Today Islamist fighters of the Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) have taken control of the international airport in Tripoli, Libya, after weeks of intense fighting.
Adding to the chaos in Tripoli, mystery war planes, possibly belonging to former Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, have repeatedly struck at Islamist positions. Haftar is widely suspected of having CIA ties, so his personal army fighting for power in Libya adds a curious dimension to the chaos.
The elected parliament of Libya has been unable to manage these attacks from both sides, pleading with the United Nations earlier this month to intervene and dismantle the various militias fighting for control of the country.
The US government position has, not surprisingly, reflected the cognitive dissonance that is at the center of US foreign policy, deploring the violence but maintaining that a “democratic transition” is still in process. The State Department stated in response to the fast-motion destruction of Libya:
We are in particular deeply concerned by the increasing toll the violence is taking on Libya’s civilian population and institutions, as well as the threat it poses to Libya’s democratic transition.
Their “democratic transition” lies in ashes today on the tarmac of the Tripoli International Airport.
US intervention in Syria has produced ISIS, which US officials tell us is the most dangerous threat to the United States imaginable. US interventionism in Libya has resulted in a practical takeover of the country by a similarly-oriented Islamist militia.
This isn’t what they promised.
They promised us the US attack on Libya would usher in democracy, prosperity, and freedom from tyranny. When Gaddafi was sodomized and murdered by US-backed thugs, the US government rejoiced. Said President Obama:
[This] is a momentous day in the history of Libya. The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted. And with this enormous promise, the Libyan people now have a great responsibility — to build an inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Qaddafi’s dictatorship. We look forward to the announcement of the country’s liberation, the quick formation of an interim government, and a stable transition to Libya’s first free and fair elections.
Then-secretary of State Hillary Clinton was even more succinct about US regime change in Libya: “We came, we saw, he died,” she laughed on network television.
Is she still laughing today? Does Obama look at the destruction of Libya, the armed goons dancing on top of airplanes, and think “oops”? Don’t count on it. They have plenty more “liberations in mind.”
