Libyan lies?
One thing you can depend upon in time of war: that governments will start lying before they start shooting – and probably continue long after.
So it is that the latest batch of Tall Tales from Libya seems to have been exposed by investigations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Governments, Libyan rebels and Nato have made much of the supposed use of foreign mercenaries and allegations of systemic mass rape to justify the war against Colonel Gaddafi.
The only difficulty was that little by way of evidence was produced to justify the claims.
Now both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch say they’ve found no evidence in Libya to back up allegations used widely by politicians to justify the war.
And yet, earlier this month, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a press conference: “We have information that there was a policy to rape in Libya those who were against the government. Apparently he [Colonel Gaddafi] used it to punish people.”
It appears that no actual evidence was offered even then to back up this dramatic assertion. In fact, drama was indeed what it seems to have been. And this from a war crimes prosecutor…
Last week, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, claimed she was “deeply concerned” about such reports surfacing of widespread rape in Libya by Gaddafi’s forces.
No doubt Hillary is concerned. But she’s intelligent, surely she’d been shown something? Surely there was testimony? Evidence? Witness statements? Again – nothing was publicly produced.
By contrast, Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response adviser for Amnesty, who spent three months in Libya after the start of the uprising in February, said of systemic mass rape: “We have not found any evidence or a single victim of rape or a doctor who knew about somebody being raped”, although she added that there is also no evidence to suggest mass rapes have not occured.
Despite allegations from Eman al-Obeidi – who claimed she was the victim of a mass rape by Gaddafi supporters – Human Rights Watch agree with Amnesty International that there is little evidence of mass rape being used as a policy of the Gaddafi regime.
Human Rights Watch’s Libya researcher Fred Abraham told me that they have found “no evidence of systemic mass rape coming from orders from the top, but there is also no evidence to suggest the contrary.”
The Amnesty investigation also found no evidence of mercenaries fighting for Gaddafi. Rovera commented: “Those shown to journalists as foreign mercenaries were later quietly released. Most were sub-Saharan migrants working in Libya without documents.”
It’s war, people lie. In Benghazi Libyan rebels will tell beseiged Misrata is running short of food. You go there. The shops are open, reasonably well-stocked. The butchers’ stalls hung with freshly-slaughtered goats.
The Misratan rebels will tell you government forces have been issued with gas masks because they’re preparing to use chemical weapons. Again – lies, propaganda and rumour. No journalist in Misrata bothered to report this junk, even with appropriate attribition and caveats. We could see it for the paranoia it was.
Twas ever thus. Back in 1991 a rather younger A Thomson found himself debunking the propaganda lie that Saddam Hussein’s soldiers had ripped babies from incubators in Kuwait’s hospital.
Eventually it was all exposed as lies cooked up by a US PR firm contracted to the displaced Kuwaiti authorities.
So it goes on down the years. During the British invasion of Iraq the MoD spouted a series of lies about the actions of Iraqi forces in Basra. The Americans were doing much the same of course.
Never take anything on trust from a politician who has a war to justify should be the obvious rule of thumb for any journo – any person – in a time of war.
If NATO claims Libya is a desert country – ask them to show the sand.
There are 13 comments on this post
Never take anything on trust from a politician.
(Isn’t that appalling since we elect them to represent US!!!)
Thank you for your comment. Please do all that you can to continue exposing truth. Libya is a modern, progressive, enlightened country. It’s cities rival European cities. Virtually everything the “news” media said has been lies. I plan on leaving the U.S., where I, and 400 years of ancestors, have lived. I have come to hate the U.S. government, and it is impossible for me to stay here and watch this stuff; this bullying.
If you have not done so, please go to mathaba.net, the central place where you can find good supportive information and articles about this current madness. God [or whatever] bless you!!!!!
Great to see some responsible and truthful reporting, a real breath of fresh air – well done!
Truth about Libya:
1. Ranks No. 53 on the United Nations Index of Human Development
2. Prior to Gaddafi, literacy rate: 10%. Since Gaddafi, literacy rate has risen to 90%
3. Undernourishment in Libya, under Gaddafi, dropped to 2%–lower than the U.S.
4. Free education, through college. Libya pays for college tuition to ANY college on earth
5. $500 [DOLLARS] per month dumped into each Libyan bank account, from Gaddafi’s oil-revenue-sharing program.
6. Highest standard of living in Africa
7. Free health care
8. Free farmland given if you want to farm
9. TRULY equal opportunity for Libyan women
10. Homelessness WIPED OUT–Government gives home to everyone
HUGE lies have been told. The Bengazi “rebels” are composed of Al-Qaeda members [confirmed by West Point!!], monarchists, EXTREME Islamic fundamentalists, and racists (big problem Gaddafi has tried to solve for 41 years). It’s all about the dough, nothing else. The “rebels” don’t care about democracy (pretty much like our U.S. government). Gaddafi has a DIRECT DEMOCRACY system that he created. And get this: HE RELIQUISHED POWER IN 1987.
We’ve been lied to again. Remember WMDs???
At last something more balanced from a main stream commentator. Something the BBC has yet to learn!
Top marks Alex. Can we get this on the main news please so more people can see.
wow! in a single blog i have been taught to pay more attention to channel 4 news. Fantastic that someone from the national UK media is actually telling the painful truth – when the BBC hasn’t even REPORTED the Amnesty claims. Well done, & keep it up!
At last!! What will you do about the extremely biased reporting that your correspondent in Tripoli has been spreading for the past couple of months? Hopefully we will now have less of Channel 4 correspondents referring to “mad dog Gaddafi and his henchmen” and “the innocent freedom fighters”. You know the one I mean,the one who angrily reported on, amongst other things, the “rape” victim who showed up in the hotel the reporters where staying at in Tripoli. I have sent numerous emails to C4 news to ask them to check these facts, to stop uncritical reporting of the government line, and to remember that the first casualty of war is truth. Needless to say, I never received any reply. Alex, I hope this marks a turning point in C4′s reporting of the reprehensible aggression.
http://www.medialens.org – the inspiration for this blog (uncredited but acknowledged in an email), and an excellent source of analysis on this situation generally.
It is a very valid question why C4 have reported so much on Libya but have only included this update in a little read blog. Credit to Mr Thomason, less to C4 News.
I am really disgusted that an illegal murderous war based on yet more lies by the British Government and its allies is being aired as a human rights victory. There is no evidence from Amnesty or Human Rights Watch of the reasons behind the claim and I am concerned that more and more civilians are being needlessly murdered in what seems to be an unrelenting desire for resources for private companies. The war against Libya is nothing less than genocide and it should stop immediately and the people behind the war should be investigated and subject to a public trial. If the media cannot report the truth, why bother reporting at all and why should anyone listen?
A month on and C4 – along with the rest of the mainstream British media – have not given this a minute of airtime. Rather, they have continued their uncritical reporting of the propaganda issued by one side. It’s lazy and a shameful betrayal of journalist responsibility to their public!
“…a shameful betrayal of journalist responsibility to their public!..”
It’s in the past. While there is an interest’s rate, forget of peace.
If the succes of a person, physic or moral, is measured by his bank’s assets, there’d never be a notion of justice, humanisme or truth.
Everything for money… Our future, the one of our children, our water, air, nature, dignity…
thanks for some truth. i think its almost a hopeless case everyone is telling so many lies the politicians the media the united nations even the criminal courts they twist everything and make up whatever they want.this is an invasion of libya by the west using libyans who are either traitors or have been mislead to belive the west gives a damn about libyan civilans.we all want change in libya as i am libyan but we could have achived this without murdering half our people.and if you think Gaddafie was bad god help us for what is to come still seems every one age 7 and above has a weapon and they kill and steal and burn whatever they want.then of course we have the extrimists who are cutting peoples heads of and their hearts out. live ones not dead no repots of any of this plus all the poor african workers that became mercenerys overnight maybe some are but not the majority.shame on all who have a part in this all have blood on thier hands i dont understand how they sleep.all the lifes they destroyed for oil or money or power.