Daily Times

The US and NATO appear to be in retreat.
At least in the Muslim world. For hot on the heels of the Afghanistan drawdown, western militaries have committed to exiting Libya in a matter of days. And while this is ultimately cause for fatigued celebration — Alliance troops should not have been there in the first place.

This was the outcome of the recent Berlin conference on Libya, which saw Germany, in the role of mediator, and the UN bring together 17 nations to talk Libyan peace. These included the US and Russia as well as representatives of the Libyan transitional government. The game plan sees elections going ahead in December.

Naturally, everyone and their cat has been here before. The US and NATO raining down bombs-and-bullets on sovereign states; all gung-ho and trigger happy while peddling the myth of humanitarian intervention and civilian protection. And once entire societies are devastated and infrastructure destroyed — the US and its allies cut-and-run. Without giving a second thought to nation building.

From Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Libya, regime change has always been the primary goal. Only Bashar al-Assad is clinging on to power in Damascus. It helps to have powerful allies that are opposed to both American hubris and hegemony. Gaddafi was not so lucky and met a grisly end at the hands of so-called rebel forces. But not before a NATO air strike damaged his convoy.

Regime change is important for establishing important a regional geo-strategic presence. This remains the case in Afghanistan which stands as a gateway to Central Asia and beyond. Pundits have long proclaimed that the road to Tehran passes through Damascus. Iraq is home to the world’s fifth largest oil reserves while Libya comes in at number nine. To be sure, Libyan involvement in the West Berlin discotheque (1986) and the downing of Pan Am flight 103 in the Scottish town of Lockerbie (1988) were never forgotten by either the US or the UK. Although Blair’s infamous ‘handshake in the desert’ signalled temporary respite for Gaddafi after the latter renounced his country’s WMDs programme. Of course, in both Iraq and Libya, oil contracts were gobbled up by the warmongering powers. In 2009, British Petroleum signed a staggering $900- million deal with Libya’s National Oil Company; granting it access to 21,000 square miles of land both onshore and offshore of Libya’s coast.

Thus, the withdrawal of US and NATO troops ultimately signals that the job of destabilising not just individual nations — but entire regions — has been done. This has been the case in Iraq where the US-UK war of aggression gave birth to ISIS. Afghanistan and its neighbours are preparing for civil war. And now Libya can be added to the list. As if these states have not suffered enough from the long arm of American disorder. *