It’s hard to know where to start with this man – we’ve marveled at his fearless, albeit, epic failure in pitching a war in Syria this past August, September. We thought, ‘can Kerry ever upstage himself’ after that debacle?
This past weekend, US forces did a raid in Tripoli to nab suspected senior Al-Qaeda leader, Nazih Abdul-Hamed Ruqai, aka Abu Anas el-Liby, for his alleged role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
In addition, Hollywood’s own Navy SEALs raided the Somali home of a leader of the al-Shabab group that allegedly planned the attack on a Kenyan Mall. After the celebrated hoax dubbed the “Bin Laden Raid”, it’s hard to believe anything about what Washington says its Navy SEALs did, or did not do.
US Secretary of State has come out defending the act as ‘legal’. So according the logic put forth by Ivy League elitist and mediocre statesman, John Kerry himself (photo, left), we should ask: would a Russian raid on Qatar be justified due to Qatar’s own open support of imported terrorist armies in Syria?
Following the NATO/al Qaeda-led revolution in Libya, the country finds itself mired in deep political crisis – as well as severe economic turmoil.
The reality is that, in 2011, a US-led joint strike combining NATO and al Qaeda forces working together to topple the Gaddafi regime in Libya, relied heavily on Washington’s close working relationship with al Qaeda commanders like Abdel Hakim Belhadj. After Libya fell, the US coordinated with him and others to immediately help transfer terrorist mercenaries from Libya – to Syria.
What’s a more likely scenario here is that the alleged “terror mastermind” in question – Mr. Nazih Abdul-Hamed Ruqai, is also a US agent working closely with the CIA and had to be extracted from Libya in order to preserve operational cover for him and his associates. The US would benefit from staging a big show to make this happen, taking a small amount of political heat in the process which could easily be taken care of by paying off the right people within the Libyan government. This same formula has served Washington well in the past, so it only stands to reason they would continue this practice.
Is there a different set of rules for the US and Israel, than for the rest of the world? Is that because those two countries are exceptional ?
The world has already figured it out – even though the idiot savants in Washington DC haven’t – the US policy of targeted killing, kidnapping and torture is all about managing the CIA’s dirty playing fields overseas. In the end, it does much more harm than good. To claim it’s somehow productive is a retarded assumption, or worse – intentional state propaganda.
RT reports…
Secretary of State John Kerry has justified the capture by US forces of a terrorism suspect in Tripoli as ‘legal and appropriate’. He thus responded to Libya governments’ demand for explanations over what happened.
Kerry has reacted to the ‘kidnapping’ complaint from the Libyan government by recommending it “not to sympathize with alleged terrorists but to underscore the importance of the rule of law.”
“I hope the perception is in the world that people who commit acts of terror and who have been appropriately indicted by courts of law, by the legal process, will know that the United States of America is going to do anything in its power that is legal and appropriate in order to enforce the law and to protect our security,” Kerry told reporters on Monday.
Libya voiced its concern on Sunday, a day after US forces captured in Tripoli a suspected senior Al-Qaeda leader, Nazih Abdul-Hamed Ruqai, known by his alias Abu Anas el-Liby, wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
This image provided by the FBI shows Abu Anas al-Libi on their wanted list October 5, 2013. (AFP/FBI)
“The Libyan government is following the news of the kidnapping of a Libyan citizen who is wanted by US authorities,” Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said as cited by Reuters.
“The Libyan government has contacted US authorities to ask them to provide an explanation.“
Zeidan reportedly fears that if he is accused of complicity with the US over the capture of Liby, which could lead to his confrontation with the Islamist part of the government that came to power following West-helped Muammar Gaddafi’s ousting two years ago.
Instead of contributing to security, the US raid in Libya might lead to just the opposite, according to Abdul Bassit Haroun, a former Islamist militia commander who works with the Libyan government.
“This won’t just pass,” Haroun said, as cited by Reuters. “There will be a strong reaction in order to take revenge because this is one of the most important Al-Qaeda figures.”
Western experts agree. Historian and writer Jay Janson is doubtful operations, like the one in Libya, are going to solve anything.
“They eliminated the Al-Shabaab leader a couple of years ago. It didn’t mean anything. Al-Shabaab became stronger. After Bin Laden is gone, Al-Qaeda is stronger everywhere,” he told RT.
The same day the US forces captured Liby in Tripoli, they also made an attempt at seizing Al-Shabaab leader in Somalia. The operation was conducted by a US Navy SEAL team. Reports of the outcome are conflicting with some saying the team was forced to withdraw before it could confirm any casualties, and others insisting some of Al-Shabaab militants were killed.
Citing an American official, AP reported that the counter-terrorism raid was targeted at Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir.
Seth G. Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the RAND Corp. and former military adviser has in an interview with AFP praised the raids by special forces, as they result in fewer civilian casualties than drone strikes and also allow for interrogation of suspects. At the same time he warned of potential risks of specifically targeting terrorist organizations’ leaders.
Abdullah al-Raghie (CL) and Abdul Moheman al-Raghie (L), the sons of al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi, show members of the press their father’s car from which he was taken by US special forces in a commando raid in Nofliene, five kilometres from the Libyan capital Tripoli on October 6, 2013, sealing a 15-year manhunt for him. (AFP Photo)
Jones gave an example from recent history when a Pakistani group, Tehreek-e-Taliban, was “fairly parochial” until a US drone strike killed its leader Baitullah Mehsud in 2009. The group allegedly responded with a 2010 failed car bombing attempt in New York’s Times Square.
“The US has to be careful with direct engagement with Al-Shabaab as it leaves open the possibility that they may attempt to strike back against the United States in East Africa or may try to do it outside East Africa,” Jones said.
There’s also an opinion that no matter how targeted and small-scale US military operations might be – it’s still a wrong path to go, which only leads to more violence. Michael Shank, director of foreign policy at the pacifist Friends Committee on National Legislation, says that the US should better focus on economic development of the areas
“It appears that past US precedent in Libya and Somalia – that of bombing, not building, societies – continues on, unmoved by the failures of past US policy,” he said. “As a result, be prepared for more instability on the continent, not less.“
So Kerry is saying that it is legal and acceptable for US forces to invade in what is seen elsewhere as an act of war, kill or capture, maim and destroy?
Doesn’t this invite the argument that it is fully legal then for say family members of innocent drone victims therefore have this “act” of reprisal available to them?
Since when has US law applied internationally I am wondering? And where is the justification? The evidence gathered, presented before a court, an international arrest warrant issued? Like so much we have it ONLY on their say so that these people have done anything wrong, we are supposed to believe them when they have provably lied again and again and again.
With the recent revelations about phone and internet tapping one now has to view any evidences from that quarter too with a pinch of salt because it doesn’t take a genius to work out that what can be taken out from, can also be added to, will we start to see political “opponents” laptops “dosed” with dodgy pictures or emails sometime soon?
WHY is he wearing very dark sunglasses indoors?
Something definitely wrong with that picture.