Posted on August 29, 2011, by Marivel Guzman

On September 1, 1969 the pro-western regime that had ruled in Libya was overthrown by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his officers. At the time, Libya was home to the largest US Air Base (Wheelus Air Base) in North Africa. Agreements between the USA and Libya signed in 1951 and 1954 granted the USAF the use of Wheelus Air Base and its El Watia gunnery range for gunnery and bombing training and for transport and bombing stopovers until 1971. During the Cold War the base was pivotal to expanding US military power under the Strategic Air Command, and an essential base for fighter and reconnaissance missions. The Pentagon also used the base — and the remote Libyan desert — for missile launch testing: the launch area was located 15 miles (ca. 24 km) east of Tripoli. Considered a ‘little America on the shores of the Mediterranean’, the base housed some 4600 US military personnel until its evacuation in 1970.
With the discovery of oil in Libya in 1959, a very poor desert country became a very rich little western protectorate. US and European companies had huge stakes in the extremely lucrative petroleum and banking sectors, but these were soon nationalized by Gaddafi. Thus, Libya overnight joined the list of US ‘enemy’ or ‘rogue’ states that sought autonomy and self-determination outside the expanding sphere of western Empire. Further, cementing western hatred of the new regime, Libya played a leading role of the 1973 oil embargo against the US and maintained cooperative relations with the Soviet Union. Gaddafi also reportedly channeled early oil wealth into national free health care and education.
1. Libya is Africa’s largest exporter of oil, 1.7 million tons a day, which quickly was reduced to 300-400,000 ton due to US-NATO bombing. Libya exports 80% of its oil: 80% of that to several EU lands (32% Italy, 14% Germany, 10% France); 10% China; 5% USA.
2. Gaddafi has been preparing to launch a gold dinar for oil trade with all of Africa’s 200 million people and other countries interested. He has been working with this since 2002 together with Malaysia. As of recently, only South Africa and the head of the League of African States were opposed. Before the invasion of Iraq, Hussein was in agreement as was Sudan, Burney, then Indonesia and United Arab Emirates, also Iran. French President Nickola Sarkozi called this, “a threat for financial security of mankind”. Much of France’s wealth—more than any other colonial-imperialist power—comes from exploiting Africa.
(See: “The Libyan War, American Power and the Decline of the Petrodollar System” by Peter Dale Scott; “Bombing of Libya – punishment for Gaddafi for his attempt to refuse US dollar” as cited by Ellen Brown in “Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking.” For this and other points see also: “Euro-US War on Libya: Official Lies and Misconceptions of Critics” by James Petras and see other articles on the subject.)
3. Central Bank of Libya is 100% owned by state (since 1956) and is thus outside multinational corporation control (BIS-Banking International Settlement rules for private interests). The state can finance its own projects and do so without interest rates, which reduce the costs by half of private banks. Libya’s central bank (with three branches in the east including Benghazi) has 144 tons of gold in its vaults, which it could use to start the gold dinar. (China, Russia, India, Iran are stocking great sums of gold rather than relying only on dollars.)
4. Gaddafi-Central Bank used $33 billion, without interest rates, to build the Great man-made River of 3,750 kilometers with three parallel pipelines running oil, gas and water supplying 70% of the people (4.5 of its 6 million) with clean drinking and irrigation water. This provides adequate crops for the people and would be a competitive exporter of vegetables with ISRAEL and Egypt…..
What the US-NATO-EU hopes to achieve is to eliminate the half-reliable partner Gaddafi and replace him with a neoliberal oriented government that will do their bidding: sign in on AFRICOM, kick China out, reverse the government central bank to a BIS private enterprise, continue using dollars of course, and have the lackey leaders join in their permanent war age throughout the Middle East and Africa.

(Exiled Libyan monarchy shamelessly admit their role in fomenting Libyan war)

Please search this video on the Internet, and downloaded and posted, it’s been blocked in the US.

‘The Libyan monarchy of Idris, which was based in Benghazi, was installed by the United States and British in the 1950s to oversee their economic and military interests in North Africa. Libya in 1951, under the leadership of King Idris, officially had the lowest standards of Living in the world. The Idris monarchy was overthrown in a bloodless revolution led by Muammar al-Gaddafi in 1969. This led to the American Wheelus Air Base (The largest American base outside US at that time) being dismantled and the American and British armed forces stationed in Libya evacuating. The western oil companies were then nationalized.’

‘The uprising in Libya, which has been portrayed by many in the west as a democratic movement, has been symbolized by the tri-coloured rebel flag. The flag is in fact the flag of the oppressive, undemocratic, monarchy of Idris. At the start of the conflict elements of the rebels in Benghazi held aloft pictures of King Idris. Whilst by no means are all the rebels monarchists, it is however important to highlight the overthrown Libyan monarchy’s history,  influence in Benghazi and relationship with the West. It is of no surprise then that the exiled monarchy of Idris has played a hidden hand in this conflict. Closely working with their old allies in NATO in an attempt to regain their lost status in Libya and ‘return to democracy’ as his Royal Highness Prince Idris bizarrely and unashamedly declares in his CNN interview.’

Interview in September 2009 by Aljazeera Channel, Muammar Al-Gaddafi clarify many points of his government, but insist on keeping his promise given to the West, in return for the liberation of Al-Maghari , the only accused in the Lockerbie Trials, got he got his appeal will probably will have been innocent of the charge and with him, Gaddhafi will be exonerated of being “Terrorist”. He also explores the situation of Palestine and One State Solution, instead of 2 State Solution.

The Three Reason, Why the West wants Muammar Gaddafi

International bankers have reportedly wasted billions of dollars invested by Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. The Financial Times says giants like Goldman Sachs were dealing with the dictator’s investments when it needed to plug a hole during the economic crisis. Most of the money has been lost, but with what’s going on in Libya any repayment seems unlikely.

More on Lybia…..

Bombimg of Lybia – punishment for Ghaddafi for his attempt to refuse US dollar

Global Civilians For Peace In Libya

Convicted Lockerbie Bomber Probably Not Guilty—So Who Is the Real Criminal?

Libya: Photographic Evidence of NATO bombing of Nasser University in Tripoli