None of this is secret. It's not hidden in a vault somewhere in Gaddafi's super-secure compound of Bab Azizia. It's not in any confidential CIA reports. These are facts: well-known, long-established, cold-hard facts--and yet Cynthia Mckinney seems to have no knowledge of them, instead giving preference to romantic notions of pan-Africanism perpetuated by the regime.
She makes other erroneous claims--she likes to tout Gaddafi's system of "subsidized healthcare, education, housing, etc" as proof of his goodwill and legitimacy. She says Libyans enjoy the profits of Libya's large oil reserves. She conveniently skirts the fact of Libya's 30% poverty rate: 2/3 of Libyans live on less than $2 a day--unless you're a close personal friend of Muammar you don't see anything of that oil money.
Libya's healthcare system is a disaster. The World Health Organization ranks Libya's health care system at 87. In 2009, there was approximately 1 health care profession for every 1,000 Libyans. Many Libyans don't find sufficient medical care inside the country and must make expensive trips abroad to Tunisia, Algeria, and surrounding countries for better treatment.
"Boarding an aeroplane to visit your doctor is common practice among Libyans," reported a 2010 article in Middle East Economic Digest, "As a result of sanctions imposed during the 1980s and early 1990s, the country's healthcare system has been starved of the investment and medical training needed to build a modern infrastructure of clinics and hospitals. Those in need of specialist care now drive to Tunis or fly to Malta, Germany or the UK to avoid the staff shortages and overcrowding that have become a feature of Libya's public hospitals, of which there are now little more than 100."
Mckinney's claims of subsidized housing in Libya are also absurd. Libya suffers from a crippling housing crisis. In Tripoli, the government attempted to "tackle" a shortage of 500,000 housing units by building a series of luxury high-rises--but with a 33% unemployment rate, who could afford to live in such places?
Mckinney idealizes Gaddafi's The Green Book--the same book that decreed that whoever lived in a house owned it--meaning a family could return from a weekend trip to visit family and find that squatters now own their home.
Again, these are not state secrets. A cursory Google search would've led Mckinney to the truth. Instead, Mckinney stews in conspiracy and panders to the Libyan government, disseminating their lies and perpetuating a Gaddafi-approved narrative. Mckinney freely lambasts Obama and NATO-- who are in no way above criticism--but refuses to acknowledge the irrefutable war crimes of the Gaddafi regime. She would rather not acquaint herself with the truth, it seems--instead, she'd prefer to rub elbows with known war criminals and mass murderers on Libyan State TV.
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Journalist, writer and student at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. I currently write for Neon Tommy . Partial resume of journalistic background:
- Columnist, InFocus News ; Anaheim, CA -- 2009-2010 -- The focus of my column was issues affecting Muslim youth, such as the popularization of social networking sites and the anglicization of Arab or Muslim names.
- Writer, The Daily Trojan ; Los Angeles, CA -- August 2010-
December 2010 -- I wrote articles about USC events and topics relevant to
the USC community.
- Writer, Neon Tommy ; Los Angeles, CA -- January 2011- Present
-- I write stories local to Los Angeles, as well as covering international
and national news.
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