Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal

[BOG PERSON]

You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a "yes" vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya - the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.

The revelation came from two different diplomats, a European and a member of the BRIC group, and was made separately to a US scholar and Asia Times Online. According to diplomatic protocol, their names cannot be disclosed. One of the diplomats said, "This is the reason why we could not support resolution 1973. We were arguing that Libya, Bahrain and Yemen were similar cases, and calling for a fact-finding mission. We maintain our official position that the resolution is not clear, and may be interpreted in a belligerent manner."

As Asia Times Online has reported, a full Arab League endorsement of a no-fly zone is a myth. Of the 22 full members, only 11 were present at the voting. Six of them were Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, the US-supported club of Gulf kingdoms/sheikhdoms, of which Saudi Arabia is the top dog. Syria and Algeria were against it. Saudi Arabia only had to "seduce" three other members to get the vote.

Translation: only nine out of 22 members of the Arab League voted for the no-fly zone. The vote was essentially a House of Saud-led operation, with Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa keen to polish his CV with Washington with an eye to become the next Egyptian President.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD02Ak01.html

[Better Believe It]

1. K & R

[Angry Dragon]

2. SURPRISE!!

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[indimuse]

4. KNR! n/t

[Raksha]

5. This is sickening...not surprising, though.

[bighart]

6. Kickety

[piratefish08]

7. another 'backroom' war. color me surprised.

[ProSense]

8. Yeah, it's a conspiracy

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Arab League and the even the Ugandan President, a Gaddafi ally who upheld the U.N. sanctions, were in on it.

Utter nonsense.

[Distant Observer]

10. Dear ProSense. There are two side. And in information wars, the West has "unique capabilities"

Do some research into the other side, when you have some time.

I am as passionate a "people rights" supporters as they come.

But look at the dynamics of the real ongoing "Arab Spring" that both the Saudis and many in the West
are now aligned to suppress -- Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen etc

It is not the same in Libya, where a genuine protest movement was manipulated as a cloak to turn
a long-simmering factions conflict into an all-out civil war designed to achieve agendas which
have less to do with peace and freedom than the untapped $trillions of Oil and Gas reserves under the sands of Eastern Libya.

[ProSense]

12. "I am as passionate a 'people rights' supporters as they come. "

But please, leave Gaddafi alone

He's not all that bad!!!!

[Distant Observer]

13. I'v NEVER said to "leave Gaddafi alone." But mass killing is not the answer, but the Death of Libya

[arcane1]

9. I wish I could say I was surprised n/t

[Xicano]

11. Well, well, well....

Surprise, surprise. K&R

Thanks for posting this BOG PERSON.

[bighart]

14. Are we averse to hard truth?

[LiberalAndProud]

15. Let's just keep pretending it's all about humanitarian concerns.

It's more comfortable that way.

[riderinthestorm]

16. K and R. This article has come up before and deserves to be kicked every time. nt

[ProgressIn2008]

17. This shit makes me sick. nt

[roamer65]

18. We pay for this deal everytime we buy hydrocarbon fuels.

We are all guilty.

[Gravel Democrat]

19. k.r hoping not true. How many civilian casualties so far? Not polite to discuss...

http://costofwar.com

[Starry Messenger]

20. k&r