Whether you think of Khalifa Hafter as a former Gadhafi-era general, a long-standing CIA asset, or the leader of multiple failed coups d’etats who is now the self-described “Field Marshal” of his own self-described “Libyan National Army” (LNA), he is a bit unseemly for most nations to openly back. The big exception to this is the Egyptian junta, which seems to view him as an ideological ally.
The Trump Administration is also surprisingly comfortable with its support for him as well, with the White House announcing that Trump had phoned Hafter on Monday to talk about joint counter-terrorism efforts.
This is a particularly odd time for the US to be acknowledging direct coordination, as it comes amid Hafter’s latest coup attempt, with his LNA attacking the capital city of Tripoli and trying to oust the Libyan government of national unity who the US had been recognizing as Libya’s legitimate government up until the past week or so. Pompeo was still sharply criticizing Hafter last week, even if indications were this didn’t extend to UN Security Council calls for a ceasefire.
Now, the White House statement says Trump “recognized Field Marshal Hafter’s significant role in fighting terrorism, and securing Libya’s oil resources,” and that they discussed a “shared vision” for the future of Libya.
Now, of course, the White House presented the future of Libya as a “stable, democratic political system,” but it isn’t a secret that Hafter has tried to oust every democratically elected parliament Libya has had since Gadhafi. Nor is it a secret that the US favored the Egyptian coup for bringing “stability” over the democratically elected Morsi government. Democratic, in this region, just means the US starts calling the junta head a “president” as soon as he’s finished seizing power and violently purging his opponents.
Hafter’s “anti-terror” efforts in Libya have largely involved attacking parliaments that he felt were too Islamist, while his securing of oil resources has mostly involved attacking valuable oil facilities along the coast. While his previous failed coups ended with him still scheming, and at times giving himself field promotions, this latest push seems to have left him anointed as part of the US vision.
It is hard to keep on analyzing events on the basis of wrong premises. And pseudo psychoanalysis. Let me first make my prediction. US lost in Lybia every viable horse to bet on. And the one long ago declared a loser, is winning. So now, we will just make nice — and all will be forgotten. So, attempts are made to simultaneously deride him and court him. US is hoping that a compromise will be found whereby he would accept some accommodation with US (translate, US) government in Tripoli.
Can we STOP using neocon canards of US spreading democracy around the world. Democracy as a form of government is not implementable in many circumstances, Libya being one of them since all of its institutions collapsed and multiple centers of power, multiple militias and tribes took over local control. What parliaments are we talking about? You mean the fake ones we keep on creating, along with fake presidents, ministers, name it. Venezuela anyone?
In Libya, what was called a parliament fled to Tobtuk aling with Heftar, the would be US asset. No, US had better plans, and he was not part of them.
Was he REALLY only good at taking oil fields? How about Banghazi — that cauldron of Islamist brew, we were too eager to forget, and get to it once we starve them of support arms and food. It turned out that in two years, Hafter was able to pacify Benghazi. Hear mire about Benghazi where the rebelion started? Not much — our intrepid mainstream journalists never seek stories, they just regurgitate what they are given. And from Benghazi, how did he, self styled, imaginary field marshal manage to reclaim authority in most of the country, and struck deals with most tribes, including Fezan in the South.
Attacking Tripoli had ine purpose — and one alone. To humiliate US and Heftar’s fake supporter, Macron. France tried to string him along — ofering nice words. The bottom line, with the help ffom Egypt, Saudis, UAE, Russia (overtly) and China (covertly), NATO mighty alliance has confronted its worst nightmare —-
HEFTER ANTE PORTAS of Tripoli.
Now it us damage control time. So, we suddenly love him, after trying to stop him for years. Not that a deal cannot be cut — but it will not be favorable to US, and keeping any residual NATO military will be a major issue. As most of Libya is today Western military free, this I can see as the issue.
And can we please get out of the nice and simple explanation of what happened in Egypt. In Egypt it was MILITARY that assisted Morsi coming to power by organizing both parliamentary andvpresidential elections. Our neocon press harped on each and every step and its irregularities. But Morsi had to partner with Salafi parties to get majority in Parliament, and when time came to constitution change —?we drew line in sand. We never accepted Morsi, he invited Ahmedinijad to Cairo, let Iranian ships go through Suez, and gave fiery soeach in UN.
We are forgetting that at the time we had full control over Saudi policy. All we had to do was let Saudis rile up Salafi heartlands in Egypt, while YS and allies stopped deluvery of wheat. And IMF clised ghe spigot. Military asked Morsi to turn over gkvernjng to military, as conditions worsened. He was an engineer by trade, and claimed his technical presidency. Mulitary had to chose — Morsi and Brotherhood or Saudi Salafists. The answer was simple. Stop bliidshed in the streets, remove Morsi, eliminate Brotherhood from politics and threaten Salafis with the same. Peace restored. Cut deal with Saudis and US, take Saudi loans and get food supplues back. Sisi learned all he needed. Trios to Miscow and Beijing. Now buys Russian wheat, and military, nuclear piwer plant, Chinese major infrastructure projects. And since June 2017, has Saudi backing — not blackmail — to count on. Libya and the stability then became primary concern. Hence Heftar,
We really need to stop being judgmental in situations of dire instability and failed states. Sny point whatsoever lampooning Heftar for nit being demicratic?
US may hope to get his suppirters to become uncomfortable, hinting in Hefter’s background and incev upon a time CIA connections.
Hardly. Whatever happens will be hard calculation — to what degree will Heftar, who win oeace, be ready to compromise. Or his backers. US may try to rileuo again some groups not hapoy with Heftar. Or give it up for the optics of solving Libya’s mess. But the tests of strenght among many players is afoot — no doubt about that.
Egypt under Sisi, in order for Egypt to modernize and Sisi to secure his leadership, needs a stable Libya, not a hell hole of unrelenting chaos. Haftar is clearly the guy to do that. (For one thing — a major thing — he’s not an Islamist extremist.)
“a major thing — he’s not an Islamist extremist.”
Nonsense.Hafter is aligned with and supported by one the most extremist Saudi funded salafist group that label all Muslims who do not share their views or willing to follow the democratic process as apostates and deserving of killing the same as ISIS’s doctrines.
“Some of his followers are not exactly the secular warriors that Paris might wish.“Aside from a military core, the motley forces thatHaftar oversees are comprised of tribal militias, hard-line Salafists
linked to Saudi Arabia, Sudanese rebels and one commander wanted by the
International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes,” said Mary Fitzgerald, a researcher on Libya.
https://www.politico.eu/article/frances-double-game-in-libya-nato-un-khalifa-haf
Nonsense back at you. Sisi supports Haftar, and Sisi deposed and imprisoned Morsi, and outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sisi overthrew the first democratically elected president in the history of Egypt in a military coup financed and supported by Saudi Arabia and UAE .He massacred 1000 protesters in one day,and has over 60,000 in prison,and continues to kill this day.Apparently,one’s favored state sanctioned extremism and violence is OK!
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I see.
You’re not to blame. Since birth you’ve been fed the West’s “Democracy-as-religion” bullsh*t. “Democracy” in the West is a lie. The wealthy buy the media to brainwash you, and then buy the Congress to serve them — the country’s ” owners” — at your expense.
“The first democratically elected president in the history of Egypt” was the president of a Sharia law Islamic government whose Muslim Brotherhood extremists started burning Coptic Christian churches and killing Coptic Christians.
Sisi and the Egyptian military quite rationally put an end to that failed experiment, and restored order.
Under Qaddafi foreign oil companies could drill and produce in Libya but only in a companionship with the Libyan national oil company. If I remember correctly, the major foreign companies were then Italian, Norwegian, and Hungarian. Our companies (Occidental!) were not among the major producers and neither were the French.
President Trump supports Hafter (or is it Hifter?) even though a flow of much oil out of Libya is not in his interest. I do not believe that US oil companies are eager to get into this viper’s nest.
The French government is supporting Hafter because it want big contracts for French oil companies.
The world is divided into countries which have plenty of crude underground and countries which have little or none. (1)
Oil companies do not care whether the government they must deal with is a dictatorship or a democracy as long as that government is predictable and reliable.
(1) Looked it up. The rich ones are Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Libya. The remainder is middling or poor.
Trump was doing what he was told by the Saudi regime who is the instigator of
Hafter’s criminal war.Saudi regime has waged wars against every country that sought to establish democratic process in the region.They fear people having free choice and free election.So will destroy countries and people in order to stop the spread of democracy.It was never about fighting terrorism and extremism.
“…the Libyan government of national unity who the US had been recognizing as Libya’s legitimate government…
Just like the US recognizes Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela. (The rest of the world not so much, though. Just the usual US stooges.)
First the US recognized the Libyan government of national unity. Could that have been because Haftar had blown off the US/CIA. But wait! But now that Haftar is winning — and Egypt and Russia and others are siding with him — now the CIA wants back in the game, so Trump makes the call. Haftar will go for it, no doubt, — it would be dangerous not to — but I hope he doesn’t sell out for too cheap.
But days before launching his latest offensive, the self-styled general visited Saudi Arabia, where he was promised millions of dollars in aid to pay for the operation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The money, meant to pay off tribal leaders and recruit new fighters, represents another reckless gamble by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has already launched a disastrous intervention in Yemen as well as failed attempts to subjugate the Lebanese and Qatari governments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/there-was-going-to-be-a-peace-conference-in-libya-then-other-countries-sabotaged-it/2019/04/15/7f27545e-5fa7-11e9-9412-daf3d2e67c6d_story.html?utm_term=.98ed9e5f6452
The West and East are fighting for Libya’s oil.
The label extremist has been misused and abused by Arab tyrants and wanna-be tyrants to mean any group,organization,people or just individual who seek to exercise their freedom to choose and freely elect their governments or express opposite of what the rulers demand.
“The United States’s aversion to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is more apparent in the current Trump administration, is the root of a predicament across the entire Arab world. The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes. In turn, this will mean the continuation of the causes behind revolution, extremism and refugees — all of which have affected the security of Europe and the rest of the world. Terrorism and the refugee crisis have changed the political mood in the West and brought the extreme right to prominence there.
Shafeeq Ghabra, a professor of political science at Kuwait University, explains the problem in this way: “The Arab regimes’ war on the Brotherhood does not target the movement alone, but rather targets those who practice politics, who demand freedom and accountability, and all who have a popular base in society.” A quick look at the political degradation that has taken place in Egypt since the military’s return to power confirms what Ghabra says. President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi’s regime has cracked down on the Islamists and arrested some 60,000 of them. Now it has extended its heavy hand against both secular and military figures, even those who supported him in the coup. In today’s Egypt, political life is totally dead.
It is wrong to dwell on political Islam, conservatism and identity issues when the choice is between having a free society tolerant of all viewpoints and having an oppressive regime. Five years of Sissi’s rule in Egypt makes this point clear.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/08/28/the-u-s-is-wrong-about-the-muslim-brotherhood-and-the-arab-world-is-suffering-for-it/?utm_term=.bb8eefb82f60
This article was the reason Jamal Khashoggi was eliminated