Turmoil in Libya (2011) and post-Gaddafi blowback

[sean m]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17889660

Libya ex-Minister Shukri Ghanem dead in Danube River

Mr Ghanem defected from Libya in the midst of the anti-Gaddafi uprising
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The body of Libya's former Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem has been found in the Danube River, Austrian police say.

A spokesman said there were no signs of violence to Mr Ghanem's body, which was in the river that flows through Vienna.

The former prime minister, 69, worked as a consultant for a Vienna-based company. He apparently left his home early on Sunday, police said.

Mr Ghanem defected from Libya as the country was engulfed in the uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi last year.

At the time, he criticised the bloodshed in Libya, saying that the situation had become "unbearable", making his position untenable.

He served as Libyan prime minister from 2003 to 2006 and then as oil minister until 2011.

Post-mortem examination
A passer-by reported seeing the body under a bridge near a popular recreation ground in Vienna.

Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said Mr Ghanem was dressed when he was found but had no personal identification documents on him, with the exception of one naming the company he was working for. An employee of the company had identified him, the spokesman said.

Mr Hahslinger said: "There would be no signs of violence if someone pushed him in. But it's also possible that he became ill and fell into the water."

A post-mortem examination has been ordered for the coming days.

The former prime minister is understood to have been in Europe since his defection last June, and to have had family in Vienna.

His connection to the city dates back to the time he worked at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) - a forum he later visited regularly as Libyan oil minister.

The Libyan uprising ended in October last year with the killing of Col Gaddafi.

In June Libya will hold elections to a constituent assembly, whose first task will be to draw up a constitution.

 

[GAP]

True cost of Libya mission was seven times gov't. estimate: documents
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News May 10, 2012
Article Link

Amid allegations the Conservative government intentionally lowballed the price of the F-35 stealth fighter project, newly released National Defence documents indicate the full cost of last year's Libya mission was nearly $350 million — seven times what Defence Minister Peter MacKay told Canadians it cost.

The revelation is likely to raise further accusations of a systemic effort to hide the true cost of Canadian military operations and equipment purchases, and lead to fresh demands for accountability.

Last October, with Moammar Gadhafi dead and NATO wrapping up its seven-month air-and-sea campaign in Libya, MacKay said the mission had cost taxpayers $50 million — or about $10 million less than the Defence Department had predicted.

"As of Oct. 13, the figures that I've received have us well below ($60 million), somewhere under $50 million," MacKay told the CBC on Oct. 28, three days before the mission officially ended. "And that's the all-up costs of the equipment that we have in the theatre, the transportation to get there, those that have been carrying out this critical mission."

But buried in a report tabled in the House of Commons this week are Defence Department figures pegging the full cost of the mission at more than $347.5 million.

Even taking into account the Defence Department's controversial practice of only reporting "incremental costs" — those deemed to be above and beyond normal operating expenses — the mission still came in at $100 million, or almost twice what MacKay claimed.

Reached Thursday night, MacKay's spokesman, Jay Paxton, said only that the final "incremental costs" of the mission "were presented to Canadians, through Parliament, in the Department's Report on Plans and Priorities.
More on link

 

[tamouh]

True cost of Libya mission was seven times gov't. estimate: documents
By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News May 10, 2012
Article Link

Amid allegations the Conservative government intentionally lowballed the price of the F-35 stealth fighter project, newly released National Defence documents indicate the full cost of last year's Libya mission was nearly $350 million — seven times what Defence Minister Peter MacKay told Canadians it cost.

The revelation is likely to raise further accusations of a systemic effort to hide the true cost of Canadian military operations and equipment purchases, and lead to fresh demands for accountability.

Last October, with Moammar Gadhafi dead and NATO wrapping up its seven-month air-and-sea campaign in Libya, MacKay said the mission had cost taxpayers $50 million — or about $10 million less than the Defence Department had predicted.

"As of Oct. 13, the figures that I've received have us well below ($60 million), somewhere under $50 million," MacKay told the CBC on Oct. 28, three days before the mission officially ended. "And that's the all-up costs of the equipment that we have in the theatre, the transportation to get there, those that have been carrying out this critical mission."

But buried in a report tabled in the House of Commons this week are Defence Department figures pegging the full cost of the mission at more than $347.5 million.

Even taking into account the Defence Department's controversial practice of only reporting "incremental costs" — those deemed to be above and beyond normal operating expenses — the mission still came in at $100 million, or almost twice what MacKay claimed.

Reached Thursday night, MacKay's spokesman, Jay Paxton, said only that the final "incremental costs" of the mission "were presented to Canadians, through Parliament, in the Department's Report on Plans and Priorities.
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I think $100 million for 6 months operation using air, sea and likely land troops is relatively cheap in the context of war.

 

[tomahawk6]

What did we buy for our trouble ? Another failed islamist state ?>

 

[Kirkhill]

What did we buy for our trouble ? Another failed islamist state ?>

The West's new long term strategy: Aerial Whackamole.

 

[aesop081]

What did we buy for our trouble ? Another failed islamist state ?>

Doesn't matter. The memory of Canadians is short and they forgot a long time ago that they asked for something to be done in Libya.

Something was done but now now it cost $$$ so..............Plus it was just more war mongering by Obama (a Nobel peace prize winner no less) and Harper.

Canadians are stupid.

 

[dogger1936]

What did we buy for our trouble ? Another failed islamist state ?>

I fully agree. From best standard of living in Africa to it's current state.

-There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.

-There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at    zero percent interest by law.

-Having a home considered a human right in Libya.

-All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 dinar (U.S.$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.

-Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25 percent of Libyans were literate. Today, the figure is 83 percent.

-Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kickstart their farms are all for free.

-If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need, the government funds them to go abroad, for it is not only paid for, but they get a U.S.$2,300/month for accommodation and car allowance.

-If a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidizes 50 percent of the price.

-The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.

-Libya has no external debt and its reserves amounting to $150 billion are now frozen globally.
If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession, as if he or she is employed, until employment is found.

-A portion of every Libyan oil sale is credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.

-A mother who gives birth to a child receive U.S.$5,000.

-40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $0.15.

-25 percent of Libyans have a university degree.

-Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Manmade River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

 

[GAP]

Soooo.....you're saying we made a mistake? If things were so grand, why did the populace rebel?

 

[Maxadia]

If you look there is good things contained in all evil empires.

Doesn't make them right.

 

[dogger1936]

If you look there is good things contained in all evil empires.

Doesn't make them right.

Must be. We backed LIFG in Lybia while fighting AQ in Afghanistan. Just have to look for the good things in all evil empires I guess.

Edit to add: http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm

 

[aesop081]

Could it be.........?

I know that Denmark has decided to issue it's own national medal for OUP but i have not heard what Canada has decided to do.

 

[Good2Golf]

Could it be.........?

I know that Denmark has decided to issue it's own national medal for OUP but i have not heard what Canada has decided to do.

If they're that good, maybe they really do deserve to keep Hans Island?

 

[NavyShooter]

Interesting photo....is there a source?

 

[aesop081]

Interesting photo....is there a source?

Just found it doing a Google image search. I didn't find anything on the NATO website so i'm not confident that this is the actual medal (though i know NATO has created a Non-Article 5 for OUP).

Here is the link where i originaly trace the picture:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/54402-nato-libya-medal/

Link to a photo i have also found:

http://www.eekelers-centini.be/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=952795

Link to the photo i previously posted:

http://www.eekelers-centini.be/catalog/images/001_998se120315x.JPG

The site where the picture is from:

http://www.eekelers-centini.be/catalog/

I does seem that this is one of those "fake bling" LoF suppliers...........But their other medals look exactly like the issued ones so if it is not a legit medal, it likely is an exact copy.

 

[NavyShooter]

Interesting.....hmmmm....

 

[eliminator]

Any update on possible medals for those who participated in Op Mobile? Will Canada simply adopt the NATO OUP Medal, or issue a GCS/GSM?

Looks like the UK forces will go with the NATO medal for now...

MEDAL FOR PERSONNEL IN SUPPORT OF OP ELLAMY / NATO OP UNIFIED PROTECTOR

It has been recommended that all UK personnel who have completed the necessary qualifying service in support of Op ELLAMY are to receive the NATO Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR (OUP) Non-Article 5 Medal. This has still to be formally staffed through the Service Chiefs.

Eligibility Criteria.

SHAPE has confirmed the eligibility criteria for the NATO Non-Article V medal for OUP. In order to qualify personnel must have between 23 Mar – 31 Oct 11 completed 30 days’ continuous service or 60 days’ accumulated service under the following circumstances:

(a) Those Forces under NATO command or control, or in support of NATO, whilst deployed in the Joint Operations Area (JOA).

(b) Those Personnel serving exclusively on OUP, whether inside or outside the JOA, under the CJSOR and supported by a formal Transfer of Authority.

(c) Those Alliance personnel serving exclusively on OUP duties in the three HQs supporting OUP: HQ CJTF OUP Naples, HQ MC OUP Naples and HQ CFAC OUP Poggio Renatico.

(d) Those Alliance personnel deployed outside the JOA exclusively in support of OUP.

 

[old medic]

Libya elections: polling station raids mar first vote since Gaddafi's death

Libyans turn out in their millions for first national ballot since 1964 despite efforts by federalists to disrupt polls

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/07/libya-elections-polling-raids-vote

Federalists in eastern Libya attacked several polling stations on Saturday as the country voted in the historic first election since last year's revolution and the death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Although voting took place peacefully across much of the country, armed gangs in Benghazi stormed a polling station and set alight ballot papers. Two other polling stations were attacked, with one man shot in the arm. There were similar incidents in the eastern coastal towns of Guba and Suluq, where fighters stopped ballot papers being delivered.

However, in the capital, Tripoli, and other cities thousands queued from 8am to vote, the overwhelming majority for the first time.

Libya's last election took place in 1964 under King Idris al-Senussi, the monarch Gaddafi ousted five years later at the point of a rifle.

Many residents were overwhelmed at the opportunity to vote. "I'm so excited. I woke up at 6 this morning, before my daughters," said Mabroka Amar, 69, at a polling station in Tripoli. She said that she dimly remembered last voting almost half a century ago, adding: "A new country has been born. God willing, I will be alive to vote again and again."

The mood across the capital was festive. Residents waved the red, black and green revolutionary colours and honked their car horns. Several hundred gathered at Martyrs' Square, in the centre of the city, and kissed the ground. Others posted photographs of their fingers – dyed purple by officials after voting – on Facebook. One jokey doctored version showed the late Gaddafi also voting.

Many said that the idea of taking part in an election had previously been little more than fantasy, with Gaddafi a vehement opponent of parliamentary democracy. "I'm 35 years old. I've never voted. The devil was with us from 1969. This is like the first man on the moon," said Ali Ilhouri at Tripoli's Allassma high school, which was serving as a polling station.

He dismissed the federalist protesters in Benghazi and eastern Libya as a relatively small group of "mad fanatics". He said: "I was born in Benghazi. There are lots of other peaceful ways to protest in this election. It isn't civilised."

The federalists are deeply unhappy at the distribution of seats in the new national congress. The outgoing National Transitional Council allocated seats on the basis of population numbers, with 100 going to the west, 60 to the east and 40 to the south. The federalists say that the regions should have a third each.

The revolution has reignited Benghazi's long-standing feelings of marginalisation and injustice, fuelled by the city being the first to rise up against Gaddafi on 17 February last year.

On Friday, armed groups shut several important eastern oil terminals in protest. They also used anti-aircraft guns to fire on a helicopter carrying election materials, forcing it to land and killing a 22-year-old election volunteer.

"The country will be in a state of paralysis from now on because no one in the government is listening to us," Hamed al-Hassi, a defiant former rebel who now heads the high military council of Cyrenaica, the name for the eastern region, told Reuters.

The national election commission in Tripoli admitted that some election material had been "destroyed" in Benghazi. But it said that polling had gone ahead in 94% of voting centres – 1,453 out of 1,554 – with officials trying to deliver new ballot papers where the security situation allowed.

Against expectations, voting was a success across the south, it said, including in the remote south-eastern town of Kufra, the scene of vicious fighting between Arab Zuwayy and black Toubou forces. Two polling stations for Toubou were functioning, said the commission.

A spokesman for the interior ministry, Araaf al-Hoja, admitted that it was hard to stop federalist gunmen from "violating" polling stations. "Unfortunately we know many people have weapons," he said. "But overall the security situation is very good."

Western leaders praised the election, with the US senator John McCain on a visit to Tripoli, and British foreign secretary William Hague tweeting enthusiastically that the vote was a "historic moment and achievement after much suffering".

Results will not be known for several days. The Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Development party is expected to do well, with some predicting that Islamists will sweep to power, as they have done in post-Arab spring elections in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

On Saturday, however, many voters said that they had instead supported Mahmoud Jibril, a pragmatic moderate and Libya's former interim prime minister until his resignation in October. His political coalition, the National Forces Alliance, appears to enjoy broad appeal, especially in the capital and with younger and more educated voters. Some expect him to win by a landslide.

"I voted for Jibril. He has a reasonable image. He favours knowledge rather than ideas. He wants the country to advance," said Othman Bashir, a surgeon who spent 10 years in the UK. Bashir, who had brought his teenage son along to witness the voting, added: "People are more polarised in England. Labour is Labour and Conservative is Conservative. For us, it's all new."

 

[GAP]

Libya election results give lead to liberal alliance
National Assembly to form government and replace interim ruling cabinet
The Associated Press  Jul 18, 2012
Article Link

Final results released Tuesday placed a liberal alliance ahead of other parties in Libya's first free nationwide vote in half a century, leaving Islamists far behind, but each side is already trying to build a coalition with independents.

It appeared to be a rare Arab Spring setback for Islamists, who won elections in Egypt and Tunisia — but the structure of the parliament, heavy with independent members, left the final outcome uncertain.

The election is a major step for a country emerging from 42 years of Moammar Gadhafi's one-man rule. It also marks the end for the interim National Transitional Council, which has been running Libya with varying degrees of success since Gadhafi was overthrown and killed last year.

The election commission said former interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril's National Forces Alliance won 39 seats, or nearly half of those allocated for parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction party came in second with 17 seats. Smaller factions won the other 24 seats set aside for parties.

Only one woman won a seat as an independent, according to the final results announced late Tuesday in the capital, Tripoli. Unofficial returns showed about 33 women winning seats in the parties section.

In a surprise result, the Islamist National Party, led by ex-jihadist and former rebel commander Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, won no seats.

The balance of power lies with the 120 seats set aside for independent candidates, some of whom are likely affiliated unofficially with parties.

The 200-seat National Assembly will be tasked with forming a new government to replace the NTC's cabinet.

An early test will be a decision on whether to uphold a decree by the NTC for another election to select a 60-member panel to write a new constitution — or revert to the original plan and choose the panel itself.
end

and this from  aljazeera

Libya's defeated Islamists
Liberals unexpectedly won recent elections, partly due to disorganisation and splits among Islamists.
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2012
Article Link

 

[GAP]

On this one I happen to agree with Scott Taylor.....


TAYLOR: Gadhafi gone, but another monster hatched
September 4, 2012 By SCOTT TAYLOR | ON TARGET
Article Link

The civil uprising in Syria is now entering its 18th month and the level of violence continues to escalate.

Embattled President Bashar al-Assad has been hampered by an international arms embargo and strict trade sanctions from the outset.

On the flip side, while Western leaders voice concern for the safety of the Syrian people, they continue to furnish the Free Syrian Army rebels with increasingly sophisticated weaponry.

Were it not for the provision of arms and money from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, it is undeniable that the rebellion would have been suppressed by Assad loyalists in its infancy.

In the oversimplified Western propaganda, Assad is portrayed as an evil despot who must be deposed by the freedom loving, pro-democracy Syrian civilian fighters.

The reality of course is far more complex, with Assad’s predominantly Alawite (secular Shiite) government fighting an assortment of rebel militias that include Sunni fundamentalists and Kurdish separatists.

The only unifying brand for the ideologically diverse rebel factions is the objective of deposing Assad.

While that might still seem a noble cause worthy of international, including Canadian, support, in recent weeks it has become quite clear that this conflict is not just about embittered Syrian civilians uniting to overthrow a tyrant.

In the early stages of the fighting, Assad claimed that a large proportion of the rebels were in fact foreign fighters — Islamic fundamentalists from Iraq and Libya. This of course did not fit the mould for the Western propaganda machine.

But even the most casual observer of international conflict would recognize that Canada has just spent more than a decade combating Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and that this would in some way create some empathy for Assad’s beleaguered security forces.

Thus Assad’s claims had to be denounced as the delusional ravings of a hated dictator who cannot bring himself to believe that his own people have taken up arms against him.

Over the ensuing months, the portrayal of Assad as a demon has become so complete that even the reality of foreign Islamic fundamentalist in Syria is being hailed as positive.

Late last week, it was reported that Syrian rebels had attacked and seized at least a portion of the military airbase as Taftanaz. Footage released by the Free Syrian Army showed the downing of a fighter jet and an airfield ablaze with the wreckage of at least five Syrian air force helicopters.

This successful strike was carried out by the Liwa’ al-Ummah Brigade, which is comprised of Libyan volunteers and is openly affiliated with al-Qaida.

The British media hailed this attack as another major blow against Assad.

The unasked questions are, of course: what is an entire Libyan brigade doing in Syria? How exactly did they manage to transport themselves and their weaponry into an area supposedly subject to an embargo? And most importantly, what happens to these heavily armed mujahedeen when Assad is eventually toppled?

To answer the latter question, one need only look to the current situation in post-Gadhafi Libya.

Last week, more than 200 Islamic fundamentalists stormed a Sufi school in Tripoli in an armed rampaged bent on destroying textbooks and vandalizing a neighbouring graveyard.

As the attack took place, the interim Libyan security forces stood idly by simply observing the destruction.
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[Jed]

On this one I happen to agree with Scott Taylor.....


TAYLOR: Gadhafi gone, but another monster hatched
September 4, 2012 By SCOTT TAYLOR | ON TARGET
Article Link

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