It has been said, "In war, truth is the first casualty." Libya is no exception. From the lies that started the war, to the rebels linked to al-Qaeda, ethnically cleansing black Libyans, killing civilians, propaganda, PR firms, intelligence agents, and possible occupation; Libya is a more complex story than the fairy tale we have been sold. Reality always is.

What Were the 'Reasons’ for 'Intervention’?

We were sold the case for war in Libya as a "humanitarian intervention." We were told, of course, that we "needed" to intervene in Libya because Muammar Gaddafi was killing his own people in large numbers; those people, on the same token, were presented as peaceful protesters resisting the 40-plus year reign of a brutal dictator.

In early March of 2011, news headlines in Western nations reported that Gaddafi would kill half a million people.[1] On March 18, as the UN agreed to launch air strikes on Libya, it was reported that Gaddafi had begun an assault against the rebel-held town of Benghazi. The Daily Mail reported that Gaddafi had threatened to send in his African mercenaries to crush the rebellion.[2] Reports of Libyan government tanks sitting outside Benghazi poised for an invasion were propagated in the Western media.[3] In the lead-up to the United Nations imposing a no-fly zone, reports spread rapidly through the media of Libyan government jets bombing the rebels.[4] Even in February, the New York Times – the sacred temple for the 'stenographers of power’ we call "journalists" – reported that Gaddafi was amassing "thousands of mercenaries" to defend Tripoli and crush the rebels.[5] Italy’s Foreign Minister declared that over 1,000 people were killed in the fighting in February, citing the number as "credible."[6] Even a top official with Human Rights Watch declared the rebels to be "peaceful protesters" who "are nice, sincere people who want a better future for Libya."[7] The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared that "thousands" of people were likely killed by Gaddafi, "and called for international intervention to protect civilians."[8] In April, reports spread near and far at lightning speed of Gaddafi’s forces using rape as a weapon of war, with the first sentence in a Daily Mail article declaring, "Children as young as eight are being raped in front of their families by Gaddafi’s forces in Libya," with Gaddafi handing out Viagra to his troops in a planned and organized effort to promote rape.[9]

As it turned out, these claims – as posterity notes – turned out to be largely false and contrived. Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International both investigated the claims of rape, and "have found no first-hand evidence in Libya that rapes are systematic and being used as part of war strategy," and their investigations in Eastern Libya "have not turned up significant hard evidence supporting allegations of rapes by Qaddafi’s forces." Yet, just as these reports came out, Hillary Clinton declared that the U.S. is "deeply concerned by reports of wide-scale rape" in Libya.[10] Even U.S. military and intelligence officials had to admit that, "there is no evidence that Libyan military forces are being given Viagra and engaging in systematic rape against women in rebel areas"; at the same time Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, "told a closed-door meeting of officials at the UN that the Libyan military is using rape as a weapon in the war with the rebels and some had been issued the anti-impotency drug. She reportedly offered no evidence to backup the claim."[11]

An investigation by Amnesty International, released in June, attempted to assess the on-the-ground (as opposed to 'in-the-newspapers’) reality of the claims made which led to Western "intervention" in Libya. Among the stories of mass rapes were the use, by Gaddafi, of "foreign mercenaries" and using helicopters and jets to attack rebel forces and protesters. As the Independent reported in June:

An investigation by Amnesty International has failed to find evidence for these human rights violations and in many cases has discredited or cast doubt on them. It also found indications that on several occasions the rebels in Benghazi appeared to have knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence.[12]

Hillary Clinton stated, "Rape, physical intimidation, sexual harassment, and even so-called 'virginity tests’ have taken place in countries throughout the region," and at the same time, the senior crisis responder for Amnesty International who was in Libya for three months following the uprising stated, "we have not found any evidence or a single victim of rape or a doctor who knew about somebody being raped." Human Rights Watch reported, "We have not been able to find evidence." The rebels had been very active, in fact, in manufacturing and propagating lies that supported intervention and war, as the Amnesty representative explained, "rebels dealing with the foreign media in Benghazi started showing journalists packets of Viagra, claiming they came from burned-out tanks, though it is unclear why the packets were not charred." Further, in regards to the use of foreign mercenaries, for which many black Africans were killed and imprisoned by the rebels, Amnesty reported, "there was no evidence for this." The Amnesty rep in Libya declared: "Those shown to journalists as foreign mercenaries were later quietly released… Most were sub-Saharan migrants working in Libya without documents." Others, Amnesty reported, "were not so lucky and were lynched or executed," as "the politicians kept talking about mercenaries, which inflamed public opinion and the myth has continued because they were released without publicity."[13]

Those migrants who were shown to foreign media were not represented in that media in a friendly or even falsely unbiased manner. As the Daily Mail reported at the time, publishing photos of the "savage mercenaries" who later turned out to be migrant workers, "they were a pretty sorry bunch," and that, "you could smell their fear." The article then went on to declare, "these men are alleged to have been among several thousand foreign thugs and gunmen that Muammar Gaddafi sent against his own people, to kill and destroy and quell the uprising in eastern Libya." Now, claimed the Daily Mail, "they are the prisoners of the people." However, the article continued to – several paragraphs below, mind you – quote some of the "savage mercenaries" who made statements to the reporter such as: "We did not do anything… We are all construction workers from Ghana. We harmed no one… they are lying about us. We were taken from our house at night when we were sleeping." The reporter assessed the situation with: "Still complaining, they were led away. It was hard to judge their guilt."[14]

Further, with the "credible" reports – as the Italian Foreign Minister referred to them – of "thousands" of civilians killed by Gaddafi in the early weeks of rebellion, the Amnesty International investigation found that, "there is no proof of mass killing of civilians." During the first days of the uprising, most of the fighting was in Benghazi, "where 100 to 110 people were killed, and the city of Baida to the east, where 59 to 64 were killed." However, there were indications that some of these deaths were also pro-Gaddafi forces, and that some "protesters" had weapons, indicating that it may have been a fight as opposed to a massacre. Further, reported Amnesty: "There is no evidence that aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were used against crowds. Spent cartridges picked up after protesters were shot at came from Kalashnikovs or similar calibre weapons." The Amnesty report further criticized Western media coverage of the war:

Much Western media coverage has from the outset presented a very one-sided view of the logic of events, portraying the protest movement as entirely peaceful and repeatedly suggesting that the regime’s security forces were unaccountably massacring unarmed demonstrators who presented no security challenge.[15]

As for the notion that NATO was bombing Gaddafi troops poised for an invasion, even the New York Times quoted a Libyan official who claimed, "that Western powers were now attacking the Libyan Army in retreat, a far cry from the United Nations mandate to establish a no-fly zone to protect civilians." This is an important point, because the reason for the UN no-fly zone was purportedly to "protect civilians," not to "take sides" in the civil conflict between the government and the rebels. As a Libyan official stated, some Libyan forces "were attacked as they were clearly moving westbound," as in, away from Benghazi and the rebels in the east. He further stated, "Clearly NATO is taking sides in this civil conflict. It is illegal. It is not allowed by the Security Council resolution. And it is immoral, of course." At the same time, the NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, declared that, "NATO will implement all aspects of the U.N. resolution. Nothing more, nothing less."[16]

Days before the Libyan government official claimed that Libyan forces were in retreat as they were bombed (something which would no doubt be immediately cast aside as Libyan propaganda by Western media sources), the New York Times, within days of NATO strikes beginning, reported on 20 March 2011 that, "with brutal efficiency, allied warplanes bombed tanks, missile launchers and civilian cars, leaving a smoldering trail of wreckage that stretched for miles," and further, outside of Benghazi, "many of the tanks seemed to have been retreating, or at least facing the other way. And others were simply abandoned."[17]

Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, the most prestigious and influential think tank in the United States, was also a former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State, former National Security Council Senior Director, who has also been a key figure within the Brookings Institution, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In short, it is a hard thing to be a more institutionalized imperial strategist than Haas; however, even he wrote in early April that, "I did not support the U.S. decision to intervene with military force in Libya. The evidence was not persuasive that a large-scale massacre or genocide was either likely or imminent." However, he of course went on to support NATO’s efforts, as – he explained – "we are where we are."[18]

Long before the UN resolution 1973 and the NATO air strikes began, the Russian military, who had been monitoring events in Libya from satellites, said that Libya never launched attacks from helicopters or jets against its own civilians, and that, "as far as they are concerned, the attacks some media were reporting have never occurred."[19] Of course, this was later confirmed by an independent investigation,[20] however the war had already been sold on the basis of such dubious reporting. Indeed, far more journalists are "stenographers of power" rather than 'investigators of truth.’

On March 1, the same day that the Russian military reported that there had been no jets used in attacks by Gaddafi against his own civilians, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, and the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, gave a press conference at the Pentagon where one reporter posed the question: "Do you see any evidence that he actually has fired on his own people from the air? There were reports of it, but do you have independent confirmation? If so, to what extent?" Secretary Gates responded: "We’ve seen the press reports, but we have no confirmation of that," and Admiral Mullen added, "That’s correct. We’ve seen no confirmation whatsoever."[21] So even the Pentagon itself admitted that it had absolutely "no confirmation whatsoever" that jets and helicopters had been used to attack civilians, yet the whole Western world took this as de facto truth. In this, we can see the power of the media in making a case for war, where their propaganda is more absurd and manufactured than that of the Pentagon’s.

Stenographers of Power?

Glenn Greenwald, an American constitutional and civil rights lawyer who writes for Salon.com wrote an article about the notion of reporters as "stenographers of power." He quoted an article entitled, "How to be a stenographer," in which it was written:

If you are considering a career as a stenographer, one of the most important things that you should consider is what type of job duties stenographers have. They transcribe, or type, material which they are dictated. This can include orders, memos, correspondence, reports and various other types of information.[22]

Greenwald, in describing his own personal experience with courtroom stenographers, wrote:

Their defining trait is that they have a fierce devotion to transcribing accurately everything that is said and doing nothing else. It’s not uncommon for lawyers, in the heat of some dispute, to attempt to recruit the stenographer into the controversy in order to say who is right… Stenographers will never do that. They will emphasize that they are only there to write down what is said, not to resolve disputes or say what actually happened… But there’s a fundamental difference: stenographers are far better at their job, since they give equal weight to what all parties say. But Time and friends exist principally to trumpet government claims and minimize and belittle anything to the contrary, and they pretend to "balance" it all only when they’re caught mindlessly transcribing these one-sided claims and are forced to write down what the other side says, too. The bulk of our establishment journalists aren’t merely stenographers. They’re bad stenographers.[23]

Following the beginning of the Iraq war, many newspapers had to publish small pieces outlining their role as "[bad] stenographers of power" in presenting the case for war in the first place. Of course, at the time that the New York Times, the Washington Post and others were selling the war to the American people, dissenters and critics were unabashedly seeking truth and were able to assess the claims made as "false" long before the war, let alone before these news publications had "discovered" the falsities they reported. Of course, claims will always be made that "hindsight is 20/20" and "we didn’t know," but such claims don’t stand to scrutiny when the dissenters whose voices were never heard in the Times or Post were far ahead of the media in assessing the validity of the government’s assertions. In 2004, the New York Times had to publish a brief report on its own pre-Iraq war coverage, stating:

We have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged.[24]

The Washington Post ran a similar story, detailing the attitude its editors and journalists took in the run up to the war in Iraq. It was reported that any article questioning the validity of claims made by the administration, such as the notion that there were WMDs in Iraq, wouldn’t make the front page. Bob Woodward, Assistant Managing Editor at the Post stated, "We should have warned readers we had information that the basis for this was shakier." The article further explained:

Some reporters who were lobbying for greater prominence for stories that questioned the administration’s evidence complained to senior editors who, in the view of those reporters, were unenthusiastic about such pieces. The result was coverage that, despite flashes of groundbreaking reporting, in hindsight looks strikingly one-sided at times… Administration assertions were on the front page. Things that challenged the administration were on A18 on Sunday or A24 on Monday. There was an attitude among editors: Look, we’re going to war, why do we even worry about all this contrary stuff?..

Across the country, "the voices raising questions about the war were lonely ones," [Washington Post Executive Editor] Downie said. "We didn’t pay enough attention to the minority."…

From August 2002 through the March 19, 2003, launch of the war, The Post ran more than 140 front-page stories that focused heavily on administration rhetoric against Iraq. Some examples: "Cheney Says Iraqi Strike Is Justified"; "War Cabinet Argues for Iraq Attack"; "Bush Tells United Nations It Must Stand Up to Hussein or U.S. Will"; "Bush Cites Urgent Iraqi Threat"; "Bush Tells Troops: Prepare for War."[25]

One story that was submitted to the Post for publication, which threw into doubt all the claims made by the U.S. administration, and which largely quoted retired military officials and outside experts, "was killed by Matthew Vita, then the national security editor and now a deputy assistant managing editor" of the Post. Karen DeYoung, a former assistant managing editor who covered the prewar diplomacy, said quite bluntly that, "Bush, Vice President Cheney and other administration officials had no problem commanding prime real estate in the paper, even when their warnings were repetitive":

"We are inevitably the mouthpiece for whatever administration is in power," DeYoung said. "If the president stands up and says something, we report what the president said." And if contrary arguments are put "in the eighth paragraph, where they’re not on the front page, a lot of people don’t read that far."[26]

There you have it, a former assistant managing editor of the Washington Post herself admitted that, "We are inevitably the mouthpiece for whatever administration is in power." If there had ever been a clearer admission of being stenographers of power, I have yet to hear it.

No doubt, then, that upon the militaristic adventurism of yet another war, the media is again doing what it does best: being a "mouthpiece for whatever administration is in power." Yet, with Libya it is even more profound; sold as a "humanitarian intervention," this war must be presented in the media as a type of "rescue" operation as opposed to an imperial adventure. This task requires all the more deception on the part of both official statements and media "mouthpieces."

As the saying goes, "In war, truth is the first casualty." Indeed, it was so in Libya, and continues to be assaulted day-in day-out so long as this unjustified war continues.

Who are the Rebels?

We have been told a great many things about the rebels in Libya. We were told that they were "peaceful protesters," that they were "nice guys," and represented a popular uprising. From the flurry of reports about the rebels, the general 'presentation’ given by Western governments and media was that the rebels are average Libyan civilians seeking to liberate themselves from a brutal tyrant who was indiscriminately killing them. Invariably and incessantly, the media in the West, such as the Financial Times, frame the forces as "pro-democracy rebels."[27] Naturally, such assertions must be more diligently questioned and investigated. So who are the rebels? Who makes up Libya’s Transitional National Council (TNC), largely recognized by the Western nations as the "legitimate" government in Libya?

The protests in Libya began in Benghazi on February 15, 2011. Fighting broke out between protesters and government forces, though it was naturally framed by Western media as a massacre, which ultimately turned out to be false.[28] On 27 February, the National Transition Council (NTC) (also referred to as the Transitional National Council – TNC) was formed as a consolidated effort on the part of rebel groups to form an opposition 'government.’ The TNC immediately called for a no-fly zone to be imposed by the U.N. and for air strikes against Gaddafi forces, which the TNC claimed were committing air strikes against them, which also turned out to be false. The rebels, however, were composed of a wide array of different groups. Among them, as Political Scientist and Sociologist Mahmood Mamdani explained, are "four different political trends: radical Islamists, royalists, tribalists, and secular middle class activists produced by a Western-oriented educational system." Further, "of these, only the radical Islamists, especially those linked organisationally to Al Qaeda, have battle experience."[29]

While many Western media outlets initially tried to frame the rebels as simply, "lawyers, academics, businessmen and youths," trying to sidetrack the Islamist elements within the rebel groups, eventually the story started to slowly break, though still largely downplayed. The TNC includes many former Libyan government officials who defected to the rebel camp at the start of the fighting. As the Wall Street Journal reported at the time, "some of the officials are known in Washington and European capitals as secular, pro-Western and pro-business," and that, "Islamists among the rebels have been largely kept out of the public spotlight, though they are believed to have support in eastern Libya and have assumed key functions in the rebel efforts." The head of the TNC is a man named Mahmoud Jibril, a Western-educated political scientist and economist who previously headed Libya’s National Economic Development Board, "with the mandate to boost foreign investment and economic growth in country."[30] By putting Jibril at the head of the TNC, the Council is "sending a message to foreign companies that the future Libyan government is interested in foreign investment and privatization."[31] According to a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks from 2009, the U.S. ambassador to Libya wrote that Jibril "gets the U.S. perspective," as in a meeting with Jibril, he had "highlighted the need to replace the country’s decrepit infrastructure and train Libyans," and "requested American public and private assistance to do so." Jibril, in his pitch to the ambassador, stated that Libya "has a stable regime and is 'virgin country’ for investors," leading the ambassador to conclude: "we should take him up on his offer."[32]

Jibril and the TNC released, in late March, a document entitled, "A Vision of a Democratic Libya," as a type of blueprint for building a 'new’ Libya. Among the many points in the blueprint were to: "Draft a national constitution", "Form political organisations and civil institutions including the formation of political parties, popular organisations, unions, societies and other civil and peaceful associations", "Maintain a constitutional civil and free state by upholding intellectual and political pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power, opening the way for genuine political participation, without discrimination", "Guarantee every Libyan citizen, of statutory age, the right to vote in free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections", "Guarantee and respect the freedom of expression", and a firm commitment to "political democracy." The 'vision’ further states that it seeks, "the development of genuine economic partnerships between a strong and productive public sector, a free private sector and a supportive and effective civil society."[33]

Well, that all sounds well and good, but just how truly "democratic" or "respectful" of 'human rights’ are the rebels and the TNC? How does their purported statements of support for Libyans "without discrimination" stand up to scrutiny? How truly democratic and peaceful are these groups?

Western Intelligence and the Rebels

The rebel groups are not simply disparate, localized, and grassroots individuals rising up in support of democracy and against a brutal tyrant. In fact, from the very beginning of the fighting, many rebels have been actively supported by Western and NATO intelligence agencies and special forces, including the CIA.

In March it was reported that the CIA had been authorized by President Obama to begin operations in Libya.[34] The CIA was reportedly sent to Libya to gather intelligence for air strikes and "to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels." As Obama said no U.S. forces were on the ground in Libya, which itself is a direct violation of the UN resolution 1973 which authorized a no-fly zone in Libya (but directly forbade foreign troops on the ground), "small groups of C.I.A. operatives [had] been working in Libya for several weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help bleed Colonel Qaddafi’s military," reported the New York Times. As they had been in Libya "for several weeks," they had arrived prior to even the passing of UN resolution 1973 and the imposition of a no-fly zone, indicating directly that there were no plans for peace, and war was the favoured option. Further, in the same report, it was revealed that British special forces and MI6 intelligence agents were also active in Libya. Prior to the UN resolution, which was implemented to only "protect civilians" and not to take sides in the conflict, President Obama signed a secret finding "authorizing the C.I.A. to provide arms and other support to Libyan rebels."[35]

The CIA officers in Libya, reported the Los Angeles Times, are "coordinating with rebels and sharing intelligence," and that, "the CIA has been in rebel-held areas of Libya since shortly after the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Tripoli, was evacuated in February." As the article pointed out, in a clear indication of where the war might be headed:

In the early days of the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, teams of CIA officers and U.S. special operations troops entered secretly, coordinated with opposition groups and used handheld equipment to call in and aim airstrikes against the government armies.[36]

However, at the time, in late March, Obama and the White House were declaring that, "no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya."[37] Before the UN resolution was even passed in early March, a report broke in the Independent which revealed a secret plan by the U.S. to arm the Libyan rebels through Saudi Arabia.[38] Also before the U.N. resolution was passed, the Wall Street Journal revealed that, "Egypt’s military has begun shipping arms over the border to Libyan rebels with Washington’s knowledge."[39] The Egyptian military is largely subsidized and supported by the United States, thus what it does with U.S. "knowledge" is also done with U.S. 'consent.’

The leader of the Libyan rebel’s military command is a man named Khalifa Hifter. As McClatchy Newspapers revealed in March, he had "spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled — even in his late-60s — to return to the battlefield in his homeland," and explained that he had maintained, over those 20 years in Virginia, strong ties to anti-Gaddafi groups without any 'known’ financial support, while living a mere 20 miles from CIA headquarters.[40] There is a significant amount of investigative research, largely not undertaken by the mainstream media, who largely kept Hifter’s name out of the press, that he is, in fact, an asset of the CIA, and has been for a great many years.[41] However, the Guardian, in April of 2011, reported that Hifter had, in the early 1980s, "joined a CIA-run anti-Gaddafi force."[42]

Gaddafi, al-Qaeda, and … Charlie Sheen?

In late February and early March, Gaddafi was claiming that the rebel groups were linked to al-Qaeda, a claim which was largely ridiculed by Western media. Apparently, it is only the Western nations and media who have the ability to claim that all their 'enemies’ are linked to al-Qaeda. As the Guardian reported on 1 March, "Muammar Gaddafi’s insistent claim that al-Qaida is behind the Libyan uprising – made in all his public appearances since the crisis began – has been dismissed at home and abroad as propaganda." The group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an affiliate of al-Qaeda, have long been in Libya, and have been long-opposed to Gaddafi’s rule. Established in Afghanistan in the 1990s, the group has been responsible for assassinating dozens of Libyan soldiers and policemen. At the time, MI6, the British foreign intelligence agency, was accused of supporting the LIFG in Britain’s vehement campaign to rid Libya of Gaddafi.[43]

The Western media attempted to ridicule Gaddafi for making such claims, as MSNBC reported Gaddafi’s denouncement as a "rambling phone call to Libyan state TV."[44] The media kept up its campaign, with a Guardian headline in early March asking readers to participate in an online questionnaire entitled, "Charlie Sheen v Muammar Gaddafi: whose line is it anyway?"[45] Or how about Vanity Fair, which 'challenged’ their readers with a hard-bitten 'journalistic’ quiz, asking, "The Two and a Half Men star and the Libyan dictator delivered rambling rants this week. Can you tell who said what?"[46] As the National Post – Canada’s vociferously imperial national newspaper – wrote in early March:

It’s rare that the news stories that would usually be relegated to the "bizarre news" section make it onto the front pages, but over the last few days the fantasies of two famous men have forced their way into the public consciousness. Muammar Gaddafi and Charlie Sheen have probably never met (though given the proclivity for Hollywood stars to dabble in foreign policy, you never know), but they share a number of qualities, such as a slipping grip on reality and easy access to TV interviewers through which to share their musings.[47]

This line of ridicule comparing Gaddafi to Charlie Sheen was repeated all over Western news media, as a simple Google search of both of their names will indicate, with several publications engaging in the rank-and-file self-assured ridicule, including the Mirror, MSNBC, New York Magazine, The First Post, the Chicago Tribune, Life, Reuters, Salon, the Telegraph, the Atlantic, ABC News, and comedy pundits like Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central, among many others. So this is what our 'news’ media has come to, in a situation of impending war and devastation, the destruction of human life and invasion of foreign countries and occupation of foreign peoples, sending our young, largely poor domestic populations to go kill or be killed, turning their guns on other poor, forgotten peoples for the benefit of those who send them. Instead of taking an issue like "humanitarian intervention" in the proper context of a war, which like all wars, would kill inordinate amounts of innocent civilians, our media chose to engage in the disgraceful frenzy of a group joke.

As the claims of Gaddafi were increasingly ridiculed as the crazy rants of a beleaguered psychopathic dictator (note: I am not casting doubt on the fact that he IS a dictator), several intermittent reports slipped through the cracks which in fact validated many of Gaddafi’s "crazy" claims.

The Wall Street Journal reported in early April that ex-Mujahideen (CIA-trained) fighters from the Afghan-Soviet war are in Libya aiding the rebels. The ex-Mujahideen fighters that the West trained, armed and supported in Afghanistan in the 1980s are now referred to in common parlance as "al-Qaeda," unless of course we are supporting them. Then, just as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s, we call them "freedom fighters" or "pro-democracy protesters" in Obama’s case. In fact, the actual term "al-Qaeda", as explained by former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, literally means "the database," which "was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."[48] In short, al-Qaeda is a "database" of Western intelligence assets used to expand Western imperial interests around the world. They provide an excuse for intervention in countries whose governments you want to overthrow or whose people you want to prevent from ushering in a popular liberation struggle. Or, conversely, you can support them covertly in engaging in warfare against a hated regime, but invariably you would not want to refer to them as 'al-Qaeda’ in such an instance, as it would conflict with the propagated concept of a worldwide "war on terror", instead of what it actually is: a "war of terror."

However, as the WSJ reported from Beghazi, "Sufyan Ben Qumu, a Libyan army veteran who worked for Osama bin Laden’s holding company in Sudan and later for an al Qaeda-linked charity in Afghanistan, is training many of the city’s rebel recruits." Many other officials within the rebel command come from similar backgrounds, as they make up the experienced elements of the rebel army, which is incidentally led by a CIA asset (as explained above).[49] Even a rebel leader admitted that his fighters have al-Qaeda links, as reported by the Telegraph.[50] Further, a senior American Admiral, and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander (leading the attack on Libya), admitted that al-Qaeda was among the rebels.[51]

Yet, while these admissions surfaced in the mainstream media, once reported, in true Orwellian fashion, they were cast into the "memory hole," all but forgotten. Thus, when any reference or indeed dissenter continues to refer to the rebel’s links to al-Qaeda, they are cast aside as a "crackpot" or a "conspiracy theorist." It may have even been the very news outlet which is denouncing such claims that actually reported them as fact in the first place. The National Post recently engaged in a hit-piece against independent journalists who were based in Tripoli covering events and views unwanted by the NATO powers. In ridiculing these reports of NATO involvement with al-Qaeda linked rebels, the National Post journalist stated, cynically, "No massive popular uprising, no victorious rebels flooding into Tripoli greeted by throngs of well-wishers among the city’s populace. It was a NATO – Al Qaida job."[52]

The writer went on to denounce my former employers and colleagues at the Centre for Research on Globalization as "a Canadian clubhouse for crackpots of the anti-war, 911-truth, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist variety. The Centre would not normally be worth noticing except for a laugh." Seemingly, in the eyes of Terry Glavin and the National Post, "anti-war" and "anti-imperialist" sentiments are the intellectual bastion of "crackpots." What, might I ask, does that say about the National Post? Personally, the label of "anti-war" and "anti-imperialist" is not an insult to me, nor to my former colleagues; it is a badge of honour, a source of pride and a directive for action. The framing of such anti-war and anti-imperialist sentiments as a 'negative’ label, indeed says more about the National Post than it does about Global Research and its writers.

Is this a Popular Democratic Uprising?

The National Post refers to the rebels as a "massive popular uprising" of "victorious rebels" who entered Tripoli "greeted by throngs of well-wishers among the city’s populace," perhaps we should ask if this is indeed the case. Scott Taylor, a Canadian journalist writing for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald in late August, observed (and it is worth quoting at some length):

The rebellion in Libya has been more of a media war than a full-scale armed clash… To prevent Gaddafi from inflicting reprisals on the rebels, the UN authorized a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over Libya to protect unarmed civilians from being bombed. That, of course, did not apply to civilians living in Gadhafi-controlled sectors, as the Canadian-led NATO coalition soon began mounting airstrikes against government targets.

For more than five months now NATO planes have supported the rebels, and NATO warships have enforced a one-sided arms embargo against Gadhafi’s forces. And all foreign-held Libyan financial assets have been frozen, making it virtually impossible for Libya to purchase any war materiel, or even basic necessities such as fuel…

On a fact-finding trip into Tripoli last week, I saw first-hand that Gaddafi has solidified his control over the capital and most of western Libya. Foreign diplomats still based in Tripoli confirmed to me that, since NATO started bombing, Gaddafi support and approval ratings have actually soared to about 85 per cent.

Of the 2,335 tribes in Libya, over 2,000 are still pledging their allegiance to the embattled president. At present, it is the gasoline shortage due to the embargo and lack of electricity from NATO’s bombing that are causing the most hardship to Libyans inside Gadhafi-controlled sectors.

However, at present, the people still blame NATO — not Gaddafi — for the shortages. In an effort to combat that sentiment and to encourage a popular uprising against Gadhafi, NATO planes have taken to dropping leaflets in canisters over the streets of Tripoli. Unfortunately for the NATO planning staff, the canisters are heavy enough to cause injury and damage roofs when they plummet to the ground…

It is possible that the continued embargo, shortage of fuel and downgrading of Libyan utilities will create a humanitarian crisis inside Gadhafi’s Libya so severe that his followers have no choice but to turn on him for their own survival. However, if that indeed transpires it will be impossible for the West to justify this as being a humanitarian intervention.[53]

It is no surprise that Gaddafi’s support has risen to such extreme levels, as this tends to be the case whenever a country is bombed and attacked by an outside imperial power. It is also no wonder that Gaddafi has such strong support among his people when one considers the human toll of fighting. Reports vary on the amount of deaths, both combatant and civilian, but in early June, the U.N. Human Rights Council mission to Tripoli reported that between 10-15,000 people have been killed in the fighting thus far.[54] Reports of NATO strikes killing civilians do not help "win the hearts and minds" of Libyans, especially when one such strike killed over 85 innocent civilians, including 33 children.[55] Also in June, the Italian Foreign Minister, following a NATO bombing of a house in Tripoli, declared, "NATO is endangering its credibility," and in an extrapolation of how the West is losing the 'propaganda war’, he stated, "We cannot continue our shortcomings in the way we communicate with the public, which doesn’t keep up with the daily propaganda of Gaddafi."[56]

'Worthy’ vs. 'Unworthy’ Victims: Are the Rebels Committing 'Ethnic Cleansing’?

A typical propaganda tactic used by Western media, throughout the entire Cold War (and arguably much longer) is the notion of "worthy" and "unworthy" victims. In any conflict in which the Western world engages and seeks a particular outcome, the presentation to the public – (i.e., propaganda) – determines, by the very way in which it reports the conflict, who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys." It is important for conflicts to be framed – from the view of the propagandist – in a black and white, simplified manner. Effective propaganda tends to play to the lowest common denominator. If everything is geared towards a very base, simplified audience, with minimal critical thinking and contemplation required, it tends to manifest those very sensibilities in the audience who consumes it. In short, by the very method of reporting, they create the audience they seek.

Make it simple to create a simple audience. Then, that which is contrary to the saturated and filtered version of 'reality’ is simply rejected outright as lunacy, fantasy, conspiracy theory, or worse. It is rejected almost instinctively because it requires more effort to determine accuracy, to investigate claims, to understand much broader concepts and employ far more contemplation and thinking than is required by the propaganda system. It is not simply that the 'truth’ itself is more complicated, which makes lies so appealing to the masses, but it is exactly because the method of investigating truth is far more complicated. Thus, setting back into the comforts of 'simplicity’ ("let the TV tell me what to think"), is far more attractive an option than taking painstaking efforts to investigate and understand an issue.

Thus, in conflicts we come to the nomenclature of 'worthy’ versus 'unworthy’ victims. This allows the West – and the public especially – to "take sides" in a conflict before understanding the realities of the conflict itself. That way, intervention can be justified and assured. Strategy, more today than ever before, requires the need of an efficient, organized, and effective propaganda machine. In Israel-Palestine, Israeli citizens and even soldiers (within the Occupied Territories) are deemed as 'worthy victims’, while Palestinians are deemed 'unworthy’ victims. When an Israeli dies, whether a civilian or soldier, the media ensures that the 'consumer’ knows the names, is exposed to the families, learns the ambitions and dreams of the victims. When Palestinians die, however, they become – if at all even reported – mere statistics, and more often than not, they are blamed for their own deaths, vilified and generally dehumanized. The Palestinians are the 'unworthy’ victims.

In Libya, it is apparent that the rebels are 'worthy victims’, while the majority of civilians, (as roughly 85% support Gaddafi) are deemed 'unworthy’ victims. The deaths of rebels are often hyped and exaggerated; others are denied, underplayed, justified, or simply not covered at all.

The best example of this in the current conflict is the rebels themselves committing atrocities, particularly against black African migrants in Libya. In this scenario, rebels remain the 'worthy’ victims, and the black Africans 'unworthy.’ This disparity is increased in that the deaths of black Africans were not only largely ignored, but they were first demonized, and thus their deaths became justified. This was the basis for the propaganda rhetoric regarding Gaddafi’s "African mercenaries." These stories proliferated through the Western media ad nauseum and largely unquestioned; they were accepted at face value. As an Amnesty International investigation revealed, the stories of African mercenaries massacring rebels for Gaddafi emerged largely from the rebels themselves, and as it turned out, was false.[57]

A Google search of "African mercenaries" and "Libya" from February 15 (when the rebellion began) to March 30, less than two weeks following the NATO 'intervention’, turned up over 86,000 matches. As it turned out, the "mercenaries" were in fact African migrants working in Libya. A Google search over the same period (Feb. 15 – March 30), but with the terms "African migrants" and "Libya" revealed just under 48,000 results. Yet, from as early as February, African migrants reported that, "they’ve become targets for Libyans who are enraged that African mercenaries are fighting on behalf of the regime." The migrants work in Libya’s oil industry and certain other sectors. It was the reports of African mercenaries – which later turned out to be false – that induced the violence against African migrants, instead of simply justifying them. The Deputy Director of the North Africa Center at Cambridge University stated in late February, in an interview with NPR, "I tell you, these people, because of their skin, they will be slaughtered in Libya. There is so much anger there against those mercenaries, which suddenly sprung up. I think it is urgent to do something about it now, otherwise, a genocide [could occur] against anyone who has black skin and who doesn’t speak perfect Arabic."[58]

Al-Jazeera reported in late February that dozens of black Africans were killed, with hundreds more in hiding, as "anti-government protesters" (read: 'worthy victims’) "hunt down" the "black African mercenaries" (read: 'unworthy victims’). Migrants fleeing the violence who returned to their home countries were interviewed, and reported that, "We were being attacked by local people who said that we were mercenaries killing people. Let me say that they did not want to see black people." Further, one witness reported, "Our camp was burnt down, and we were assisted by the Kenyan embassy and our company to get to the airport." A Senior Fellow with the International Migration Institute posed the question:

But why is nobody concerned about the plight of sub-Saharan African migrants in Libya? As victims of racism and ruthless exploitation, they are Libya’s most vulnerable immigrant population, and their home country governments do not give them any support.[59]

These cases were rarely reported in Western media, however, African media sources reported much more diligently on these events, as they were more directly effecting their own citizens; thus, the victims are those who may deemed – in the African media – as 'worthy victims.’ Thus, the coverage was much more extensive. One African media outlet reported in early March, that "rebel fighters and their supporters in eastern Libya are detaining, beating and intimidating African immigrants and black Libyans, accusing them of being African mercenaries." In some instances, "rebels have executed suspected mercenaries captured in battle, according to Human Rights Watch and local Libyans." Even the rebel-led government "concedes it is rounding up suspects and detaining them for questioning." Not only is it African migrants who were in danger, but regular black Libyans as well, as in some cases rebels had lynched black Africans, claiming they were mercenaries. Human Rights Watch referred to the assault against black Libyans as "widespread and systematic attacks… by rebels and their supporters." A Human Rights Watch official explained, "thousands of Africans have come under attack and lost their homes and possessions during the recent fighting," and referred to the rebels (who are, in our media mostly referred to as 'pro-democracy’ protesters) as "ad hoc military and security forces."[60]

Another report explained that the assaults against blacks have "revived a deep-rooted racism between Arabs and black Africans" in Libya, as "discrimination is common not only against migrant Black Africans, but also against darker-skinned Libyans, especially from the south of the country." The Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre in South Africa told IPS in late March, "Against this background, one needs to be a little wary of the accusations of 'African mercenaries’ or even 'Black African mercenaries’ that have been bandied around." Further, he reported that, "about one and a half million Sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees, out of a population of nearly two to two and a half million migrants, work as cheap labour in Libya’s oil industry, agriculture, construction and other service sectors." As it turned out, "this is not the first time Libya’s most vulnerable immigrant population has fallen victim to racist attack," as in 2000, "dozens of migrant workers from Ghana, Cameroon, Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Nigeria were targeted during street killings in the wake of government officials blaming them for rising crime, disease and drug trafficking."[61]

One apparent victim of these assaults told media that, "I bet you many Ghanaians and Nigerians and other nationals of south of the Sahara have been killed and murdered," and further, "they put the dead bodies in mass graves, while they still pursued others. Sometimes we had to dig deep and wide holes to hide ourselves for fear of being identified by the opposition forces."[62] By early March, there were reports of hundreds of black Africans from over a dozen countries who landed at Nairobi Airport after fleeing Libya by plane, and were arriving "with horrific tales of violence."[63] Even in early March, Human Rights Watch told the Sydney-Morning Herald that they were "yet to confirm a single case of a mercenary being used in the conflict." Even as reports spread out regarding Gaddafi’s "African mercenaries," Human Rights Watch stated that, "of the hundreds of suspected mercenaries detained in the east, all had turned out to be innocent workers or Libyans in the regular army."[64]

The most high-profile coverage in the West perhaps came from the Los Angeles Times, in which the reporter had been led by the rebels to view some of their captured "mercenaries," and the reporter wrote that the so-called mercenaries told the media, "We are construction workers," as they pleaded their innocence, and then "the interview was abruptly ended and the group of Africans were led away to detention by Muhammed Bala, who described himself as a security officer for the rebel government." Bala added, "We’re out looking for mercenaries every day."[65]

Some reports in late March suggested that black Africans had been "slaughtered in the thousands in the ongoing civil war in Libya."[66] As the rebels claimed that Gaddafi’s forces were engaging in mass rape, other reports (otherwise unconfirmed) reported that the rebels were themselves, were starting "to detain, insult, rape and even executing black immigrants, students and refugees," stating that more than 100 Africans were killed by early March, and "some of them were led into the desert and stabbed to death," while other "black Libyan men receiving medical care in hospitals in Benghazi were reportedly abducted by armed rebels." Further, there were "more than 200 African immigrants held in secret locations by the rebels." As the Somaliland Press reported in early March, the attacks reflect racist and xenophobic attitudes among many Arabs in Libya (specifically the east, where the rebels were largely based), some of which was a result of Gaddafi’s 'pan-Africanist’ views, which many Arabs felt betrayed by:

In many situations, Gaddafi and his inner circle preferred black Africans and Libyans from the south over Libyans from the east. Now the angry mobs using the revolutionary movement across Arabia and North Africa are hunting down black people.

Mohamed Abdillahi, Somaliland, 25, was sleeping at his home in Zouara, when the mobs arrived. "They knocked on the door around 1 o’clock in the morning. They said get out, we’ll kill you, you are blacks, foreigners, clear."

The testimonials are very similar among the thousands of Africans that saw the ugly side of Libya in the past weeks. "They have attacked us, they took everything from us," said Ali Farah, Somali labourer 29 years…

Many of the fleeing Africans are terrified to tell their stories. At the checkpoint, they do not mingle with others. When asked about their ordeal, they just freeze, "they stopped us many times and said not tell what has happened here, say there are no problems," Elias Nour from Ethiopia said.[67]

Of all the publications, the Wall Street Journal reported in late June that within the rebel-held city of Misrata, black Libyans were being targeted by the rebels who were ethnically cleansing Misrata of its black population. Espousing the lies that the black Libyans from Tawergha, a small mostly black town 25 miles south of Misrata, were being used as mercenaries, this galvanized the rebels and their supporters against them, referring to them as "traitors." Prior to the siege of Misrata, roughly four-fifths of the population in the poor housing project of Misrata’s Ghoushi neighbourhood were black Tawergha natives. Now, reported the WSJ, "they are gone or in hiding, fearing revenge attacks by Misratans, amid reports of bounties for their capture." The rebel leadership in Benghazi reportedly stated that they were working on a "post-Gadhafi reconciliation plan," yet claim that, "Libya is one tribe." Some were calling for the expulsion of the Tawerghans from the area, and one rebel commander said, "They should pack up… Tawergha no longer exists, only Misrata." As further evidence of the increasingly ethnically focused rebel leadership, some "rebel leaders are also calling for drastic measures like banning Tawergha natives from ever working, living or sending their children to schools in Misrata." One rebel slogan that has appeared on the road between Misrata and Tawergha refers to the rebels as "the brigade for purging slaves, black skin."[68]

It is thus a very legitimate concern that if the rebels take power in Libya, they may undertake an "ethnic cleansing" of Libya in order to eliminate threats to their power (as the black Libyans by and large are supportive of Gaddafi), as well as to have a convenient scapegoat target population upon whom they can place blame for all the ills that a post-Gaddafi Libya would surely face. Scapegoats are always necessary for leaders that seek to centralize their power and brutally enforce their rule. Totalitarian leaders throughout history have always employed such a tactic. The possibility of a rebel-led government committing ethnic cleansing in Libya is, I think, an imminent and extremely likely possibility.

By mid-March, the United Nations reported that black migrants were fleeing Libya at a rate of about 6,000 a day, while "some 280,000 have already escaped to neighboring states."[69] As one report in Uganda articulated, a major concern for European nations (who are actively engaged in the NATO assault) was in the possible exodus of black Africans into Europe, as Libya is one of the main routes for African immigrants into Western Europe, a major source of internal social stratification, xenophobia, racism, and political pressure. Thus, if Libya collapsed into a "state of lawlessness," it could become a major problem for Western Europe. As one BBC reporter stated, "The fear with Libya is that sub-Saharan Africans will try to leave and there are more of them." The Ugandan Independent reported that following the stories in the Western press about the "African immigrant" came the stories about the "African mercenary."[70]

In fact, the West European media did prominently feature stories about the impending 'threat’ of a wave of African immigrants into their countries. An article in the major German publication, Der Spiegel, in late February reported that, "Moammar Gadhafi, in recent years, has enjoyed a cynical role as Europe’s border guard against African immigrants. Italian ministers now warn that if his Libyan government collapses, people will flow across the Mediterranean." Italy’s Interior Minister, ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, warned that, "hundreds of thousands of immigrants could head for Europe" which would create a "catastrophic humanitarian emergency." While immediately fearing a wave of immigrants due to "violence that Moammar Gadhafi’s regime has reportedly visited on its own people." But, according to some observers, "if Libya collapses into anarchy… it could become an immigration route for far more people from sub-Saharan Africa." Der Spiegel reported:

Gadhafi in recent years has played up his role as a bulwark against African immigrants to Europe. Italy and Libya began joint naval patrols in 2008 to stop boatloads of illegal or trafficked immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean, and last year Libya signed a 50 billion euro deal with the European Union to manage its borders as a "transit country" for sub-Saharan Africans.

Italian Foreign Minister Frattini said that some 2.5 million people in Libya — about a third of the population — are non-Libyan immigrants who would flee if the government fell.

Gadhafi himself has enjoyed stoking these fears. "Europe will become black," he said last December, if European leaders failed to cooperate with him on immigration controls.[71]

The fear of a wave of African immigrants into Europe was a major topic of discussion at the EU summit in Brussels in February, according to the Financial Times.[72] EU ministers heard that, "the collapse of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime could result in a tidal wave of refugees and illegal immigrants pouring into Europe," as roughly 1-2 million refugees "could attempt to make their way across the Mediterranean into southern Europe if the Gaddafi regime collapses." The Italian Foreign Minister told the members at the EU summit:

We are following very closely the situation. Italy as you know is the closest neighbour, both of Tunisia and Libya, so we are extremely concerned about the repercussions on the migratory situation in the southern Mediterranean… We need a European comprehensive action plan. We should support all peaceful transitional processes that are ongoing in the Middle East while avoiding a patronising position.[73]

The Minister further warned that, the collapse of the regime would lead to the "self proclamation of the so-called Islamic emirate of Benghazi." He added: "I’m very concerned about the idea of dividing Libya in two, in Cyrenaica and in Tripoli. That would be really dangerous. Can you imagine having an Islamic Arab emirate on the borders of Europe? This would be a really serious threat." The Czech Foreign Minister echoed this fear, warning that the fall of Gadhaffi could pave the way for "bigger catastrophes."[74]

The rebels are aided in their war – which is largely a "propaganda war"[75] – by an American public relations firm "to help them earn recognition from the U.S. government." The firm – the Harbour Group – in early April "signed a pro-bono contract with the National Transitional Council." Pro-bono? Since when do public relations firms do charity work? In an article in the Hill, it was reported that Harbour Group "will be working with the council’s U.S. representative, Ali Aujali, who resigned as Libya’s ambassador to the U.S. in protest in February as the revolution began to hold." The Harbour Group’s Managing Director Richard Mintz "will help manage the PR effort on behalf of the council." Mintz told The Hill, "It’s the right thing to do. They need help and we are pleased that we are able to do that. It is in the U.S.’s interest, in the world’s interest." Part of the firm’s work was to be aimed at gaining U.S. recognition of the TNC as the "legitimate" government in Libya, while "other goals for the Harbour Group are to encourage U.S. humanitarian aid to Libya and to push for the release of Gadhafi’s assets frozen by U.S. financial institutions to help pay for that aid." The article went on:

To achieve those goals, the firm will help prepare speeches, press releases and op-eds, contact reporters and think tanks and develop a website and social media for the council.

According to the contract, the firm "will provide all of its professional services free of charge to the council," though the council will be "directly responsible" for "major expenses," such as Web design and travel.

The Harbour Group is plugged in politically — Mintz is a former director of public affairs for the Clinton administration’s Transportation Department — and is already familiar with the Middle East. The firm is helping to implement "a public diplomacy program" on behalf of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, according to Justice records.[76]

In early July, Patton Boggs, the number one lobby firm in the United States, was hired by the rebels to promote their cause in the U.S., to get America to recognize the TNC as the "legitimate government" in Libya, as well as to unfreeze Libya’s assets in order to provide funds for them. One outside counsel at Patton Boggs stated, "We care about the cause… We want the Transitional National Council to succeed on behalf of all the Libyan people… We are proud that they selected us in assisting them and we hope that we can continue being effective for them." According to an article in The Hill, a Washington-D.C. paper, "Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., a partner at the firm who is one of Washington’s top lobbyists, will be leading the Libya account." Boggs wrote that, "We understand that at this time the [Transitional National] Council may not have sufficient funds to pay our fees for these important services… We will charge the Council on an hourly b