The Central Role of U.S. and NATO Forces in the Invasion of Tripoli

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, was interviewed on Press TV News Analysis program on the escalation of tensions between Israel, Gaza and Egypt. The program aired originally on August 19, 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Role of U.S. and NATO in the Tripoli Fighting

Despite claims that the rebels are carrying out the carnage, imperialism is the real force behind the genocidal war in North Africa

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

More news reports have confirmed earlier claims that the NATO states have been playing a large convert role in the current war in Libya. Articles in the London Daily Telegraph and the International Business Times point to the commanding and coordinating role of the U.S., British and French intelligence and special forces units in charting the way for the rebels to enter Tripoli.

The Telegraph of London carried a story by Gordon Rayner in which he states that "For weeks, military and intelligence officers have been helping the rebels plan their co-ordinated attack on the capital, and Whitehall sources have disclosed that the RAF stepped up raids on Tripoli on Saturday (Aug. 20) morning in a pre-arranged plan to pave the way for the rebel advance." (Telegraph, Aug. 23)

This article reveals that on August 20 five precision-guided Paveway IV bombs were dropped on the Baroni Centre by NATO warplanes, claiming that it was a secret military facility. Rebels had been supplied with large caches of arms that were secretly moved into Tripoli for the strikes that occured between August 20-21.

Although the storming of the Bab al-Aziziya compound on August 23 was portrayed by the NATO forces, the rebels and the corporate media as a great victory for the opposition, this location has been bombed continously over the last several months. On the same day that the rebels were credited with taking over the location, NATO had already been pounding the area for hours with British RAF Tornados and Typhoons.

In the International Business Times (IBT) the role of the United States is highlighted by recalling the Obama administration's dispatching of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives to Libya during the early phase of the attacks in the east during February. IBT cites the Associated Press which "suggested covert involvement of the U.S. forces and the CIA in the Tripoli takeover." (IBT, Aug. 23)

This same article goes on to note that "The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have been gathering information throughout the conflict from contacts they'd developed when they were working closely with the Gaddafi government on counter terrorism against al-Qaida-related Islamic militant groups operating in Libya. This thawing of relations between two longtime adversaries, lasting only a few years, paid unexpected dividends later."

The IBT then goes on to refer to the AP article report again saying that an unnamed Washington official told the publication that "The Qatari military led the way, augmented later by French, Italian and British military advisers. We simply followed the way the opposition fronts moved...Gaddafi's forces usually came out to meet the rebels, and that's when we struck."

The Canadian government acknowledged that one of its citizens was killed while the TNC rebels stormed the governmental compound that once housed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. It appears that this individual was operating with the Canadian military which has dispatched drones and engaged in bombing operations over Tripoli as the titular head of the imperialist military mission to seize this North African state.

The Canadian said to be of Libyan descent, was shot to death by loyalists military forces. This incident exposes the western media propagandistic lies that the rebels are coordinating the destruction of the country and not the NATO forces.

Meanwhile the capitalist states are scrambling to unlock the over $US128 billion in order to loot the national treasury and foreign assets of the Libyan government. Although no elections have been held, the imperialists and their allies have deemed the rebels as the government of an already internationally recognized state.

Of course this operation is carried out with the cooperation of numerous corporate and government media outlets throughout the world. Reporters from various news agencies have been embedded with the TNC rebels.

The ongoing psychological warfare is designed to convince the Libyans not to oppose the imperialists and their lackeys and to confuse people in the U.S. and the NATO countries that foreign intervention by western states in perfectly acceptable and legitimate.