http://rt.com/news/gaddafi-regime-kussa-defection/
Selected Excerpts
Susan Lindauer, a journalist and author specializing on American interventions, has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons. It is a war for oil which was prepared long ago, Lindauer argues. Anyone who cared about the Libyan people would stop immediately.
“Gaddafi will never step down,” she said. “He is a fighter till the end. It seems extraordinary that the opposition forces, while losing the war, try to dictate terms to the party that’s winning, which is Gaddafi. Once again we see that the UN is on the wrong side of the conflict. The UN has jumped into the conflict before they understood who they were teaming up with. They did not understand anything about the opposition force, who may be passionate in their politics, but they are not highly organized on the battlefield.”
Reflecting on the causes of the West’s intervention, Lindauer recalled the 1988 Lockerbie incident, which involved the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 flying over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland. The bombing, which killed hundreds, was blamed on Libya, and in 2002 Gaddafi agreed to a $2.7 billion payout to the victims of the bombing and their families.
“Last summer we began to hear interesting gossip about Gaddafi. We began to hear that Gaddafi was pressuring US and possibly British oil companies – and it may also extend to French and Italian oil companies – to reimburse Libya for the payments to the families of Pan Am 103,” she stated. “Libya had nothing to do with Lockerbie, and the UN imposed sanctions against Libya and forced Libya to pay $2.7 billion in damages to the families,” said Lindauer. “It is significant that in October, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum pulled out of Libya. Italy, France, Britain, China and Germany – all those countries are still in Libya, but the US pulled out, and at that point I believe the US started thinking they need to do something to remove Gaddafi, because he was going to continue to demand behind the scenes that Libya receive compensations for the sanctions that they suffered wrongfully for 12 years.”
Selected Excerpts
Susan Lindauer, a journalist and author specializing on American interventions, has never believed the allied forces intervened in Libya out of humanitarian reasons. It is a war for oil which was prepared long ago, Lindauer argues. Anyone who cared about the Libyan people would stop immediately.
“Gaddafi will never step down,” she said. “He is a fighter till the end. It seems extraordinary that the opposition forces, while losing the war, try to dictate terms to the party that’s winning, which is Gaddafi. Once again we see that the UN is on the wrong side of the conflict. The UN has jumped into the conflict before they understood who they were teaming up with. They did not understand anything about the opposition force, who may be passionate in their politics, but they are not highly organized on the battlefield.”
Reflecting on the causes of the West’s intervention, Lindauer recalled the 1988 Lockerbie incident, which involved the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 flying over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland. The bombing, which killed hundreds, was blamed on Libya, and in 2002 Gaddafi agreed to a $2.7 billion payout to the victims of the bombing and their families.
“Last summer we began to hear interesting gossip about Gaddafi. We began to hear that Gaddafi was pressuring US and possibly British oil companies – and it may also extend to French and Italian oil companies – to reimburse Libya for the payments to the families of Pan Am 103,” she stated. “Libya had nothing to do with Lockerbie, and the UN imposed sanctions against Libya and forced Libya to pay $2.7 billion in damages to the families,” said Lindauer. “It is significant that in October, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum pulled out of Libya. Italy, France, Britain, China and Germany – all those countries are still in Libya, but the US pulled out, and at that point I believe the US started thinking they need to do something to remove Gaddafi, because he was going to continue to demand behind the scenes that Libya receive compensations for the sanctions that they suffered wrongfully for 12 years.”
