Arindam Chaudhury
Dictators in Arab countries like Libya and Egypt may have deserved to be ousted by their people. But the role of the West in hastening the demise of the regimes in such countries, especially in the case of Libya its ruler, has been prompted by its greed to control natural wealth
After seven-odd assassination attempts over the last four decades, it was on October 20, 2011, that one of the most successful Libyan leaders, Muammar Gaddafi kissed the most brutal and disgraceful death. Libyan fighters snapped him out of his ‘hole’ and shot him to death. His body, half naked, completely wounded, with shambled hairs and bloodied, was then delivered as prized possession to Misrata (a city near Sirte) where it was put on public display as a token of victory for the rebels. And with it came an end of the era, which Gaddafi had built over 40 years. And with his end, the US again proved its double standards to the world.
Yes, Gaddafi was a ruler who made a lot of personal wealth, the way perhaps many other rulers in India and many other countries try to do. He ruled with an iron fist but then many other rulers across the world do the same. But, here are some facts about Gaddafi. Under his rule and his economic policies, Libya’s human development indicators improved so much that it was ranked as a nation that had the highest per capita GDP in Africa, the best education index and also an exceptional human development index. During his rule, women had the best of access to equality in the whole of Arab world. Yes, many people did revolt against him due to his iron fist rule, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the kind of evil that the western media has been trying to portray in the last few months. The ire of the West lies actually in the fact that Gaddafi was the real mastermind behind the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries that virtually transferred billions of petro-dollars from the Western coffers to the Arab world. And that is something that the West hasn’t been able to forget or forgive.
Let me state clearly that, this is not an attempt to defend Gaddafi or his iron-fisted policies. The attempt is to bring forth the American double standards by taking a simple look at some of the regimes which have been overthrown, because there can be nothing more shameful than what the US is doing to the entire Middle East and Africa. Not only they have been supporting the dictators with arms but with this act, they have overthrown three most successful regimes of the region to quench their lust for oil. It is no secret that since decades, US has been a chief supplier of arms to the Middle Eastern countries and especially to those nations where the regime needed it most — to most autocratic and ruthless rulers.
In 2009, US President Barack Obama asked Pentagon to sell the most advanced weapons to Governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Between 2006 and 2009 US supplied arms worth $47 billion to Middle Eastern nations, which was 54 per cent of total arms purchased by the region. It was the American weapons that were used in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt to curb the pro-democratic movements. And why not; it is these countries that collectively provided US with $70 billion through arms trade.
The Obama administration last November struck a deal with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, under which Saudi Arabia agreed to purchase arms worth $60 billion over the next 20 years including F-15 fighter aircrafts. This is the same country which is criticised for suppressing women’s rights and discriminating against foreign workers. The nation has also come under international human rights radar for practicing unfair trials and arbitrary detentions. Similarly, US support to Jordan’s Government is omnipresent. Last year it gave aid worth $300 million that the Government eventually used for curbing political resistance and violating basic rights. Interestingly, the US had made its tie stronger with Turkmenistan that last year received military aid worth $2 million a jump from $150,000 in 2009.
This jump is credited to the fact that it eases the flow of arms into Afghanistan and Pakistan and this is in spite of the fact that the 2009 State Department report of the US itself claimed the regime to be an abuser of human rights. Similar is the case of American relations with Uzbekistan (Sanctions against the brutal regime were lifted in 2006 and the Obama administration is all set to refurbish the relationship).
Coming back to the case of Gaddafi, Libya had been a key partner of US in the African region. It is no secret that Gaddafi’s rule of Libya was a transformation from an outcast to a neo-liberal nation for the Western countries. In 1980s through 1990s, Gaddafi’s coveted unflagging support to various national liberation movements that later drew ire from the Western countries, who branded Libya as “terrorist rogue state”! The testimony to it is the bombing by the Ronald Reagan administration that was aimed at assassination of Gaddafi!
However, the table was turned in late 1990s — when UN sanctions were lifted in 1999 and US itself abandoned its sanctions against Libya by 2006. It was a case of restoring Gaddafi for American policy benefits! The US also blackmailed Gaddafi to support American policies so that it could give a leeway to Libya on human rights (read, hardliners)! US also had interest in Libya for its arms trade — and essentially suggested — and helped Libya develop its missiles and chemical weapons with American help.
Gaddafi chased advanced weapons using petro-dollars and tried to portray himself as the leader of entire Africa! Gaddafi made windfall gains through oil trade that constituted 30 per cent of Libya’s GDP and enhanced the prosperity of his country.
Courtesy : The Pioneer
No comments:
Post a Comment