Introduction
Millions of people around the world are overwhelmed and encouraged by the popular uprisings against U.S.-imposed dictatorship regimes in the Arab world. Yet what is lacking is any serious examination of the complicity of the U.S. government and its allies in supporting murderous regimes. Far from promoting stability and democracy, the U.S. is the source of instability and an enemy of democracy.
To serve its imperialist interests, the U.S. government backed and financed murderous dictators around the world. From the fascist Augusto Pinochet in Chile to the criminal regime of François Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”) in Haiti to the corrupt Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic to the murderous Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines to the criminal Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) to Indonesia’s mass murderer Suharto to the vicious Shah Reza Behlavi in Iran.
Today, the U.S. love affair with murderous dictators and oppressive regimes – including Colombia, the murderous regime in Iraq, King Abdullah of Jordan, the criminal regime of Zine Bin Ali in Tunisia, the oppressive and illegitimate despotic regimes in the oil-rich Gulf Sheikhdoms (Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Saudi Arabia), the torturous regime of Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the fascist regime in Israel – continues to be an open secret.
By financing and arming murderous dictators and despots against their own people, the U.S. is able to strengthen its power, exert total domination and exploit vital resources at the expense of the local population. Any murderous regime – criminal, religious extremist or fascist – will do as long as it is not independent and is committed to serve U.S. imperialist interests. The relationship is a master and servant relationship. In order to receive U.S. backing and U.S. financing, a regime must be brutal, oppressive and prepared to use violence against its own population. In reality, the U.S. has a near total monopoly on supporting murderous dictators.
The U.S. government love affair with murderous dictators is matched only by its hate for democracy and democratic principles. While the U.S. government publicly claims to promote democracy, development and human rights, in reality the U.S. government despises democracy, development and human rights. Democracy is only allowed if it serves U.S. imperialist interests. In countries throughout the world, the U.S. has worked to destabilise and undermine democratically-elected governments. Hence, the U.S. government is widely hated for its role by ordinary people struggling against dictatorial regimes, for democracy, freedom and equality.
Sovereignty of 60 countries violated in 60 years
Since World War II, the U.S. has undermined, subverted or violently overthrown some 60 - mostly democratically-elected and independent - governments world-wide and, replaced them with murderous corrupt dictators subservient to U.S. dictates. In 1953, the U.S. undermined and overthrew the democratically-elected Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and replaced it with one of the most brutal dictators. In September 1973, the democratically-elected president of Chile, Dr. Salvador Allende, was toppled in a U.S.-sponsored military coup and replaced by a fascist military junta led by Augusto Pinochet. The violent event is known as Chile 9/11. According to Defence Intelligence Agency analysts, Pinochet rule was a “militaristic, fascist, tyrannical and murderous” regime. Yet, the U.S. has backed and financed the military junta all along.
Haiti: The U.S. contempt for democracy reached its zenith in 2004. On the night 28 February, Haiti’s first democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was kidnapped by CIA agents and a mercenary squad of “thugs and criminals”, including drug dealers and members of the former Haitian military. Aristide was taken with his American-born wife to the Central African Republic and latter forced into exile in South Africa. He was replaced by the usual U.S.-baked criminals. Ever since, Haiti’s tragedy continues under a U.S.-UN military occupation.
The U.S. and its allies despise democracy and work tirelessly to undermine democratic development. Billions of U.S. dollars are paid to Western organisations and opposition groups to undermine and subvert democratically-elected governments around the world, with the option of military invasion always on the table.
Venezuela: Since 2000, the U.S. had spent millions of dollars trying to destabilise and topple the Venezuelan Government of President Hugo Chávez. The world’s most democratically-elected President, Hugo Chávez is considered by the U.S. and its European allies as a dictator. In 2002, a coup d'état – backed and financed directly by the U.S. – failed to oust President Chávez from office, thanks to a quick and well-organised popular uprising against the Venezuelan Oligarchy and their U.S. backers.
Belarus: Like President Chávez, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who enjoys the support of the majority of the people and was re-elected recently by more than 72 per cent, is being demonised and called a dictator by Western media and Western politicians. The fact that President Lukashenka’s policies of maintaining an independent economy characterised by a social system that does not accord with capitalist orthodoxy makes him an enemy of the U.S. and its allies. Of course, the Belarusian people are lucky - they have a powerful neighbour.
Palestine: In 2006, the Palestinian Resistance Movement (HAMAS) in Gaza contested and won fair and free legislative elections. Immediately, the U.S. and its allies, including the EU, Israel and Egypt imposed collective sanctions on the Palestinian people for daring to democratically-elect their own representatives. In 2008/2009, Israel carried out an unprovoked aggression against Gaza that killed more than 1,450 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including some 350 children. The 22-day attack was coordinated with the U.S. and Egypt. The U.S. government not only supplied and paid for the Israeli bombing, including chemical and phosphorous bombs, it also defended Israel’s terror.
Iran: Furthermore, the ongoing campaign of demonization of Iran and Islam is part of a wider terrorist campaign to destabilise the democratically-elected government of Iran. According to an analysis of multiple polls of the Iranian public conducted by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the choice of the majority of the Iranian people (3-1). However, Western politicians and Western media are accusing Iran of being a dictatorship and thus ripe for “regime change”. The U.S. and its allies are undermining the Iranian government through sanctions, sabotage and state-sponsored acts of terrorism. In short, the U.S. is not only an enemy of democracy; it is a source of instability.
EGYPT AS A CASE STUDY
On 04 June 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama chose Cairo to deliver his much-anticipated fraudulent address to the “Muslim world”. It was the strongest public endorsement of one of the most murderous regimes on the planet, openly backed and financed by the U.S. and its allies.
Nasser
Egypt has been under military dictatorship since the death of the much-beloved Arab leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Under Nasser, Egypt was an independent, anti-imperialist and a net exporter of food. Egyptians enjoyed unprecedented access to housing, education, health services, and nourishment as well as other forms of social welfare.
American journalist, Charles Glass writes:
“When Nasser died in September 1970, more than five million people jammed the streets of Cairo to mourn him, far more than are demonstrating against the Mubarak regime ... In 1974, when [Anwar] El-Sadat opened Egypt’s economy [and submitted] to the United States, his country was a net exporter of food. By the time he died, Egypt was dependent on American handouts. His death, like King Farouk’s departure in 1952, came as a relief. So too will the abdication of Hosni Mubarak. Although no Egyptian regime tolerated participatory democracy, only Nasser stood up to Britain and the U.S. Only Nasser reformed the economy to the benefit of the Egyptian majority. Only Nasser refused to enrich himself and his family at the expense of his countrymen. They loved him for it, as they loved no other leader. When he died, the people in the streets lamented, ‘There is no shade’. The harsh sun of repression and corruption has burned them ever since”,
Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak, who succeeded Anwar El-Sadat – the traitor of the Arab-Muslim nation – ruled through the state’s emergency power for the last three decades.
Mubarak and Egypt: Mubarak’s regime has succeeded in destroying Egypt as an independent Arab-Muslim nation. Today’s Egypt is totally submissive to the U.S.-Israel and dependent on U.S. handout. There is no “middle class” in Egypt. Nearly 80 per cent of Egyptians lives in extreme poverty – eking out a bare existence and surviving on a day-to-day basis in overcrowded slums – while the Mubarak’s clique enjoys an affluent lifestyle. The regime has been a vital imperialist instrument in the destruction of Iraq and a brutal enforcer of Israel’s fascist policies in Palestine. For his service to U.S.-Israel Zionism, the U.S. paid Mubarak between $1.5 and $2 billion annually. Most of the money was spent on Mubarak’s army and his internal security, which includes 1.5 million police officers (a collection of thugs). It is a formidable U.S.-armed force against the unarmed and vastly poor Egyptian population.
Mubarak and Iraq: In the region, the Mubarak’s regime has a criminal record of treachery against other Arabs. Mubarak’s regime is complicit in U.S.-Israel war crimes, including the U.S. aggression against Iraq, the U.S.-Israel war against the Palestinian people and U.S. torture of Muslim men. The regime was an instrument of naked U.S. imperialism. The destruction of Iraq is an unforgivable and criminal act. Iraq was not only a lifeline for millions of poor Egyptians in Iraq and in Egypt; it was the only country to have stood up to Israel’s fascist expansion.
In 1991, the Mubarak regime not only facilitated the U.S. criminal attack on Iraq, his army took part in the destruction of Iraq and the mass murder of Iraqi civilians. For his criminal complicity, Mubarak was rewarded $7 billion as “debt relief”. The U.S.- and Britain-imposed and UN-approved genocidal sanctions were a bonanza to the Egyptian business elites. With the blessing of Mubarak, they enriched themselves while Iraqi children starved to death. Without the complicity of Mubarak and the other corrupt dictators in the region, the U.S. never would have attacked Iraq.
In 2003, the Mubarak regime was instrumental in fabricating the lies that led to U.S. aggression against Iraq. Egypt is considered one of the U.S. destinations where Muslim men were sent to be tortured – and later disappeared – on behalf of the U.S. government. This criminal cover-up is dubbed “extraordinary renditions”, where suspects are kidnapped by U.S. agents and sent for torture in other countries. Mubarak’s criminal complicity in U.S. war crimes against Iraq extended to providing logistics and launching pads for a U.S. war of aggression. As a result of the illegal aggression against Iraq and eight years of murderous U.S. military Occupation, at least 1.3 million Iraqis have been killed and some 5 million Iraqis have become displaced refugees. Unashamed, Mubarak had the audacity to warn Iran not to interfere in “Iraqi politics” and respect Iraq’s “sovereignty”. Mubarak’s Foreign Minister, the Zionist stooge Ahmed Abul-Gheit, ranted that, “Iraq needs support from the Arabs to counter non-Arab influence”. According to a WikiLeaks cable, Mubarak has recently urged the Americans to install a dictator as Iraq’s “strong man”. Iraqis are “tough” people and do not need democracy, he warned his master.
Unlike Mubarak’s fall, which was celebrated by millions of Egyptians, the U.S. had to import criminals, corrupt thugs and torturers, including prime ministers to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein (statue in Firdos Square) and the destruction of Iraq as an independent and sovereign Arab nation. Unlike Mubarak, Saddam built Iraq, with universal healthcare and education including university – the best in the region – for all Iraqis. Unlike Mubarak, Saddam died an honourable death, murdered by illegal foreign invaders.
Mubarak and Palestine: On Palestine, Mubarak has continued his predecessor’s policy of complicity in U.S.-Israel perpetuated genocide. Since the so-called “peace treaty” with Israel – a betrayal of the Arab people and the Palestinian people in particular – Egypt has become a vassal serving U.S. imperialist and Israeli Zionist interests. Under Mubarak, Egypt was committed to the Israel-U.S. agenda of anti-Palestinian policies, including the Nazi-like siege of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Concentration Camp. It is a policy against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Egyptians. In fact, many Egyptians accused Mubarak of being an Arab Zionist. According to a report by Amnesty International: “The wretched reality endured by 1.5 million people in Gaza should appal anybody with an ounce of humanity. Sick, traumatised and impoverished people are being collectively punished by a cruel, illegal policy imposed by Israeli [fascist] authorities” and enforced by the Mubarak’s regime. As if this brutal siege is not enough, Mubarak’s regime has recently accused Palestinians in Gaza of a deadly attack on Christian churches. However, reliable Western intelligence argues that the attack was orchestrated by Mubarak’s security in order to bolster Western support for his regime.
In welcoming Mubarak to the White House on July 30, 1996, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, one of America’s most murderous presidents said: "I don't think we would be where we are today if it weren't for President Mubarak ... We believe that working together we can help to bring more prosperity to the Egyptian people ... I thank you for your wise counsel, your strong leadership, and your iron determination ... I especially want to thank President Mubarak for Egypt's partnership in the peace process and for playing a critical role in our efforts here”. Clinton, of course, is an enemy of the Palestinian people and a mass murderer of Iraqi children.
Moreover, most Western leaders remained faithful to Mubarak to the last minute and no one wanted him to go. From Barack Obama to David Cameron to Angela Merkel to Nicolas Sarkozy to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, everyone is happy with an “orderly and peaceful transition” from Mubarakism to Mubarakism without Mubarak.
The U.S. and its allies argue that their aim is what the Zionist propaganda organ, the BBC, called promoting “Western values” through regime change and mass murder of innocent civilians, not democracy. Democracy is bad for the U.S. and it is bad for Israel. Hence, a murderous dictator like Mubarak provides the U.S. and Israel with “stability” and “peace”, which means in American parlance giving Israel and the U.S. free hands to unprovoked aggression, wanton destruction and ongoing ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Indeed, the U.S. and Israel are widely recognised as the greatest threat to world peace and stability in the world today.
LIBYA AND THE HYPOCRISY OF WESTERN GOVERNMENTS
Legitimizing a coup: Western governments have openly interfered in the affairs of the legitimate Libyan Government and have called on Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi’s removal by force. France, the U.S. and other EU members have recognised the mixed bag of anti-Libyan armed militia as the “legitimate” government in Benghazi, paving the way for foreign military intervention and the imperialist division of Libya in the same way Iraq has been divided by the U.S. and its allies. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, went as far as calling for the assassination of al-Qaddafi. France, of course, offered armed security to the Tunisian dictator (Zine Ben Ali) to crush the pro-democracy protesters before he fled the country.
Meanwhile, U.S. secretary of State, Hillary Clinton offered “assistance to anyone” against al-Qaddafi “who wishes to receive assistance from the United States”, but not for those who are struggling for democracy. “We are reaching out to the opposition inside and outside of Libya”, Clinton said recently. The U.S. and its allies are inciting an internal conflict and using it as an opportunity to serve U.S. imperialist interests.
Arming the militia: Using Libyan seized assets, the U.S. has begun arming the militia – through the brutal regimes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt – with anti-tank rockets, assault rifles, mortars and ground-to-air missiles. The timing of the insurrection in Libya is not coincidence and is designed to deflect attention away from the legitimate popular uprisings against U.S.-installed dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere in the region. The aim is to create a humanitarian crisis and justify military invasion. Indeed, the U.S. has a history of using civilian lives to justify aggression. In Iraq the U.S. created the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II, and still is. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is another.
Qaddafi's record: It should be pointed out that while al-Qaddafi has recently cooperated with the U.S. and other European governments, he is an independent and an anti-imperialist leader. After liberating Libya from the rule of the imperialist stooge King Idris El-Senusi in1969, he nationalised Libya’s oil and used the oil revenue to free Libya from the clutches of imperialism-induced poverty. Under al-Qaddafi, Libya has “a medium-high per capita income of 12,000, six times greater than that of Egypt” (IL Manifesto, 25 February 2011). Al-Qaddafi used the oil revenue to raise the living standards of Libyans. Libya has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of any country in Africa – which measures life expectancy, education and living conditions. Like most politicians, al-Qaddafi is not a saint, but nothing justifies U.S. violence and murderous invasion.
Demonizing Qaddafi: Al-Qaddafi has been demonised and characterised in racist terms by Western politicians and media. He was framed as a “terrorist” and attacked. In 1986, the U.S. attacked Libya with massive aerial bombings designed to assassinate al-Qaddafi. It was a classic act of state-sponsored terrorism that killed hundreds of innocent people, including al-Qaddafi’s infant daughter. The two-decade long U.S.- and Britain-sponsored sanctions devastated Libya’s economy.[1].
Qaddafi and the Arab regimes: In addition, al-Qaddafi is loathed by all the despotic Arab regimes, and their recent submission to U.S. dictates to recognise the violent anti-Libyan Government militia and support the U.S. war agenda against Libya is just a case in point. They believe that a war against Libya will divert public attention away from their own illegitimate and despotic regimes and provide cover for more brutality.
CIA'S DESPOTS IN EGYPT, TUNISIA, YEMEN, JORDAN, ISRAEL, BAHRAIN AND IRAQ
While the U.S. government and its allies have attacked the Libyan Government for cracking-down on the violent CIA-sponsored armed militia, they remained silent on the ongoing violent attacks against peaceful protesters by despotic regimes elsewhere, including Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Israel, Bahrain and Iraq. The hypocrisy and contradictions are sickening, even to most hypocrites.
Bahrain
In the early hours of 17 February 2011, riot police in Bahrain attacked the non-violent and sleeping encampment of thousands of protesters at Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain’s capital city of Manama with tear gas, batons, and bullets. Several people were killed, including a two-year old girl, and hundreds of protestors were wounded. Two days after U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates left Bahrain on 12 January 2011, heavily armed troops from Saudi Arabia and the UAE invaded Bahrain to crackdown on a peaceful uprising by the Island’s majority and protect another U.S.-backed despotic regime. Imagine the outrage in the ‘moral West' if Iran invaded Bahrain to protect the majority of the population.
According to AFP News (15 February 2011), ‘at least 200 people have been shot and wounded in the village of Sitra, south of the Bahraini capital’. In responding to the bloodshed, Hillary Clinton ‘urged restraint and stressed that the only durable solution is a credible political process, not a military one’. Like Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, ‘governments should respond to calls for change with reform, not repression’. Both, Clinton and Cameron are on a mission to garner support for a military aggression against Libya, not Bahrain.
A launching pad for US aggression: Bahrain is considered a launching pad for U.S. aggression abroad and one-fifth of the island is occupied by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. Fifth Fleet. The regime of King Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifa is considered one of the worst in the Gulf Sheikhdoms. The regime has recently resorted to importing ‘secular’ Muslims from other countries – like Pakistan and Bangladesh – and granted them citizenship in an effort to increase the number of people supporting the regime. Indeed, the small counter-protests organised by the government was mostly of Asian foreign workers.
Iraq
On 25 February 2011, at least 29 Iraqi civilians were killed when security forces belonging to the U.S.-installed colonial dictatorship in Iraq fired live bullets on thousands of Iraqi protesters defying a curfew to call for democracy, and an end to the U.S. murderous Occupation. Hundreds of Iraqis have been detained, including journalists and prominent Iraqi professionals taking part in the uprising against the Occupation and the U.S.-backed murderous regime. After eight years of murderous U.S. Occupation, today’s Iraq is a repressive colonial dictatorship under U.S. control.
Egypt
In relation to Mubarak, no Western leader even dared to mention sanctions, “no-fly” zone or “crimes against humanity”. As dictated by Barack Obama, the Egyptian military – controlled by the U.S. and a long-time collaborator with the Israeli regime – took over and Mubarak retired to his palace in the protected enclave of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Western politicians have begun to prepare for the next “humanitarian” war, while ignoring their illegal aggression and mass murder of women and children in Iraq and the ongoing bloodbath in Afghanistan. Careful not to upset the U.S. and Israel, Western politicians regurgitated U.S. false propaganda against Libya in the same way they did against Iraq.
When Mubarak’s thugs killed at least 360 Egyptian demonstrators, imprisoned and tortured thousands others, the U.S. and its allies called for “restraint on both sides” and portrayed Mubarak as a “democrat”. They used what they called “diplomacy” to encourage Mubarak to make an “orderly and peaceful transition” to military rule.
LIBYA STANDS APART FROM THE US-BACKED DICTATORSHIPS
By contrast, the same imperialists are calling on al-Qaddafi to “step down and leave” and they stepped up their support for the militia. They are accusing al-Qaddafi of “crimes against humanity”. They alleged that al-Qaddafi has committed crimes and must stand trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Libya does not recognise the ICC authority and there is no evidence that al-Qaddafi has committed any crimes against Libyans. In fact, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva had recently praised Libya’s record on human rights, particularly the rights of women. If the ICC is serious about justice and International Law, it is obliged to investigate crimes of genocide committed by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Tony Blair or crimes committed by Israeli leaders against the Palestinians. The ICC could also hold U.S.-NATO leaders responsible for civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The ICC, which is not recognised by the U.S. and has no jurisdiction over Americans accused of crimes, is nothing more than a tool of Western imperialism and will be used as a pretext to get around the UN Security Council veto for aggression.
A U.S. sponsored insurrection: It is clear that the ongoing violent insurrection in Libya has nothing to do with democracy, dictatorship and inequality. It has much to do with a U.S.-sponsored insurrection to topple the current Libyan Government and take control of Libyan valuable natural resources (oil and natural gas). The main group leading the insurrection is the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition which includes the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL). The NFSL, which is leading the violence, is a U.S.-sponsored armed militia of mostly Libyan expatriates and tribes opposed to al-Qaddafi. Unlike the peaceful uprisings against U.S.-backed dictatorship regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere, the violence in Libya has been directed against government buildings and properties, including army barracks and police stations.
And unlike the peaceful uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere, the violence in Libya “underscored the contrast between the character of Libya’s revolution and [the peaceful uprisings that toppled dictators in Egypt and Tunisia]”. The militia leading the insurrection against the Libyan government has been led by “people who are more mature and who have been actively opposing the government for some time.” (NYT, 24 February 2011). It is most likely that the “mixed bag” contains U.S.-baked extremists, like “al-Qaeda”. They have already refused to negotiate and have called for U.S.-NATO to impose a “no-fly” zone over Libya, i.e., military intervention.
The No-Fly Zone: A “no-fly” zone is an act of illegal aggression to seize Libyan airspace and attack Libyan military infrastructure. The U.S. and NATO - supported by none other than the illegitimate despotic Arab regimes - have begun to prepare of the imposition of a “no-fly” zone over Libya. What is shameful about the “no-fly” zone is the Arab regimes hypocrisy. Acting with the obedience of imperialist servants, the Arab regimes have succumb to U.S. pressure and agreed to participate in the U.S.-NATO illegal intervention in Libya. These are the same U.S.-backed despots that are using violence and oppressive methods against their own people.
It is important to remember that the illegal, unilateral U.S.-Britain “no-fly” zone over Iraq was instrumental in destroying Iraqi defence capabilities and led to two criminal wars. For two decades, U.S. and British pilots flying at high altitude have terrorised the Iraqi people and divided the country. The Australian Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, playing as mouthpiece for U.S. terror, was the first to call for a “no-fly” zone to be enforced over Libya. Rudd wants the world to know that when it comes to violence, Australia is the most reliable U.S. vassal. Not long ago, Rudd and nearly all Australian members of parliament stood idly by while the Israeli fascist regime was massacring Palestinian women and children in Gaza. There were no similar proposals to protect Arab civilians demonstrating elsewhere in the Middle East. Furthermore, the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, had the audacity to preach against nonviolence as if she has forgotten Australia continues its criminal complicity in U.S. illegal aggressions and massacres of Afghan civilians.
The Sanctions: On 25 February 2011, the U.S. government forced the UN Security Council to impose stringent economic sanctions on Libya, including an arms embargo. In addition, the UN froze (confiscated) some $50 billion Libyan assets held in U.S. and EU banks. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon has the audacity to demand “decisive action” against Libya, while playing an active role in defending and legitimising U.S. and Israel atrocities elsewhere. Mr Ki-Moon must know something about the UN-sponsored and U.S.-Britain enforced genocidal sanctions on Iraq that killed more than 2 million Iraqis, a third of whom were under the age of five, and destroyed the social fabric of the Iraqi society.
The Oxymoron - "Humanitarian Invasion": The U.S. and its Western allies have begun the process of manufactured pretexts to justify a “humanitarian invasion” of Libya and the occupation of the oil-rich region. Of course, “humanitarian invasion” in Western language has nothing to do with humanitarian per se; it is a cover-up for military invasion accompanied by terror, mayhem and displacement of people. The same pretexts that were used to justify the illegal and murderous invasion and Occupation of Iraq and the premeditated mass murder of more than 1.3 million innocent Iraqis will be used to justify the invasion of Libya. Indeed, the same group of U.S. fascist Jews – Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Joe Lieberman, Elliott Abrams, Douglas Feith and many more former senior officials from the Bush administration – who fabricated lies that led to the U.S. aggression against Iraq in 2003, are calling for a U.S.-NATO military invasion of Libya. “Those who promote the use of military force against Libya do not seek to defend human rights, but to establish a protectorate in order to violate them, as is always the case, in a country which is one of the most important sources of oil and energy in the Middle East”, said Jorge Valero, Venezuelan ambassador to the UN.
The CIA-sponsored insurrection in Benghazi and other oil-rich regions in Libya is part of a U.S. plan to control Libyan oil and natural gas that supplies China and upon which Europe largely depends. Like the invasion of Iraq, a U.S. invasion of Libya is the worst that could happen to the Libyan people. However, any student of the Libyan history of resistance to foreign occupation knows that at least a third of Libyans have died in order to liberate their country from Italian colonial rule.
MEDIA DISTORTION AND FALSE PROPAGANDA
Western media’s hate for truth and impartiality far exceeds that of Western leaders’ hate for democracy and democratic principles. Aided by a collection of pro-U.S. Arab media, Western media have distorted the popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq, Yemen and the armed insurrection in Libya.
Portraying violent insurrection as revolution and democracy: The BBC and most of the Zionist-controlled U.S. media, such as CNN, Fox News, NPR, CBS and New York Times have portrayed the peaceful uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen as demonstrations against rising food prices and living conditions while the violent and armed insurrection in Libya is portrayed as a “revolution for democracy” against Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi. In reality, the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen are against U.S.-backed dictators and the U.S.-Israel Zionist domination of the region. The demonstrators were calling for the agents of the U.S. and Israel to go. The armed insurrection against the Libyan Government has nothing to do with revolution and democracy. It is a U.S.-sponsored violent insurrection against the independent Libyan Government.
False accusations: Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera and Western media have accused the Libyan forces of indiscriminate bombardments of “rebel-controlled” areas in the eastern part of the country. But independent media showed no evidence of bombing or destruction on the ground by the Libyan forces. It is important to bear in mind that Al-Jazeera is not known for its pro-Libyan propaganda.
Qatar media: The Qatar-based and Qatar-funded news network has adopted a completely biased position against the Libyan Government, attacking al-Qaddafi and supporting the U.S.-sponsored insurrection. The Qatari Government has recently introduced a new “media freedom law” which restricts journalists writing on issues “concerning national security and friendly countries”. Of course, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, the U.S. NATO, etc. are considered “friendly countries”, Libya is not. Hence, U.S.-made tanks firing on Bahraini protesters are ignored, while Libyan forces fighting U.S.-sponsored insurrection are magnified.
British Broadcasting Company: The BBC accused the Libyan military of mistreating three members of a BBC team. The fact that the three have admitted that they were ‘allowed to travel around the country freely and see what they want’ proved that the BBC is involved in distortion. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, during the recent popular uprising in Egypt, at least 140 journalists were detained, attacked – including killings, rapes and physical assaults – covering the uprising. The BBC had nothing to say on that.
Zionist & 'Liberal Left' media: Meanwhile, Western pundits and “activists” (the “Left”) argued that the uprising against Mubarak’s regime was fueled by the Zionist-controlled Internet “social networking” media (Google, Twitter and Facebook) – a better description of these Internet sites is surveillance media. If that were true, there would be uprisings all over the U.S. Inequality, poverty and repression in the U.S. are much higher than in Egypt, Tunisia or Bahrain. In relation to Libya, the “Left” are united in their condemnation of al-Qaddafi and have begun advocating the invasion and division of Libya in line with U.S.-NATO agenda.
The aim of this Zionist propaganda is to claim ownership of the uprisings against U.S.-sponsored dictators and strip Arabs of their ability and their desire for change. As the Lebanese leader, Hassan Nasrallah said:
“The Americans [and their friends] are trying to ride the wave. They are trying to take advantage of this revolution. They are trying to curb and absorb this revolution. They are trying to beautify their ugly image in our Arab and Islamic world, and they are trying to present themselves as defenders of people, of their rights, wills, and freedoms, after decades of absolute support for the worst dictatorships witnessed in our region”.
The popular uprisings against Mubarak and other U.S.-backed Arab regimes was initiated by ordinary people (young and old) who, in the case of Egypt and Tunisia, live in extreme poverty and have no way to pay for Internet. In fact, Mubarak’s regime was able to turn off the Internet and mobile phone services on the first day of the uprising, using U.S.-supplied technology tools. The popular uprisings in the Arab world were not for bread, as claimed by Western media and pundits; they are against U.S.-backed oppressive regimes and their submission to U.S.-Israel Zionist agenda. Indeed, ordinary Arabs hate the submission of their regimes to U.S.-Israel fascist hegemony.
Smearing the Muslim Brotherhood to Promote Racism: Furthermore, the media focus on the Muslim Brotherhood Party has nothing to do with the Party itself. This smear campaign is part of a Zionist propaganda campaign designed to demonise Islam and Muslims and promote Islamophobia throughout Europe and the U.S. The dirty campaign’s second aim is to delegitimize the anti-Mubarak uprising. It is noteworthy that during the long uprising there was never one single attack against any non-Muslim minority and extremism was never part of the uprising. In fact, the uprising was devoid of religious ideology.
Like many U.S.-co-opted “opposition” groups, the Muslim Brotherhood is not anti-U.S. and it is not anti-imperialism. At the start of the uprising, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood condemned the demonstrators. They sided with the demonstrators only when they saw they had run out of options. As the Egypt-born scholar Samir Amin argued:
“In case of ‘success’ and ‘elections’, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) will become the major parliamentary force. The US welcomes this and has qualified the MB as ‘moderate’, that is, docile and accepting the submission to the U.S. strategy, leaving Israel free to continue its occupation of Palestine. The MB is also fully in favour of the ongoing ‘market’ system, totally externally dependent. They are also, in fact, partners in the ‘comprador’ ruling class. They took a position against the working-class strikes and the peasants’ struggles to keep their ownership of land”.
In the 1950s, the Muslim Brotherhood collaborated with the CIA against President Gamal Abdel Nasser. “The Muslim Brotherhood in fact has been complicit with the [Mubarak’s] regime”, added Amin. Their support among the Egyptian population stands between 10-15 per cent.
Australia's Racist Media: In Australia, the racist media of five TV channels of distortions and a small fishpond of print media controlled by the fascist Murdoch Press (75%) and the Fairfax tabloids (25%) have used the occasions of the uprisings against U.S.-installed dictators to attack Muslims and spread anti-Muslim dirty propaganda. In a recent Op-Ed in the Sydney Morning Herald on the popular uprising in Egypt, Paul Sheehan, one of Australia’s most racist Islamophobe journalists writes:
“Of the 16 Arab nations, not one is an open democracy. The words ‘Arab’ and ‘democracy’ have never coexisted in the same sentence as a political reality because of a third word, ‘Islam’, which is not merely a religion, it is a system ordering the entirety of society, from government to law to social mores”. (Sydney Morning Herald, 07 February 2011).
Only an illiterate racist is ignorant enough to make such false statements based on the impotence of a few U.S.-installed and U.S.-backed dictators.
First, there are 22 Arab countries and territories (the Arab nation) with a combined population of some 360 million Arabic-speaking people. Long before they were dominated by Western imperialism, most, if not all Arab/Muslim countries, had experienced democratic governments. Sheehan should know that Muslims and Arabs of the Middle Ages pioneered the fields of science and knowledge, and built the finest universities and research centres while “white” Europe was still shrouded in medieval darkness. Of course, the words Islam and democracy have always coexisted in the same sentence. Islam stipulates the popular consent as a prerequisite to the establishment of any legitimate political authority. Islamic principles are essentially democratic. Islam is based on three basic precepts:
- All persons in any given society are equal in human and civil rights;
- Public issues are best decided by majority view; and
- Justice, equality and human dignity are best realized in personal as well as public life.
Second, Sheehan pretends to ignore that in any accurate description of white Australia, the words “racism”, “violence” and “corruption” have coexisted in the same sentence since the establishment of the penal colony and remain so today. In racist white Australia, Indigenous Australians and Australians from small minorities are treated worse than dogs. Australian “democracy” – like U.S. “democracy” – is an illusion designed to manipulate and seduce a passive population ruled by “faceless” white (old) men.
THE TYRANNY AND INFIDELITY OF US-PLANTED ARAB REGIMES
On February 11, Hussein Agha of Oxford University and Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group wrote for the Washington Post:
The popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia by ordinary Arabs have ended decades-long U.S.-backed repressive regimes and opened a new chapter in Arab revival. Mubarak and Zine Ben Ali oustings were good news, others will follow. Without exception, the illegitimate and despotic Arab regimes have robbed the Arab people of their freedom, sovereignty and their pride. “Other than to wait and see what others might do, Arab regimes have no clear and effective approach toward any of the issues vital to their collective future, and what policies they do have contradict popular feeling. It is that indifference that condemned the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt to irrelevance.”
The Arab regimes’ criminal complicity in the destruction of Iraq and their failure to defend the Palestinian people and liberate Palestine from Zionism are evidence of their impotence, corruption and subservience to U.S.-Israel dictates. In fact, it is easier for the Arab regimes to participate in the imperialist destruction of another Arab country than say “no” to U.S. imperialism.
Israel: While Israel possesses some 400 nuclear warheads, the Arab regimes remain weak and divided like never before. The Arab armies pose no deterrence to Israel, a racist ethno-religious entity that has no recognised international borders and openly espouses a fascist ideology of expansion. In fact, Israel can invade and occupy with ease any Arab country, terrorise its population and leave.
Arms Sales for targetting Muslims: Despite its abundant natural and human resources, the Arab world remains less developed and backward than the rest of the world outside Africa. Billions of U.S. dollars are being wasted on buying second-hand U.S.-made arms and military hardware rather than building a strong economy and long-term investment in education, health and employment opportunities. In October 2010, Deutsche Welle revealed that the U.S. arms industry struck $123 billion in new arms deals with Kuwait, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia, ‘the largest procurement of arms by the Gulf Arab’s states in living memory’. Saudi Arabia alone accounts for $67 billion. It is most likely, if ever to be used, the arms will be used against Muslims, including the local population.
While they rule over a mostly Muslim population, most of the Arab regimes are laic. They have deserted Islam as a way of life. Some have enforced their own form of “Islam” in order to stay in power and to please the U.S. and other Western governments. They use Islam to manipulate the population and enforce their brutal and repressive rule. In fact, the Arab regimes are the antithesis of Islam and Islamic principles.
Conclusion
Finally, the U.S. love affair with murderous dictators will continue unless people around the world stand up together against U.S. imperialism. The goal of the Arab people should be the total eradication of U.S.-imposed murderous dictators and a complete rejection of U.S. imperialist domination. Only this will steer the Arab world on an independent and sovereign path and allows all Arabs to enjoy democracy, freedom and equality.
Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst living in Australia.
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Note:
[1] For an incisive view on the crisis in Libya: See Sara Flounders, No U.S. attack on Libya, www.workers.org, 02 March 2011).