Musa Kusa and Bagdadi: ‘envoys of death’
Published:
March 31, 2011 at 11:13pm
This 1980s television reportage is about Musa Kusa, Gaddafi’s foreign minister who has just deserted, and Al Bagdadi. Both men are notorious murderers who organised the tracking down and assassination of Libyan dissidents outside Libya. Lawrence Gonzi said on Radio 101 last week that for him the moment of clarity about the Gaddafi regime came when he saw that Muammar Gaddafi had taken advantage of the world’s momentary distraction by the Japanese earthquake to begin an assault on Benghazi.
Did he actually know who he was dealing with? I’m beginning to wonder.
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Gaddafi has always been known in the West for his terrorist attacks, especially the ones on aircraft and democratic states.
However, his first and biggest attack was when he “hi-jacked” the entire Libyan State. He seized control of the Libyan government by force and gradually undermined the freedoms of all Libyans.
The success of his coup of 1969 must have led him to believe that he can terrorise and coerce anyone.
That first act should have been enough to alert the West that there was a serious menace in the neighbourhood.
Heads of state and prime ministers have to deal with each other.
I clearly remember Menahim Begin and Moshe Dayan dealing with American presidents . These were terrorists involved in the bombing of the King David Hotel and the killing of thousands of people in Palestine.
Should for example, our prime minister be seen chatting with Berlusconi, who is implicated in so many scandals?
We cannot choose our neighbours, can we?
[Daphne – Berlusconi has been accused of many things, but not of murder.]
We cannot choose our neighbours but we can choose our friends.
Daphne, when one kills people whether they are enemies or not some consider him a conquerer and others a murderer.
I think Gonzi would prefer to sit and talk with someone with a clean conduct sheet, rather than Berlusconi or his brother Gaddafi, but as I stated before: “We cannot choose our neighbours, can we?”
[Daphne – No, but we can choose whether to enter into friendly relations with them or not. I count among my neighbours one murderer, one man who tried to kill a soldier and didn’t succeed, and a cocaine trafficker. I have absolutely no contact with them, and that’s how it’s going to stay.]
My few remaining doubts about the Gaddafi regime were completely dissipated on the 17th April 1984.
On that bright, sunny, spring morning in London Yvonne Fletcher was gunned down at my feet.
My story was passed on to In-….Taghna on my return from London.
An attempt by US “political officers” to meet me personally was turned down because I felt that I could not contribute any further valuable information about the incident.
That was twenty-seven years ago.
I have been perfectly clear, in my mind, about the Gaddafi regime ever since.
And Thatcher let them all walk out of the Peoples’ Bureau and away to freedom.
At least one man was detained.
Oh no I just realised I am completely wrong about Gaddafi.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110401/local/gaddafi-rails-at-power-mad-west
He is the only true leader in this whole mess.
Of course he should have mown down in a hail of bullets all those simple Arabs who dared to protest against him.
You know what, I think it not unreasonable to crown him king of Malta.
He could be divinely appointed by God to rule.
Then he could turn his guns on those who protest against him here as well.
This may sound absolutely bonkers but reading the Gaddafi Times every day does that to a person.
Out of subject :
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110401/local/malta-to-co-bid-for-2026-world-cup
Ma narawx kbir ukoll. We cannot organise the proverbial piss-up in a brewery, ahseb u ara..
Politics have no relation to morals. Niccolo` Macchiavelli
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/saudis-admit-they-supported-libya-attack-to-mute-us-criticism-of-bahrain.html
The officials closest to Gaddafi are abandoning and denouncing him (never mind their own dirty past) but Malta is still waffling and “not taking sides”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/moussa-koussa-defection-surprises-libya
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/aboard-uss-kearsarge-off-libya
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/2011/02/2011222121213770475.html#oman
Talking about plots, crusades and conspiracies across a list of 14 Middle East countries with 342m population in simultaneous rebellion and turmoil is clearly not on.
Never in the history of humanity has such a cry for freedom been so strong and widespread.
The Times headline today ” Malta Protects Libyan Civilians”
The piece is nothing more than a belaboured attempt at damage control. A futile bid to obscure the government’s sorry performance to date even as the situation in Libya worsens.
This aid project was initiated by private individuals. The effort is clearly all theirs. The goods sent were donated by private individuals, the carrying vessel was chartered and paid for by private individuals, and all the risks involved, including to life and limb, were also taken by private individuals. Protection to the aid-ship was provided directly by the coalition forces to which Malta has vehemently refused assistance.
Careful reading of the article shows that the involvement of the Maltese government – as distinct from private individuals and NGOs – was confined to what are its normal duties: causing no problems in processing non-EU aid material through Customs, and relaying to coalition forces ‘distress’ calls from the ship when Libyan coastguard boats were sighted.
Describing this as government assistance is disingenuous. What was government expected to do – put spokes in the wheels of Customs clearance? Fail to take action in response to distress calls from a vessel at sea? Appoint a liason officer for the express purpose of creating stumbling-blocks?
The plain truth is that Malta as a state has done nothing, is doing nothing, and has no evident intention of doing anything to initiate direct aid to civilians in Libya that would qualify as doing something concrete, in the context of the UN resolution authorising action to protect civilians – at least not unless and until Gaddafi and his regime are safely out of the picture.
Meanwhile, the publicity given to what purports to be a clandestine operation but clearly is not has only served to escalate the level of risk to subsequent similar operations, probably to the extent that further trips can now be ruled out.
Repairing damage to government’s standing has taken priority over effective action in helping people truly in need.
“What was government expected to do – put spokes in the wheels of Customs clearance? ”
No, but the government could always give Gaddafi a call to tell him there are smuggler’s lurking in his waters. Or maybe Karmenu could make the call.
Seriously though, one thing the government might be able to do is to lobby the allies to air-drop the supplies. Tey could do it very easily and at virtually no risk – and they could probably deliver far more supplies with one planeload than the volunteers can.
A C-5 can drop well over a hundred tons of supplies in just one flight. I don’t know what kind of ship the ‘smugglers’ are using but my impression is that it is a small one to be more difficult to detect.
They even have precision guided parachute systems that could ensure the supplies land in exactly the right place and not fall into the wrong hands.
Mass air drops of humanitarian supplies are just not on, for all sorts of reasons.
1) You’d need a large amount of transport planes. That’s one thing that’s in very short supply.
2) You’d need to fly flow, which puts you at risk from shoulder-fired missiles. Or you’d need to fly high and use expensive a complicated automatic navigation systems. Which only the US and France possess. They’ve been used in Afghanistan, but only in very specific cases, to resupply FOBs in dangerous areas.
3) What exactly do you put in the packages? The rebels need weapons, ammo, and most of all they need western advisors. Yes, food and water and medicines are welcome, but they won’t do anything to shorten the war.
4) To drop your supplies to the right people, you need men on the ground. There’s no other way. It’s not a question of zooming in with your sensors on the nearest Green-Red-Black flag. What if it’s just an isolated group? What if they’re not top priority? What if the Loyalists are just a few hundred metres away?
Time and again, history has shown us that humanitarian aid actually PROLONGS conflicts. I hope to christ that we don’t fall into the same trap this time round.
Government is in no position to do any such lobbying having made a song and dance about humanitarian action as a sop to opting to remain ‘neutral’, despite having a mandate to do otherwise.
Extract from report on The Times today.
Tonio Borg stating the effing obvious, but giving no indication at all as to what tangible action Malta itself is taking to see freedom and justice prevailing in Libya..
“Tonio Borg said Malta’s apprehension over the course of action to take in Libya was understandable because of the commercial ties and its geographic proximity. (…)
Unlike the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, he added, in Libya the unrest did not start in the capital Tripoli but in Benghazi, where Gaddafi always faced resistance. (…)
Dr Borg said the revolution had now degenerated into a civil war.
The minister said that whatever the outcome of the conflict, Libya will never return to the state it was before February 15, when the first wave of protests started”
You missed the first bit, the one where he said Malta cannot be neutral between life and death and is in favour of life in Libya.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
As usual he is just making observations of what is happening without actually saying what should be done, let alone offering to do any of that.
Tonio Borg must be out of his depth in the Libya situation. He did, however, look clearly at home wandering round the aisles at Debenhams at The Point yesterday (a public holiday). Maybe it’s time he changed jobs.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110401/local/in-libya-malta-is-siding-with-life-foreign-minister
F**king unbelievable !
Not unbelievable at all. Typical Maltese.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110401/local/in-libya-malta-is-siding-with-life-foreign-minister
Chortle, chortle. I thought it was a real news report there, until I looked at my calendar. Good one, The Times!
Qisek qed taqra Stejjer tal-Wahx
Cynical as this may sound, there is something decidedly odd about this ‘local businessmen thing. While some have been seen handing out large [in dimensions, not in value] ‘cheques’ in the glare of publicity spot-lights, Maltese businessmen are not especially prone to sticking their necks out for anyone, particularly where domestic politics or controversial issues are involved.
A very big factor in all this might be that these ‘businessmen’ are simply hedging their bets and buying influence, both here and in Libya, in line with the foot-in-each-camp policy they are known to generally pursue.
If these individuals and companies chose to remain blind to what was going on in Libya for so many years, why else the twinge of conscience now?
Very insightful indeed
Three more defections from the Gheddafi regime;
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=5742
You may find this interesting.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/31/the-mystery-behind-moammar-gadhafis-birth-some-say-hes-jewish/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C208175