Before long, other European countries had covert elements in Libya. The British paper, The Guardian, has just reported the role of British special forces in coordinating the rebels on the ground. This was denied by the UK government . But then another British paper, The Telegraph, cited UK defense sources saying special forces had been in Libya already for weeks, i.e., since early August.)
"For the first time, defense sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in co-ordinating the fall of Tripoli."
Now that it is all over, expect details to emerge daily. For example, see this from the Daily Beast on the extent of US involvement behind the scenes, including:
"[A]t NATO headquarters outside Brussels, the U.S.was intimately involved in all decisions about how the Libyan rebels should be supported as they rolled up control of cities and oil refineries and marched toward the capital, Tripoli."
NATO'S MARE NOSTRUM
Ok, so certain Western powers wanted, really, really badly, to oust Qaddafi. But why exactly? France's intra-European competitive motive was certainly one factor. But there was more.
Back in 2007, European Union leaders were seriously toying with the idea of NATO-izing the entire Mediterranean, turning it into the new mare-nostrum originally contemplated in Roman days. In 2007, France's President Nicholas Sarkozy invited 27 European Union heads of state to launch a "Mediterranean union." He also invited 17 non-EU Mediterranean countries to use, as Britain's Daily Telegraph put it, "imperial Rome's centre of the world as a unifying factor linking 44 countries that are home to 800 million people."
One leader did not buy in, however: Muammar Qaddafi. He claimed the scheme would divide Africa and the Arab World. "We shall have another Roman empire and imperialist design," he was quoted as saying in July, 2008. "There are Imperialist maps and designs that we have already rolled up. We should not have them again."
Qaddafi was particularly angered that an earlier plan, which contemplated building closer co-operation among a few southern European and North African states bordering the Mediterranean, had been replaced with one which included the whole EU, the Middle East -- and Israel -- in the new "Union."
"It is unbelievable that I would come to my own country and people and say that I have a union with Israel. It is very dangerous," he said, referring to the possibility of the plan fomenting jihadism throughout Europe, not just the Middle East.
Despite this "insult," however, Qaddafi had been attempting for some time to get his country out of the near-global embargo imposed after blame for the Lockerbie bombing was laid at Libya's feet. And the West, for its part, had been largely in a great hurry to "forgive" -- and to get access to Libya's riches.
While Qaddafi was discussing with the Russians in 2007, for instance, the prospect of building a Russian military base in Libya, he'd also been busy rapidly repairing relations with other potential allies. French President Sarkozy visited that year, and signed a number of agreements, including a deal for France to build a nuclear-powered facility to desalinate ocean water for drinking. The next year, Qaddafi signed a cooperation treaty with Italy's Berlusconi. And American secretary of state Condi Rice came calling in 2008, accelerating the thaw George W. Bush had avidly begun early in his administration.
In recent years, Qaddafi was on such good behavior that U.S. officials showered him with the sort of praise usually reserved for those officially deemed to be close allies. If that sounds unlikely, all you need to do is watch this video of Republican Sen. John McCain on an August 2009 visit to Tripoli -- with his buddy Joe Lieberman, known to most as a pro-Israel, pro-Iraq-war hawk -- gushing about Qaddafi and his regime. Emerging from meetings, they evoked a spirit of friendship and mutual respect, and endorsed the US providing defense equipment to that regime. (Ever the political animal, in recent weeks, the very same McCain who led that delegation has turned to criticizing Obama for not being willing to bomb Libya heavily enough.)
A cable from the US embassy in Tripoli, released by WikiLeaks, confirms that on the 2009 visit,
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