LIBYAN MAJORITY SUPPORTS GADDAFI; ONE MILLION PROTEST IN WAKE OF NATO SLAUGHTER OF CIVILIANS

One million Libyans demonstrate to support Gaddafi June 17, 2011

Click on http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185602.html for video showing civilians, including toddlers, murdered by NATO; interviews with independent journalists regarding demonstration of one million supporting Gaddafi and anti-government forces lynching Black Libyans

Sent by Don DeBar of WBAIX

Tue Jun 21, 2011 6:2AM

 

Press TV talks with Lizzie Phelan, journalist and political activist in London who has been to Libya and says that Western media is complicit in war crimes in the North African country through omission of fact and that the vast majority of the population are in support of the Libyan government. Following is a transcript of the interview.

Libyans show clothing of toddlers killed by NATO in airstrike

The mass pro-Gaddafi street demonstration of one million Libyans held in the capital Tripoli has gone unreported by Western media as has news of civilians killed for the past three months

.

Press TV: NATO have issued an apology for a strike so about this publicized NATO strike that has killed civilians, they have blamed ‘technical error’. The conclusion we can draw from that is if that happens it may happen again, which relates to the risk of more civilian casualties. Concerning this air campaign – Do you think it has actually gone too far when it is not saving lives?

Phelan: Yet again we are seeing what the US and Europe shamefully call collateral damage in the form of human lives like we have seen previously in Iraq and Afghanistan and in many other parts of the world.

In this photo taken on a government-organized tour, members of the media and others examine the remains of a damaged residential building in Tripoli, Libya Sunday, June 19, 2011. The Libyan government accused NATO of bombing a residential neighborhood in the capital and killing civilians early Sunday, adding to its charges that the alliance is striking nonmilitary targets. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck)

This apology by NATO is an absolute joke. It’s the first apology we’ve had from them in the three months despite the fact that civilians have been dying at the hands of NATO air strikes everyday in the past three months there have been thousands of strikes on the country so they made the apology yesterday on Sunday. But again at 2am in the morning there was another attack on the city of Sorman, 130km west of Tripoli where a further fifteen civilians were killed and a further three children were killed.

In previous weeks we have seen the bombing of al-Nasr university in Tripoli in the daytime where civilians were killed and so these are the military targets that we’re seeing them bomb – we’re seeing them bomb universities; we’re seeing them bomb Friday market street in Tripoli where there is no military site in the area. Friday market street – I’ve been there – it begins with a GPO post office and ends with a primary school and they bombed four buildings and killed nine civilians including a toddler of four months old.

So, we are seeing what ‘humanitarian intervention’ and the ‘protection of civilians’ al-a-NATO means – it means the killing of children as we are seeing.

The real crime here is the crime of the media. Where has the media been? The media has picked up on this now because NATO has made their apology, but we’ve been seeing civilians dying every day for the past three months; we have a swarm of western journalists based in Tripoli…

Press TV: The NATO apology concerns it’s responsibility for the deaths of 9 civilians and 18 injured in an early morning strike at an apartment building. In terms of what NATO is exercising it does put into question the goals of what NATO has on the ground… and this comes when there are CIA officers and covert operators as has been reported that are on the ground in touch with the revolutionaries.

Phelan: I wouldn’t call anybody who is inviting NATO or the CIA or intelligence services into their country revolutionaries, they are in fact counter-revolutionaries.

French helicopters readying to attack Libya

The purpose is clear and that is to curb the Arab spring, but it goes back further than that since the revolution (military coup) of 1969-70, when Gaddafi kicked out the British and the Americans and closed their military bases and nationalized the oil. The West has had an agenda since then to get back into Libya and take complete control of the oil resources. Yes they’ve had a period of reproachment with Libya whereby they have been able to make some good deals with Libya, but they haven’t had any where near the kind of control that they would like to have – like they have in Saudi Arabia or Qatar or the other Gulf states where these are effectively client regimes.

So the agenda is clear to completely violate international law and assassinate Gaddafi against the will of the Libyan people without actually every asking them what the Libyan people want.

Press TV: Since you have visited Libya, what is the support that Muammar Gaddafi has and what is going on in terms of the tribal allegiance that exists there? Because as we understand there has been a split along traditional tribal lines – animosity has existed; and also based on some research done this has indeed been funded by the West.

Phelan: Exactly. Just on Friday there was a complete blackout in the media except for one CNN report about a march of one million Libyans in a country of six million people in Tripoli towards Green Square in support of the government and also in support of the people of Benghazi and Misrata who are being harassed and persecuted by what I call counter-revolutionaries, which is what others call rebels – in particular black Libyans who because of the really shameful story that al-Jazeera has pumped out about Gaddafi hiring African mercenaries, black Libyans in places like Misrata and Benghazi – I’ve met refugees from these areas who are victims of these atrocities – black Libyans being lynched publicly and the most unspeakable atrocities are being committed against them by pro-NATO counter revolutionaries.

In terms of the tribes in Libya – from my sources I have information that 90% of the tribes in Libya are supportive of the government including the largest tribe in Libya.

Of course, before the uprising there were frustrations In Libya as there are within every singly country, but the Libyan people are an extremely non-confrontational people that will go to the ends of the earth to resolve in a non-confrontational way.

And that is also reflected in the government in the way in which the government has tried over the decades and bent backwards to accommodate opposition forces within the government, which in a sense has backfired as we saw from the people who defected from the government and who sold out because they were in the pockets of the CIA andMI6 and the other Western intelligence services.

So, from my experience in Libya the support for the government is absolutely widespread. There was a Guardian journalist in Libya who thankfully was deported from Libya for reporting that the reason why there is no opposition in Tripoli is because there are informers everywhere. A million people marched through the streets of Tripoli so the people have spoken for themselves.

Press TV: When will a political solution be discussed? Is NATO going to be ready to face the fact that there has to be a political solution in Libya? Many officials in the US have talked about having a political solution in Afghanistan and have conceded that for any war this is the best way forward…So why is this (military bombing) continuing in Libya?

Phelan: I have no faith in NATO to ever have the humility to suggest that what is needed and what was needed from the outset is a political solution.

It’s clear that NATO have no way at the moment to get out. They have gone into this war and they can’t lose face now.

I want to quickly mention something that has not been or rarely gets mentioned and that is the sanctions imposed on Libya have led now to a crisis in the country whereby people have to queue for six days for food and fuel and we’ve seen the impact from that in Iraq; sanctions are one of the greatest killers, sometimes more so than outright military war; it killed millions of people in Iraq.

…Coming back to your question, I would say that the UN has been acting as an extension of NATO and has done so in Libya.

Press TV: I have said that NATO is the armed wing of the UN in which the UN is used and then of course NATO comes in and of course we see how that gets exercised when it comes to various countries.

Phelan: I would say it the other way round that the UN is essentially a wing of NATO in the sense that it gives legitimacy to what NATO’s agenda is. And I have no faith in either of these institutions to deliver any kind of political solution in the country. The UN has proved itself a failure since the war on terror began and even before then…

Lizzie Phelan’s website, Lizzie’s Liberation, is listed in VOD links at right: http://lizziesliberation.wordpress.com/.

Another excellent website reporting world news including the US/NATO war on Libya has also been added to the VOD links: http://alexandravaliente.wordpress.com/

Also PressTV at http://www.presstv.ir/ .

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Share
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to LIBYAN MAJORITY SUPPORTS GADDAFI; ONE MILLION PROTEST IN WAKE OF NATO SLAUGHTER OF CIVILIANS

  1. Pingback: “Not This Way” « Act of Defiance

  2. stop bombing says:

    BRAVOOOOOOOOOOO…
    for daring to tell the truth of Libya…
    we are so sick of hearing the continual lies
    to save civilians with bombs..
    now that is just insane…
    bombs bring death and destruction…
    STOP BOMBING LIBYA NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Sandy McHoots says:

    Note that the demonstrations I referred to are not displayed in the picture on this page, however they can easily be found on youtube by entering Libya July protests or something similar. Indeed the demonstration pictured here probably is only some 10,000s, however far larger demonstrations have occurred since then which clearly show intensifying support for the government and increased opposition to the rebels in government controlled areas.

  4. Sandy McHoots says:

    The arrogance of the rebels never ceases to amaze me. No matter how overwhelming the evidence is that the majority of Libyans do not support them, they engage in a constant stream of propaganda and obfuscation designed to obscure the issue, while at the same time simply asserting that they are correct without providing any evidence. What they ignore is that even if the pro government protesters are not millions strong, they are vastly larger than even the largest pro rebel protests held in Benghazi, which themselves numbered below 100,000 at the largest, and were more likely less than 50,000.

    Note to Andre Oqueli, since the population of ALL OF EAST LIBYA is less than 2 million, there is no possible way that demonstrations exceeded 2 million, as this would exceed the total population of the rebel controlled area. Unfortunately for you, this time you got called on your lies. Note to Senussi, just because you claim something, such as that those who demonstrated are related to detainees, does not make the claim true. In order to be believed, you have to provide substantial and hard evidence your statements are true. Otherwise they will be dismissed as unsubstantiated allegations at best, and deliberately concocted lies designed to deceive those who know little about Libya at worst.

    Of course this did not stop the rebels from making inflated claims that 100,00s (or as our friend Andre does, OVER TWO MILLION) demonstrated despite how obviously false those claims are, as can be seen by anyone who examines the video evidence. In addition, compare the tiny number of “demonstrators” in Misurata (all obviously rebel fighters and never exceeding a few hundred at the most) and other rebel held towns to the vast number that recently rallied in Sabha and other government held cities.

    Note how the huge numbers of demonstrators that turned out completely destroy the arrogant rebel argument that they and only they really represent Libyans, and that only they have the right to govern Libya, and to dispose of its resources in any way the unelected and unaccountable “Transitional Council” decides. The fact is, the rebels do not represent anything close to a majority of Libyans. Measured by areas controlled by rebels alone, they represent less than a third of the population. And in fact considering the brutal suppression of all opposition rebels have implemented in the areas they control, it is not possible to know what percentage of the population really supports them even in those areas they do control.

    An unbiased viewing of the July 8th demonstration, for example, clearly shows 100,000s of people, and probably over 500,000. It is less than a million, but at the same time it is far larger than any anti government demonstration to date. And note to Senussi, in those demonstrations a convex lens was not used, all demonstrators shown are clearly displayed in a straight forward high angle shot from a crane. And finally, who cares if some demonstrators did not come from Tripoli? This does not negate their demonstration of support for the government.

  5. Very good site depicting Libya as it is. I hope that the Libyans will win their war against the NATO/USA Crusader Jackals.
    The CIA, Rebels and Alqaeda who are all working for their own agendas are cursed and will make Libya cursed like Iraq.
    Look at each country that the Crusader Jackals have entered, are they not cursed.
    Look at the Gulf Donkeys how they sit back and laugh at Libya. Their time will come.
    Russia has shown its true colours siding with that Great Satan known as USA because Russia is now the footstool of USA and its Puppet masters.
    I sadden to think that if the Rebels, Alqaeda and others helped by CIA/NATO, conquer Libya and its modern day father Gaddafi, then Libyan women will lose their rights, Africa will lose a friend, the downtrodden peoples of the world will lose a friend and Libya will be split and pillaged by the West.
    There may even be extended periods of civil conflict.
    If anyone thinks that the West will treat Libyan people better than its present government, then get ready for a shock. The whole West is bankrupt and will rape the Nation rather than give and Libyans will become the footstools of Imperialist powers.

    Stephen Olof Wikblom….. Sheep Shearer…. Australia

  6. Pingback: Medios occidentales censuran protesta de 1 millón de personas en Libia contra la OTAN « El nuevo despertar / the new awakening

  7. Pingback: Tarinbot! / Medios censuran protesta de 1 millón de personas contra OTA – Taringa!

  8. Pingback: Medios occidentales censuran protesta de 1 millón de personas en Libia contra la OTAN | Pijamasurf

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment moderation is enabled. Your comment may take some time to appear.