Is It Time for Canada to Apologize to Libya?

https://www.globalresearch.ca/time-canada-apologize-libya/5786972

Canada said their war in Libya was to defend human rights and enable democracy. But, NATO’s 2011 assault has unleashed a decade of instability and violence as well as deteriorating social and economic indicators. And they still haven’t held presidential elections.

Since the start of the month there has been an uprising against living conditions in Libya. Protesters are unhappy with power outages, corruption and the divided country’s failure to hold elections. On July 1 the parliament building in the east was stormed and burnt.

Describing the scene in Tripoli and Benghazi, New Arab reported, “Some brandished the green flags of the regime of dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who was killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that plunged the country into over a decade of violence.” A June 27 Reuters story about the dire situation in the country’s eleventh biggest city explained: “Like everybody else Reuters spoke to in Sirte, he viewed the 2011 uprising as a foreign plot to destroy Libya and hankered for calmer times when Gaddafi lavished money on the city.” In December the eastern and western based governments canceled a planned national election in part because Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, looked likely to win.

At the same time as Libyans revolt against the failure to hold elections, details are emerging about the scope of violence in recent years. A United Nations panel released a report two weeks ago detailing how militia fighters executed hundreds between 2016 and 2020. 247 bodies were uncovered in mass and individual grave sites in the western Libyan city of Tarhuna with many of the victims handcuffed and blindfolded.

Since Gadhafi was killed in October 2011 thousands, probably tens of thousands, have died in fighting. More than a decade after the foreign-backed war Libya remains divided between two main political factions and hundreds of militias operate in the country of six million.

At the NATO summit in Spain two weeks ago Italy’s Defense Minister, Lorenzo Guerini, warned that Libya required greater attention. In other words, 11 years after NATO “liberated” the country the alliance may consider intervening again.

Canada played an important part in the coalition that waged war on Libya from March to October 2011. Seven CF-18 fighter jets participated, two Canadian naval vessels patrolled the Libyan coast and Canadian special forces were likely on the ground. Canadian general Charles Bouchard commanded the entire NATO operation, “personally signing off on every last preselected [bombing] target,” according to the Globe and Mail. Continue…