Obama’s biggest mistake was the invasion of Libya; Gaddafi was right when he warned that the overthrow of the government would lead to terrorist attacks in Europe, Daniel McAdams, executive director at the Ron Paul Peace Institute, says.
Gunfire, explosions, and artillery strikes were reported in Tripoli on Friday as clashes erupted between the forces loyal to the internationally-recognized Presidential Council which presides over the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), and rival groups loyal to the General National Congress (GNC), also called the National Salvation Government. Dozens were reportedly killed and hundreds injured.
The fighting erupted after GNC militia commander Salah Badi launched an attack on the GNA-allied Central Security militia in an attempt to recapture parts of the capital, according to the Libya Herald. Badi was a key figure in the 2011 uprising against then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.
RT: Salah Badi was described as “a hero” in the past. That has changed now though. What is really going on there?
Daniel McAdams: What is going on is utter chaos and it was also utterly predictable. Even Gaddafi warned that “if you intervene and… you overthrow my government, you will see terrorist attacks in Europe.” Everybody laughed at him, thought he was crazy, had to invade anyway, and it turns out he was right as usual. You have rival governments, you have rival factions, you have rival gangs. The chaos is perfect for exporting weapons and jihadists into places like Syria – they are also on the target list. So, in a sense, the chaos is unexpected but perhaps in another sense it is expected by some.
RT: Egypt launched strikes on Libya-based terrorist camps. Was toppling Gaddafi worth it?
DM: The entire Arab Spring was a lie, it was this idea that somehow this spontaneous uprising… it was all a lie, it was a complete lie. The State Department, the CIA, the security services were behind it. The Libyan situation was a lie, the humanitarian crisis was a lie, and lies were told in the UN Human Rights Council that Gaddafi was attacking his own civilians; that absolutely didn’t take place. The war is based on a lie, it was based on propaganda to get the average citizen in favor of it and it has produced horrible results like most of us had predicted that it would. The question is why aren’t the people who invaded and caused so much bloodshed – I am thinking about David Cameron, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy primarily among them – why aren’t they on the dock for war crimes? In any other situation, someone would be on the dock and they certainly should be.
RT: Obama said his major mistake in office was failure to work on Libya’s reconciliation. Do you think it in any country’s agenda now at all?
DM: That is an obvious lie, it is an obfuscation. Its biggest mistake was an invasion in the first place. It was like saying we were heroes in error. That is what the neocons said about how they destroyed Iraq. No, his mistake was invading a country that not only had not invaded us but had not threatened us, it was incapable of threatening us. That was his big mistake. He still doesn’t get it. He refuses to admit it. And the blood of thousands and thousands, perhaps more, is on his hands.
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