Friday, September 9, 2011

Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job

The Colonel's name gets spelled Qadhafi, Qaddafi, or Gaddafi: depending on who's deciding how to transliterate his name into the Latin alphabet.

Libya, an Arrest Warrant, and Good News/Bad News

First, the good news:
  • Someone other than Colonel Qaddafi is running Libya
    • And they aren't killing each other
    • In fact, they're talking with each other
  • According to the new Libyan leaders
    • Libya's central bank still has gold and other assets
    • Libya plans to honor existing business deals with foreign companies
  • There's an arrest warrant out for Qaddafi
    • And some of his associates
    • Issued by Interpol
Now, the bad news:
  • Colonel Qaddafi, creator of Islamic socialism, no longer runs Libya
  • The stray dog foreign puppets
    • Stole the people's gold and other assets
    • Are in league with foreign capitalists
      • And Big Oil
  • Western oppressors are hunting down Qaddafi
    • And some of his associates
As I've said before, so much depends on a person's point of view.

Me? I think most Libyans are much better off with the Colonel somewhere else. I also think that Libyans who supported the Colonel stand a much better chance of survival under the new regime, than their counterparts when Qaddafi dealt with opposition the old fashioned way.

I haven't run into the 'bad news' angle yet, and don't necessarily expect to. The Colonel managed to make too many crazy statements, and ticked off too many other national leaders: my opinion. Besides, I suspect that the 'victim of capitalist oppression' thing is starting to wear thin, even in the more isolated subcultures.

Libya: Now What?

The folks who got help running the Colonel out of their country may succeed in working out a way to rebuild Libya. I hope they do. I also think that they've got a huge job on their hands: and won't get it right the first time. The United States Constitution wasn't this country's first attempt, and that's almost another topic.1

Now that they've got an old-school autocrat out, along with at least some of his supporters, Libyans like Libya's interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have decades of mismanagement to fix. Plus disagreements about what Libya should be like, now that the Colonel is gone.

Like I said, it's a huge job.

Interpol, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and Getting a Grip

I'm no great fan of the United Nations. Too many of the earnest folks there seem determined to 'protect' us from technology. Considering what happened to the Libyan Colonel, I can see why so many at the U.N. don't want ordinary folks to have easy access to small arms: and that's almost another topic.

I don't hate the U.N., either, or live in fear that foreigners will plant 'spider flag of the United Nations' under the red, white, and blue skies of America.

But my less-than-sunny view of our recent attempt to get a "Parliament of man" keeps me from cheering about the International Court at The Hague asking Interpol to arrest a national leader.

I think the Libyan colonel
  • Has been a lousy ruler
  • Probably committed war crimes
  • Should be restrained
But I also think that there's too many crazy assumptions involved in today's international law; and that there's too much politics involved.

I suspect that Colonel Qadhafi's ouster and arrest warrant have as much to do with his scaring the neighbors and insulting the wrong folks, as it does with what he's actually done. Which doesn't mean that I'd want him back in power.

What I think about international law, the U.N., and Libya's troubles, is determined in large part by my religious beliefs. Which may not mean what you think it does.2

I put excerpts from recent news and views about Libya at the end of this post.3

Related posts:
News and views:
1The Articles of Confederation looked good on paper. More:
2 I take my religious beliefs very seriously. Which doesn't mean what quite a few folks feel it does. No matter what you've read, these are not typical American religious people:


(ArizonaLincoln (talk), via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)

I'm not a 'regular American,' when it comes to belief, either. I'm a practicing Catholic. Which also doesn't mean what you may have read in the papers.

Because I'm a practicing Catholic, and learned what that means, I have to be a good citizen, get involved in public affairs, and think of everybody as people: not 'foreigners,' 'commies,' 'oppressors,' or whatever.

In principle, I have nothing against Tennyson's "Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." I think the United Nations was - and is - a good idea, but it's nowhere near being the sort of 'competent international authority' we may eventually develop:
"We're a very long way from having an "international authority with the necessary competence and power" to simply arrest someone like Saddam Hussein. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2308)"
(A Catholic Citizen in America (June 16, 2011))
I'm also no great fan of the United Nations.

Which isn't the same as seeing it as a bunch of foreigners out to 'get' America.

More:

Finally, and off-topic for this blog, as a Catholic I also have the option to learn as much as I can, about how things work:


(The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, used w/o permission)

3 Excerpts from news and views:
"Interpol Issues Qaddafi Arrest Warrant as More Libyan Officials Flee"
Rod Nordland, Africa, The New York Times (September 9, 2011)

"As Interpol issued arrest warrants for the fugitive Libyan autocrat Col. Muammar Qaddafi and two others on Friday, reports came from Niger of a new convoy of high-ranking Libyan officials arriving across the desert.

"In Lyon, France, Interpol said in a statement that it had issued so-called red notices calling for the arrests of Colonel Qaddafi, his son, Seif al-Islam, and Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of the former leader's intelligence agency.

"The red notices, which were requested by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for alleged war crimes committed by the three men, require any of Interpol's 188 member nations to arrest the suspects and turn them over to that court.

"Among the member nations is Niger, which borders Libya on the south and has received a number of convoys of loyalist officials fleeing overland. So far, no high-ranking regime figures were confirmed to be accompanying them...."
"Libya conflict: Gaddafi general 'flees to Niger' "
BBC News (September 9, 2011)

"A senior general in Libyan ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces has fled to Niger, according to local sources.

"Officials in the Niger town of Agadez named the commander as General Ali Kana, a Tuareg in charge of Col Gaddafi's southern troops.

"Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

"Gaddafi loyalists still fighting face an ultimatum to surrender on Saturday.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in a handful of areas - including Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Col Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.

"NTC forces last week warned loyalists that they must surrender by Saturday, or face a military onslaught...."
"Libya's interim PM says battle 'not yet over'"
Andrew Harding, Africa correspondent, BBC News (September 9, 2011)

""There are tensions. But no problems."

"That was the neat but rather elusive conclusion of a senior military official here in Tripoli, when I asked him about reports of growing friction between Libya's transitional civil administration - which is moving surprisingly slowly to fill a power vacuum in the capital - and the patchwork of rebel military units - some with hints of a pronounced Islamist agenda - that seized the city from Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces and now seem reluctant to abandon control.

"I put the same question to Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, who spent much of a rather tetchy news conference in Tripoli begging his countrymen not to squabble and play political games - and accusing unnamed forces of 'jeopardising' stability and of forgetting that the battle against Col Gaddafi's forces was not yet over.

"Earlier, one of his exhausted aides shook his head in wordless despair when I asked him how things were going inside the National Transitional Council.

"But having raised the alarm, Mr Jibril then insisted that the situation was actually fine and that 'dialogue is taking place in a wise fashion' despite the absence of a new constitution to guide them...."
"Libya's Central Bank Will Honour All Bank Agreements"
The Tripoli Post (September 9, 2011)

"Libya's transitional prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, called for national reconciliation and unity, saying they may be 'more difficult' to achieve than the fight that toppled Muammar Qaddafi's regime.

" 'There are two battles,' Jibril said after arriving in Tripoli two and a half weeks after opposition fighters entered the capital. Achieving unity will be 'our biggest challenge,' he said.

" 'The first battle is against Qaddafi and his regime,' Jibril said at a news conference yesterday. 'This will end by the capturing or the elimination of Qaddafi. However, the battle that is more difficult is against ourselves. How can we achieve reconciliation and achieve peace and security and agree on a constitution? We must not attack each other or push each other away.'

"While Libya has been able to export little oil during the conflict, a 600,000-barrel crude shipment is being offered from the western port of Mellitah, according to three people with direct knowledge of the transaction...."
"Libyan Leaders Face 'Biggest Challenge' Seeking Unity After Qaddafi Ouster"
Chris Stephen and Massoud A. Derhally , Bloomberg (September 8, 2011)

"Libya's central bank, on Thursday sought to reassure 'all foreign partners of Libyan banks who are operating in Libya, the agreements will be honoured.'

"Now under the control of the new leaders, the central bank also said it was having no liquidity issues, thanks to a delivery of bank notes from Britain, and that none of its assets had been stolen.

" 'No assets of the Libyan Central Bank have been stolen, gold or otherwise,' the bank's new governor Gassem Azzoz told reporters in Tripoli, adding that if, as reported, fallen leader Muammar Al Qathafi had taken gold, it was not from central bank coffers.

"Another assurance from the central bank concerns Italy's UniCredit SpA, the first overseas bank to get a licence in Libya, winning permission in August 2010.

"It announced to foreign investors that it would not change the country's stake in UniCredit and will honour banking licences granted by the ousted Al Qathafi regime...."
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Monday, August 29, 2011

Libya: The Colonel's Missing, So are Lots of Prisoners

First, the good news:
  • Folks in Libya who wanted the country's boss out, got help
    • A military coalition operating under a United Nations mandate
  • Rebels have taken much of Libya's capital city
  • Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi (Qaddafi? Gaddafi?) is missing
Now the bad news:
  • Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi (Qaddafi? Gaddafi?) is missing
    • So are many of his troops
  • About 50,000 of Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi's prisoners are missing
It wouldn't be so bad if the colonel was 'missing and presumed dead.' As it is, there's a good chance that Libya's boss may have gathered his remaining loyal troops and gone into hiding. Which could mean trouble for Libya - particularly if Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi's 'I am a victim of the big bad West' line is swallowed by regional governments.

Even if they don't really believe it, I suspect that a lot of the old-school autocrats would love to blame all their woes on Yankee imperialism. That's so much easier, in a way, than admitting that incompetent leadership might be a factor. And that's almost another topic.

Evil is Not Nice

Even allowing for exaggeration on the part of the rebels, what's showing up in Libya is - unpleasant. Some of the details are so grotesquely nasty, that they almost seem like something from an off-color comedy.

Like the Libyan colonel's family torturing a nanny.

Actually, taking a page from the sort of 'tolerance' I had to learn about in college, that torture could be explained as a biased Western view of a non-western culture's cherished customs:
"...And they found the horribly scarred Shwygar Mullah, the Ethiopian maid who cared for the children of Gadhafi son Hannibal. Mullah told CNN that Hannibal Gadhafi's wife Aline twice expressed her displeasure with her work by scalding her with boiling water -- then refused to get her medical attention, leaving her scalp and face covered in a mosaic of scars and raw wounds.

"Her offense: Failing to beat a daughter who refused to stop crying...."
(CNN)
Somehow, though, I don't think we'll hear much about poor, maligned Colonel Qadhafi / Qaddafi / Gaddafi and his misunderstood family. It's not the '60s anymore: and I think a lot of folks have realized that.

Those missing prisoners may be alive, for now: squirreled away in hidden lockups, and left there. The trick now will be for the rebels to find them before food, water, or air runs out.

Other prisoners aren't missing, they're just unidentifiable. The colonels' enforcers killed quite a few, and burned the bodies.

If these stories were just that - stories, with no supporting evidence: I might discount them as possible propaganda. As it is, we've got what's left of prisoner flambé, a badly scarred nanny, and a few survivors with bullet holes in their skin to back up their accounts.

The trouble is, Libya's colonel and his family being a bad lot - doesn't guarantee that whoever winds up in charge next will be a distinct improvement.

Even so, I think Libya will be better off without the colonel.

And Now, the News

I've taken excerpts from a few recent news and op-ed pieces about Libya:
"Qaddafi Forces Killed Detainees, Survivors Say"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (August 28, 2011)

"Retreating loyalists of Muammar Qaddafi killed scores of detainees and arbitrarily shot civilians over the past week, as rebel forces extended their control over the Libyan capital, survivors and a human rights group said Sunday.

"In one case, Qaddafi fighters opened fire and hurled grenades at more than 120 civilians huddling in a hangar used as a makeshift lockup near a military base, said Mabrouk Abdullah, 45, who escaped with a bullet wound in his side. Some 50 charred corpses were still scattered across the hangar on Sunday.

"New York-based Human Rights Watch said the evidence it has collected so far "strongly suggests that Qaddafi government forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli was falling." The justice minister in the rebels' interim government, Mohammed al-Alagi, said the allegations would be investigated and leaders of Qaddafi's military units put on trial...."
"Charred bodies, nanny's scars left behind by fleeing Gadhafis"
CNN (August 28, 2011)

"Horrifying glimpses of the brutality underpinning the rule of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi emerged Sunday with news of a warehouse full of charred corpses and a nanny to Gadhafi's grandchildren tortured.

"Meanwhile, rebel forces who have driven Gadhafi and his family into hiding advanced toward his hometown. And CNN has found Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet in 1988, comatose on what his family says is his deathbed.

"On the eastern side of Tripoli, troops commanded by Gadhafi's son Khamis killed an estimated 150 captive civilians as they retreated last week, hurling grenades and spraying bullets into the building full of men they had promised to release, a survivor said...."
"In Libya, bastions of Kadafi loyalists remain"
Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times (August 28, 2011)

"They are quiet now, absent from the airwaves that they long dominated, gone from the streets that were once theirs.

"Their longtime leader is on the run, his compound ransacked, his once-ubiquitous image now employed on doormats.

"But the supporters of Moammar Kadafi are still out there in working-class neighborhoods such as Abu Salim, a loyalist bastion subdued only last week after intense battles that left its roads littered with shell casings, its buildings riddled with bullets and many of its men dead or in custody...."
"Libya rebels fear for Gaddafi prisoners"
BBC News Africa (August 28, 2011)

"Libyan rebels say they are concerned over the fate of thousands of prisoners held in Tripoli by the Gaddafi regime.

"Rebel military spokesman Col Ahmed Omar Bani said almost 50,000 people arrested in recent months were unaccounted for.

"The rebels believe they may be being held in underground bunkers, which have since been abandoned.

"Rights groups have seen evidence that dozens of people have been massacred near prisons, but Col Bani did not accuse anyone of killing the prisoners.

" 'The number of people arrested over the past months is estimated at between 57,000 and 60,000,' he said in a news conference in Benghazi.

" 'Between 10,000 and 11,000 prisoners have been freed up until now... so where are the others?'

"The colonel appealed for anyone with information to come forward, and said it would be 'catastrophic' if they had been killed...."
"Analysis: Why Gaddafi's crack troops melted away"
Shashank Joshi Associate fellow, Royal United Services Institute, BBC News Africa (August 22, 2011)

"When one Libyan opposition activist reflected on the rebel advances into the city of Zawiya last week, he mused that 'Eid could be a massive celebration indeed'. He was wrong - the jubilation came much earlier....

"...Why did battle-hardened Libyan soldiers, fed on a diet of anti-rebel propaganda and willing to fight in the face of overwhelming Nato air power, melt away so suddenly?

"The answer can only be speculative at this stage, but there are a few possibilities.

"First, there was an element of retreat rather than a rout. Tripoli is unevenly pacified and the euphoria of Green Square obscures the continuing fighting in several suburbs....

"...Second, where soldiers did lay down their arms, the much-maligned National Transitional Council (NTC) deserves some credit....

"...Third, Nato's relentless pounding of armour and artillery east of Zawiya greatly softened up government units, breaking down much of the resistance that would otherwise have slowed the rebel path...."
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Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.