Lawlessness and Ruin in Libya

www.counterpunch.org...

If the present condition of Libya is any indication of how Arab countries fair when they take the help of the NATO/US alliance in overthrowing their governments then Syria has living hell to look forward to if it ends up like Libya.

As world attention focused on the coup in Egypt and the poison gas attack in Syria over the past two months, Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi two years ago. Government authority is disintegrating in all parts of the country putting in doubt claims by American, British and French politicians that Nato’s military action in Libya in 2011 was an outstanding example of a successful foreign military intervention which should be repeated in Syria.

Libyans are increasingly at the mercy of militias which act outside the law. Popular protests against militiamen have been met with gunfire; 31 demonstrators were shot dead and many others wounded as they protested outside the barracks of “the Libyan Shield Brigade” in the eastern capital Benghazi in June.

Libya, despite Khadaffi wildness was a half way decent place before this NATO/USA prompted and supported so-called revolution in Libya. Now the country is a basket case and can’t even exploit their vast oil riches.

In an escalating crisis little regarded hitherto outside the oil markets, output of Libya’s prized high-quality crude oil has plunged from 1.4 million barrels a day earlier this year to just 160,000 barrels a day now.

Libya has never been plagued like it is today by sectarian and tribal wars and conflict that sober people warned against when the self-righteous NATO/USA alliance joined the civil war against Khadaffi and bombed that country as the are now plotting to intervene in the Syrian civil war and spread the same grace it spread to Libya.
Libya is now in a state of destruction.

Rule by local militias is also spreading chaos around the capital. Ethnic Berbers, whose militia led the assault on Tripoli in 2011, temporarily took over the parliament building in Tripoli. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called for an independent investigation into the violent crushing of a prison mutiny in Tripoli on 26 August in which 500 prisoners had been on hunger strike. The hunger strikers were demanding that they be taken before a prosecutor or formally charged since many had been held without charge for two years.

Even the New York Times agrees

The country that witnessed the Arab world’s most sweeping revolution is foundering.”

www.nytimes.com...

I guess we'll have to wait and see to find out whether history will repeat itself or not.

But I suspect that Syria's case will be somewhat different for two reasons:

a) International intervention will be much stronger here
b) This military intervention will probably make it seem like another Iraq (which I predict will soon break into civil war because of the insurgency).

I'm sure there are other factors to take into consideration here, such as the economy, international relations with the rebels and Assad regime and the region's neighboring countries (Israel will surely have its own unique response to Syria, as will Hezbollah and other parties).

altairpeaceandsecurity
I guess we'll have to wait and see to find out whether history will repeat itself or not.

But I suspect that Syria's case will be somewhat different for two reasons:

a) International intervention will be much stronger here
b) This military intervention will probably make it seem like another Iraq (which I predict will soon break into civil war because of the insurgency).

I'm sure there are other factors to take into consideration here, such as the economy, international relations with the rebels and Assad regime and the region's neighboring countries (Israel will surely have its own unique response to Syria, as will Hezbollah and other parties).

It's not really all that different.

Douchebag with moderate religious leanings will be replaced by douchebag with extremist leanings.

Our leaders will moan about unintended outcomes, and begin selecting (or demonizing) the next target.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

reply to post by Willtell

In an escalating crisis little regarded hitherto outside the oil markets, output of Libya’s prized high-quality crude oil has plunged from 1.4 million barrels a day earlier this year to just 160,000 barrels a day now.

And guess who benefits from THAT ?

Right.

Saudi Arabia and the PetroDollar !!

What a surprise.

reply to post by peck420


I suppose it is a pattern that has happened consistently throughout the 20th century: WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq...

After American troops withdrew from Iraq, you ever saw anybody talking about it? Nope, important events are shadowed by governments' new targets...

But I mean that it's probably going to play out a little differently. Libya didn't have as much military intervention or economic dependencies.

The end result would be the same though: a destabilized government that will be forgotten by the rest of the world