Libyan rebel commander Gen. Abdel Fatah Younis was killed on Thursday by his fellow rebels . Younis had previously headed the interior ministry under Moammar Gadhafi before defecting to the rebels in February. He was assassinated by his soldiers under circumstances that are still not yet clear. Two of his aides – Col Muhammad Khamis and Nasir al-Madhkur – were also killed when their boss was assassinated. The head of rebel council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, announced the assassination at a news conference although he did not disclose further details.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
Hope Gaddafi has not infiltrated the rebels.
Gaddafi Will Fight To the End
27.07.2011
The head of the British Foreign Ministry William Hague, following his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, has noticeably softened his stance in relation to Muammar Gaddafi. They no longer demand that he appears before the Hague tribunal. They graciously allowed him to stay in Libya. However, on the condition that the Colonel relinquishes his power.
However, William Hague immediately made a diametrically opposite statement: “What happens with Gaddafi is, ultimately, the business of the Libyans.” Why then NATO does not simply stop its aggression against Libya and let the Libyan people decide the fate of the Colonel, considered a terrible tyrant by the West? Incidentally, Gaddafi has long been suggesting such a scenario to stop the bloodshed: NATO stops its air strikes, and then Libya holds democratic elections and a referendum on the future of the country. However, “the standard of democracy” in the face of the West for some reason did not listen to the proposal, which is understandable, as in terms of the Western values, this would mean capitulation to the Libyan tyrant.
This, perhaps, was the reason why Hague and Juppe decided to act on behalf of the Libyans. According to their position, the future of Libya will be determined by “the government formed by the National Transition Council.” It also will decide “where and on what terms the dictator and his relatives will reside.” Most likely, such a trifle as the opinion of millions of Libyans in the west, center and south of the country, does not interest NATO.
But what about the decision of The Hague court that issued an international warrant for the arrest of Gaddafi? Especially since the decision of such a body cannot be reversed, because otherwise they are risking to finally prove themselves as the “rubber stamp” of the West. The comical aspect of the situation is the fact that for the sake of getting out of the Libyan impasse, the leading Western countries are willing to violate the international laws, which are known to have no retroactive effect. Will Gaddafi trust those who only yesterday shook his hand with a smile and then started killing his children?
What actually happened to one of the biggest haters of Gaddafi? Hague admitted that this leveling of the former position is due to the fact that Paris is growing discontent about the lack of progress in the fight against al-Gaddafi. In turn, the French are forced to reckon with the split among the rebels. The most radical Islamists continue to advocate the complete destruction of the Gaddafi regime. However, each day, this position is weakening and increasingly more voices are heard in favor of concessions to the Colonel.
Now the West is trying to involve the money. We are talking about the money stolen from the Libyan people, money that was kept by the Gaddafi regime in various Western banks. Earlier it was reported that a part of the funds of the Libyan people that for some reason were called the “dictator’s money” has already been transferred to support the rebels. If Gaddafi leaves, he is promised most of this money for “a comfortable life in the old age.”
Does NATO have a chance to negotiate with Gaddafi and if so, under what conditions? Nicholas Sologubovsky, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Solidarity with the peoples of Libya and Syria, journalist, shared his thoughts with “Pravda.ru”:
“The position of the Libyan leadership from the very beginning was this: the fate of Libya will be decided by its people. It would seem, what could be more democratic? Gaddafi was eager to participate in the peace talks, but no one sees it. The last statements of Haig and Juppe are another proof. In fact, they are trying to play on public opinion. Meanwhile, against this background the bombings of Libya are ongoing. Recently NATO aircrafts destroyed food warehouses for the public and a hospital in Zintan. Such are the peacemakers.
The aggressors still have not abandoned their goal to put Libya on its knees. Those who are using the bombing to implement a theory of the organized chaos have a clearly defined goal. They do not want peace, they want war, which would make the traitors the leaders of the government, ready to fulfill all orders from Washington and Brussels. They want a weak country in the form of a raw materials appendage that would supply oil and gas at the price they set.
This attitude is very keenly felt by the Libyan people, who intend to fight to the end. For in this case they are fighting for their future. I know this because I visit Libya on a regular basis. Most Libyans are going to continue the course of change of their leader Muammar Gaddafi. ”
In any case, so far the statements of Haig and Juppe cannot stop the war, in which there has been no progress for NATO. A few days earlier the rebels were defeated at all strategic areas: under Breguet, the “Berber triangle” and in the south which they raided in order to interrupt the communication of Tripolitania and Fezzan with African countries that provide assistance to the Colonel.
A day ago, Gadhafi troops still besieging Misrata left local insurgents without fuel. A rocket burned the largest gas storage in the city.
Until now, Misrata is shrouded in thick smoke. As a result of the gasoline shortages most gas stations were closed in the city, and even the equipment of the insurgents is maintained intermittently. This was one of the major successes of the forces of the Colonel for a few months of struggle over this strategic port.
Despite the complete air superiority of NATO aircrafts, it did not fully succeed in “squeezing” the Gaddafi troops out. The rebels surrounded in Misrata continue to complain about the incessant rocket and artillery attacks and criticize the alliance for the fact that its pilots could not suppress the remarkably tenacious artillery of the Colonel.
However, according to the allegations of Tripoli, the gas storage was blown up by the rebels or the NATO special forces located in Misraty to justify the ongoing NATO air strikes on the facilities controlled by al-Gaddafi.
In any case, the enemies of the Colonel have demonstrated their inability to cope. Even the most zealous of his opponents acknowledged his military successes. Indeed, there has been no progress in the fighting since late March. The first deadline for Gaddafi neutralization expired on June 27, 2011, and NATO was forced to extend the operation for another 90 days (until the end of September). And even the optimists in the alliance do not rule out the possibility that the operation will have to be extended for the third time, if the long-awaited assault on the strategically important port Brega fails again.
Sergei Balmasov
Germany to be conquered by Islam
15.07.2011
Germany’s population is declining, and the losses are replenished by immigrants, largely Muslim. The country has already addressed the topic of introducing regimental mullahs in the German Army. There are some ethnic Turks among the leading politicians of Germany.
Federal Statistical Office of Germany has released a regular data on changes in the population size. It was discovered that in 2010 Germany lost 51 thousand people. In the past couple of years the decline was even more pronounced. The statistics was corrected by reducing the number of those leaving the country for permanent residence and immigrants. There were 798,000 of the latter, 77 thousand more than in 2009. A significant proportion of new arrivals are from Muslim countries.
Meanwhile, representatives of Islamic associations in Germany once again reminded of themselves by a radical proposal to introduce the position of regimental mullahs in the country’s army. “It would be of great importance for the integration process,” considers the head of the Central Council of Muslims of Germany Ayman Maziek. According to him, the army today has 90 Catholic and Protestant chaplains, but there are no mullahs yet.
According to the official data, there are approximately 1,200 Muslims in Bundeswehr, but Islamic groups say that this number is significantly understated. They warn that in the future the number of Muslims in the ranks of the German Army will only grow, and in such circumstances, the regimental mullahs may be indispensable to the commanders in settling any conflicts between members of different confessions.
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SharePrint version Font Size Send to friend So far the Bundeswehr commanders are very skeptical about this idea. In the German contingent in Afghanistan the number of Muslims is very small. In addition, the Bundeswehr would have to have contact with an organization a mullah is representing. Chaplains are members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Muslims do not have a similar organization.
All the evidence indicates that the number of Muslim soldiers in the Bundeswehr will continue to grow – as in any other sphere. Today, the country has 4.3 million Muslims (more than five percent of the population). Nearly two-thirds of Germany’s Muslims is made up by the Turks. Others are mainly Kurds, people from Arab countries, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians. Most of them are from the lower social strata, and the service in the Bundeswehr is a lucky ticket for them.
According to local pollsters, approximately 45 percent of them have German passports, but only 25 percent would like to be fully integrated into the community. In this case, the Bundeswehr has something to think about. Would Muslims want to go into the army and defend this country if it does not have regimental mullahs? Will they even shed blood for Germany if they do not consider themselves Germans? Perhaps in some time it will be difficult to manage without the mullahs. Maybe they will be able to “pull” the Muslims into the ranks of the Bundeswehr. Yet, can such an army be regarded as German?
The role of Muslims increases not only in the army, but in other areas as well – business, culture, politics and sport. One of the leading German film directors is Fatih Akin, singer Tarkan is another outstanding representative of German-Turkish culture. Turkish Mesut Ozil and Tunisian Sami Hedira are successfully playing for the national football team. Many German-Turkish players choose the national team of their ethnic homeland.
Abundance of Turks and Muslims did not spare the German policy. An ethnic Turk Cem Ozdemir is the co-chairman of the “green” party. Bundestag deputy from the Social Democrats Akgun Leila became famous for calling to ban headscarves in public places. Turk Aigul Ozkan decided to build her career in the ranks of the Christian Democratic Union. Last year, she even became the Minister for Social Policy and Integration of Lower Saxony land and immediately proposed to remove the image of crucifixion from the schools. At the same time she criticized head scarves.
Apparently, this is not the limit. Recently, during a visit to Germany, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged his tribesmen living in Germany to remain the Turks in the first place, and suggested that the authorities of Germany open schools with instruction in the Turkish language. It looked like a fairly frank and provocative intervention in the affairs of Germany, angrily rejected by Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. However, the question arises whether the country would be able to avoid “Turkification” and “Muslimifacation” of the German education system, army, and then the politics.
Let’s take a look at the demographics. If among the ethnic Germans people of retirement age make up for a quarter of the population, among the Turks they account only for five percent. Only a quarter of Germans are young people aged 14 to 29, while among the Turks there are 50 percent of those. Other Muslims have even higher birth rate than the Turks, and the proportion of young people among them is even higher. Immigration has not stopped. Given the developments in North Africa, Germany can expect Egyptians, Libyans and Tunisians – also people of young age.
Incidentally, the German Turks and devout Muslims are not identical concepts. All abovementioned people of politics, culture, show business and sports are an example of successful integration into the German society. A huge percentage of Turkish women in Germany are not wearing hijab, almost a third of Turks do not go to the mosque. However, there are others who continue to live under sharia law. Among those from the Arab countries the percentage of people who accepted the German way of life is even lower.
The growing number of Muslims in the country (and specifically the Turks) makes the locals be increasingly more hostile towards them. A group of experts with the Council of Europe headed by former Foreign Minister of Germany Joschka Fischer recently conducted a study and found that the number of people who are afraid of Muslims is growing. “Many Europeans have the belief that Islam is a radical, militant religion, incompatible with the European values,” the report says.
A separate study was conducted 18 months ago by experts of the sociological institute Dimap specifically in Germany. Thirty-six percent of Germans expressed serious concern over the expansion of Islam, and 39 percent – mild concern. The fears are largely exaggerated, but these figures eloquently show that the problem exists. Strictly speaking, its existence was acknowledged by Chancellor Angela Merkel herself.
The solution of the problem is a complex issue. If everything continues as it stands today, Germany will gradually be transformed into half-Islamic or half-Turkish state, and the Bundeswehr can be considered the German army with a stretch. Should they expel the Muslims from the country? It is fraught with a discontent of the huge community and anger of the human rights defenders. Should they leave things as they are? Then there is the risk of increasing the capacity of the electoral right-wing or even outright Nazis. In the long term there may be a collision on the ethnic and religious grounds.
What should Germany do to save its face and at the same not to anger the Turks? There are no simple solutions to the problem. It seems that the authorities of Germany know it. However, they are not succeeding, and the issue in the meantime is getting worse.
Friday, 29 July 2011
McCain, right, with Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the insurgents, in Libya
One of Washington’s most influential senators has warned Libya’s opposition administration that they risk alienating US and international support unless they take “decisive action” to halt human rights abuses by rebel fighters.
The Republican Senator John McCain’s stark message emerged the day after the British Government recognised the Transitional National Council based in Benghazi as the legitimate representatives of Libya and ordered the Tripoli regime’s diplomats to leave the UK.
Yesterday the opposition sought to take over the Libyan embassy and consulate in London, and declared that Mahmoud Nacua, described as a 74-year-old poet, will become the new ambassador. TNC officials also urged that billions of pounds in frozen Libyan assets abroad should be turned over to the Benghazi administration.
In a letter to Mahmoud Jibril, the TNC’s head of foreign affairs, seen by The Independent, Senator McCain stated: “I urge you to investigate recently documented abuses, hold people accountable as necessary, and ensure that opposition military forces are abiding by the principles of justice and human rights.”
The former presidential candidate went on to stress: “As you surely know, the critics of the TNC, both in the United States and across the world, are eager to seize on any transgression to stoke opposition to the Council and to the Libyan people’s fight for freedom.”
Senior British Tories have long been close to Mr McCain and David Cameron, then leader of the opposition, broke diplomatic convention by backing the Senator in the presidential race in a fulsome speech in 2008.
While Mr McCain has remained a supporter of military operations, President Barack Obama is facing rising criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress over the four-month long bombing campaign which has so far failed to remove Colonel Gaddafi from power.
In his letter to the TNC, dated 20th July, Senator McCain, writing as “your friend and supporter” pointed out “recent documentation of human rights abuses committed by opposition figures in the western Libyan towns of al-Awaniya, Rayayinah, Zawiyat al-Bagul, and al-Qawalish”. He continued: ” According to Human Rights Watch, a highly credible international non-governmental organisation, rebel fighters and supporters have damaged property, burned some homes, looted from hospitals, homes and shops, and beaten some individuals alleged to have supported government forces.
“I am confident you are aware of these allegations…. It is because the TNC holds itself to such high democratic standards that it is necessary for you and the Council to take decisive action to bring any human rights abuses to an immediate halt.”
The rebel forces, who have failed to achieve any game-changing military successes despite the air strikes destroying much of the regime’s capabilities, have also been accused of being divided and sending contradictory and conflicting policy statements.
Disarray among opposition ranks was illustrated when the TNC’s co-ordinator in Britain, Guma el-Gamaty, dismissed as “silly” the recent offer by the TNC head, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, that Colonel Gaddafi and his family could stay in the country rather then go into exile. “I think we are coming to the end of all these silly political initiatives and all this talk about Gaddafi staying in Libya,” he said. Mr Gamaty’s stance also runs contrary to the position of the French government that peace talks can begin with Colonel Gaddafi staying in the country as long as he relinquishes power. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has also endorsed this position although he has stressed that it was ultimately a question for the Libyan people to decide.
Dear Dr Jibril…
* “You have no greater friend and supporter in the United States Congress than me, and I will continue working tirelessly to urge my government to take further steps that would support your efforts… It is as your friend and supporter that I write to you regarding the recent documentation of human rights abuses committed by opposition fighters…”
* “I am confident you are aware of these allegations, and I know that the principles espoused by the TNC [Transitional National Council] stand in stark and positive contrast to the acts of cruelty that the Gaddafi regime continues to perpetrate against the Libyan people. It is because the TNC holds itself to such high democratic standards that it is necessary for you and the Council to take decisive action to bring any human rights abuses to an immediate halt.”
* “It is equally important for the TNC to make clear through public statements that such acts will not be tolerated and that the TNC remains fully committed to the protection of human rights. I urge you to investigate the recently documented abuses, hold people accountable as necessary, and ensure that opposition military forces are abiding by the principles of justice and human rights that the TNC has correctly championed.”
* “As you surely know, the critics of the TNC, both in the United States and across the world, are eager to seize on any transgression to stoke opposition to the Council and to the Libyan people’s fight for freedom. By taking a strong and principled response to any allegations of human rights abuses by forces under the TNC’s command, you can turn this troubling setback into an opportunity for your supporters, both in Libya and in the community of nations, to reaffirm why the Libyan opposition is so worthy of greater recognition and support.”
Gaddafi sends greetings to Daniel Ortega
30.07.2011
Sandanista Revolution 32nd Anniversary
Daniel Ortega leads in the polls just prior to the scheduled elections in November. Although the largest country of Central America, it is one of the poorest in the hemisphere.
The Contras coupled with the U.S.’s economic blockade against the new socialist-leaning government, devastated Nicaragua. They are steadily trying to transition to a socialist state.
The leader of the Great Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, sent a greeting to the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega Saavedra, for the celebration of the 32nd anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution.
Gaddafi, who together with his people, is a victim of the bombing of the imperialist powers in the world, said in his congratulatory letter that the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution served to “build a modern Nicaragua and activated the strength of the Left in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
He also thanked Nicaragua for the support given to the Libyan people during the imperialist aggression, which “strengthened our resolve and raised our morale.”
The full text of the letter of the leader of the sister nation of Libya:
Commander Brother President
Daniel Ortega Saavedra
President of the Republic of Nicaragua
Best Regards:
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SharePrint version Font Size Send to friend I congratulate you and I congratulate myself and the Libyan and Nicaraguan peoples and all in the free world for the XXXII Anniversary of the victory of the Sandinista Revolution that was founded to build the modern Nicaragua, activating the force of the Left in Latin America and the Caribbean with his alliance with the internationalist September Revolution.
It opened the way before his people and crowned his victory with the historic struggle for the liberation forces in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Brazil and the Caribbean States, so that this way his authentic face recovers Latin America.
Valued friend
Beneath the bombings of the aircraft of the Crusader NATO Alliance, your suffering brothers and children of the Libyan people endure their attempts to control their wealth and hinder their international role. I renew to you and your people the congratulations and appreciation of your noble and lofty positions in our support, you and the revolutionary leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In addition, we rely on the continuity and duration of this support which has strengthened our determination and raised our morale.
Please accept, honorable friend, my highest esteem and consideration.
The west is not interested with the welfare of the libyans..it’s all about the oil /petrol productions in Libya.Since when did Africa/Arab became important to western powers? how long will africa accept useless intervention from these sick wazungu? It’s high time westerners left africans in peace n know that what they’re doing for libya is just like colonial times..TO HELL WITH THE WAZUNGU…
NATO, arrogance and respect for human values
William Hague comes from a region where not so many years ago, one could find on the door of public houses (pubs) the message “No dogs or gypsies allowed”. As a child, William Hague probably did not see this but then again as an adult, there is so much more that he continues not to see. And when these values are implanted onto other cultures?
The US military’s secret military
Special US commandos are deployed in about 75 countries around the world – and that number is expected to grow.
Nick Turse Last Modified: 08 Aug 2011 06:05
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US special forces, like the Navy Seals, are now more actively engaged in more overseas operations[GALLO/GETTY]
Somewhere on this planet a US commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done … for the day. Without the knowledge of much of the general American public, a secret force within the US military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world’s countries. This Pentagon power elite is waging a global war whose size and scope has generally been ignored by the mainstream media, and deserves further attention.
After a US Navy SEAL put a bullet in Osama bin Laden’s chest and another in his head, one of the most secretive black-ops units in the US military suddenly found its mission in the public spotlight. It was atypical. While it’s well known that US Special Operations forces are deployed in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s increasingly apparent that such units operate in murkier conflict zones like Yemen and Somalia, the full extent of their worldwide war has often remained out of the public scrutiny.
Last year, Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post reported that US Special Operations forces were deployed in 75 countries, up from 60 at the end of the Bush presidency. By the end of this year, US Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told me, that number will likely reach 120. “We do a lot of travelling – a lot more than Afghanistan or Iraq,” he said recently. This global presence – in about 60 per cent of the world’s nations and far larger than previously acknowledged – is evidence of a rising clandestine Pentagon power elite waging a secret war in all corners of the world.
The rise of the military’s secret military
Born of a failed 1980 raid to rescue American hostages in Iran, in which eight US service members died, US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) was established in 1987. Having spent the post-Vietnam years distrusted and starved for money by the regular military, special operations forces suddenly had a single home, a stable budget, and a four-star commander as their advocate.
Since then, SOCOM has grown into a combined force of startling proportions. Made up of units from all the service branches, including the Army’s “Green Berets” and Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Commandos, and Marine Corps Special Operations teams, in addition to specialised helicopter crews, boat teams, civil affairs personnel, para-rescuemen, and even battlefield air-traffic controllers and special operations weathermen, SOCOM carries out the United States’ most specialised and secret missions. These include assassinations, counterterrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation operations.
One of its key components is the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, a clandestine sub-command whose primary mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists. Reporting to the president and acting under his authority, JSOC maintains a global hit list that includes US citizens. It has been operating an extra-legal “kill/capture” campaign that John Nagl, a past counterinsurgency adviser to four-star general and soon-to-be CIA Director David Petraeus, calls “an almost industrial-scale counterterrorism killing machine”.
This assassination programme has been carried out by commando units like the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force as well as via drone strikes as part of covert wars in which the CIA is also involved in countries like Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen. In addition, the command operates a network of secret prisons, perhaps as many as 20 black sites in Afghanistan alone, used for interrogating high-value targets.
Growth industry
From a force of about 37,000 in the early 1990s, Special Operations Command personnel have grown to almost 60,000, about a third of whom are career members of SOCOM; the rest have other military occupational specialties, but periodically cycle through the command. Growth has been exponential since September 11, 2001, as SOCOM’s baseline budget almost tripled from $2.3bn to $6.3bn. If you add in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has actually more than quadrupled to $9.8bn in these years. Not surprisingly, the number of its personnel deployed abroad has also jumped four-fold. Further increases, and expanded operations, are on the horizon.
Lieutenant General Dennis Hejlik, the former head of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command – the last of the service branches to be incorporated into SOCOM in 2006 – indicated, for instance, that he foresees a doubling of his former unit of 2,600. “I see them as a force someday of about 5,000, like equivalent to the number of SEALs that we have on the battlefield. Between [5,000] and 6,000,” he said at a June breakfast with defence reporters in Washington. Long-term plans already call for the force to increase by 1,000.
During his recent Senate confirmation hearings, Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, the incoming SOCOM chief and outgoing head of JSOC (which he commanded during the bin Laden raid) endorsed a steady manpower growth rate of 3 per cent to 5 per cent a year, while also making a pitch for even more resources, including additional drones and the construction of new special operations facilities.
A former SEAL who still sometimes accompanies troops into the field, McRaven expressed a belief that, as conventional forces are drawn down in Afghanistan, special ops troops will take on an ever greater role. Iraq, he added, would benefit if elite US forces continued to conduct missions there past the December 2011 deadline for a total American troop withdrawal. He also assured the Senate Armed Services Committee that “as a former JSOC commander, I can tell you we were looking very hard at Yemen and at Somalia”.
During a speech at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Special Operations and Low-intensity Conflict Symposium earlier this year, Navy Admiral Eric Olson, the outgoing chief of Special Operations Command, pointed to a composite satellite image of the world at night. Before September 11, 2001, the lit portions of the planet – mostly the industrialised nations of the global north – were considered the key areas. “But the world changed over the last decade,” he said. “Our strategic focus has shifted largely to the south … certainly within the special operations community, as we deal with the emerging threats from the places where the lights aren’t.”
To that end, Olson launched “Project Lawrence”, an effort to increase cultural proficiencies – like advanced language training and better knowledge of local history and customs – for overseas operations. The programme is, of course, named after the British officer, Thomas Edward Lawrence (better known as “Lawrence of Arabia”), who teamed up with Arab fighters to wage a guerrilla war in the Middle East during World War I. Mentioning Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mali, and Indonesia, Olson added that SOCOM now needed “Lawrences of Wherever”.
While Olson made reference to only 51 countries of top concern to SOCOM, Col. Nye told me that on any given day, Special Operations forces are deployed in approximately 70 nations around the world. All of them, he hastened to add, at the request of the host government. According to testimony by Olson before the House Armed Services Committee earlier this year, approximately 85 per cent of special operations troops deployed overseas are in 20 countries in the CENTCOM area of operations in the Greater Middle East: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. The others are scattered across the globe from South America to Southeast Asia, some in small numbers, others as larger contingents.
Special Operations Command won’t disclose exactly which countries its forces operate in. “We’re obviously going to have some places where it’s not advantageous for us to list where we’re at,” says Nye. “Not all host nations want it known, for whatever reasons they have – it may be internal, it may be regional.”
But it’s no secret (or at least a poorly kept one) that so-called black special operations troops, like the SEALs and Delta Force, are conducting kill/capture missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen, while “white” forces like the Green Berets and Rangers are training indigenous partners as part of a worldwide secret war against al-Qaeda and other militant groups. In the Philippines, for instance, the US spends $50m a year on a 600-person contingent of Army Special Operations forces, Navy Seals, Air Force special operators, and others that carries out counterterrorist operations with Filipino allies against insurgent groups like Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf.
Last year, as an analysis of SOCOM documents, open-source Pentagon information, and a database of Special Operations missions compiled by investigative journalist Tara McKelvey (for the Medill School of Journalism’s National Security Journalism Initiative) reveals, the US’ most elite troops carried out joint-training exercises in Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Germany, Indonesia, Mali, Norway, Panama, and Poland.
So far in 2011, similar training missions have been conducted in the Dominican Republic, Jordan, Romania, Senegal, South Korea, and Thailand, among other nations. In reality, Nye told me, training actually went on in almost every nation where Special Operations forces are deployed. “Of the 120 countries we visit by the end of the year, I would say the vast majority are training exercises in one fashion or another. They would be classified as training exercises.”
The Pentagon’s power elite
Once the neglected stepchildren of the military establishment, Special Operations forces have been growing exponentially not just in size and budget, but also in power and influence. Since 2002, SOCOM has been authorised to create its own Joint Task Forces – like Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines – a prerogative normally limited to larger combatant commands like CENTCOM. This year, without much fanfare, SOCOM also established its own Joint Acquisition Task Force, a cadre of equipment designers and acquisition specialists.
With control over budgeting, training, and equipping its force, powers usually reserved for departments (like the Department of the Army or the Department of the Navy), dedicated dollars in every Defense Department budget, and influential advocates in Congress, SOCOM is by now an exceptionally powerful player at the Pentagon. With real clout, it can win bureaucratic battles, purchase cutting-edge technology, and pursue fringe research like electronically beaming messages into people’s heads or developing stealth-like cloaking technologies for ground troops. Since 2001, SOCOM’s prime contracts awarded to small businesses – those that generally produce specialty equipment and weapons – have jumped six-fold.
Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, but operating out of theatre commands spread out around the globe, including Hawaii, Germany, and South Korea, and active in the majority of countries on the planet, Special Operations Command is now a force unto itself. As outgoing SOCOM chief Olson put it earlier this year, SOCOM “is a microcosm of the Department of Defense, with ground, air, and maritime components, a global presence, and authorities and responsibilities that mirror the Military Departments, Military Services, and Defense Agencies”.
Tasked to coordinate all Pentagon planning against global terrorism networks and, as a result, closely connected to other government agencies, foreign militaries, and intelligence services, and armed with a vast inventory of stealthy helicopters, manned fixed-wing aircraft, heavily-armed drones, high-tech guns-a-go-go speedboats, specialised Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, as well as other state-of-the-art gear (with more on the way), SOCOM represents something new in the military.
Whereas the late scholar of militarism Chalmers Johnson used to refer to the CIA as “the president’s private army”, today JSOC performs that role, acting as the chief executive’s private assassination squad, and its parent, SOCOM, functions as a new Pentagon power-elite, a secret military within the military possessing domestic power and global reach.
In 120 countries across the globe, troops from Special Operations Command carry out their secret war of high-profile assassinations, low-level targeted killings, capture/kidnap operations, kick-down-the-door night raids, joint operations with foreign forces, and training missions with indigenous partners as part of a shadowy conflict unknown to most Americans. Once “special” for being small, lean, outsider outfits, today they are special for their power, access, influence, and aura.
That aura now benefits from a well-honed public relations campaign which helps them project a superhuman image at home and abroad, even while many of their actual activities remain in the ever-widening shadows. Typical of the vision they are pushing was this statement from Admiral Olson: “I am convinced that the forces … are the most culturally attuned partners, the most lethal hunter-killers, and most responsive, agile, innovative, and efficiently effective advisors, trainers, problem-solvers, and warriors that any nation has to offer.”
Recently at the Aspen Institute’s Security Forum, Olson offered up similarly gilded comments and some misleading information, too, claiming that US Special Operations forces were operating in just 65 countries and engaged in combat in only two of them. When asked about drone strikes in Pakistan, he reportedly replied, “Are you talking about unattributed explosions?”
What he did let slip, however, was telling. He noted, for instance, that black operations like the bin Laden mission, with commandos conducting heliborne night raids, were now exceptionally common. A dozen or so are conducted every night, he said. Perhaps most illuminating, however, was an offhand remark about the size of SOCOM. Right now, he emphasised, US Special Operations forces were approximately as large as Canada’s entire active duty military. In fact, the force is larger than the active duty militaries of many of the nations where the US’ elite troops now operate each year, and it’s only set to grow larger.
Americans have yet to grapple with what it means to have a “special” force this large, this active, and this secret – and they are unlikely to begin to do so until more information is available. It just won’t be coming from Olson or his troops. “Our access [to foreign countries] depends on our ability to not talk about it,” he said in response to questions about SOCOM’s secrecy. When missions are subject to scrutiny like the bin Laden raid, he said, the elite troops object. The military’s secret military, said Olson, wants “to get back into the shadows and do what they came in to do”.
Nick Turse is a historian, essayist, and investigative journalist. The associate editor of TomDispatch.com and a new senior editor at Alternet.org, his latest book is The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan (Verso Books).
A version of this article originally appeared on TomDispatch.com
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
IMPERIALIST SECRET PLAN AFTER THE OUSTER OF GADDAFI & FUTURE LIBYA?
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West Prepares New State Radio, Mass Arrest of ‘Fifth Column’ Opponents of Rebel Regime
by Jason Ditz, August 08, 2011
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A 70-page plan detailing Western designs for the occupation of post-Gadhafi Libya, and apparently signed off on by the political leadership of the rebel Transitional Council in East Libya has been leaked, and paints a grim picture of the new regime NATO is planning on installing after the war.
The plan includes keeping large portions of the Gadhafian security apparatus intact, with a number of the leaders of the brutal regime’s crackdown left in position on condition of loyalty to the new, pro-West regime.
Even more controversial will be the “Tripoli task force,” a 15,000-man force operated by the United Arab Emirates which will, after Gadhafi is out of power, occupy the capital city of Tripoli and conduct mass arrests of Gadhafi’s top supporters.
The arrests won’t stop there, as of course they never do for a regime looking to stifle dissent. Indeed the plan also includes discussion of a new state radio network that will broadcast orders to the public to support the new government, and warning anti-Gadhafi factions that haven’t endorsed the new regime to stand down. The assumption in the report is that these factions, termed a “fifth column,” would also be arrested. The new state media will of course be necessitated all the more by the NATO attacks on the existing media.
The Transitional Council confirmed the authenticity of the report, and while the rebel ambassador to the UAE expressed “regret” that the truth had come out he said it was “important that the general public knows there is an advance plan.” It is a plan that likely won’t sit well with the protesters who were demanding democratic reform, nor those NATO members who acquiesced to the war on the assumption that it was doing something other than swapping brutal regimes in Libya.
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ROBERT MUGABE SAYS NATO IS A TERRORIST ORGANISATION!
Nato is a terrorist organisation – akin to al-Qaeda – because of its bombing campaign in Libya, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has said.
He said the group’s continued targeting of the Libyan leader and his family was against international law.
Rebels have been fighting forces loyal to Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi with Nato’s support since March.
Nato acts under a UN mandate authorising military action for the protection of civilians in Libya.
Nato forces have been enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya – carrying out air strikes on military targets.
The 87-year-old Zimbabwean leader made his comments at a gathering to remember fighters who died in Zimbabwe’s fight against white minority rule.
The speech lasted for an hour-and-a-half and was punctuated by attacks on the West, reports the BBC’s Brian Hungwe from the capital, Harare.
Sanctions anger
Mr Mugabe said Nato was bombing innocent civilians.
“They seek to kill Gaddafi,” he said. “They have in fact deliberately killed some of his children. Now when they do that deliberately, it is exactly what the Taliban and al-Qaeda do – what is the difference in terms of what they [Nato] are doing?
Libyan government officials say civilians have been killed in some Nato strikes “That’s why I say Nato is now a terrorist organisation as well,” he added, to cheers from the crowd.
“If it defies international law it has no rules and goes out blatantly wanting to kill – that’s brazen murder, assassination, who then can respect it as a law-abiding organisation?”
He warned that Western countries could attack any other African country if Nato was allowed to do as it pleased on the continent.
With elections due next year, Mr Mugabe, whose Zanu-PF party is in a coalition with the Movement for Democratic Change, also hit out about sanctions, our reporter says.
Targeted US and European Union sanctions remain on Mr Mugabe and some of his key allies, despite the formation of the unity government in 2009.
During his speech, Mr Mugabe repeated threats that companies owned by Western countries operating in Zimbabwe would be expropriated.
“We will have to discriminate against countries that impose sanctions on Zimbabwe,” he said.
“Why should a company that belongs to Britain be allowed to mine our gold? If they are to continue to operate here then the sanctions must go.”
Mr Mugabe blames the country’s economic woes on sanctions, while his opponents say they are the result of years of mismanagement.
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Gaddafi’s ‘suicidal plan’ for TripoliGaddafi’s ‘suicidal plan’ for Tripoli
By Neave Barker in Africa
on Thu, 07/14/2011 – 14:01.
The “suicidal plan” to destroy Tripoli if it falls has been ascribed to Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, the Libyan prime minister [AFP]
Hardly reassuring words from the man Russia’s put in charge of mediating the conflict in Libya.
Mikhail Margelov, the president’s special envoy to Africa, said in an interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper that the regime of Muammar Gaddafi has “a suicidal plan” in place if rebels move to seize Tripoli.
“The Libyan premier told me, ‘If the rebels take over the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up,'” he said. “I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan.”
Margelov met Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, the Libyan prime minister, in the capital last month but hasn’t yet met Gaddafi.
He also questioned some Western reports that Gaddafi is running out of weapons.
“Gaddafi still hasn’t used a single surface-to-surface missile,” he claimed.
However, Margelov did confirm that the regime is running out of fuel. Petrol queues several kilometres long have formed on the road from the Tunisian border.
“Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives,” he said.
Russia isn’t the only country trying to mediate an end to the fighting. France recently confirmed that it has been talking to emissaries from Gaddafi, and other sources have said the French serve as a kind of intermediary between the regime and the opposition National Transitional Council.
Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, recently said Gaddafi is “prepared” to step down, the primary demand of the rebels.
Russia has reluctantly come along with the NATO campaign against the Gaddafi regime, though it joined with China in abstaining from the UN Security Council vote that authorised the attacks.
Libya: The massacre, the cover-up. What is going on?
10.08.2011
The mainstream western media are curiously silent about Libya. Why could this be? We reveal some shocking facts, telling you where NATO’s money is being spent. While community programmes and being cut back in Europe, did our readers know that up to 100.000 USD per aircraft per hour is being wasted massacring children in Libya?
I will tell you why the western “bought” media is quiet about Libya. It is quiet about Libya because NATO is committing more and more massacres of civilians and NATO’s darlings, the (mainly foreign) terrorists, are losing to Colonel Gaddafi’s forces on the ground. Towards 21.00 GMT on August 9, NATO aircraft committed a massacre of civilians in the village of Majer, near Zliten – 85 people lost their lives, including 33 children, 32 women and 20 men.
The international community looks on, the international media remains sullenly silent. And the truth about what is happening in Libya is shocking NATO to the core. That is precisely why in recent weeks, since the brilliant Libyan victory in the Battle of Al-Brega against NATO’s terrorists (it is claimed around 100,000 foreign bearded Islamist fanatics crossed over the frontier from Egypt just before mayhem broke out), a battle in which a smokescreen clouded the skies so that NATO’s jets could not (illegally) intervene in an internal conflict to protect the terrorists against Libyan government troops, NATO has been pouring more and more mercenaries into their fight.
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SharePrint version Font Size Send to friend It is also why NATO has been strafing civilian structures like the Libyan water supply system, targeting the electricity grid, to “break civilians” and destroying the factory making water pipes, because it is staring defeat in the face despite Cameron and Sarkozy and their sickening clique of cowards having spent hundreds of millions of their taxpayers’ dollars on this illegal campaign or murder, wanton destruction and criminal damage.
Cameron even has the audacity to speak out against “criminals” in his own country, when his own forces are committing massacres of civilians, destroying public and private property and slaughtering kids in Libya.
And why exactly is NATO becoming so hysterical? While at home people start to question why their community centres have been closed, why that hospital wing will not be opened, why spending cuts of up to 85% in education and training programmes have left tens of thousands of youths without a future, while NATO spends millions upon millions daily, things are going disastrously wrong on the ground.
Increasingly, more and more foreign mercenaries are captured and increasingly, it becomes obvious that a very large number of the terrorists unleashed by NATO are not even Libyans. And so desperate it is becoming, apparently, that the USA is secretly holding talks with the Libyan Foreign Affairs Ministry (according to an off-the-record statement from a Ministry spokesperson in a very senior position), whereby Tripoli is being told that if it renegotiates contracts worth 45 billion USD it currently holds with the Russian Federation and PR China, then Washington will act accordingly.
Wonderful solidarity from the country whose White House stated in a letter that it is good to involve NATO because it saves the American taxpayer money and saves the lives of US boys. Yes, they actually said that. Mind you, if the French pilots knew what their British colleagues said about them, hahahahaha.
The British authorities are also, apparently, frantically trying to save the enormous contracts they signed in the construction sector, now they see defeat staring them and their terrorist friends square in the face.
According to a documentary by the Serbian analyst Milovan Drecun (1), NATO’s bombing campaign has directly and negatively affected the livelihoods of some 3.5 million people in Africa because the construction projects in which 3.5 million foreign workers made their livings, have stopped.
In fact, the latest documentary, Forbidden Truth, by Milovan Drecun, military expert and political analyst, a war correspondent for 30 years, makes spellbinding viewing. He visited the front line in Libya and spoke directly to people who had fled the clutches of NATO’s terrorist forces.
It transpires that the massacres and killing were never by Gaddafi’s forces, but rather from terrorist elements with links to Al-Qaeda, liberals, counter-revolutionaries, thugs, common criminals, Islamist fanatics and opportunists, whose space is labelled “The Opposition” while the west continues to label the terrorists as “rebels”. And NATO’s part in this has been massive. Until June 7, NATO flew 11,000 sorties, in which it murdered or injured 4,711 people – at least 856 of these were innocent civilians, 109 were children. At least 523 civilians were seriously injured and 3,332 received minor injuries.
So where is this legal and under which international law? Why does the international community sit back and watch, doing nothing? Why is Africa not considering a renegotiation of all contracts now, excluding the NATO countries taking part in this outrage?
Milovan Drecun also discovered that Muammar al-Qathafi has the support of all the tribes in Libya, the Libyan youth is by and large with him and he controls some 85% of the territory despite the collective best efforts of wanton destruction and murder by NATO countries. Recently, the 2,000 sheikhs and representatives of the tribes held a meeting in which they decided there was to be no partition of Libya, that the west has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of Libya and that Libyans do not have the right to kill each other.
Bottom line: NATO has squandered MILLIONS of dollars which its member states could have used in development projects at home, it has committed massacres, NATO and its terrorist friends are the ones killing civilians, Gaddafi’s people are behind him and the terrorists are losing on all fronts.
Now if that isn’t a criminal, murderous failure of a policy by NATO, it is difficult to imagine what is.
Sources: Mirovan Drecun