There has been a lot of controversy over President Obama's choice to join the United Nations in not allowing Muammar Gaddafi's genocidal actions against the people of Libya. I think many people forget or do not know what Gaddafi has done in the past and what his nature has been. Here is an excerpt on some of his past actions:
On 11 June 1972, Gaddafi announced that any Arab wishing to volunteer for Palestinian armed groups "can register his name at any Libyan embassy will be given adequate training for combat". He also promised financial support for attacks.[104][105][106]
On 7 October 1972, Gaddafi praised the Lod Airport massacre, carried out by the Japanese Red Army, and demanded Palestinian terrorist groups to carry out similar attacks.[104]
Gaddafi created the Islamic Legion, a mercenary group associated with Arab supremacism.
He also played a key role in promoting oil embargoes as a political weapon, hoping that an oil price rise and embargo in 1973 would persuade the West to end support for Israel.[107]
In 1973 the Irish Naval Service intercepted the vessel Claudia in Irish territorial waters, which carried Soviet arms from Libya to the Provisional IRA.[108][109] In 1976 after a series of terror attacks by the Provisional IRA, Gaddafi announced that "the bombs which are convulsing Britain and breaking its spirit are the bombs of Libyan people. We have sent them to the Irish revolutionaries so that the British will pay the price for their past deeds".[104]
Gaddafi was a close supporter of Ugandan President Idi Amin.[110] Gaddafi was not alone – the Soviet Union armed Amin and East German Stasi agents came to build Amin's repression machinery.[111][112][113] Gaddafi shipped troops to fight against Tanzania on behalf of Idi Amin. About 600 Libyan soldiers lost their lives attempting to defend the collapsing presidency of Amin,[114] during which Amin's government killed hundreds of thousands of Ugandans.
Gaddafi aided Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the Emperor of the Central African Empire.[114][115]
Together with Moscow and Fidel Castro, Gaddafi supported Soviet protege Haile Mariam Mengistu,[115] who was later convicted for a genocide that killed thousands at least.
In October 1981 Egypt's President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. Gaddafi applauded the murder and remarked that it was a punishment.[116]
Neighboring Arab countries and the United States became concerned of Gaddafi's policies, and they made a deal to increase in military credits and training.[117]
In April 1984, Libyan refugees in London protested against execution of two dissidents. Libyan diplomats shot at 11 people and killed a British policewoman. The incident led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Libya for over a decade.[118]
Gaddafi asserted in June 1984 that he wanted his agents to assassinate dissident refugees even when they were on pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca. In August 1984, one Libyan plot in Mecca was thwarted by Saudi Arabian police.[119]
After December 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, which killed 19 and wounded around 140, Gaddafi indicated that he would continue to support the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, and the Irish Republican Army as long as European countries support anti-Gaddafi Libyans.[52] The Foreign Minister of Libya also called the massacres "heroic acts".[120]
In 1986 Libyan state television announced that Libya was training suicide squads to attack American and European interests.[121]
Gaddafi claimed the Gulf of Sidra as his territorial water and his navy was involved in a conflict from January to March 1986.
On 5 April 1986, Libyan agents bombed "La Belle" nightclub in West Berlin, killing three people and injuring 229 people who were spending the evening there. Gaddafi's plan was intercepted by Western intelligence. More detailed information was retrieved years later when Stasi archives were investigated by the reunited Germany. Libyan agents who had carried out the operation from the Libyan embassy in East Germany were prosecuted by reunited Germany in the 1990s.[122]
Germany and the United States learned that the bombing in West Berlin had been ordered from Tripoli. On 14 April 1986, the United States carried out Operation El Dorado Canyon against Gaddafi and members of his regime. Air defenses, three army bases, and two airfields in Tripoli and Benghazi were bombed. The surgical strikes failed to kill Gaddafi but he lost a few dozen military officers.[42][123]
Gaddafi announced that he had won a spectacular military victory over the United States and the country was officially renamed the "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah".[119] However, his speech appeared devoid passion and even the "victory" celebrations appeared unusual. Criticism of Gaddafi by ordinary Libyan citizens became more bold, such as defacing of Gaddafi posters.[119] The raids against Gaddafi had brought the regime to its the weakest point in 17 years.[119]
Many Western European countries took action against Libyan terror and other activities following years.
Gaddafi fueled a number of Islamist and communist terrorist groups in the Philippines. The country still struggles with their murders and kidnappings.[44][47][51][52][124]
Gaddafi fueled paramilitaries in the Oceania. He attempted to radicalized New Zealand's Maoris.[47] In Australia he financed trade unions and some politicians. In May 1987, Australia deported diplomats and broke off relations with Libya because of the activities in the Oceania.[46][47]
In late 1987 French authorities stopped a merchant vessel, the MV Eksund, which was delivering a 150 ton Libyan arms shipment to European terrorist groups.
In 1991, two Libyan intelligence agents were indicted by prosecutors in the United States and United Kingdom for their involvement in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Six other Libyans were put on trial in absentia for the 1989 bombing of UTA Flight 772 over Chad and Niger. The UN Security Council demanded that Libya surrender the suspects, cooperate with the Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 investigations, pay compensation to the victims' families, and cease all support for terrorism. Libya's refusal to comply led to the approval of Security Council Resolution 748 on March 31, 1992, imposing international sanctions on the state designed to bring about Libyan compliance. Continued Libyan defiance led to further sanctions by the UN against Libya in November 1993.[125]
Gaddafi trained and supported Charles Taylor, who was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone.[126]
Libya had close ties with Slobodan Milošević's regime. Gaddafi aligned himself with the Orthodox Serbs against Bosnia's Muslims and Kosovo's Albanians. Gaddafi supported Milošević even when Milošević was charged with large-scale ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo.[127][128][129]
In 1999, less than a decade after the sanctions were put in place, Libya began to make dramatic policy changes in regard to the Western world, including turning over the Lockerbie suspects for trial. This diplomatic breakthrough followed years of negotiation, including a visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Libya in December 1998, and personal appeals by Nelson Mandela. Eventually UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook persuaded the Americans to accept a trial of the suspects in the Netherlands under Scottish law, with the UN Security Council agreeing to suspend sanctions as soon as the suspects arrived in the Netherlands for trial.[42]
Following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Gaddafi decided to abandon his weapons of mass destruction programmes and pay almost 3 billion US dollars in compensation to the families of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772.[130][131] The decision was welcomed by many western nations and was seen as an important step toward Libya rejoining the international community.[132] Since 2003 the country has made efforts to normalize its ties with the European Union and the United States and has even coined the catchphrase, 'The Libya Model', an example intended to show the world what can be achieved through negotiation, rather than force, when there is goodwill on both sides. By 2004 George W. Bush had lifted the economic sanctions and official relations resumed with the United States. Libya opened a liaison office in Washington, and the United States opened an office in Tripoli. In January 2004, Congressman Tom Lantos led the first official Congressional delegation visit to Libya.[133]
Libya has supported Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir despite charges of a genocide in Darfur.[134]
The release, in 2007, of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who had been held since 1999, charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV, was seen as marking a new stage in Libyan-Western relations.
The United States removed Gaddafi's regime, after 27 years, from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.[135]
On October 16, 2007, Libya was elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council for two years starting in January 2008.[136] In February 2009, Gaddafi was selected to be chairman of the African Union for one year.
In 2009 the United Kingdom and Libya signed a prisoner-exchange agreement and then Libya requested the transfer of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, who finally returned home in August 2009.[137]
Libya still provides bounties for heads of refugees who have criticized Gaddafi, including 1 million dollars for Ashur Shamis, a Libyan-British journalist.[142]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#Libya_under_Gaddafi
We act because it is the moral and "right" thing to do. It takes strong character and a strong will to do the "right" thing, as opposed to the easy "wrong". Is it morally just for us to sit back and allow a genocide to occur? Maybe people who oppose us helping others should ask a Jewish individual who was a prisoner during the Holocaust. Let us not forget also that Gaddafi has and still supports terrorism. Have we forgetten Sept. 11th already? I find it interesting that our memory can be that short. If we continue to be so relaxed and allow terrorist nations to prosper then we open ourselves up to attacks again. Whether you agree with me or not, we are one of the greatest nations on Earth. Therefor we will always be a target, and this is why we must be ever vigilant in the defense of our country. Which would you prefer, fighting the terrorists on their ground, or fight them here at home so that our husbands, wives, and children may die?
Libya under Gaddafi
After the 1969 coup, Muammar Gaddafi closed American and British bases and partly nationalized foreign oil and commercial interests in Libya.On 11 June 1972, Gaddafi announced that any Arab wishing to volunteer for Palestinian armed groups "can register his name at any Libyan embassy will be given adequate training for combat". He also promised financial support for attacks.[104][105][106]
On 7 October 1972, Gaddafi praised the Lod Airport massacre, carried out by the Japanese Red Army, and demanded Palestinian terrorist groups to carry out similar attacks.[104]
Gaddafi created the Islamic Legion, a mercenary group associated with Arab supremacism.
He also played a key role in promoting oil embargoes as a political weapon, hoping that an oil price rise and embargo in 1973 would persuade the West to end support for Israel.[107]
In 1973 the Irish Naval Service intercepted the vessel Claudia in Irish territorial waters, which carried Soviet arms from Libya to the Provisional IRA.[108][109] In 1976 after a series of terror attacks by the Provisional IRA, Gaddafi announced that "the bombs which are convulsing Britain and breaking its spirit are the bombs of Libyan people. We have sent them to the Irish revolutionaries so that the British will pay the price for their past deeds".[104]
Gaddafi was a close supporter of Ugandan President Idi Amin.[110] Gaddafi was not alone – the Soviet Union armed Amin and East German Stasi agents came to build Amin's repression machinery.[111][112][113] Gaddafi shipped troops to fight against Tanzania on behalf of Idi Amin. About 600 Libyan soldiers lost their lives attempting to defend the collapsing presidency of Amin,[114] during which Amin's government killed hundreds of thousands of Ugandans.
Gaddafi aided Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the Emperor of the Central African Empire.[114][115]
Together with Moscow and Fidel Castro, Gaddafi supported Soviet protege Haile Mariam Mengistu,[115] who was later convicted for a genocide that killed thousands at least.
In October 1981 Egypt's President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. Gaddafi applauded the murder and remarked that it was a punishment.[116]
Neighboring Arab countries and the United States became concerned of Gaddafi's policies, and they made a deal to increase in military credits and training.[117]
In April 1984, Libyan refugees in London protested against execution of two dissidents. Libyan diplomats shot at 11 people and killed a British policewoman. The incident led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Libya for over a decade.[118]
Gaddafi asserted in June 1984 that he wanted his agents to assassinate dissident refugees even when they were on pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca. In August 1984, one Libyan plot in Mecca was thwarted by Saudi Arabian police.[119]
After December 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, which killed 19 and wounded around 140, Gaddafi indicated that he would continue to support the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, and the Irish Republican Army as long as European countries support anti-Gaddafi Libyans.[52] The Foreign Minister of Libya also called the massacres "heroic acts".[120]
In 1986 Libyan state television announced that Libya was training suicide squads to attack American and European interests.[121]
Gaddafi claimed the Gulf of Sidra as his territorial water and his navy was involved in a conflict from January to March 1986.
On 5 April 1986, Libyan agents bombed "La Belle" nightclub in West Berlin, killing three people and injuring 229 people who were spending the evening there. Gaddafi's plan was intercepted by Western intelligence. More detailed information was retrieved years later when Stasi archives were investigated by the reunited Germany. Libyan agents who had carried out the operation from the Libyan embassy in East Germany were prosecuted by reunited Germany in the 1990s.[122]
Germany and the United States learned that the bombing in West Berlin had been ordered from Tripoli. On 14 April 1986, the United States carried out Operation El Dorado Canyon against Gaddafi and members of his regime. Air defenses, three army bases, and two airfields in Tripoli and Benghazi were bombed. The surgical strikes failed to kill Gaddafi but he lost a few dozen military officers.[42][123]
Gaddafi announced that he had won a spectacular military victory over the United States and the country was officially renamed the "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah".[119] However, his speech appeared devoid passion and even the "victory" celebrations appeared unusual. Criticism of Gaddafi by ordinary Libyan citizens became more bold, such as defacing of Gaddafi posters.[119] The raids against Gaddafi had brought the regime to its the weakest point in 17 years.[119]
Many Western European countries took action against Libyan terror and other activities following years.
Gaddafi fueled a number of Islamist and communist terrorist groups in the Philippines. The country still struggles with their murders and kidnappings.[44][47][51][52][124]
Gaddafi fueled paramilitaries in the Oceania. He attempted to radicalized New Zealand's Maoris.[47] In Australia he financed trade unions and some politicians. In May 1987, Australia deported diplomats and broke off relations with Libya because of the activities in the Oceania.[46][47]
In late 1987 French authorities stopped a merchant vessel, the MV Eksund, which was delivering a 150 ton Libyan arms shipment to European terrorist groups.
In 1991, two Libyan intelligence agents were indicted by prosecutors in the United States and United Kingdom for their involvement in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Six other Libyans were put on trial in absentia for the 1989 bombing of UTA Flight 772 over Chad and Niger. The UN Security Council demanded that Libya surrender the suspects, cooperate with the Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 investigations, pay compensation to the victims' families, and cease all support for terrorism. Libya's refusal to comply led to the approval of Security Council Resolution 748 on March 31, 1992, imposing international sanctions on the state designed to bring about Libyan compliance. Continued Libyan defiance led to further sanctions by the UN against Libya in November 1993.[125]
Gaddafi trained and supported Charles Taylor, who was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone.[126]
Libya had close ties with Slobodan Milošević's regime. Gaddafi aligned himself with the Orthodox Serbs against Bosnia's Muslims and Kosovo's Albanians. Gaddafi supported Milošević even when Milošević was charged with large-scale ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo.[127][128][129]
In 1999, less than a decade after the sanctions were put in place, Libya began to make dramatic policy changes in regard to the Western world, including turning over the Lockerbie suspects for trial. This diplomatic breakthrough followed years of negotiation, including a visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Libya in December 1998, and personal appeals by Nelson Mandela. Eventually UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook persuaded the Americans to accept a trial of the suspects in the Netherlands under Scottish law, with the UN Security Council agreeing to suspend sanctions as soon as the suspects arrived in the Netherlands for trial.[42]
Following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Gaddafi decided to abandon his weapons of mass destruction programmes and pay almost 3 billion US dollars in compensation to the families of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772.[130][131] The decision was welcomed by many western nations and was seen as an important step toward Libya rejoining the international community.[132] Since 2003 the country has made efforts to normalize its ties with the European Union and the United States and has even coined the catchphrase, 'The Libya Model', an example intended to show the world what can be achieved through negotiation, rather than force, when there is goodwill on both sides. By 2004 George W. Bush had lifted the economic sanctions and official relations resumed with the United States. Libya opened a liaison office in Washington, and the United States opened an office in Tripoli. In January 2004, Congressman Tom Lantos led the first official Congressional delegation visit to Libya.[133]
Libya has supported Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir despite charges of a genocide in Darfur.[134]
The release, in 2007, of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who had been held since 1999, charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV, was seen as marking a new stage in Libyan-Western relations.
The United States removed Gaddafi's regime, after 27 years, from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.[135]
On October 16, 2007, Libya was elected to serve on the United Nations Security Council for two years starting in January 2008.[136] In February 2009, Gaddafi was selected to be chairman of the African Union for one year.
In 2009 the United Kingdom and Libya signed a prisoner-exchange agreement and then Libya requested the transfer of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, who finally returned home in August 2009.[137]
As of October 25, 2009, Canadian visa requests were being denied and Canadian travelers were told they were not welcome in Libya, in an apparent reprisal for Canada's near tongue-lashing[vague] of Gaddafi.[138] Specifically, Harper's government was planning to publicly criticize Gadhafi for praising the convicted Lockerbie bomber.[139]
Libyan-Swiss relations strongly suffered after the arrest of Hannibal Gadhafi for beating up his domestic servants in Geneva in 2008. In response, Gaddafi removed all his money held in Swiss banks and asked the United Nations to vote to abolish Switzerland as a sovereign nation.[140][141]Libya still provides bounties for heads of refugees who have criticized Gaddafi, including 1 million dollars for Ashur Shamis, a Libyan-British journalist.[142]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#Libya_under_Gaddafi
We act because it is the moral and "right" thing to do. It takes strong character and a strong will to do the "right" thing, as opposed to the easy "wrong". Is it morally just for us to sit back and allow a genocide to occur? Maybe people who oppose us helping others should ask a Jewish individual who was a prisoner during the Holocaust. Let us not forget also that Gaddafi has and still supports terrorism. Have we forgetten Sept. 11th already? I find it interesting that our memory can be that short. If we continue to be so relaxed and allow terrorist nations to prosper then we open ourselves up to attacks again. Whether you agree with me or not, we are one of the greatest nations on Earth. Therefor we will always be a target, and this is why we must be ever vigilant in the defense of our country. Which would you prefer, fighting the terrorists on their ground, or fight them here at home so that our husbands, wives, and children may die?
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