Finally, the corporate media reports, "Gaddafi figures prominently on the roadmap for peace," and after fully supporting the criminal attack on Libya by the U.S., England and France, the British Broadcasting Corp. reports with an egg-smeared face, "Libya: Gaddafi government accepts truce plan, says Zuma."

Members of the African Union, including the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma (front row, second left), meet with Colonel Gaddafi at his Bab al-Aziziya residence in Tripoli.  Photo: Mohamed Messara/EPA

Now that the only legitimate Libyan government and military has bloodied the noses of the western bullies, the corporate media reports the new African Union proposal for peace while in their same article they attempt to undermine the AU effort to bring the conflict to an end. The BBC repeatedly gives creedence to the US-backed mercenaries demand that Col. Qaddafi step down and quotes their spokesman, ""The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes [Col Gaddafi] starts shooting again." Other corporate media have been quick to shift gears with The Guardian reporting, "Gaddafi figures prominently on the roadmap for peace."

But what is forgotten is that the African Union's peace proposal for Libya as accepted by Qaddafi - was proposed by President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías at the beginning of March. When Chávez first led South American presidents in ALBA to condemn the attack on Libya on March 2, 2011 western governments and media did all they could to present him as a fool and a "friend of terrorists." That the new peace plan has been proposed by the African Union is logical. Chávez' plan was rejected out of hand with malignant misrepresentations of him by the west. What the Arab League failed to mention at that time and what was not reported by corporate media outlets such as Reuters, is that Venezuela is an honorary member of the African Union, so effectivly the peace plan has come from a member of the same institution. The only difference is that this time it has been put forward by South African President Jacob Zuma.

The Chávez proposal was pooh poohed by all the western powers with Reuters cynically asking, "How serious is the Chavez Libya peace plan?" Meanwhile, the conflict escalated with many innocent civilians, US/European-backed mercenaries and Libyan government troops being killed in a civil war which could have been nipped in the bud. More consideration of the Chávez plan would have avoided all the wheeling and dealing at the UN to approve a no fly zone which was then converted into all out aggression against the Libyan people under bombardment by U.S., French and English forces.

Even if the resolution of this conflict is now in sight but it could have been resolved in the first week on March instead of the second week of April saving many, many lives. But just as they rejected Chávez' successful January 2008 negotiations for the FARC's first release of hostages in Colombia, the crazed international community could not allow Chávez to be credited as a peace broker in Libya even though his plan was as legitimate as that of the African Union.

However, what is done is done and the clock cannot be turned back. What has emerged from this conflict so far are the bloody hands of Cameron, Sarkozy and Obama with direct involvement by Hillary Clinton. The world has seen their zero regard for human life, their lies about protecting Libyan civilians and the racism they triggered in Benghazi which resulted in the their hired mercenaries' murder of an unknown number of innocent Sub-Saharan Africans who were working in Libya. Israel had the major hand in that blood libel when they broadcast the lie that Qaddafi hired the African workers as mercenaries to put down the coup attempt by the real mercenaries working at the behest of the West. The world has also watched as Sarkozy then continued his blood and power lust with the same lies about protecting civilians in the Ivory Coast where his helicopter gunships are rocketing buildings in Abidijan.

All along the corprate media - CNN, Fox, BBC, TVE, Bloomberg, et. al. - were cheerleading the effort to oust Qadaffi who was demonized from the very beginning as they had done with Saddam Hussein. Little thought ... or perhaps a lot of thought ... was given by these media outlets of the bombing and mayhem they justified in Libya. One of the main proponants was CNN's Anderson Cooper, billed as a hero-journalist as he overstepped the mark of decent journalism and converted himself into a media warmonger from one day to the next. Who gave you the orders to do this, Anderson? The imperialists who own your channel or the Zionists you always support?

But the Capitalist Media assault on Libya has not stopped. Today, rather than explaining or at the very least giving a balanced view of the AU Peace Proposal, the corporate media features the rejection of the proposal by the US/European-backed mercenaries, giving them all the credibility they can muster. A simple Google Search using the words, "african union proposal libya" fills the results page with 10 articles, led by CNN and Fox News:

• "Libyan rebels reject African Union proposal as fighting rages."
• "Libyan Rebels Reject African Union Cease-Fire Proposal."
• "Libyan rebels wary of African Union ceasefire proposal"
• "Libyan Protesters: No Deal Unless Gadhafi Quits."
• "Libyan rebels reject African Union proposal; Koussa speaks out."

READ HIS BIO AND MORE ESSAYS BY
AXIS OF LOGIC COLUMNIST, ARTURO ROSALES