetrating unimaginable horrors upon those who deny his legitimacy that he is mad and to offer no action concomitant with the observation is, to say the least, negligent. I might go so far as to suggest that such a statement without the suggestion of a followup action is irresponsible. It is that irresponsibility that allows us to excuse ourselves from action, to simply turn away and put out of mind the fact that untold numbers of men, women and children, each in their innocence, are being needlessly slaughtered by a man who makes absurdly false claims and yet whose claims, in our silence to deny them, make us complicit in those murders.

The Naked Emperor

For, as long as each of us on the planet, who knows and is aware of what is being perpetrated in Libya by the Naked Emperor in Tripoli, does not speak up and demand that action is taken by the international community, so each of us has the  trace of the blood on us of those who have died during the last few weeks.

For what crime did any those who have died at the hands of Gaddafi commit? What crime did those babies and children commit? How can any of you, who know of his crimes, sleep at night knowing you have not spoken up and called for action against the man committing these atrocities. How can you kiss the heads of your children, how can tuck them into bed at night, wishing them sweet dreams, knowing that in Libya, at this very moment when you kiss the head of your child, Gaddafi has visited the kiss of death on a child in Libya, a child just like yours, like mine.

What did that child do to deserve that death? Is the death deserved for simply being born in Libya under the hand of a man whose rule you, your neighbor, me, and every person throughout the world, is tolerating.

We have told him to go.

If, in your neighborhood, in the house next door, you knew of someone slaughtering the people living there, would you simply say that the person was mad and leave it at that?

If your neighbor was being slaughtered as you watched, would you simply say to the slaughterer, “Stop, get out of this neighborhood”?

If the man, Gaddafi, came to slaughter your child in front of you, my child in front of me, would you or me simply say to him, “Stop, get out”?

Therefore I say to you, dear reader, I say to every media person who, in whichever ever language, has said that Gaddafi is in denial; I say to every representative who has spoken up on these terrible crimes; I say to all of us, myself included, “Yes, Gaddafi is in denial. Yes, yes, he is.”

Complicity with Slaughter

But I also say you too, myself included; we, we all are in denial.

Our denial is worse than Gaddafi’s.

For our denial denies us taking action.

For if Gaddafi was killing your child, my child, what action would you take, would I take? Why is the child in Libya any different from your child, from my child?

“But that child is not my child”, you will tell me. “That is true,” I will answer, “But that child is your neighbor’s child, and your neighbor is already dead and unable to save the child.”

Is it enough for us to tell the man to go? Isn’t there something else we have to do?

And, yes, there is. It’s very simple. We have to stop being in denial. We have to stop being afraid. And why are we afraid. What harm can he do us? We are not in Libya. We are out of reach of his power. So, what stops us?

We have to contradict his false claims. We know he is lying. Why don’t we tell him he is a liar.

The Emperor in Tripoli has no clothes on. Why don’t we tell him he naked? At what point will we find the courage to do so?

المقالة ما يلي : 

الجزء الأول : الحرمان ، قبولنا لشرعية العقيد معمر القذافي رئيسا للدولة في ليبيا

الجزء الثاني : الحرمان ، لماذا نسمح العقيد معمر القذافي لذبح شعب ليبيا

إذا ، ك تبدأ القراءة الجزء الأول من هذه المقالة ، تجد أنه ليس لذوقك ، واسمحوا لي أن أحثكم على فانتقل إلى الجزء الثاني ، حول أسفل منتصف الطريق. وأؤكد لكم سوف تجد أن الجزء الثاني هو مختلف تماما عن الجزء الأول.

في العديد من وظائف من هذا بلوق حاولت أن أفكار الهوية والقضايا والمؤسسات التي هي قيد المناقشة في الحيز العام ، في الولايات المتحدة ، في بلدان أخرى ، وفي العالم بأسره ، والتي هي باستمرار وعلى الدوام تحجب نقص الفحص ، الفكر أو تحليل. لقد سعيت ، والسعي ، إلى لفت الانتباه إلى الأفكار والكلمات والقضايا التي تستخدم بدلا من عاطفيا مدروس ، وتستخدم مع عدم وجود الوعي معناها أو التأثير على ، أو فهم ، واستخدامها في سياق مع التي هي المستخدمة. استخدام من هذا القبيل يضعف بجدية الحوار. وفي المجال العام ، والحوار هو كل شيء ومدروس ، والحوار على اطلاع بشكل أفضل.

الجزء الأول : الحرمان ، قبولنا لشرعية العقيد معمر القذافي رئيسا للدولة في ليبيا

أنا لست خبيرا في أي مجال ، ويفتقرون إلى المعرفة الحقيقية في معظم المناطق أتطرق. أنا لا آمل أن الكتابة بشكل جيد أو دائما مع الوضوح. ما أود والأمل هو أنه مع كل مقال نشر ، وأنا على اتصال جزء من القراء إلى حد أن تكون ناتجة القراء أو استفزاز في التفكير والتعبير عن أنفسهم بشكل أكثر وضوحا على ما هو عليه أن تسبب لهم للتفكير ، “أوه ، نعم ، حسنا ، لديه نقطة. ” وآمل وأتمنى أن القراء سوف نختلف بقدر (أو أكثر ، إذا أردت) وأنت توافق ، لأنه إذا كنت ، في أية حال ، تسبب لك التفكير في ما تقرأ وما رأيك في هذا الموضوع ، ثم ، مع كل وظيفة ، ولدي أكثر من تحقيق هدفي.

إذا من أي وقت مضى آخر يثير اللامبالاة ، ثم كان لديك أفضل ملء خانة التعليق أدناه وظيفة المخالف.

في عدد من البلدان في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا شهدنا ترسب رأس الديكتاتورية الفاسدة للدولة ، أو نشهد هذا كنتيجة المحتمل للاضطرابات الحالية في المنطقة ، مع اكثر في الأجنحة ، وذلك بسبب أي لحظة الآن ، من مصير مماثل.

من أجل استكشاف هذا الموضوع جاء في عنوان لهذا المنصب وانا ذاهب لتحديد والتركيز على مثال واحد ويطلب منك البحث والتوسع في عقلك تلك الأمثلة الأخرى التي يبدو لك لائقا ، واستخلاص الاستنتاجات الخاصة بك و على تلك الظنون الطغاة المخلوع مؤخرا أو من المحتمل أن تكون في المستقبل غير البعيد جدا.

ما الذي يجبر لي أن أكتب في هذه المناسبة هي كلمة أنا أسمع باستمرار المستخدمة من قبل وسائل الاعلام والمعلقين والخبراء ، وأولئك الذين يعيشون في البلدان المعنية.

وقد طبقت هذه الكلمة ، والكلمة الأولى من العنوان ، لمعمر القذافي (عربي : معمر القذافي) ، في الوقت الحاضر تحت الحصار في طرابلس ، ليبيا تواجه إرادة شعبه الذي بأعداد هائلة على ما يبدو أتمنى له للتخلي عن منصبه الحالي غير أنه ترغب في أن تميز ذلك.

في العنوان وأنا أتكلم عن الحالة النفسية لعقل أي طاغية ينبغي أن تكون ذات فائدة بالنسبة لنا. كثيرا ما يستخدم القوة التي تحتفظ بها هؤلاء الأفراد بشكل تعسفي وحتى مع هذه النتائج أن أي فكرة أننا قد يكون في العقل ودوافع مرتكب مثل هذه الأعمال من شأنه أن يخدم بالتأكيد لنا أيضا. سوف أوافق على أن الوصول إلى عقول هؤلاء الناس من الصعب على أي منا ، ما لا يقل عن دوافعهم.

يبدو لي ، على الرغم من ذلك ، أنه إذا نقدم مناقشة مثل هذه المسائل في المجال العام نحقق ما لا يقل عن اثنين من نتائج هامة.

الأول هو أننا ، أو على الأقل تلك الحكومات ورؤساء الدول والمسؤولين ورجال الاعلام والخارجية للبلد الذي يؤسف له أكثر من الطاغية تسيطر عليها ، الذين توجه إليهم تهمة التفاعل والاستجابة إلى الشخص المعني ، لديهم حس ما يشكل استجابة مناسبة وملائمة لما هي الكلام غير منطقي وغير مقبولة في كثير من الأحيان والسلوكيات.

والثاني هو أكبر من ذلك. من خلال المناقشة العامة ونحن ، على الأقل أولئك منا بعيدا عن متناول السلطة الدكتاتور ، وضع حد لتمكين لدينا على خشبة المسرح في العالم والذهان الذي يشكل قوة من هؤلاء الأفراد. نتوقف لدعم الأوهام أن لديهم أي شرعية للسلطة يدعون لعقد.

في الوقت الحاضر هو المعترف بها دوليا لدولة على أساس على شرطين : أن الجسم الذي يدعي تمثيل الدولة التي تستطيع أن تضمن سلامة الأراضي داخل حدود الدولة وأمن حدودها ، وأن تلك الهيئة تتعهد دعم جميع الاتفاقات الدولية والالتزامات.

في رأيي هناك شرط أساسي من المفقودين قاتلة من صياغة أعلاه. ويجب أيضا على جثة جعل المطالبات المذكوران أعلاه ستحمل مع القدرة على تأمين وتوفير دليل على أن المجتمع الدولي ان الجسد هو ممثل الأغلبية على الأقل من الناس الذين هم من مواطني المنطقة التي ادعى كدولة .

إذا كان هذا الشرط ليس شرطا لقيام الدولة ، وكيف يمكن للمجتمع الدولي نتوقع أن الدولة المعنية ودعم القوانين الدولية ، مثل اتفاقية برن والقوانين المتعلقة بحقوق الإنسان.

وعلاوة على ذلك ، يجب أن تمنح مثل هذا الشرط من جانب المجتمع الدولي على أساس أنه ، في جميع الأوقات ، وهي الهيئة التي تمثل الدولة ممثلة بشكل يمكن التحقق منه من مواطني الدولة.

ويجب على الاعتراف بدولة من جانب المجتمع الدولي على أساس هذا الشرط لن تكون مطلقة ، وإنما يجب أن يرتكز على شرط تلبيتها باستمرار.

إذا عند أي نقطة في الوقت ليس الشرط ، لأي سبب كان ، ثم على المجتمع الدولي أن مكان الاعتراف بدولة على أساس مؤقت ، وهذا دائم لفترة محددة من الزمن ، ويقول ستة أشهر ، وبعد ذلك ، إذا كان الشرط لم يتحقق ، فقد علقت اعترافها الدولة من قبل المجتمع الدولي.

وسيكون التأثير على قبول هذا الشرط لاقامة دولة فلسطينية لها تأثير عميق على سلوك الدول على حد سواء تجاه مواطنيها وتجاه الدول الأخرى والمجتمع الدولي بأسره.

القضية لاعتماد ما سبق هو مقنعة. وأحث القراء الذين يوافقون على الاقتراح أعلاه ، كليا أو جزئيا ، الذين هم في موقف حظا لتكون قادرة على القيام بذلك ، إلى الحملة والضغط من أجل اعتماده في إطار المجتمع الدولي ، حتى العصر مثل إظهار يمكن للدولة مرة أخرى أن يستوفي شرط ضروري.

دعونا نعود إلى ما كنا النظر في البداية. سوف أكون يحاول صبركم ، عزيزي القارئ ، إذا كنت ترسم على نطاق واسع جدا وماكياج العقل والمعادن من الطغاة. وأود أن أطلب منك أن تشارك في الأماكن العامة في مناقشة مزيد من التعقيدات من المعادن مثل هؤلاء الناس. واسمحوا لي أن أشير إلى اثنين فقط من سخافات كثيرة تعقد عادة ليكون صحيحا من قبل الطغاة. الأول هو سخف واضح الذاتي الواضح أن الشخص الذي يفرض على الدولة منصبه كرئيس لهذه الدولة بالقوة باستعمال أية وسيلة انه تقرر ، سواء كان ذلك بالقوة العسكرية أو الشرطة ، واغتصاب صناديق الاقتراع ، أو أي دولة أخرى. ويمكن لرئيس الدولة الذي يدعي مثل هذا الموقف لا ندعي أن يكون ممثل تلك الدولة. لماذا يمكن أن يدعي شرعية مثل هذا الموقف؟ وهذا ينطبق أيضا على ذريتهم.

وليس هناك شرط جده هنا. موقف تلك القائمة بالاحتلال في الوقت الحاضر من خلال مثل هذه المطالبات وراثية من أي العصور القديمة ليست مستثناة وليست أقل شرعية.

وباختصار ، فإن منصب رئيس الدولة الذي عقد بحكم السلطة غير مؤهلة لتلك الدولة من الاعتراف من جانب المجتمع الدولي كدولة.

عبثية الثاني الواضح هو أن رئيس الدولة التي تتولى هذا المنصب بحكم القوة لا يمكن الادعاء أن يكون ممثلا لمواطني تلك الدولة. وهو لا يستطيع الكلام لهما ، ولا نيابة عنهم. الشخص الوحيد الذي يتحدث عنه هو نفسه.

الجزء الثاني : الحرمان ، لماذا نسمح العقيد معمر القذافي لذبح شعب ليبيا

وقد كانت استجابة لكثير من الناس إلى بعض المطالبات الأخيرة التي أدلى بها الزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي ليقول له انه في حالة إنكار.

ومن هذه العبارة “في حالة إنكار” الذي دفع لي لكتابة قطعة الحالي. لأنني أتساءل عما إذا كان أولئك الذين استخدموا مصطلح علنا ​​فهمه. هم أولئك الناس الذين استخدموا مصطلح يستخدم ببساطة كتسمية ، وإن كان ذلك بدقة ، لتحريم الحالة الذهنية للشخص مما يجعل مثل هذه المطالبات واضح وسخيف لا معنى لها.

وأتساءل كم من هؤلاء الذين استخدموا مصطلح “في حالة انكار” من معمر القذافي فهم الأجل لل، يبدو لي ، أنه ، إذا كان هؤلاء الذين استخدموا مصطلح المفهوم ، فإنها ستكون قادرة على الدولة على حد سواء ما كان استجابة مناسبا أو ضروريا لمثل هذه الادعاءات الكاذبة من الواضح وإنكار واضح لحقيقة واقعة. كثيرا ما يدعي أنه كذب. ونحن نعلم انهم الأكاذيب. اذا كان يعرف لها أن تكون أو لا تقع في الوقت الحاضر ، لا اعتقد ان المسائل. لماذا لا ندعو له كذاب في وجهه؟ لماذا لا نستطيع أن نقول ذلك علنا؟

ليس في حالة واحدة واحدة وقد سمعت من أحد توحي استجابة مناسبة وضرورية. أن أقول ببساطة الشخص الذي يرتكب فظائع لا يمكن تصورها على أولئك الذين ينكرون شرعية له انه مجنون ، وتقديم أي عمل مع ما يصاحب ذلك الملاحظة ، على أقل تقدير ، تغافل. قد أذهب حتى الآن كما تشير إلى أن مثل هذا البيان من دون اقتراح إجراء متابعة غير مسؤول. هو أن المسؤولية التي تسمح لنا عذر أنفسنا من العمل ، لتحويل ببساطة وضعت للعقل أن يتم أعداد لا تحصى من الرجال والنساء والأطفال ، في كل من براءتهم ، ذبح داع رجل الذي يجعل كاذبة بعبثية وبعد المطالبات التي تدعي ، في صمتنا لحرمانهم ، تجعلنا متواطئة في جرائم القتل تلك.

لطالما كل واحد منا على هذا الكوكب ، الذي يعرف ويدرك ما يجري في ليبيا التي ارتكبت من قبل الامبراطور عاريا في طرابلس ، لا يتكلم في الطلب واتخاذ إجراءات من جانب المجتمع الدولي ، لذلك كل واحد منا والتتبع من الدم علينا من أولئك الذين لقوا حتفهم خلال الأسابيع القليلة الماضية.

لماذا لم الجريمة أي أولئك الذين لقوا حتفهم على يد القذافي ارتكاب؟ ماذا فعلت هذه الجريمة الرضع والأطفال يرتكبون؟ وكيف يمكن لأي واحد منكم ، الذين يعرفون من جرائمه ، والنوم في الليل مع العلم أنك لم تحدث حتى ودعا إلى اتخاذ إجراءات ضد الرجل ارتكاب هذه الفظائع. كيف يمكنك تقبيل رؤساء أطفالك ، كيف يمكن دس لهم في السرير في الليل ، متمنيا لهم أحلام سعيدة ، مع العلم أن في ليبيا ، في هذه اللحظة بالذات عند تقبيل رأس طفلك ، وزار القذافي قبلة الموت على طفل في ليبيا ، تماما مثل طفل لك ، مثل الألغام.

ماذا فعل هذا الطفل لا يستحق أن الموت؟ هو الموت يستحق لمجرد أنهم ولدوا في ليبيا تحت يد الرجل الذي حكم عليك ، جارك ، لي ، ولكل شخص في جميع أنحاء العالم هو التسامح.

لقد قلنا له بالذهاب.

إذا ، في منطقتكم ، في المنزل المجاور ، كنت تعرف من شخص ذبح الناس الذين يعيشون هناك ، وكنت أقول ببساطة أن الشخص الذي كان مجنونا ونترك الامر عند هذا؟

إذا كان يذبح جارك كما كنت شاهدت ، وكنت أقول ببساطة للقاتل ، “أوقفوا ، والخروج من هذا الحي”؟

إذا كان الرجل والقذافي ، وجاء الى ذبح طفلك أمامك ، طفلي أمامي ، هل لي أن أقول ببساطة أو له ، “أوقفوا ، والخروج؟”

لذلك اقول لك ، عزيزي القارئ ، وأقول لكل شخص وسائل الإعلام منظمة الصحة العالمية ، في أيهما أي وقت مضى اللغة ، وقال ان القذافي هو في حالة إنكار ، وأنا أقول لممثل كل الذي تحدث حتى على هذه الجرائم الفظيعة ، وأنا أقول لجميع منا ، وشملت نفسي : “نعم ، القذافي في حالة إنكار. نعم ، نعم ، انه هو”.

ولكن أقول لك أيضا للغاية ، وأنا منهم ، ونحن ، ونحن جميعا في حالة إنكار.

إنكار لدينا هو أسوأ من القذافي.

لإنكار لدينا تنفي لنا اتخاذ أي إجراء.

لأنه إذا كان القذافي قتل طفلك ، هل طفلي ، ما العمل هل تتخذ ، وأغتنم؟ لماذا هو الطفل في ليبيا أي مختلفة من طفلك ، من طفلي؟

“ولكن هذا الطفل ليس طفلي” ، وسوف تقول لي. “هذا صحيح” ، سأجيب : “ولكن هذا الطفل هو الطفل جارك ، وجارك هو مات بالفعل وغير قادرة على انقاذ الطفل”.

فهل يكفي بالنسبة لنا ان نقول للرجل أن تذهب؟ ليس هناك شيء آخر يتعين علينا القيام به؟

ونعم ، هناك. الأمر في غاية البساطة. لدينا وقف يجري في إنكار. علينا أن نتوقف عن الخوف. ولماذا نحن خائفون. ماذا يمكن أن يفعل لنا الضرر؟ نحن لسنا في ليبيا. ونحن بعيدا عن متناول سلطته. الأمر كذلك ، فما يمنعنا؟

علينا أن تتناقض مع ادعاءاته الكاذبة. ونحن نعلم أنه يكذب. لماذا لا نقول له انه كذاب.

الامبراطور في طرابلس لا يوجد لديه ملابس. لماذا لا نقول له انه عارية؟ في نقطة ما سوف نجد الشجاعة للقيام بذلك؟

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7 March, 2011 • 7:04 am 1

An Appeal to the Military Council of the Free Libya


This appeal is not of the greatest eloquence. Please recognize and accept that the urgency and direness of your situation compels language that in more sedate times would not be needed.

You have a responsibility to which you are not  responding in an adequate manner.   You cannot sit in the comfort of Benghazi and expect that the forces of Gaddafi will surrender simply because the people of free Libya told Gaddafi to go.

Nor should you accept the fact that members of the armed forces and of the State Security apparatus who have defected simply take off their uniforms and go home.

Neither you nor anyone in the world’s community should expect that a regime with a vast, well armed and vicious security apparatus, well practiced after successfully oppressing for 42 years the 6 million people of Libya, is going to be anything other than a formidable opponent.

Nor should you mock and underestimate the rhetoric of the man in #Tripoli. He has successfully held in thrall his supporters for decades. Under threat to his very existence, he is only going to turn up that rhetoric to bolster the shaky loyalty of his rapidly shrinking band of followers.

You have a responsibility to communicate to the forces under your command and especially to the people of free #Libya that the absurdity of Gaddafi’s claims are at the center of a clever and considered propaganda campaign which you need to counter in a serious and urgent manner.

You have a responsibility to properly secure and defend the area of free #Libya. This needs to be achieved in a much more concerted and planned manner than at present. You need to marshall and deploy all the arms you have at your disposal.  Every captured working tank or other arms needs to be manned and turned round and pointed the other way. Not uselessly burnt in a pointless symbolic act.

You, the Military Council of the free Libya, as protectors of the people of free Libya,  along with peace loving people everywhere, long to see the demise of the monster in Tripoli but you need to recognize and take counter measures against the fact that, with each passing day, the extent and nature of the atrocities of the regime will increase.

You need to show courage and sound military leadership to the forces under you. You require adequate arms to succeed against a well armed opponent who will not scruple as how their arms are employed. Therefore, should you be offered military assistance, you need to have the courage and forbearance to accept it.

You need to take action to secure as quickly as possible a peaceful and prosperous free #Libya. Therefore you need to do everything possible to secure your gains and achieve your objective.

Above all you need to provide leadership. The military in a free #Libya needs to have a proud place in the nation. You need to establish that pride now. Are you providing that leadership or are you sitting in the comfort of #Benghazi watching the youth of #Libya, who gave you the freedom you presently enjoy, being needlessly slaughtered at the front lines due to being inadequately supported by you?

The lives of the youth of free #Libya should not be squandered. They are your future. They are your sons. They deserve much more support than they are getting.

And the people of free Libya, you have a responsibility too.

Having lived under the dictator in #Tripoli every one of you presently alive in Libya is well aware of the strength and wiles of the man. Those of you who have thrown off his yoke should recognize and take action against that strength for it is no less, despite the fact that you have freed yourselves of it.

In fact you have not freed yourselves of it. For as long as he, the mad man in Tripoli, lives on Libyan soil, you are not free. There is no free #Libya.

Each of you in free Libya is wasting your time and effort and lives are needlessly lost by calling for him to step down.

He has told you in unequivocal language: he is not stepping down.

Don’t call for him to step down. Give him a push.

No attempt to achieve any semblance of normal life should be made by a single person in free Libya. All effort must be directed to the riddance of the one obstacle to a united and free Libya.

For, as long as he remains alive on Libyan soil you, every person alive in Libya, remain under his dictatorship.

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5 March, 2011 • 12:30 pm 1

A clear message to the people of Libya – رسالة واضحة لشعب ليبيا


Those of us outside Libya have longed for decades for the downfall of the present regime. For as long as the people of Libya tolerated Gaddafi, coerced or not, we were thwarted in that desire. Now that the people of Libya have decisively indicated the end of their toleration of, or compliance with, the brutality and sheer inhumaneness of the regime, we outside Libya will work with the people of Libya in every practical way to achieve the swiftest possible downfall of the regime and to likewise work with the people of Libya in achieving their aspirations for a free Libya. The Post-Gaddafi era can only exist without Gaddafi.

The elimination of the Gaddafi regime is only one step, albeit a giant one.

Let it be absolutely clear in the mind of every Libyan man and woman that each of you bears the responsibility to immediately put aside all grievances and differences and work with each other to create a united Libya that can freely and fairly permit the expression of those grievances and differences in order to swiftly create a society which can join the world community of fellow nations. Until that is accomplished, work with one voice. You are all Libyans. Only in this way can the heroism of Libyans who lost their lives be vindicated. We watt eagerly to embrace you.

We will work with you to achieve the first step. The second step is the sole responsibility of the Libyan people.

أولئك منا خارج ليبيا ويتوق لعقود لسقوط النظام الحالي. لطالما كان شعب ليبيا القذافي التسامح والإكراه أم لا، ونحن في إحباط هذه الرغبة. والآن بعد أن شعب ليبيا أبدت حاسم نهاية لها من تسامح، أو الامتثال، وحشية وغير انسانية محض نيس للنظام، ونحن خارج ليبيا والعمل مع الشعب الليبي في كل وسيلة عملية لتحقيق أسرع ممكن سقوط النظام والعمل بالمثل مع شعب ليبيا في تحقيق طموحاتهم ليبيا الحرة. ويمكن لحقبة ما بعد القذافي موجودة فقط دون القذافي.

القضاء على نظام القذافي ليست سوى خطوة واحدة ، وإن كانت واحدة عملاقة.

فليكن واضحا تماما في ذهن كل رجل وامرأة ليبية أن كل واحد منكم يتحمل المسؤولية لوضع جانبا على الفور جميع الشكاوى والخلافات والعمل مع بعضها البعض لإنشاء ليبيا المتحدة التي يمكن أن تسمح بحرية ونزاهة التعبير عن تلك المظالم والاختلاف من أجل خلق مجتمع على وجه السرعة والتي يمكن أن تنضم إلى المجتمع الدولي من الدول الشقيقة. حتى أن يتم إنجاز، والعمل بصوت واحد. كنت كل الليبيين. فقط بهذه الطريقة يمكن في البطولة من الليبيين الذين فقدوا حياتهم للعيان. نحن واط بشغف لتبني لك.

وسنعمل معكم لتحقيق الخطوة الأولى. والخطوة الثانية هي المسؤولية الوحيدة للشعب الليبي.

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3 March, 2011 • 1:12 am 1

What is Needed to Win: Some thoughts for those on the ground fighting for the Free Libya


The following should be taken in the spirit with which it is written. The author, along with a great many others all across the globe, rich and poor, in free countries or under despots, are willing Libyans to succeed in throwing off the yoke of decades of oppression and misery that Libyans have all endured for far, far too long.

Yes, you Libyans will win in the end. Yes, you Libyans will succeed in creating a Free Libya. But, Libyans, ask yourselves: at what cost. If you, as Free Libyans, have the courage to face that cost, then absolutely you will succeed. Resoluteness always does.

You have the will, you have the courage, and right is clearly on your side. Few situations in life, in this world, so clearly delineate, as this one does, good versus bad, right against might.

A former US diplomat recently observed that for a state to be recognized by the international community, the following two, and only two, conditions have to be met.

The state must show that it has complete control of the territory that constitutes that state.

The state pledges to uphold all of its obligations to the international community.

The second cannot be offered without the assurance of the first.

Given the present situation in Libya, first condition has to be outlined in military terms.

Let us put aside completely the question of the no fly zone.

Free Libyans are absolutely correct to deny outside military help. You are in the process of creating a sovereign state. No foreigner should soil that effort. That the madman employs mercenaries does not justify the presence of foreigners alongside you, fighting your war for your country.

For the struggle to create a Fee Libya has now become a war and the sooner all Free Libyans come to terms with that, the sooner will you win. And you have to win, just as Britain, Russia, and its Allies, had to win against the evils of Nazism. For all Libyans, for a Free Libya, all other considerations are secondary.

And you hold the ace; this ace is time. Time is on your side. Problems of the displaced are problems which are best left to others to attend to. Until the flag of liberty is raised in your capital, you have one aim and one aim only; to raise that flag, the flag of free Libya, in the heart of Tripoli. (Note 1)

You have a second great advantage: you are the attacker; your opponent is the defender. Any strategy is formulated from this viewpoint.

Furthermore, your opponent is tired and dissipated. He has said so. He wishes to die. A wounded animal at bay. We have to stay out of lashing distance. An old, worn, pantomime warrior surrounded by his pampered pets for sons. The jailer is only viscous within the walls of the jail. Outside the jail, he has no power. Especially when you destroy the jails.

The forces of your opponent comprise two elements.

Mercenaries kill only for pay. Cut off the means of payment and the mercenary goes home. Have the international community declare the conveyancing of the Libyan dinar outside Libya illegal. Libyan dinar presently outside Libya can be bought by the central bank of the jurisdiction in which they are located. The frozen assets can be used for reimbursement. A new currency can be part of Free Libya. The home countries of the mercenaries could elect to prosecute them on their return. At least threaten to do so. (Note 2)

The second element is the corps of Libyan officers and the men who surround your opponent, Your opponent comprises the individuals named by the United Nations as subject to prosecution for crimes against humanity. No quarter or offer should be made to any of these individuals.

The Libyan officers and men presently surrounding the opponent should be offered an unequivocal amnesty. An exception could be considered for those individuals suspected of gross violations against Libyans that are not included in the group named by the UN for prosecutions of crimes against humanity. These individuals should be clearly named and threatened with prosecution by the Free Libyan government. The assumption is that this group is small.

The former security apparatus associated with oppression, not including the regular armed forces, should be disbanded disbanded and replaced with a civilian police force. This will prevent those individuals who belonged to it, having been granted amnesty, taking up their former positions. The prior oppressive structure is thus removed at one stroke.

It should be clearly understood that many of the Libyan officers surrounding the opponent and his coterie, face immediate and certain death from your opponent should they disobey orders. It is not suitable to discuss in a public forum what solutions might be offered to address this. If this problem is recognized by the leadership in Free Libya, the solutions will offer themselves.

The civilian population within Tripoli might be thought to fall roughly into two groups. Some wholeheartedly support Free Libya and others have yet to be informed by the cause that drives free Libyans.

Which leads to the next consideration: Propaganda

Every war is won on two fronts. In this case, on the ground by force, and, through the media, to the hearts and minds of those held captive by your opponent.

Your opponent up to the present has dominated the propaganda war. Free Libya has therefore to avail itself of a propaganda machine.

Here is where outside help can play a great part. The existing television stations controlled by your opponent have to be disabled at the earliest opportunity and its broadcast bands filled with the television of Free Libya. Broadcasting equipment should be requested from the international community. Perhaps wealthy business men and women in the region could be solicited to provide it.

Radio broadcast equipment should be used to supplement the above.

A cellular satellite service might be possible through the dropping of suitable SIM cards on Tripoli.

Existing opponent websites should be displaced with Free Libya web sites.

Clandestine flights might be conducted over Tripoli to drop leaflet bombs. These will be suitable for dropping from a height sufficient to avoid ground and air weapons, and which burst open some feet from the ground to shower their leaflets.

The message of the desires of the Free Libyan people for a democratic society should be broadcast to the population at large, including the hapless residents of Tripoli. This has the added advantage of reaching those within Tripoli and the outlying areas of Libya who are presently unaware of the aims and desires of a Free Libya for a democratic society.

What started as a peaceful protest is now an armed struggle. The struggle for Free Libya can be stated in the same terms as those stated by your opponent: win or die. There is no going back, there is no appeasement, there is no amnesty, and there is no surrender.

Look to Americans who can identify with you. To achieve their nation, they had to fight off the British: “We fired our guns and the British kept a coming but there aren’t as many as there were a while ago.”

The following are some suggestions which, if there be any readers amongst you who see merit in anything I say, I would urge you to pass on to the most appropriate people on the ground in Free Libya.

You are right to refuse any offer or suggestion of outside military intervention, but the one thing you absolutely must do is to avail yourselves of counsel, advice and help. Do not be afraid to ask for it. Humility with courage will win the struggle ahead.

Let us observe that when the time comes to push to Tripoli, the push must be remorseless. So how do you prepare for that?

Form a Military Council

Its immediate objectives are twofold:

First to secure the gains already made.

All populated areas should be ringed by armed guards some distance away from them. Guards should be positioned away from roads, yet with the ability to watch over the traffic on them. In every single populated area a military commander should be immediately appointed to maintain the territorial integrity of the greatest possible region surrounding the populated area (town, city, camp, installation). Having secured the ring, volunteers should then join the armed guards to allow the guard ring to spread out to secure greater and greater amounts of territory. Attack groups should be sent from the vicinity to deal with any resistance met.

Push through to enlarge the gains and secure those areas not already under Free Libyan control.

Secondly, come up with a strategy.

The second objective can only be achieved through strategy. Ad hoc fighting will result in territorial gains turning into losses, along with loss of life and loss of morale.

The strategy has to achieve two aims.

The consolidation of all land that falls within the boundaries of Libya and the securing of those boundaries against incursions.

Now, appraise your opponent and his forces. His strengths and weakness. Your strategy should seek to play upon the latter and dilute the former.

You are in the position of laying a city with a large, unarmed civilian population, including other nationals, under siege. Careful consultation with suitable parties within the international community will result in a strategy that seeks to eliminate loss of life. You are seeking the surrender of the military forces of your opponent without those forces holding the population as hostage. Again a public space is not suitable for a discussion of how this might be approached. One approached might be broached here. That of an independent mediator on the ground.

The following appraisal applies, roughly speaking, to both sides.

To my knowledge, other than the skirmishes on the Libyan border with Chad in the eighties, the Libyan armed forces have not fought in any wars, far less a battle, going all the way to the top to include the Leader himself. To this extent, the forces in Libya have been used principally as a means to subjugate the population at large and against small uprisings over the years when they occurred.

I have no knowledge of the standard of training of the Libyan forces. If you are a member of the armed forces of Libya you can reflect on what training you have had that serves you best for the battle ahead.

To your east lies a country with an army, well trained and battle proven, which can provide advice and counsel on strategy. If approached, I feel sure they would be glad to offer the necessary advice.

Last but not least is a consideration which few have addressed and even fewer publicly and that is the metal state of your opponent and the likely behaviours to be exhibited under stress. This alone might be the most crucial element to your success.

Let us take the case of serial killers. The successful identification, pursuit and capture of serial killers requires an insight into the psychology of such people, an understanding of their likely behaviour based upon previous actions. Let us emphasize here that we are talking about appraising possible behaviours and coming up with counter actions. It is well to consider these beforehand.

Similarly, expert advise should be sought to identify the likely behaviours of your opponent that would result from actions you might take towards or against him and his coterie.

Let’s turn for a moment to address the world at large. On a similar note to what has been said in the foregoing paragraph, it strikes me that, for all the fact that some world leaders and members of the media have pronounced upon the state of mind of your opponent, few if any have attempted to gain even a glimmer of insight into the mind of a person who has created mayhem and threatens to create worse.

We in the world at large, alongside the people of Libya, are being held hostage by a man making threats. We have not addressed amongst ourselves what it means for us to be intimated by those threats, for whole nations, along with their entire leadership, are rendered helpless in the face of those threats. We have not thought as to how we might best counter those threats.

It has widely been observed that your opponent is in denial. This is all very well. If a building were on fire we would not simply stare at the flames. We would call the fire brigade. Equally we have a responsibility throughout the international community to identify what the appropriate response is to that denial. We do not appear to have done so.

When we find the appropriate responses, we might very well defuse the whole situation.

In the meantime our leadership, nationally and internationally, are observing dereliction of duty in not addressing the issue. And we, every one of us, are enabling the behaviour.

The man in Tripoli is holding us in his thrall as he weaves around us a web of threats. We have yet to throw off the yoke of fear that these threats invoke. We listen to the ramblings which make no sense and yet we are mesmerized. For evil beheld will lock you in the horrors of its trance.

The free people of Libya, however, are ahead of us. They have wrestled off the shackles of their fear and stand ready to vanquish the tyrant.

All of us outside Libya also need to throw off our shackles.

Notes:

1                    Peter Beaumont of the London newspaper, the Observer, who is currently in Tripoli, told Amy Goodman on National Public Radio’s Democracy Now, March 3, 2011, that he had listened the previous evening to the head of the Libyan National Oil Company, Shukri Ghanem, stating that oil production had already fallen to 50% of normal production and this, compounded by the fleeing foreign oil field workers, is hurting Libya.

2                    Information on crossborder movement of the Libyan Dinar (LYD) is difficult to locate.

 

Revised version posted 3 March, 2011 at 4.30 pm

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