Libya Intensifies Resistance to U.S. and NATO-led Occupation

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Libya Intensifies Resistance to U.S. and NATO-led Occupation

From: Pan-African News Wire
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 1:37 AM

Subject: Libya Intensifies Resistance to U.S. and NATO-led Occupation

Libya Intensifies Resistance to U.S. and NATO-led Occupation

Pentagon admits greater involvement on the ground

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Resistance by the loyalist forces in Libya has escalated with major
clashes between supporters of the Gaddafi government and the U.S.-NATO
financed rebel National Transitional Council (NTC). For over two weeks
the western-backed leadership along with the imperialists have been
pressuring the people of Bani Walid to surrender and allow the seizure
of their city of 100,000 people in the western region of this
oil-producing North African state.

After failing to convince the leadership of the city to give in to the
neo-colonial aims of the NTC and their backers, several attempts by
the rebels and NATO to attack Bani Walid and its environs have been
repelled by the armed organization of the people. In these recent
skirmishes, it was revealed that the Libyan military still maintains
the capability to engage in both offensive and defensive operations.

Prior to the attempt to enter Bani Walid, the armed forces of Libya
shelled with grad rockets the positions of the NTC rebels outside the
city. When rebel units approached the northern entrance of the town
they were hit by additional mortar rounds and sniper fire.

After the withdrawal from the areas approaching Bani Walid, the NTC
rebels set out to reinforce their units in the approach to Sirte, the
western coastal city that is a strong area of support to Col. Muammar
Gaddafi. The effort to approach Sirte was also met with stiff
resistance by the loyalist forces prompting the rebels to retreat 125
km from the city.

The prevention of the rebels from entering these areas exposes the
falsehood that the Libyan government does not have continuing support
inside the country. Prior to the invasion of Tripoli, demonstrations
of millions of people came out in support of the government and in
opposition to the U.S.-NATO war.

NATO escalated its bombing operations over both Bani Walid and Sirte
in the days leading up to the expiration of the deadline given to the
people to surrender. There were reports that NATO advised the rebels
to withdraw pending additional air strikes against the loyalists in
these cities still under the control of the government.

Additional offensive operations by the loyalists against the U.S.-NATO
war in the country included the September 12 bold attack on the oil
port at Ras Lanuf, a major focal point of the war over the last seven
months. It was reported that 17 NTC rebels were killed in the attack
that came after the workers set fire to sections of the refinery as an
act of sabotage against the imperialist plan to steal vast amounts of
oil from the state that prior to the war produced 1.5 million barrels
per day of high grade crude.

On the same day, September 12, there were attacks against rebel NTC
forces at the airport outside Tripoli where explosions were heard in
the distance. During this same time period there was an escalation in
snipping against NTC elements throughout Tripoli.

Even the New York Times admitted on September 12 that "Abdulrahman
Busin, a spokesman for the council's military operations, said the
attack on Ras Lanuf was apparently a response to news that the council
had taken steps to restart oil production, which had been one of the
country's major contributors of income before the conflict. He said
that forces allied with the council were still fighting loyalists to
bring an industrial area in Ras Lanuf back under control." (NYT, Sept.
12)

U.S. Admits Greater Role Amid NATO Continuation of War

As the war in Libya escalated over the months since the beginning of
the rebel attacks on February 17 in Benghazi and other areas in the
east of the country, it has been revealed that the U.S. and the NATO
countries have organized, financed and coordinated the actions and
movements of the rebel NTC. The White House dispatched Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives to Libya to provide assistance to
the counter-revolution.

It was reported during this same period earlier on during the war that
British MI-6 agents and Special Forces were involved in the fighting
as well as units from the U.S.-backed military in neighboring Egypt
and  Qatar in the Gulf. This direct ground intervention by the
imperialist states and their allies illustrated the degree of
importance that the ruling classes in these various western countries
valued the efforts to seize control of Libya, its waterways, national
treasury and natural resources.

Nonetheless, further claims gave additional proof of the deployment on
the ground of U.S. military units. Despite consistent reports that
U.S. forces had been spotted in the theater of war, the Pentagon has
repeatedly denied these allegations.

However, it was reported on September 12 by the Associated Press that
"The Defense Department says it has four troops in Libya—only the
second time since the U.S. became involved there that it has
acknowledged having any military personnel on the ground.  The first
time was in March when Marines rescued an Air Force pilot who had
ejected over eastern Libya." (AP, Sept. 12)

Although Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, indicated on September 12 that the military personnel were only
in Libya to investigate the re-opening of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli,
in all likelihood this is part of a much broader strategy for greater
Pentagon deployment inside the country. Why should the Libyan people
or the international community accept these denials by Washington when
the Business Insider stated "That (this) admission contradicts the
Obama administration's repeated assertions at the outset of the Libyan
military intervention that no U.S. forces would be deployed to the
North African nation."? (Business Insider, Sept. 12)

This same publication later noted that "American officials have
previously acknowledged the presence of some CIA agents on the ground
in Libya who were reportedly helping coordinate NATO air strikes." The
Pentagon and the CIA also supplied the predator drones which were
utilized to identify targets and to hit Libyan positions on the
ground.

At the same time NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has
stressed that the military alliance will continue its operations in
Libya for the unforeseeable future. During the course of the war
against Libya, there have been over 20,000 sorties and approximately
8,000 bombings.

In response to the increased resistance against the U.S.-NATO war
policy in Libya, Rasmussen said that "We have seen also during this
weekend that remnants of Gaddafi's regime still constitute a threat to
the civilian population. We stand ready to continue our operations as
long as necessary." (Xinhua, Sept. 12) The NATO countries and their
allies have hosted several conferences aimed at expropriating the
wealth of Libya where in excess of $120 billion in foreign assets were
frozen over the last several months.

Divisions Among Rebels and Further Revelations of Atrocities

Already among the rebel forces there are deep divisions that may very
well provide a false rationale for the large-scale military
intervention by the imperialist states. On September 9 there were
reports in the Tripoli Post that 12 rebels were killed by infighting
among disparate units in two towns on the eastern edge of the Nafusa
Mountains. (Tripoli Post, Sept. 9)

Other reports indicate fissures between the NTC rebel fighting units
and the politicians that are invited to the conferences in western
capitals where they are hailed as the new leadership of the country.
Even among the NTC spokespersons, there are deep differences based on
political outlook and distrust between the Islamists, monarchists,
government defectors and the longtime CIA-trained groups that have
opposed the Gaddafi government since the 1980s.

In addition to these divisions among the western-backed rebels, there
are daily reports of atrocities being committed by the rebels against
Black Libyans and Africans from other countries on the continent.
Hundreds of Nigerians and Ghanaians are locked up in prisons inside
Libya along with dark-skinned nationals who are perceived by the
reactionaries and their NATO supporters as loyalists.

Some 20 Nigerian national were alleged to have been found executed
outside the Gaddafi compound in Tripoli that was overrun by the NTC
forces during the first week of the invasion of the capital. These
acts of racism and genocide have played a significant part in
preventing the African Union from recognizing the NTC as the
legitimate government of Libya despite tremendous economic and
political pressure from the imperialist states.

Perhaps one of the most shocking stories to come out of Libya was
revealed by former U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, a civil rights
activists and aide to the martyred Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fauntroy, who travelled to Libya during the earlier days of the war
seeking to mediate a peace agreement between the U.S.-NATO forces and
the Gaddafi government, said that he witnessed the beheading of people
by Special Forces units from the NATO countries. (Mathaba.net,
September 9)

Even moderate states in Africa such as Kenya are demanding the
withholding of recognition of the NTC by the international community.
Kenya's embassy was specifically targeted during the invasion of
Tripoli and the foreign ministry has stressed that until there is a
clear-cut plan for a transition to a representative government in
Libya, the NTC should not be given diplomatic standing.

Meanwhile on September 12, amid the escalation of resistance against
the U.S.-NATO war against his country, leader Muammar Gaddafi issued a
statement over Arrai TV based in Syria. Gaddafi called upon the Libyan
people to resist the imposition of NTC rule over Libya and reiterated
that the rebels were agents of imperialism.

U.S. Anti-war and Peace Movements Must Oppose War Against Libya

It is essential that the anti-war and peace movements inside the U.S.
and the other NATO countries openly oppose the imperialist plot to
destroy and seize Libya. There is no such thing as a good war of
neo-colonization and occupation.

The lessons of Afghanistan and Iraq prove clearly that the conditions
for the majority of people living under a U.S. occupation will
inevitably worsen. The deterioration of the social conditions of
people living under imperialist rule, either direct or indirect, will
lead to greater military intervention and consequent mass deaths and
destruction.

Anti-war forces must demand imperialist hands off the national wealth
of the Libyan people. The rebels can in no way be considered the
legitimate representatives of the people when they have openly
collaborated with former colonial powers and the leading imperialist
state in the world, the U.S., to not only topple the government of the
country but to also approve the theft of its natural resources and
foreign assets.

The war against Libya is the first full operational mission of the
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) which was established by the Pentagon in
2008 to increase military intervention on the continent. With the
reliance of the United States ruling class on the oil exports and
mineral resources of the African continent, there will be greater
calls from the bourgeoisie to engage in efforts aimed at regime change
following the same pattern set in Ivory Coast by France and in Libya
by a collective of imperialist states led by the U.S.

Activists concerned with global peace and development should demand
the dismantling of AFRICOM and the withdrawal of all U.S. military
involvement on the African continent. Africa's affairs must be the
exclusive purview of the people who will always bear the brunt of
imperialist intervention and occupation.
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