John McCain, Imperialist

McCain's treasonous trip to Benghazi, Libya

Tony Cartalucci, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

"Senator" John McCain is a traitor in every sense of the word. He is a man who has overtly divorced himself from the US Constitution (see also: McCain's support for the Patriot Act) he has sworn an oath to defend, first as a Navy pilot, then as a Senator. He consorts with, lobbies for, and procures money and resources for real terrorists while citing battalions of fictitious bearded men to justify his numerous transgressions against America's Bill of Rights. When John McCain isn't literally shaking the hands of terrorists in Benghazi, fresh back from Iraq and Afghanistan with American blood on their hands, he is berating Americans who believe US imperialism must end.

CNN's article, "McCain slams GOP hopefuls' 'isolationism'" is a profile of astounding servile obedience to the corporate interests that craft the agenda he attempts to foist upon the American people on a daily basis. In the article McCain claims, "We cannot repeat the lessons of the 1930s, when the United States of America stood by while bad things happened in the world." In reality, the "bad things" happening in the world now are a direct result of men like McCain, the organizations he is complicit with, the imperial networks and governments they are attempting to sow throughout the world and the inevitable violence that has ensued as nations resist yet another parasitic empire as it attempts to spread across the surface of the planet.

NATO's Feast of Blood

A Dispatch from Tripoli

Cynthia McKinney reports
from Libya
Wikimedia Image

Cynthia McKinney
Counterpunch

While serving on the House International Relations Committee from 1993 to 2003, it became clear to me that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an anachronism. Founded in 1945 at the end of World War II, NATO was founded by the United States in response to the Soviet Union’s survival as a Communist state. NATO was the U.S. insurance policy that capitalist ownership and domination of European, Asian, and African economies would continue. This also would ensure the survival of the then-extant global apartheid.

NATO is a collective security pact wherein member states pledge that an attack upon one is an attack against all. Therefore, should the Soviet Union have attacked any European Member State, the United States military shield would be activated. The Soviet Response was the Warsaw Pact that maintained a “cordon sanitaire” around the Russian Heartland should NATO ever attack. Thus, the world was broken into blocs which gave rise to the “Cold War.”

Libyan rebels to open office in US: top official

Feltman is in Benghazi
© AFP Saeed Khan

AFP 

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) - Libya's rebels have accepted an invitation to open a representative office in Washington, top United States official Jeffrey Feltman said on Tuesday.

"I delivered a formal invitation to the council for the opening of a representation in Washington," Feltman told a news conference, referring to the rebels' National Transitional Council.

"This step is an important milestone... and we are happy they accepted it," he added.

Feltman, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, is in Benghazi for talks with the rebel leadership during a three-day visit.

Libya stalemate would draw in Al-Qaeda: McCain

© AFP/File Marwan Naamani

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John McCain urged the United States on Sunday to step up its involvement in NATO air strikes on Libya, warning that a stalemate would likely draw Al-Qaeda into the conflict.

Speaking from Cairo fresh from a visit to the Libyan stronghold of Benghazi, McCain welcomed President Barack Obama's authorization of Predator drones but urged him to recommit crucial American fighter planes as well.

"The longer we delay, the more likely it is there's a stalemate," he told NBC's "Meet the Press". "And if you're worried about Al-Qaeda entering into this fight, nothing would bring Al-Qaeda in more rapidly and more dangerously than a stalemate."

Libya future with Kadhafi 'unthinkable': Britain, France, US

Moamer Kadhafi is seen in Tripoli on April 10
© AFP/File Mahmud Turkia

AFP

LONDON (AFP) - A Libyan future including Moamer Kadhafi is "unthinkable" and would represent an "unconscionable betrayal" by the rest of the world, the leaders of Britain, France and the United States said Thursday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama vowed they would "not rest until the UN...resolutions have been implemented", in a joint article published in several international newspapers.

"It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government," the article, which appeared in the London Times, The Washington Post and French daily Le Figaro, continued.

"The brave citizens of those towns that have held out against forces that have been mercilessly targeting them would face a fearful vengeance if the world accepted such an arrangement. It would be an unconscionable betrayal," the leaders argued.

The publication of the article underlined US commitment to the UN-mandated operation against Kadhafi's forces, easing earlier tensions between members of the Western alliance.

Libya: The Hard-Sell is Coming

New York Times op-ed piece by Obama, Sarkozy, and Cameron

Tony Cartalucci, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Bangkok, Thailand April 15, 2011 - When presidents are writing editorials in newspapers a hard-sell is just around the corner. Judging by the recent tripartite op-ed in the New York Times by Obama, Sarkozy, and Cameron regarding Libya, the hard-sell is most likely a protracted air campaign above Libya with an ever increasing ground presence below possibly leading to an all out invasion. Clearly the operation in Libya will exceed the "days or weeks, but not months" we were told it would take.

Predictably the UNSC r.1973 mandate of "protecting civilians" has "mission crept" into providing air cover for armed militants as they fight towards Tripoli - militants now openly proclaiming their allegiance to Al Qaeda. The CIA and MI6 are also admittedly on the ground assisting the rebels and attempting to bring down Qaddafi's regime - violating entirely the contrived UNSC r.1973 that defined the intervention in the first place. Further violations come in the form of US calls to arm the rebels and allowing arms to flow into eastern Libya from Egypt. Hillary Clinton said she believed arming rebel groups was legal under UNSC r.1973. Of course, as Adolf Hitler has reminded us, everything is legal when you are the one writing the laws.

US senators unveil resolution against Libya conflict

© AFP Odd Andersen

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US military strikes on Libya are "not in the vital interests of the United States" and further action should require congressional approval, under a symbolic senate resolution unveiled Thursday.

President Barack Obama "should obtain authorization from Congress before providing further military and financial support to operations in Libya," says the measure crafted by Republican Senators John Ensign and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The non-binding resolution says NATO members and other nations supportive of enforcing a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians from strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces "should agree to provide a substantial portion of the military and financial burdens" before any more US involvement.

Putting Out the Fire in Libya with Gasoline

Susan Lindauer, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

War doesn’t work, does it? Best case scenario, NATO's war against Libya will run 18 to 24 months unless decisive action is taken right now—this day—to end the military confrontation.

Moussa Koussa, Libya's Foreign Minister who defected to Britain on March 30, warns Libya is in danger of becoming the "New Somalia."

Violence is erupting from both sides. The ugly truth is that with every missile strike, NATO kills more and more Libyan people.

NATO cares nothing for the Saudi invasion of Bahrain, which has resulted in wide-scale disappearances of democracy activists. NATO cares nothing for the uprisings in Yemen, peppered with government snipers. Only Libya has been singled out for violent retribution. Of course, this is an oil grab. Gadhaffi challenged U.S. (and probably British) oil companies to reimburse Libya for the economic damage caused by U.N. sanctions tied to the Lockerbie bombing, which Libya had nothing to do with. The U.N. Security Council forced Libya to submit to the Lockerbie Trial and pay $2.7 billion in damages to the families of Pan Am 103, only for the U.S. to bribe witnesses with $4 million payments to testify against Libya's men at Trial.

Regime Change Libya: Privatization of their Central Bank and the Theft of their Nationalized Oil Profits

“Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor, I’ll piss on em, that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club em to death, get it over with and dump them on the boulevard” -- Lou Reed

Scott Creighton
American Everyman

There is no question anymore as to why the Obama administration is attempting to impose a change of the regime of Libya.

On March 17th I wrote about the invasion of Libya being about two main objectives: privatizing the national oil company and the state-owned central banking system. I pointed out that the US and British inserted language in the UN resolution that allowed them to freeze the accounts of the nationalized oil company as well as the central bank of Libya. Well, before they have even won their coup, the CIA backed pro-west opposition has taken the time to announce that they have formed a new national oil company and central bank. Obviously they have allowed our neo-liberal economic hit-men to write-up the legal documentation for this action and I am sure it hands over control to multinationals outside Libya.  This is why so many globalist apologists and neo-liberals have been running around the last week claiming that the real government in Libya is the Transitional National Council.

Unlikely Libya rebels can oust Kadhafi: US general

General Carter Ham
© AFP/File Filippo Monteforte

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top US general said Thursday it was unlikely that Libyan rebel forces could oust the regime's leader Moamer Kadhafi, saying the conflict appeared to be turning into a stalemate.

General Carter Ham, who led the first stage of the coalition air campaign in Libya, said the international intervention had succeeded in protecting civilians for the most part but that Kadhafi's regime probably would not be removed by military means.

Asked at a Senate hearing about the chances that the opposition could "fight their way" to Tripoli and replace Kadhafi, Ham said: "Sir, I would assess that as a low likelihood."

And when pressed by Senator John McCain whether the situation was essentially a stalemate or an "emerging stalemate," Ham said: "Senator, I would agree with that at present on the ground."

Under tough questioning, the general said a stalemate is "not the preferred solution" in Libya but that outcome appeared "more likely" now than at the outset of the air campaign launched March 19.

Paul Craig Roberts: Why Is NATO Really In Libya? (Video)

YouTube -- RT

Is NATO failing with its attempts in Libya? Former Reagan Administration official Paul Craig Roberts thinks the situation with Gaddafi is much different than the other recent protests in the Arab world. "Why is NATO there?" has become to real question, says Roberts, who fears that risky involvement stemming from American influence could lead to catastrophic breaking point.

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Gates: US Libya action does not set a precedent

Libyan rebels near Ajbadiya
© AFP/File Odd Andersen

AFP

CAMP MAREZ, Iraq (AFP) - US military action in Libya did not set a precedent for future American intervention in other Middle Eastern countries facing uprisings or unrest, Pentagon chief Robert Gates said on Friday.

"What has made Libya unique is first of all a request, which is unprecedented in my experience, of the Arab League actually asking for an intervention in the Middle East, to take on an Arab government mistreating its own people," the US defence secretary said.

Gates said the Arab League request was then supported by the Gulf Cooperation Council and bolstered by the United Nations and allies such as Britain and France.

"It's hard for me to imagine those kinds of circumstances being replicated any place else," he said during a visit to the Marez Camp US military base in northern Iraq.

After dithering on whether to intervene in Libya to protect insurgents fighting strongman Moamer Kadhafi, the United States led an international coalition that intervened with air power, before handing the lead to NATO.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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US politico in Libya to meet Kadhafi, seek deal

A Libyan rebel fighter scans the horizon in the desert
© AFP Odd Andersen

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former US lawmaker with prior dealings with Moamer Kadhafi was in Tripoli Wednesday on a private mission seeking a peace deal that would include the departure of the Libyan strongman.

Curt Weldon, a Republican representative from Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2007, said in a New York Times column that he was in Libya "as the leader of a small private delegation, at the invitation of Colonel Kadhafi's chief of staff and with the knowledge of the Obama administration and members of Congress from both parties."

"Our purpose is to meet with Colonel Kadhafi today and persuade him to step aside," he said.

Libya war costs $4 million a day: US Air Force

The total cost of the operation for the entire US military was estimated at $500 million on March 28.

© AFP Mahmud Hams

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The war in Libya is costing the US Air Force $4 million a day but the cost likely will drop now that American fighter jets pulled out of the operation, the air force secretary said Tuesday.

As of Tuesday morning, "we're probably (at) about 75 million dollars for the cost of the operation thus far," said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, the top civilian overseeing the service.

"And our best estimate was about four million dollars a day."

Oil Rises On Market Speculation Over Globalist War in Libya

Dees Illustration

Kurt Nimmo
InfoWars

Oil has spiked to a 30-month high on market speculation related to demand and the globalist war against the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi’s forces bombed an oil field south of the city of Ajdabiya and heightened concerns about the supply of oil from the African nation.

Crude for May delivery gained around 84 cents and topped $108.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the highest spike since September 24, when prices hit $108.30 a barrel. Brent oil for May settlement climbed as much as $1.05, or 0.9 percent, to $119.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

The Non-War Illusion

NATO air strike on Libya / USA Watchdog image

Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

The President and his supporters are going to great lengths to make it appear the military operation in Libya is not a war.  Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes called the NATO bombing in Libya “kinetic military action,” but not war. President Obama is also going out of his way to send the message that this is not an American led operation.  A week ago, in a nation-wide address, Mr. Obama said he was handing over control to our European allies,“. . . because of this transition to a broader NATO based coalition the risks and cost of this operation to our military and American taxpayers will be reduced significantly.” I don’t see how Mr. Obama knows how much this will reduce the cost of this war if there is no clear plan or goal.

The Obama administration doesn’t even know who they are helping to unseat Gadhafi in the Libya War.  The President’s own former national security advisor, General Jim Jones, said yesterday, “We don’t know exactly who the opposition is.” General Jones appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour.  She said, “The United States is making a great fanfare about now giving over to NATO, but you are a former NATO commander.  NATO for all intents and purposes is an American organization.  It’s run by an American commander, the chain of command is American, the biggest command and control and resources are American.  This is still an American led operation, right?” And sticking to the Obama administration script, General Jones replied, “I’m not sure I agree with that. . . in the sorties that are being flown now . . . it’s roughly 50/50 and it’s going to go down to where the Americans are going to be supporting and reconnaissance, search and rescue, intelligence and refueling and things like that.” (Click here to see the complete ABC Amanpour interview.)

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Libya more 'vital' to Europe than US: Obama ex-advisor

Robert Gates: Libya is "not a vital interest (to the United States) in the sense that it affects the vital security of the nation," and "It is more in the vital interest of Europeans... when you consider the effects of massive immigration, the effects of terror, the oil market."

Dees Illustration

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Libya endgame is more "vital" to Europe than the United States, a former White House adviser said Sunday, and urged Arab and African allies to step up as Washington slims its role in the conflict.

Retired general James Jones, who until last October served as President Barack Obama's national security adviser, acknowledged on Sunday talk shows that strongman Moamer Kadhafi's ouster was the ultimate goal in the military campaign, but said there was little clarity on how that will be accomplished.

With the UN-approved military strikes against Kadhafi's forces in their third week, the Pentagon has stepped back from a leadership role in the air campaign, stressing it does not want to engage in yet another major war.

Gerald Celente Special Report About "The First Great War of the 21st Century" (Video)

YouTube -- theeastwatch

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Supply Chain War (Charlie McGrath Video)

YouTube -- crabbydogtrix

http://www.wideawakenews.com/
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD02Ak01.html
http://www.canada.com/Seven+civilians+killed+strike+LIbya/4547864/story.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/04/02/2011-04-02_ivory_coast_viole...

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‘War for Libyan oil planned long ago, no one cares about people’ (Video)

YouTube -- RT


Susan Lindauer, a journalist and author specializing on American interventions, has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons. It is a war for oil which was prepared long ago, Lindauer argues - anyone who cared about the Libyan people would stop immediately. 

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