Libyans Who Once Opposed Gaddafi Now Regret Western-Led Regime Change

Who actually benefits from American-led wars across the globe? The aftermath of American-led conflicts shows it is not the common people, though the military and politicians vow they are liberating and protecting them.

The Sunday Mail, Zimbabwe’s “leading family newspaper,” has published accounts of a number of Libyans who expressed regret over Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011, despite the fact some of them even took up arms against him. 

As one said:

“‘I joined the revolution in the first days and fought against Gaddafi,’ former revolutionary fighter Mohammed, 31, said from the southern city of Murzuq. ‘Before 2011, I hated Gaddafi more than anyone. But now, life is much, much harder, and I have become his biggest fan.’”

In 2011, we were told Gaddafi was going to commit grave bloodshed against his own people and that as a result, the international community needed to intervene to protect Libyan civilians. This proved to be false, according to an analysis of statistics obtained by Human Rights Watch. Further, an investigation conducted by Amnesty International also found a number of claims against Gaddafi were fabricated, as noted by the Independent:

“Nato leaders, opposition groups and the media have produced a stream of stories since the start of the insurrection on 15 February, claiming the Gaddafi regime has ordered mass rapes, used foreign mercenaries and employed helicopters against civilian protesters.

“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.”

Is it possible that Hillary didn't properly secure the Benghazi embassy because she thought the rebels there were on her side?

The so-called “no-fly zone” the U.N. Security Council Resolution authorized did not allow for regime change, something NATO representatives further promised their Eastern counterparts would not happen. The resolution only authorized the coalition forces to take all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack in the country, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory. The resolution requested that the coalition immediately inform the Secretary-General of such measures.

What this “no-fly zone” actually entailed was a full-scale assault on Gaddafi’s forces to ensure none of his aircraft could fly within his own country’s airspace. It also meant anything capable of taking out a coalition warplane would also have to be destroyed.

All of these NATO bombs were allegedly intended to protect civilians.

Furthermore, a Libyan rebel commander went on record to admit his fighters included al-Qaeda-linked jihadists who had fought against U.S. troops in Iraq. These fighters, known at the time as al-Qaeda in Iraq, are now referred to as ISIS. It should be no surprise that ISIS now has a stronghold in Libya following the fall of Gaddafi.

Before the NATO onslaught, Libya had the highest standard of living of any country in Africa. This meant the people enjoyed state-sponsored healthcare, high literacy rates, and other benefits that come with living in a relatively prosperous society. 

In 2015 alone, the country fell 27 places on the U.N. Human Development Index ratings. According to UNICEF, there are now two million Libyan children out of school.

Consumers of corporate media might also be surprised to learn Libya had an inclusive and progressive democracy where decision-making was conducted at the local level. It was not the dictatorship Sacha Baron Cohen incorrectly portrayed in his film, The Dictator.

Regardless of one’s views of Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader was able to provide stability and good governance to the people of Libya. It may be the case that he was responsible for torturing scores of dissidents, but one should bear in mind that the United Kingdom would actually send those dissidents to Gaddafi, knowing full well they would be tortured.

Making this corruption even juicier, former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, the man who essentially had Gaddafi assassinated, was actually under investigation for having accepted 50 million euros from Gaddafi for his election campaign.

Are we supposed to trust these corrupt politicians to protect the interests of civilians?

To the warmongers within the American political establishment, the destruction of the Libyan way of life was nothing but a game.

As stated by Libyan medical student, Salem:

“We thought things would be better after the revolution, but they just keep getting worse and worse.

“Far more people have been killed since 2011 than during the revolution or under 42 years of Gaddafi’s rule combined.

“We never had these problems under Gaddafi.

“There was always money and electricity and, although people did not have large salaries, everything was cheap, so life was simple.

“Some of my friends have even taken the boat to Europe with the migrants because they feel there is no future for them here.

“I would like to escape this mess and study abroad but I have been waiting a year for a new passport and, even when I do get one, it will be hard to get a visa because all the embassies left in 2014.

“So now I feel like a prisoner in my own country. And I have started to hate my own country.”

This article (Libyans Who Once Opposed Gaddafi Now Regret US-Led Regime Change) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Darius Shahtahmasebi and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

It should also be pointed out that there were few, if any, migrants passing through Libya on their way to Europe while Gadaffi was in power. Now, they are endless and many end up being held prisoner for months as they are ransomed by lawless gangs. Female migrants frequently suffer from rape, ransom and slavery. There is very little law and order as there are several groups of criminal and/or terrorist gangs vying for control of the country.

Are the tactics used in Libya similar to those being used in Syria? It seems obvious that western interference in both Libya and Syria have managed to accomplish only despair for the people and have literally manufactured the migrant crisis in Europe. Actions in both countries are both illegal and immoral and we will probably learn absolutely nothing from it.

Would-be Migrant Held for Ransom in Libya Regrets Attempt to Reach Europe

'I will never try it again'

6,000-7,000 undocumented migrants in detention in Libya, UN says

By Anna Cunningham, CBC News 

Animals scavenge on mounds of garbage in Oworonshoki, a slum on the edge of Lagos, Nigeria. Oluwaseun Femi Ijitola, 34, risked his life to escape this place to try to make a better life for his wife and five-year-old daughter. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

​The ground is thick with mud and sewage. Wooden planks and tires scatter the slum, making a precarious pathway.

"We have to walk," says Oluwaseun Femi Ijitola, a 34-year-old taxi driver known as Seun. "No vehicle can pass through."

There is a look of shame in his eyes as he surveys this forgotten corner of Lagos.

On the water's edge of Nigeria's largest city, in the neighbourhood of Oworonshoki, people live in dire poverty with no sanitation, electricity or any other facilities, in ramshackle shanties covered with dirty tarpaulin and cardboard that barely keeps out the seasonal rains.

The local church in Oworonshoki. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

Chickens, goats and dog scavenge on mounds of garbage. Empty plastic bottles float on the tide of the Lagos Lagoon.

This is what Ijitola risked his life to escape when he became one of the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants attempting to cross the Sahara desert to get to Europe and the hope of a better life. 

"I have a dream of schooling abroad, and that is why I went to Libya," he says.

A local elder stops to question us. Strangers don't come here unless they are officials sent to evict people, he says suspiciously.

Ijitola says the area is "very, very rough and tough" and unlocks a tiny padlock to his wooden shack. His wife and five-year-old daughter aren't here. 

"I sent them to be with the mother-in-law," he says. "I cannot feed them."

​Local "area boys" — as the criminal gangs that extort money and mete out casual violence are known — loiter outside, smoking marijuana and drinking beer.

"I won't be able to sleep here tonight," Ijitola says. "They will give me hassle."

Treacherous desert crossing

For Ijitola, the decision to leave Nigeria arose from a mundane problem: his car — the family's only source of income — broke down. In late 2016 he decided it was time to seek a better life.

He used what little money had to head north, taking a well-worn route. He took a bus more than 1,100 kilometres to Kano, in northern Nigeria, and from there across the border into Niger.

Children play amongst sewage and debris in the Lagos slum. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

In Agadez, a transit town on the fringes of the Sahara that has become a staging post for the legions desperate to leave Africa, he paid traffickers to be taken on the treacherous crossing to Libya.

"It was tough. The sun was too much," he recalled. "We spent five days inside the desert without eating, only drink water, water, water. Anytime we finish, we needed more."

Crammed into a truck with many others, and with temperatures nearing 50 C during the day, he reached Libya and believed he was closer to his dream.

But his real nightmare had only just begun. In Sebha, nearly 800 kilometres from the capital, Tripoli, the driver sold them all to a man called Ali, who would then demand money for their release.

'They used to beat us every day'

There has been mounting concern from humanitarian agencies over Libya's makeshift prisons full of undocumented migrants who then become victims of human traffickers.

The prisons are divided into "ghettos," Ijitola says.  He was in the Nigeria ghetto, where he met people from countries all across West and Central Africa.

(International Organization for Migration)

Women raped

Women, who were held separately, were forced to sell themselves to their captors to get food, Ijitola says. "Those that refused the guards were raped," he says, his voice trailing off.

Violence was commonplace: "They used to beat us every day. Day by day they flog us with a pipe" — a practice referred to as giving the prisoners "morning tea," he says. 

Ijitola's story is increasingly common, says Richard Danzinger, of the International Organization for Migration.

The UN body estimates that some 6,000-7,000 undocumented migrants are in detention facilities throughout Libya, where law and order has broken down since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

The IOM says the majority of illegal migrants to Europe come through the central Mediterranean route, via Libya: more than 100,000 in 2016, and already more than 85,000 so far this year.

Ijitola was picked up by Libyan authorities before he could attempt the crossing to Italy.

He was sent back to Nigeria. (Anna Cunningham/CBC)

West African governments watch as their young people are being lost to ruthless people-smugglers, who often also have links to organized crime networks involved in the smuggling of arms and drugs.

$500 ransom paid

Seun's horrific ordeal lasted four long months. During that time he watched others die and thought he'd be next.

His freedom came at a price of $500, a sum his captors wanted deposited directly into their Nigerian bank account. His wife back in Lagos sold their broken car. The man who bought it borrowed the cash after hearing Seun being beaten during a phone call. 

Seun had already paid nearly $1,500 to get to Libya — for him, a small fortune. After paying the ransom, he spent about a month working to fund the next leg of his journey — the boat crossing to Italy — when the Libyan authorities caught up with him.

He was deported to Nigeria in April.

"After the whole pain, the suffering, everything, the beating and all that, the work, everything I've done in Libya … I'm back to Nigeria with nothing," says Seun.

Ijitola says he spent five days crammed inside a truck with many others, while temperatures

outside neared 50 C. Everyone in the truck was sold for ransom when they reached Libya.

(Anna Cunningham/CBC)

He always told his daughter that he wanted to give her an education, that he hoped she'd go "further than I do."

How he will do that is unclear. He has no car, no job, no money to buy food.

He feels exploited by the people who took his money along the way, calling them "evil," and likens the process to "a slave trade … buying passengers, buying human beings."

Africans need to know the true picture, he says.

"I will never try it again in my life," he says. "If I have opportunity to go to Europe again, it's going to be in the normal process."

Seun might now advise against the journey, but Danzinger, of the UN, says most people will ignore his warning and take a chance.

"They will … until they are provided with an alternative for a dignified and sustainable life in their community of origin," he said, "or for an opportunity to migrate regularly."

It's time for western powers to ensure western companies working in third world countries are no longer raping them of their natural resources and giving little or nothing back to the host country. We need to set standards for labour, for taxes, for investment, for replacing resources removed, and for ensuring a reasonable quality of life exists for indigenous peoples. And we need to do it to excess because of the centuries of abuse and poverty we have forced upon these countries. 

If Europe wants to stop the flow of migrants coming from Africa, they need to invest in the quality of life of Africans. If the west wants to stop the flow of migrants from Asia, they need to stop selling weapons to anyone and everyone who wants them. Not much chance of that, is there!

Philippines President Declares 'State of Lawlessness,' 14 Dead in Explosion by Islamists

Fourteen people were killed in an explosion orchestrated by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in Davao City on Friday prompting Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to implement "a state of lawlessness" across the nation. Photo courtesy of Malacañang Photo Bureau/Government of the Philippines

By Sarah Mulé  

MANILA, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte declared "a state of lawlessness" following an explosion that killed 14 people in Davao City.

The attack ripped through a popular night market Friday night, killing 14 and injuring at least 71 others.

In declaring the state of lawlessness, Duterte said it "would require nationwide, well-coordinated efforts of the military and the police."

Jesus Dureza, Duterte's adviser on the peace process, later clarified the meaning.

"State of lawlessness merely calls out the military or the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to do law enforcement operations normally done only by the PNP (Philippine National Police). Precisely to suppress the lawless violence. It does not suspend some rights," he said on Facebook Saturday.

Militant group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abu Sayyaf) is an Islamist militant group based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country. The group is considered very violent, and was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people.

As of 2012, the group was estimated to have between 200 and 400 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars, and automatic rifles.


Since its inception in 1991, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and extortion in what they describe as their fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines. They have also been involved in criminal activities, including kidnapping, rape, child sexual assault, forced marriage, drive-by shootings, extortion, and drug trafficking, and the goals of the group "appear to have alternated over time between criminal objectives and a more ideological intent".

On 23 July 2014, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Totoni Hapilon swore an oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL. In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people to ransom, in the name of ISIL.

They have recently beheaded several prisoners whom they abducted when the ransoms were not paid, including two Canadians.

Ten of the 14 killed in Friday's blast died instantly, according to Chief Insp. Andrea dela Cerna, Davao Police Regional Office spokesperson. Four others died at nearby hospitals.

Southern Philippines Medical Center director Dr. Leopoldo Vega said 15 people are still listed in critical condition, noting that most of the injuries were caused by shrapnel.

Officials believe Abu Sayyaf orchestrated the attack in retaliation for the Philippine government's military offensive against the group in Jolo, the group's island stronghold in the far south of the Philippines.

Philippine National Police Chief Director, General Ronald dela Rosa said the PNP has three suspects in the incident.