May 31, 2011
Inter Press Service

Zuma Says Gaddafi Ready For Truce

DOHA (IPS/Al Jazeera) - Muammar Gaddafi is ready for a truce to stop the fighting in his country, Jacob Zuma, the South African president, has said.

Zuma, who met the Libyan leader at an undisclosed location during a visit to Libya on Monday, also listed conditions set out by the embattled leader that have scuppered previous ceasefire attempts.

He said Gaddafi was willing to accept an African Union (AU) initiative for a ceasefire that would stop all hostilities, including NATO air strikes in support of rebel forces.

But Zuma said Gaddafi insists that "all Libyans be given a chance to talk among themselves" to determine the country's future. The rebels, however, quickly rejected the offer. . . .

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Joe Conason, "Regime Change: 'Seven Countries in Five Years'," Salon.com, October 12, 2007

Enver Masud, "Libya Oil Grab Disguised As Humanitarian Assistance," The Wisdom Fund, March 8, 2011

The do-gooders who pushed for war "Letter to President Obama about Libya," Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, March 14, 2011

Enver Masud, "Revealed: America's Hidden Hand Behind The UN Resolution For A No-fly Zone Over Libya," The Wisdom Fund, March 19, 2011

Eric Margolis, "Libya: A New Crusade," ericmargolis.com, March 21, 2011

Pepe Escobar, "Libya Endgame: Divide, Rule And Get The Oil," Asia Times, March 25, 2011

Curtis Doebbler, "Why the Attack on Libya is Illegal," counterpunch.org, March 28, 2011

"Libya: A 'Socialist Paradise' Under Colonial Attack," The Wisdom Fund, April 1, 2011

Jean-Paul Pougala, "The Lies Behind the West's War on Libya," pambazuka.org, April 14, 2011

Robert D. Crane, "Qaddafi Launched Program to Privatize Libya's Oil to Every Citizen of Libya," The Wisdom Fund, May 12, 2011

Kim Sengupta and Solomon Hughes, "Gaddafi regime staked £12bn on secret deal in bid to open peace talks," Independent, June 10, 2011

Fran Townsend, "NATO official: Gadhafi a legitimate target," CNN, June 10, 2011

James Mackenzie, "Gaddafi would agree to supervised election, says son," Reuters, June 14, 2011

[Amr Moussa, the veteran Egyptian diplomat who played a central role in securing Arab support for Nato air strikes, told the Guardian he now had second thoughts about a bombing mission that may not be working.--Ian Traynor, "Arab League chief admits second thoughts about Libya air strikes," Guardian, June 14, 2011]

[Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, had said his father would hold elections within three months and would step down if he lost. But the Obama administration rejected the proposal, calling it "too late."--"U.S., Rebels Reject Gaddafi Proposal," democracynow.org, June 17, 2011]

"Report: Obama rejected the views of top lawyers in deciding to pursue Libya air war," Associated Press, June 17, 2011

Eugene Robinson, "Obama's novel definition of 'hostilities'," washingtonpost.com, June 20, 2011

[The mission was originally justified as necessary to save lives, even though there was no evidence of impending massacres anywhere, including in Benghazi. In fact, Muammar Qaddafi's forces committed no large killings in any of the cities that they retook, and his oft-cited florid rhetoric was directed against guerrilla fighters, not civilians. . . .

After almost three months of war, the United States and NATO have failed to achieve their first objective. In fact, by prolonging the civil war, they are responsible for some of the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 dead.--Doug Bandow, "U.S. Gears Up for War Number Six," nationalinterest.org, June 20, 2011]

Ian Black, "UK and France dismiss Italy's call for pause in NATO bombing of Libya," Guardian, June 22, 2011

Josh Rogin, "Exclusive: Top U.S. admiral admits we are trying to kill Qaddafi," foreignpolicy.com, June 24, 2011

Patrick Cockburn, "Don't believe everything you see and read about Gaddafi," Independent, June 26, 2011

Richard Falk, "Doubts surround Gaddafi arrest warrants," aljazeera.net, June 29, 2011

David Jolly and Kareem Fahim, "France Says It Gave Arms to the Rebels in Libya," nytimes.com, June 29, 2011

[Libya is already a graphic case of post-modern neo-colonial plunder.

NATO "winning" means in practice Cyrenaica as an independent republic - although the "rebels" would rather restore the monarchy (the candidate can barely conceal his impatience in London). That also happens to be what Saudi Arabia and Qatar - major backers of regime change - want.

. . . billions of dollars of Libyan assets have already been - illegally - seized by the US and the European Union. And part of the national oil production is being commercialized by Qatar.--Pepe Escobar, "What's really at stake in Libya," atimes.com, June 30, 2011]

Kim Sengupta, "Rebel chief clears way for Gaddafi to stay in Libya," Independent, July 4, 2011

[The United States remains firm that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi must give up his 41-year rule, the State Department said on Sunday, after France's defense minister advocated a compromise with Libyan rebels.--Jim Wolf, "U.S. sticks to guns on ousting Libya's Gaddafi," Reuters, July 10, 2011]

Justin Vela, "West prepares to hand rebels Gaddafi's billions: Recognition as legitimate government may unlock $30bn war chest," Independent, July 16, 2011

"Russia criticises US for recognising Libyan rebel government: Decision to designate national transitional council as legitimate government is taking sides in civil war, says Moscow," Reuters, July 18, 2011

[ . . . the LCG is not a united effort by "the leaders of the world"; it is an effort to circumvent the UN Security Council, largely coordinated by Atlantic ex-colonial powers and anxious Arab autocrats who are most deeply committed to the bombing campaign against Gaddafi.--Peter Lee, "Another take on Libya hubris for China," atimes.com, July 19, 2011]

[WESTERN governments have helped prepare a blueprint for a post-Gaddafi Libya that would retain much of the regime's security infrastructure to avoid an Iraq-style collapse into anarchy. . . .

The document includes proposals for a 10,000-15,000 strong "Tripoli task force", resourced and supported by the United Arab Emirates, to take over the Libyan capital, secure key sites and arrest high-level Gaddafi supporters.--Tom Coghlan, "Iraq haunts plans for post-Gaddafi Libya," The Australian, August 9, 2011]

[Foreign diplomats still based in Tripoli confirmed to me that, since NATO started bombing, Gadhafi support and approval ratings have actually soared to about 85 per cent.

Of the 2,335 tribes in Libya, over 2,000 are still pledging their allegiance to the embattled president.--Scott Taylor, "Gadhafi support soars amid NATO bombing," thechronicleherald.ca, August 15, 2011]

[Five months later, all the assumptions on which the war was based have proved to be more or less false. Human rights organizations have failed to find evidence of the "crimes against humanity" allegedly ordered by Gaddafi against "his own people". The recognition of the Transitional National Council (TNC) as the "sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people" by Western governments has gone from premature to grotesque. NATO has entered and exacerbated a civil war that looks like a stalemate.--Jean Bricmont and Diana Johnstone, "Who Will Save Libya From Its Western Saviours?," counterpunch.org, August 16, 2011]

[During my two months' investigation on the ground, I was able to verify that these accusations were pure propaganda intoxication, designed by the NATO powers to create the conditions for war, and relayed around the world by their television media, in particular Al-Jazeera, CNN, BBC and France24.

. . . gentlemen from NATO, who hoped to escape international justice by crushing their victim, Libya, in a few short days so that it would not survive to pursue them, will be disenchanted. Libya is still there. She is filing complaints with the International Criminal Court, the Belgian courts (whose jurisdiction NATO falls under), the European Court of Justice, and the national courts of aggressor states. She is undertaking steps before the Council of Human Rights in Geneva, the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations.--Thierry Meyssan, "Libya and the End of Western Illusions," voltairenet.org, August 16, 2011}

["We planned this operation with NATO, our Arab associates and our rebel fighters in Tripoli with commanders in Benghazi," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebel leadership council, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.--Dario Lopez and Karin Laub, "Libyan rebels say they are attacking Tripoli," AP, August 20, 2011]

[ . . . Britain, France and other nations deployed special forces on the ground inside Libya to help train and arm the rebels--Eric Schmitt and Steven Lee Myers, "Surveillance and Coordination With NATO Aided Rebels," Independent, August 21, 2011

Kim Sengupta, "Gaddafi faces the end as rebels celebrate in Tripoli," Independent, August 22, 2011

[A NATO military official said .. . that British and French commandos were on the ground with the rebels in Tripoli offering "fairly extensive" help.--Eric Schmitt and Elizabeth Bumiller, "Airstrikes More Difficult as War Moves to Tripoli," nytimes.com, August 23, 2011]

Reid J. Epstein, "NATO's Libya generals should be hauled to court, says Dennis Kucinich," politico.com, August 23, 2011

[If stopping the killing had been the real aim, Nato states would have backed a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement, rather than repeatedly vetoing both.--Seumas Milne, "Libya's imperial hijacking is a threat to the Arab revolution," Guardian, August 24, 2011]

Gordon Rayner, Thomas Harding and Duncan Gardham, "Libya: secret role played by Britain creating path to the fall of Tripoli," Telegraph, August 25, 2011