February 23, 2015
Khalifa Haftar
Strongman Haftar expands power amid Libya chaos
Haftar is working with Egypt to bomb Daesh targets in Libya
In a hotel lit by a generator in the eastern Libyan town of Bayda, Economy Minister Munir Ali Asr outlines optimistic plans to attract investment to a country ravaged by war and political chaos.
Outside, Bayda lies in darkness after another power cut.
Hundreds of residents wait outside petrol stations that have closed as a result of a debilitating power struggle between two rival governments that has wrecked basic services.
Growing frustration over the reality of life in eastern Libya, which contrasts with the promises of politicians, is feeding support for a former army general, Khalifa Haftar, who has set himself up as a warrior against Islamist militancy and who some also see as their saviour.
The internationally recognised prime minister, Abdullah Al Thinni, and his government sit in Bayda, while a rival faction, Libya Dawn, has set up its own government in Tripoli, 1,200 km away, after taking over the capital last summer.
“I am tired of politicians just talking and talking,” said Raed, an oil service manager who has been demonstrating in front of Thinni’s office.
“Al Thinni is too weak to end this mess. We need a military council headed by Haftar.”
Haftar, who has merged his own troops with regular army forces to fight Islamist militants, is styling himself as a would-be strongman in the east.
But while his fighters have won back some territory from Islamists in Benghazi, Haftar is proving a divisive figure among those around Al Thinni, the parliament, and a federalist movement demanding autonomy for the east.
Critics say Haftar, who did not respond to a request for an interview, sees himself as Libya’s version of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi, a former military man.
Certainly, Haftar misses no opportunity to praise Al Sissi. His war planes joined Egyptian jets bombing suspected Daesh targets in Libya this week after the militant group released a video showing the beheading of Egyptian workers.
“Haftar wants to dominate. But if you want to build a state nobody should be above accountability,” said a minister in Al Thinni’s cabinet, asking not to be named.
Haftar tends to pop up whenever there is upheaval in Libya.
He helped Muammar Gaddafi to power in 1969 but fell out with him after a disastrous defeat suffered by troops he was commanding during Libya’s war with Chad in the 1980s.
He was rescued with the help of the United States and lived there until he joined the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011.
In 2013, the grey-haired army veteran ordered parliament dismissed although nothing happened. He has since given a series of televised speeches announcing such things as the establishment of a military council, the imminent “liberation” of Benghazi, and his retirement plans.
Officials in Bayda struggle to explain their relationship with Haftar. They need his forces but prefer not to talk about it.
Lawmakers have several times confirmed and then denied the existence of a decree signed by the parliamentary speaker recalling Haftar to official duty.
But there is no doubt that he is dominating politics in the east. Haftar’s top air force officer, Saqer Al Joroushi, has been put in command of the regular air force with the support of his son, a member of the eastern parliament. The regular army is now calling itself the “Libyan National Army”, a name already in use by Haftar’s troops.
Military sources say regular army commanders in Benghazi feel sidelined as Haftar’s officers say they speak for the government.
In an apparent power play, Haftar’s forces tried to stop Al Thinni from visiting Benghazi. Al Thinni suspended his interior minister, Omar Al Zanki, for making the incident public after Haftar put pressure on the prime minister, military sources say.
Al Thinni is in a weak position, even in his seat at Bayda, a town in the Green Mountains of eastern Libya. It is packed with people who have fled Tripoli complaining of threats or attacks from Libya Dawn.
“The situation not stable,” said a soldier at a checkpoint near Al Thinni’s office. Some 50 protesters have showed up several times to demand Al Thinni’s resignation. His scared staff left their posts on one occasion.
“I don’t like Haftar. But only he as a military man, and a military council, can save Libya,” said a protester who gave his name as Abdul Aziz.
Strongman Haftar expands power amid Libya chaos | GulfNews.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 23, 2015
A case for poor, jobless terrorists!
Obama’s lack of will is evident from his failure to support Egypt’s successful retaliatory air strikes against Daesh in Libya
What were we thinking! You do not get rid of misguided young men with nothing better to do in life than burning people alive or chopping off heads with bombs; they rather require our sympathetic understanding. Instead of lethal air strikes, the US-led coalition against Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) should be dropping in therapists to walk them through their troubled childhoods. They should be weaned away from their bloodlust with P.G. Wodehouse novels translated in Arabic or, better still, “Eat, pray, love” accompanied by CDs of birdsong or tinkling waterfalls, the kind of relaxing background sounds favoured by spas. And when they have finally seen the error of their ways and said their mea culpas, they should be provided with worthwhile careers; nothing too cutthroat like Wall Street.
Unfortunately, I cannot in all fairness take credit for this innovative approach to tackling terrorism; that must go to the Obama administration, which gets full marks for thinking out of the box and coming up with a revolutionary solution; one that most ordinary mortals might perceive as weirdly bizarre.
Bravo to the Gandhian State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, who recently announced on MSNBC, following Daesh’s Libyan branch’s beheading of 21 Egyptians, that “We cannot win this war [against Daesh] by killing them; we cannot kill our way out of this war”. The US should instead “go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups”, such as, “lack of opportunity for jobs”. No ‘eye-for-an-eye philosophy here.
Instead, this paragon of puff appeared to lay blame at the feet of poor governance. “We can work with countries around the world to improve their governance. We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.” Exactly! It was joblessness that drove Osama Bin Laden into his Afghan cave, never mind his millions in the bank. And if the self-appointed caliph, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi had succeeded in finding gainful employment armed with his Masters degree, the thought of creating rivers of blood to form his own state would never have crossed his mind.
Sadly, Harf’s insightful understanding of the terrorist mind has ignited a firestorm of criticism, much of it targeting her personally. Roving correspondent at the National Review, Kevin D. Williamson, was particularly hurtful. “Marie Harf, the cretinous propagandist and campaign veteran installed by the Obama administration at the State Department ... has called down upon herself a Malibu mudslide of mockery and derision for suggesting that what’s really needed in the war against [Daesh] et al is better employment opportunities — ‘Jobs for [terrorists],’ as her critics put it. She later explained that her observations unfortunately were ‘too nuanced’ for the simple minds of the dunderheads who twice elected her boss president of these United States.”
Sarcasm aside, Harf was merely reflecting the views of the Oval Office. Last Thursday, Obama argued that the use of force was not enough to eradicate terrorism and asked nations to “put an end to the cycle of hate” with increased human rights, peaceful dialogue and religious tolerance. That is a nice sound bite, but does it hold true when thousands of new recruits are flooding into Iraq and Syria from wealthy western democracies?
President Obama’s wishy-washy rhetoric and so-called targeted bombing campaign have hardly instilled fear in the hearts of Daesh fighters to date. Hopes are that a State Department plan to counter Daesh propaganda and its recruitment drive on social media will do the trick.
But even on the propaganda front, the US is being bested. “We’re getting beaten on volume,” admitted the Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Richard Stengel, adding, “So, the only way to compete is by aggregating, curating and amplifying existing content”. It is an understatement to say that the message from the US administration is one of defeatism, which is not going down very well with the American public. According to a recent CNN/ORC poll, 57 per cent of Americans are disapproving of the way their president is handling threats from Daesh.
President Obama’s lack of will (or something more sinister) is evident from his failure to support Egypt’s successful retaliatory air strikes and attacks by Special Forces on Daesh targets in the Libyan city of Derna. “We are neither condemning nor condoning,” the Egyptian strikes tends to be the US official line. The US is instead urging dialogue to bring about a political solution and is against any outside interference despite the fact that the US, France and Britain were instrumental in breaking Libya in the first place and have no qualms about intervening in Iraq and Syria. Apart from the glaring double standards, those sentiments are all very well for a superpower with over 7,400 kilometres distance between it and the danger. But, for Egypt that shares a long, porous border with Libya, his words are nothing more than impractical mumbo jumbo.
It is no use blaming Marie Harf for babbling derisible nonsense. The US president’s convoluted anti-terrorism policies replete with double standards require a silky-tongued Tokyo Rose.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
A case for poor, jobless terrorists! | GulfNews.com
it is about to be divided soon..
