Abstract
The purpose of psychological warfare (psy-OP) as defined by the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC), as well as by MI6, is to demoralize the enemy, causing disagreement and turmoil within its ranks, and to convince the population to support the forces of the United States and its allies. And the strategy to unleash war on Libya was to use the media to construct an image in which the dictator Muammar Gaddafi was about to massacre the civilians who were protesting against his regime in Benghazi. On February 26, 2011, 8 days after the beginning of the rebellion in Benghazi, France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States succeeded in passing Resolution 1970 through the UN Security Council (UNSC), “condemning the violence and use of force against civilians, deploring the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators, expressing deep concern at the deaths of civilians, and rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government”. The goal of this Resolution 1970 was vendere fumum, to deceive. It assumed that “the widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Libya against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity”, decided to refer the matter to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and adopted a series of sanctions to be applied by members of the United Nations.
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Notes
- 1.
Sawā’ (سوا), which in many Arab dialects means “together”, is a radio network funded by the United States Congress for countries in the Middle East.
- 2.
Paul Kerr, “Top U.S. Officials Voice Concern About Syria’s WMD Capability”, Arms Control Today, May 2003.
- 3.
Corera (2011a), p. 383.
- 4.
Ibid., p. 383.
- 5.
Gordon Corera, “Torture claims raise questions over Libya-Britain ties”, BBC News, September 5, 2011. “Behind closed doors: The bewildering dance between Gaddafi and MI6”, The Independent, August 25, 2011. Nabila Ramdani, Tim Shipman and Peter Allen, “Tony Blair our very special adviser by dictator Gaddafi’s son”, Daily Mail, June 5, 2010.
- 6.
Corera (2011a), p. 384.
- 7.
Flynt Leverett, “Why Libya Gave Up on the Bomb”, The New York Times, January 23, 2004.
- 8.
Questioned by Sir John Chilcot, member of the British Parliament, during the inquiry into Iraq, an SIS1 agent declared: “I think Saddam Hussein woefully misread the world, whereas I think Gaddafi reads it quite well”, accessed http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/52549/sisi1-declassified.pdf.
- 9.
2004 State of the Union Address, delivered 20 January 2004, Washington, D.C., The White House, President George W. Bush, accessed http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-7.html.
- 10.
ID 09 Tripoli 677 Subject Codel Mccain Meets Muammar And Muatassim Al-Qadhafi Date 2009-08-19 00:00:00 Confidential — Section 01 Of 02 Tripoli 000677 — SIPDIS — State For NEA/MAG and H E.O. 12958: Decl: 8/19/2009 — Tags: PREL PGOV PINS PINR PTER MASS MCAP Ly Subject: Codel Mccain Meets Muammar And Muatassim Al-Qadhafi — Ref: A. Tripoli 662; B. Tripoli 674; C. State 43,049; D. Tripoli 648 Tripoli 00000677 001.2 Of 002 Classified By: Joan Polaschik, Charge D’affaires, U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Department Of State. Reason: 1.4 (B), (D). http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/08/09TRIPOLI677.html.
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
“US looks on Libya as McDonald’s — Gaddafi’s son”, Russia Today, July 1, 2011.
- 13.
Prashad (2012), p. 233.
- 14.
Sensini (2011), p. 149.
- 15.
Maher Chmaytelli, “Total Accepts Lower Share of Libyan Oil Production (Update2)”, Bloomberg, February 10, 2009.
- 16.
Ian Black, “British trade mission seeks to make most of Libyan goodwill”, The Guardian, September 26, 2011.
- 17.
Ibid. About the main markets for Libyan oil in 2009: Energy Information Administration http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NS7cLQRFQVA/TqyCoyG-mTI/AAAAAAAADW8/z9nuzYU8pqc/s1600/libya+and+oil.jpg. Accessed 24.04.2015. Also: Libya S.O.S. http://libyasos.blogspot.de/.
- 18.
“Sarko’ ha manovrato la rivolta libica”, Affaritaliani.it. “French plans to topple Gaddafi on track since last November”, Mathaba News Network, 25/3/2011. Apud Domenico Losurdo, http://domenicolosurdo.blogspot.de/2011_03_01_archive.html, Blitz quotidiano, http://www.blitzquotidiano.it/politica-mondiale/libia-francia-ribelli-bengasi-007-gheddafi-794,604/.
- 19.
“Libia. La Francia ha armato i ribelli di Bengasi? Le manovre degli 007 di Sarkò con un fedelissimo di Gheddafi”, Blitz quotidiano.
- 20.
Ibid.
- 21.
Stephanie Condon 2011, “Obama: Qaddafi must go, but current Libya mission focused on humanitarian efforts”. CBS News, March 21. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-qaddafi-must-go-but-current-libya-mission-focused-on-humanitarian-efforts/. 23.12.2014. Jeff Mason 2011, “U.S. says Libya has spoken, Gaddafi must leave now”. Washington Sat Feb 26, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/26/us-libya-usa-idUSTRE71K6D520110226. 23.12.2014. Michael O’Brien 2011, “Obama, in call to German chancellor: Gadhafi must go ‘now’”. The Hills, Blog Briefing Room, 26/2.
- 22.
Mark Hemingway, “McCain and Lieberman: ‘Qaddafi must go’”, The Weekly Standard, March 11, 2011.
- 23.
U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations, http://www.psywarrior.com/psyop.html.
- 24.
RES/1970 (2011) — Security Council — Distr. General February 26, 2011 - 11-24558 (E) *1124558*.
- 25.
Security Council SC/10200 — 6498th Meeting (Night) Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York, “Security Council Approves ‘No-Fly Zone’ Over Libya, Authorizing ‘All Necessary — Measures’ To Protect Civilians, By Vote Of 10 In Favour With 5 Abstentions”, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm#Resolution.
- 26.
Sensini (2011), p. 116–117.
- 27.
Tim Shipman, “Send in the dogs of war: Mercenaries could help the rag-tag rebels say UK generals”, Daily Mail, April 6, 2011.
- 28.
Caroline Gammell and Nick Meo, “Libya: inside the SAS operation that went wrong”, The Telegraph, March 6, 2011. “Libya unrest: SAS members ‘captured near Benghazi’”, BBC Magazine, March 6, 2011. Mark Urban, “Inside story of the UK’s secret mission to beat Gaddafi”, BBC Magazine, January 19, 2012.
- 29.
Sensini (2011), p. 109.
- 30.
Mark Urban, “Inside story of the UK’s secret mission to beat Gaddafi”, BBC Magazine, January 19, 2012. Sensini (2011), p. 109.
- 31.
“Ship carrying Marines heads to Libya”, ABC News, March 1, 2011. Rial World http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2011/03/400-marines-head-toward-libya.html. Sensini (2011), p. 110.
- 32.
Each cruise missile cost US$1 million, and the new model, US$2 million. On the first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, US expenditures with missiles alone reached US$100 million.
- 33.
“The Pentagon says 114 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been launched from U.S. and British ships in the Mediterranean, hitting more than 20 (...)”, FoxNews, March 20, 2011. Sanskar Shrivastava, “US Launches Missile Strike in Libya”, The World Reporter, March 20, 2011.
- 34.
Frank W. Hardy, “French Rafale Fighter Jets Attack and Destroy Libyan Targets”, North Africa Affairs, March 19, 2011.
- 35.
Christian F. Anrig, “A Força Aliada na Líbia — Avaliação Preliminar”. http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-p/2012/2012-2/2012_2_02_anrig_p.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2015.
- 36.
Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, “Libya’s Pathway to Peace”, The New York Times, April 14, 2011.
- 37.
Paul Peachey, “Regime clan has £4bn in gold reserves, says IMF”, The Independent, March 24, 2011. Sensini (2011), p. 157.
- 38.
Giorgio Sacerdoti, “Freezing Sovereign Wealth Funds Assets Abroad Under U.N. Security Council’s Resolutions: The Case of the Implementation in Italy of Asset Freezes Against Qadhafi’s Libya”, May 1, 2012.
- 39.
“Gen. Wesley Clark Weighs Presidential Bid: ‘I Think about It Everyday’”, Democracy Now, with Amy Goodman and Juan González, March 2, 2007. “U.S. General Wesley Clark: ‘Obama’s invasion of Libya was planned under the Bush administration, Syria is next’”, Foreign Policy, September 14, 2011. Trevor Lyman, “Obama’s invasion of Libya was planned under the Bush administration, Syria is next”, Bastiat Institute, September 14, 2011.
- 40.
Jorge Benitez, “Intell and Special Forces from allies helped rebels take Tripoli”, Nato Source, August 22, 2011. Jorge Benitez, “Covert teams from NATO members ‘provided critical assistance’ to Libyan rebels”, Nato Source, August 23, 2011.
- 41.
Rick Rozoff, “Saudi Arabia — Persian Gulf of Strategic Interest to NATO”, Stop NATO, June 20, 2012.
- 42.
“‘The principle source of support for the rebels came from Q-SOC,’ the Qatari special forces, says this source, who would only be identified as a former US intelligence contractor with direct knowledge of operations in Libya.” Spencer Ackerman, “Tiny Qatar flexed big muscles in Libya”, Wired.co.uk, August, 26, 2011. “But on the ground here, credit for helping to get the rebel army into shape goes to military advisers from the tiny Arabian Peninsula emirate of Qatar. (…) ‘Qatar had stood by us from the very beginning, even before it was announced that they were here,’ said Col. Ahmed Bani, a spokesman for the rebel army. ‘They have been more effective than any other nation. They just haven’t boasted about it.’” Portia Walker, “Qatari military advisers on the ground, helping Libyan rebels get into shape”, The Washington Post, May 13, 2011.
- 43.
Ian Black, “Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels. Qatari chief-of-staff reveals extent of involvement, saying troops were responsible for training, communications and strategy”, The Guardian, October 26, 2011.
- 44.
Gordon Rayner, Thomas Harding and Duncan Gardham, “Libya: secret role played by Britain creating path to the fall of Tripoli”, The Telegraph, August 22, 2011.
- 45.
Ian Black, “Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels. Qatari chief-of-staff reveals extent of involvement, saying troops were responsible for training, communications and strategy”, The Guardian, October 26, 2011.
- 46.
Ibid. Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller, “Intell and Special Forces from allies helped rebels take Tripoli”, The Washington Post, NATO Source, October 26, 2011.
- 47.
Ayman Adly, “Nato commander hails Qatari forces’ role in Libya’s liberation”, Gulf Times, March 26, 2012.
- 48.
Ibid.
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Moniz Bandeira, L.A. (2017). NATO Intervention as an Answer to Gaddafi’s Goodwill Measures. In: The Second Cold War. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54888-3_14
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