Stephen Lendman

A previous article explained that America's led NATO war on Libya was long-planned. All military interventions require months of preparation, including:

● strategy and conflict objectives;
● enlisting coalition partners;
● selecting targets;
● promoting political and public support;
● deploying troops;
● in Libya, recruiting, funding, and arming so-called rebels; and
● post-conflict imperial plans.

Washington wants one despot replaced with another, a useful puppet to salute and obey orders, not independent-minded ones like Gaddafi who went along most often but not always on all issues, some major enough to want him ousted. An important overlooked one is discussed below.

Other objectives are to colonize Libya, balkanize it like Yugoslavia and Iraq, prevent democracy from emerging, privatize its state enterprises, exploit its people, establish new Pentagon bases, and control its oil, gas and other resources, a key one getting little attention - Libya's Great Man-Made River (GMMR).

The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) lies beneath four North African countries - Chad, Egypt, Sudan and Libya, called the world's largest fossil water system because it's ancient and non-renewable. In fact, the Qur'an's (Koran) Surah 2, Verse 74 says:

"For among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder send forth water."

In fact, three major aquifers lie beneath the Sahara, NSAS the largest, containing an estimated 375,000 cubic km of water.

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Stephen Lendman

Since taking office, Obama shamelessly betrayed his constituents by:

● ignoring popular needs during America's greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression;
● giving Wall Street crooks trillions of taxpayer dollars;
● spending another $1.5 trillion annually on militarism, imperial wars, and related policies at a time America has no enemies;
● waging war on organized labor and public education, as well as civil and human rights; and
● claiming "tough choices" demand class warfare through neoliberal austerity for working Americans, mainly middle and lower income ones least able to afford it.

On April 13, he announced his latest plan through $4 trillion in largely social spending budget cuts over the next 12 years. More on them below.

The same day, New York Times writers Mark Landler and Michael Shear headlined, "Obama's Debt Plan Sets Stage for Long Battle Over Spending," saying:

Obama's Wednesday George Washington University speech "propos(ed) a mix of long-term spending cuts, tax increases, and changes to social welfare programs," omitting that they harm working Americans most.

A Times editorial headlined, "President Obama, Reinvigorated," saying:

"The man America elected president has re-emerged." His budget speech "was a reasonable basis for a conversation and is far better than its most prominent competitors. That is because it is grounded in themes of generosity and responsibility....(I)t was a relief to see Mr. Obama standing up for the values that got him to the table."

These aren't surprising comments from a broadsheet long associated with wealth and power interests, now pretending hammering working Americans is fair and just.

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Stephen Lendman

[War Crime:] The Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon
with a highly incendiary effect, in densely populated civilian resi-
dential areas of Gaza City, according to indisputable evidence.

"Over 18 months after publication, no contrary facts have been determined. [We] "have yet to establish a convincing basis for any claims that contradict the findings of the mission's report."

A previous article addressed chairman Richard Goldstone's fall from grace, accessed through this link.

It discussed his shameless retraction of irrefutable evidence he and other commission members found - namely, that Israel willfully committed crimes of war and against humanity by attacking Gazan civilians and non-military targets in clear violation of international law. Moreover, it was done disproportionately to cause mass deaths, injuries and destruction.

Shockingly, however, Goldstone accepted Israel's internal investigation findings, knowing facts were suppressed and distorted to justify policies. For whatever reasons, he capitulated, selling his soul at the expense of his honor, character, dignity, and high-mindedness, erased in his April 1 Washington Post op-ed too late to retract.

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Alex Lantier
WSWS

Stranded Egyptians who have fled Libya protest because of in-
sufficient food, water and shelter, in a camp on March 1, 2010 in
Ras Jdir, close to the border between Tunisia and Egypt. (Carlos
Spottorno/Getty Images)

Launched under the pretense of averting a humanitarian disaster, the war is reportedly becoming one itself.

The Contact Group, an assembly of foreign ministers from Western and Arab countries backing the Benghazi-based Libyan rebels of the Interim Transitional National Council (INC), met yesterday in Doha, Qatar. The meeting highlighted the INC’s role as a stooge of the imperialist powers, particularly the US, Britain and France, who are promoting it as their proxy force in a bitter civil war in Libya.

Qatar and Britain hosted the conference, with British Foreign Secretary William Hague issuing a statement in the early evening demanding that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi step down as Libyan head of state. Hague declared, “Gaddafi and his regime have lost all legitimacy and he must leave power.”

The conference praised the continued bombing of Libya by NATO forces, declaring: “These have exerted significant pressure on Gaddafi, protected civilians, including Benghazi, from violent attack and averted a humanitarian disaster.”

The conference also agreed to fund the INC: “Participants agreed that a Temporary Financial Mechanism could provide a method for the INC and international community to manage revenue to assist with short-term financial requirements and structural needs in Libya.”

INC member Mahmoud Chammam called on the US government to “liberate the funds” of the Gaddafi regime—that is, an estimated $30 billion of Libyan oil earnings held by Western banks. Normally used to pay for Libyan social spending and public sector workers’ salaries, these funds would be stolen by the major banks to pay for INC weapons and supplies.

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