June 9, 2011
NATO'S Headache
The cost of this military campaign to Libya is unquantifiable; but some aspects can be analyzed to establish that the madness going on is just part of the West's own premeditated agenda against Gaddafi, not a genuine conscientious effort to help Libya achieve “democracy,” whatever it means.
The West is in Libya just because it hates Gaddafi and wants him out of its way so it can squeeze the country dry. Libya will pay dearly for the cost of this military campaign and suffer the harsh consequences.
But for this senseless military campaign—causing so much demolition of Libyan infrastructure and destabilization of its political, economic, and social systems—would there have been any need for the country's frozen funds to be diverted into anything of the sort instead of being spent wisely to support socio-economic programmes to improve living conditions for the people and others who depend on Libya's magnanimity?
To kick-start the game of self-inflicting harm, the NTC says it wants to restart oil production in fields under its control, at the rate of about 100,000 barrels a day, but has given no time-frame. This is the collateral security that the West needs to intensify its expenditure on the military campaign. Proceeds from the oil will take care of everything.
The Cost to Libya
Now, let's ask ourselves what Libya stands to gain from this NATO madness. To my mind, the country hasn't so far gained anything extra-ordinary nor will it do so when the dust settles down eventually. Instead, the new leadership will be saddled with nerve-wracking problems that they are helping NATO to create and will take more than a hundred years to solve.
The damage done to Libya by NATO's insanity cannot be repaired with what is trickling in now nor can it be done with ease after Gaddafi is gone. The stark fact is that the country's resources will be diverted into the rebuilding efforts instead of being used for vital socio-economic programmes to sustain the level of development and standards of living that had existed under Gaddafi before being toppled by this insurrection and the bullying by the West.
I have a hunch that the rebuilding of Libya will take away from the country and its people the benefits of life that the Gaddafi government has provided, dissension against his long rule and dictatorship notwithstanding.
In the final analysis, the rebels will realize their folly only when the citizens begin agitating for a restoration of what socio-economic benefits they would have lost.
In an immediate post-Gaddafi period, the rebels may claim to have succeeded in achieving their goal to gain political power; but if this power is not backed by a socio-economic recovery that is commensurate with the expectations of the Libyan people, they shouldn't be surprised when new forms of uprising erupt against them even before they settle fully in the groove to administer the country.
By then, NATO would have folded up and left the shores of Libya. Only then will they realize that they've only sown the wind and cannot avoid reaping the whirlwind.
For now, they may be enjoying the protection of NATO and feel safe under its armpit. But they shouldn't forget that at the departure of NATO, they will be left alone to face the reality of their country's changed circumstances. A country so subjected to indiscriminate devastation cannot stand on its feet all too soon to meet the aspirations of the people.
But a distressed people will not listen to any rhetoric from above, especially when they begin being buffeted by the harsh realities of their changed circumstances. That is where the seed for future insurrections will be planted.
So far, NATO has virtually crippled Libya by destroying its important assets except the infrastructure supporting the oil industry. This is the heartbeat of the economy and the allurement for NATO. Libya will be expected to pump out its oil to serve the interests of those now destroying it just to achieve the premeditated goal of getting rid of the Gaddafi menace.
We have already said that whatever is being spent by NATO to prosecute this war on behalf of the rebels will be paid for by Libya itself. The West hardly supports others (especially in the less developed world) free-of-charge.
It can't spend its own resources to this extent without considering its own long-term benefits from such ventures. It always sets conditions for the one being helped to pay back a zillion times.
That's the nature of the neo-colonialist machinery. One good turn that it makes to the advantage of unwitting internal collaborators will certainly deserve another good turn to support its own system. It's all about spending resources to get more resources. In the language of the fisherman, it is a matter of using a small fish as a bait to catch a bigger fish. That's the lesson to learn.
The Shortsightedness of the Rebel Leaders
But the Benghazi-based rebels are so bent on exacting their pound of flesh from Gaddafi that they will not listen to reason to allow other means to be used to resolve the crisis without subjecting their country to so much devastation for so long.
Had they listened to reason to allow diplomatic and political means to be used to tackle this conflict, something more beneficial would have been achieved by now.
So cognitively paralyzed by their bitter sentiments against Gaddafi, they have refused to consider the options presented by peace-lovers, apparently because they have already begun dining with the devil and lost their power of self-determinism.
Or they are themselves the devil that will destroy their own country in the pursuit of an ambition to rid themselves of one man and his government.
Instead, they have allied with NATO to intensify the military campaign. Of course, at this moment that the war is being fought by NATO on their behalf, the rebels don't have the voice to determine its course or to heed the call to use non-volatile means to resolve the crisis.
In order to lay the foundation for what it seeks to gain out of the Libyan campaign, the West will not allow the rebel leadership the freehand to decide for itself.
The Benghazi-based rebels have already sold their conscience to the West and are now unable or are not allowed by their handlers to accept anything else as the possible means to resolve the crisis. The West knows that using the diplomatic and political means to end the conflict will cut short its mission.
It will mean that the premeditated motive of using their own limited military resources as the bait for higher profits from the Libyan campaign cannot be achieved.
And the West won't do anything to strangle itself economically. Thus, it will insist on the military option and pile up the cost for the National Transitional Council (or whatever emerges as the post-Gaddafi administration) to pay with huge interests!
The problem is that by setting itself up to use Libya's resources to destroy the country and then turn round to make the country pay for the military campaign, the West won't be playing any humanitarian role, after all. The West doesn't consider anything by way of the “Good Samaritan” as worth its bother. The benefits to it will be more than what the rebels hope to gain.
We will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds to reveal the real nature of the war-mongers and their unwitting internal collaborators in Libya. Gradually, the veil will drop for us to see the reality of the situation more clearly.
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