Libya : A no lie zone

[Jonathan Mark]

This article shows the insincerity of the US and coalition's military industrial complex energy war in Libya. Uranium munitions has harmed US soldiers, Iraqis and now those we are saying we are protecting in Libya. They could at least warn them to clean up the toxic DU dust.

'US drops uranium bombs on Libya'
Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:36PM
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US B-2 bomber
The Stop the War Coalition says the bombs and missiles that the US-led military alliance has dropped on several Libyan cities contain depleted uranium (DU).


The report recently published on the Coalition's website said that in the first 24 hours of the war on Libya, dozens of bombs and cruise missiles were launched by US, British, and French forces -- all with depleted uranium warheads.

US B-2 aircraft dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs on key Libyan cities, it added.

DU munitions are controversial because they raise long-term health concerns like kidney damage, cancer, skin disorders and genetic defects.

"[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people," said Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd.), Lawrence Livermore Lab in California.

The report comes as the Western forces claim the operation in Libya is aimed at protecting civilians.

Director of the US military's Joint Staff Bill Gortney has told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that he is not aware of any use of depleted uranium munitions in Libya.

Libya says at least 114 people -- many of them civilians -- have been killed in US-led airstrikes in the country.

"We are losing many lives, military and civilians," Libyan government Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said in Tripoli.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in Libya since US-led forces launched aerial and sea attacks on the North African country.

Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since a revolution started against Colonel Gaddafi in mid-February.


Source URL - http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171881.html

For a critical FN resource, see:
Uranium Munitions ~ harm for generations

[Christer Forslund]

David Wilson stopwar.org via Global Research March 27, 2011 "[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way… I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA
In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.
DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.
An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.
Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don't expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
In the shock and awe' attack on Iraq, more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad alone. Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Third Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than "five hundred thousand tons of ordnance". All of it DU-tipped.
Al Jazeera reported that invading US forces fired two hundred tons of radioactive material into buildings, homes, streets and gardens of Baghdad. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor took a Geiger counter to parts of the city that had been subjected to heavy shelling by US troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal in residential areas. With its population of 26 million, the US dropped a one-ton bomb for every 52 Iraqi citizens or 40 pounds of explosives per person.
William Hague has said that we are in Libya " to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas".You don't have to look far for who and what are being protected'.
In that first 24 hours the Allies' expended' £100 million on DU-tipped ordnance. The European Union's arms control report said member states issued licences in 2009 for the sale of £293.2 million worth of weapons and weapons systems to Libya. Britain issued arms firms licences for the sale of £21.7 million worth of weaponry to Libya and were also paid by Colonel Gadaffi to send the SAS to train his 32nd Brigade.
For the next 4.5 billion years, I'll bet that William Hague will not be holidaying in North Africa.

[B]A note on sources[/B]

The military and the politicians are very shy about the uses of depleted uranium, but we know that DU is or has been used in the following ordnance. The list is not exhaustive:

• M919 25mm ammunition used in the Bradley Fighting Vehicle141
  
• PGU-14 30mm ammunition used by the A-10 Thunderbolt II
  
• M900 105mm tank round used by the US Army and Marine Corps
  
• M829A1 / M829A2 120mm ammunition used by the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank
  
• Tomahawk cruise missiles
  
• GBU-28 Bunker Buster'
  
• CHARM 3 APFSDS L27 ammunition in use with the British Army
  
• The 5000 lb BLU-122/B A/B penetrator
  
• The 4700 lb BLU-113 A/B penetrator
  

[B]Source…[/B]

The only evidence of a move away from DU usage is the MK149 20mm ammunition, previously used by the US Navy's Phalanx Anti-Ship Missile Defense System, which has been replaced by a non-DU version with a Tungsten penetrator.
The UK Ministry of Defence and US Dept of Defence are careful how they refer to DU and prefer not to answer questions about its use. But in those official' documents we have been able to view it is clear that DU is commended for its excellent penetrating qualities and we must assume that what is considered of military value is going to be used especially when the political spokespeople for the military are keen to deny that DU has any harmful affects on human beings.
If it is harmless and effective why not use it? Thus the UK Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, in correspondence with Bill Wilson (no relation), a member of the Scottish Parliament in February 2011 said:
"The UK does not support resolutions that presuppose DU is harmful… The Government's policy remains that DU can be used within weapons; it is not prohibited under current or likely future international agreements. UK armed forces use DU munitions in accordance with international humanitarian law. It would be quite wrong to deny our serving personnel a legitimate capability."
Liam Fox is repeating the views of earlier UK Defence Secretaries. This is an excerpt from then Defence Secretary, Des Brown's letter to Tony Benn, dated 21 April 2008
"In conclusion, our view remains that DU can be legitimately used within weapons and that it would be quite wrong for the UK Government to deny our troops a legitimate capability that provides the best possible protection for them during armed conflicts."
My view is that we have to assume that DU remains in use in the ordnance listed above and that the list is likely to be incomplete. Since we are being told, when we're told anything, that DU is not dangerous and is an effective tool for warfare why would they not continue its use?. So long as that is the official opinion from the military and the politicians we must take it at face value and force them to confirm with evidence that we are wrong and DU is no longer used.
I would love to be proved wrong as would, even more so, the people who are under bombardment. The military and politicians give us every reason to suppose the worst.

[B]Note:[/B]

When you check through official documents on weaponry in both the US and UK you will find few references to DU usage, they prefer to talk about enhancements' and design modifications' to improve penetrations' as here:
"The Air Force is improving capability to attack hardened and/or deeply buried targets during adverse environmental conditions. The performance of the current 4,700-lb BLU-113, used on the GBU-28 GPS/laser-guided bomb, is being greatly enhanced through the design modification of the BLU-122 warhead, improving its penetration, lethality, and survivability. This modification will increase the number of deeply buried targets held at risk. In addition, some existing targets held at risk will require fewer weapons, therefore reducing the number of missions necessary to defeat a target."
However, the Washington-based think-tank Global Security provides [B]a rare history of military uses of depleted uranium.

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=23075
[/B]

[Christer Forslund]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/s...istory.htm

The Army uses alloyed DU in the 25, 105, and 120 millimeter (mm) kinetic energy cartridges. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle uses the 25 mm cartridge (not released for use as of May 1995) in its chain gun. The M1 and M60 series tanks use the 105 mm cartridge; the Army also plans to use the 105 mm in the main gun of the XM8 Armored Gun System. The M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams Tank main guns use the 120 mm cartridge. DU is used as an armor component on the M1 series heavy armor (HA) tanks. Small amounts of DU are used as an epoxy catalyst for the M86 Pursuit Deterrent Munition (PDM) and the Area Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM).
During the late 1950s, the primary material used for kinetic energy, armor-piercing projectiles was tungsten carbide. When first fielded, tungsten carbide represented a quantum improvement over its nearest competitor, high carbon steel. Its higher density (approximately 13 gm/cc) gave it superior penetration performance against existing armor targets. With the advent of double and triple plated armor in the 1960s, however, tungsten munitions showed a tendency to break up before penetrating the layered armor. This deficiency spurred the development of new alloys and materials capable of defeating any armored threats.
In response to the new operational requirements, a succession of metal alloys were evaluated. Initially, the UK Government developed a higher density tungsten alloy consisting of 93 percent tungsten and 7 percent binder tungsten alloy (WA). The new WA alloy had a density of 17 gm/cc versus 13 gm/cc for tungsten carbide. From 1965 to 1972, the US Army conducted a parallel development program for the 152mm XM578 cartridge which was co-developed with the MBT-70 Tank. The XM578 cartridge used a tungsten alloy that was slightly denser than the British alloy consisting of 97.5 percent tungsten and 2.5 percent binder, which had a density of 18.5 gm/cc.
Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the Army developed a successive series of improved 105 mm rounds (the primary main gun caliber on M-60 and developmental XM-1 series tanks) using the denser 97.5% tungsten alloy. The first of these rounds were the XM735 and XM774 cartridges derived from the XM578 cartridge program. These alloys proved sufficient to meet the Army's operational requirements. At the same time, the Army continued to investigate applications for depleted uranium [DU].
In the mid-1970s, it had become evident that the latest generation armor was impervious to tungsten carbide penetrators. Picatinny engineers had been working on improving the properties of DU, an especially dense metal, and saw potential for its use in the 105mm M774 cartridge. In conjunction with the Department of Energy's Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Picatinny developed the unique material purity and heat treatment process necessary to produce a hard, touch U3/4Ti, Uranium/Titanium alloy penetrator.
The next evolution of 105mm KE cartridge was the M833. This projectile incorporated a longer monolithic DU penetrator, which made it go faster and reduced the weight of the sabot by making longitudinal cuts. This gave the projectile the strength it needed on launch and the penetration necessary to defeat the threat. As effective as this cartridge was, threats became even more sophisticated and it was replaced with the M900 Depleted Uranium projectile. Currently in its fourth generation, this cartridge is the Army's primary antiarmor 105mm tank ammunition, and is also used by the Marine Corps. The M900 can penetrate the frontal slope of enemy armor systems and has excellent accuracy at all combat ranges because of the penetrator and sabot design.
One of the Army's first uses of DU was as a ballistic weight in the spotting round for the Davy Crockett missile warhead. Additionally, in the early 1960s, the Army tested a four-alloy "UQuad" containing DU in experimental tests on the 105mm and 120mm Delta Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabots (APFSDS). Tungsten continued to be favored over DU, however, for two main reasons: 1) DU was still developmental, and inconsistencies with the alloys in the manufacturing process were a persistent problem; and 2) penetration tests against older Soviet tanks and similar targets failed to show the clear penetration superiority of the DU round.
In the mid-1970s, as it became clear that the latest-generation armors might prove impervious to tungsten carbide penetrators, the Army's focus on improved tungsten alloys began to shift. At the same time, parallel Air Force and Navy tests using smaller-caliber (20-, 25-, and 30mm) ammunition had demonstrated quite convincingly the clear penetration superiority of DU rounds.
In 1973, the Army evaluated alternatives for improving the lethality of its 105mm M68 tank gun. This effort grew into the XM774 Cartridge Program which, after an extensive developmental testing and evaluation program, selected depleted uranium alloyed with ¾ percent by weight titanium (U-3/4Ti). The selection of U-3/4Ti derived in part from improved designs and alloys that allowed the DU core to withstand high acceleration without breaking up. In the 1960s, tungsten alloys used in the XM578 projectile had to be encased in a steel jacket to withstand the extreme firing velocities of the 152mm gun, reducing the penetrating effectiveness of the tungsten cartridge. The new U-3/4Ti alloy overcame these early limitations for large caliber munitions.
Development of U-3/4Ti ushered in a new generation of penetrators for the Army. Since the selection of DU for the XM774 cartridge, all major developments in tank ammunition have selected DU, including the 105mm M833 series and the 120mm M829 series (the latter being the primary anti-armor round used in the Gulf War). This pattern continues today, with the latest generation of the 105mm M900 series and the 25mm M919 for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
In the early 1970s, the Air Force developed the GAU-8/A air to surface gun system for the A-10 close air support aircraft. This unique aircraft, designed to counter the massive Soviet/Warsaw Pact armored formations spearheading an attack into NATO's Central Region, was literally designed and built around the GAU-8. This large, heavy, eight-barreled 30-mm cannon was designed to blast through the top armor of even the heaviest enemy tanks. To further exploit the new cannon's tremendous striking power, the Air Force opted to use the depleted uranium U-3/4Ti, a 30mm API round. A comprehensive Environmental Assessment of the GAU-8 ammunition was released on January 18, 1976. The report stated that the proposed action was expected to have no significant environmental impact and that the "biomedical and toxicological hazards of the use of depleted uranium (DU) in this program are practically negligible." The A-10 aircraft was deployed to United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in 1978.
The Navy's Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, or CIWS was designed for terminal (last-ditch) defense against sea-skimming missiles. The Navy evaluated a wide range of materials before deciding on DU alloyed with 2 percent molybdenum (DU-2Mo). Phalanx production started in 1978, with orders for 23 USN and 14 Foreign Military Sales systems; however, subsequent budget cuts reduced these numbers. In 1988 the Navy opted to transition the CIWS 20mm round from DU to tungsten. The Navy made the decision based on live fire tests that showed that tungsten met the Navy's performance requirements while offering reduced probabilities of radiation exposure and environmental impact. It should be noted that the "soft" targets the CIWS was designed to defeat-anti-ship missiles at close range-are far easier to destroy than "hard" targets like tanks. Substantial stocks of DU ammunition delivered prior to that date remain in the inventory.
DU munitions were first used in the Gulf War of 1991. A total of 320 tons (290,300 kilograms) of DU projectiles were fired by the US during the Gulf War. DU friendly fire and accidental fire incidents contaminated a total of 31 US combat vehicles (16 Abrams tanks and 15 Bradley armored vehicles) in the Gulf during 1990-1991. These incidents, and the resultant cleanup and recovery operations, exposed a number of soldiers to depleted uranium. Those with the highest exposures were in, on, or near vehicles when they were struck.
US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft fired approximately 10,000 30mm DU rounds (3.3 tons of DU) at 12 sites in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1994-1995. In 1999, they fired nearly 31,000 DU rounds (10.2 tons of DU) at 85 sites in Kosovo.

[Magda Hassan]

Good on Kucinich. He is always on the side of sane and justice.

I forgot to post this lovely tidbit yesterday. CIA commander for the Libya 'rebels'

A CIA commander for the Libyan rebels

28 March 2011

The Libyan National Council, the Benghazi-based group that speaks for the rebel forces fighting the Gaddafi regime, has appointed a long-time CIA collaborator to head its military operations. The selection of Khalifa Hifter, a former colonel in the Libyan army, was reported by McClatchy Newspapers Thursday and the new military chief was interviewed by a correspondent for ABC News on Sunday night.
Hifter's arrival in Benghazi was first reported by Al Jazeera on March 14, followed by a flattering portrait in the virulently pro-war British tabloid the Daily Mail on March 19. The Daily Mail described Hifter as one of the "two military stars of the revolution" who "had recently returned from exile in America to lend the rebel ground forces some tactical coherence." The newspaper did not refer to his CIA connections.
McClatchy Newspapers published a profile of Hifter on Sunday. Headlined "New Rebel Leader Spent Much of Past 20 years in Suburban Virginia," the article notes that he was once a top commander for the Gaddafi regime, until "a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s."
Hifter then went over to the anti-Gaddafi opposition, eventually emigrating to the United States, where he lived until two weeks ago when he returned to Libya to take command in Benghazi.
The McClatchy profile concluded, "Since coming to the United States in the early 1990s, Hifter lived in suburban Virginia outside Washington, DC." It cited a friend who "said he was unsure exactly what Hifter did to support himself, and that Hifter primarily focused on helping his large family."
To those who can read between the lines, this profile is a thinly disguised indication of Hifter's role as a CIA operative. How else does a high-ranking former Libyan military commander enter the United States in the early 1990s, only a few years after the Lockerbie bombing, and then settle near the US capital, except with the permission and active assistance of US intelligence agencies? Hifter actually lived in Vienna, Virginia, about five miles from CIA headquarters in Langley, for two decades.
The agency was very familiar with Hifter's military and political work. A Washington Post report of March 26, 1996 describes an armed rebellion against Gaddafi in Libya and uses a variant spelling of his name. The article cites witnesses to the rebellion who report that "its leader is Col. Khalifa Haftar, of a contra-style group based in the United States called the Libyan National Army."
The comparison is to the "contra" terrorist forces financed and armed by the US government in the 1980s against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra scandal, which rocked the Reagan administration in 1986-87, involved the exposure of illegal US arms sales to Iran, with the proceeds used to finance the contras in defiance of a congressional ban. Congressional Democrats covered up the scandal and rejected calls to impeach Reagan for sponsoring the flagrantly illegal activities of a cabal of former intelligence operatives and White House aides.
A 2001 book, Manipulations africaines, published by Le Monde diplomatique, traces the CIA connection even further back, to 1987, reporting that Hifter, then a colonel in Gaddafi's army, was captured fighting in Chad in a Libyan-backed rebellion against the US-backed government of Hissène Habré. He defected to the Libyan National Salvation Front (LNSF), the principal anti-Gaddafi group, which had the backing of the American CIA. He organized his own militia, which operated in Chad until Habré was overthrown by a French-supported rival, Idriss Déby, in 1990.
According to this book, "the Haftar force, created and financed by the CIA in Chad, vanished into thin air with the help of the CIA shortly after the government was overthrown by Idriss Déby." The book also cites a Congressional Research Service report of December 19, 1996 that the US government was providing financial and military aid to the LNSF and that a number of LNSF members were relocated to the United States.
This information is available to anyone who conducts even a cursory Internet search, but it has not been reported by the corporate-controlled media in the United States, except in the dispatch from McClatchy, which avoids any reference to the CIA. None of the television networks, busily lauding the "freedom fighters" of eastern Libya, has bothered to report that these forces are now commanded by a longtime collaborator of US intelligence services.
Nor have the liberal and "left" enthusiasts of the US-European intervention in Libya taken note. They are too busy hailing the Obama administration for its multilateral and "consultative" approach to war, supposedly so different from the unilateral and "cowboy" approach of the Bush administration in Iraq. That the result is the samedeath and destruction raining down on the population, the trampling of the sovereignty and independence of a former colonial countrymeans nothing to these apologists for imperialism.
The role of Hifter, aptly described 15 years ago as the leader of a "contra-style group," demonstrates the real class forces at work in the Libyan tragedy. Whatever genuine popular opposition was expressed in the initial revolt against the corrupt Gaddafi dictatorship, the rebellion has been hijacked by imperialism.
The US and European intervention in Libya is aimed not at bringing "democracy" and "freedom," but at installing in power stooges of the CIA who will rule just as brutally as Gaddafi, while allowing the imperialist powers to loot the country's oil resources and use Libya as a base of operations against the popular revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar201...-m28.shtml

Patrick Martin

[Peter Lemkin]

Sad....as most all of the young men and women [and the older residents of Libya too] are fighting for their freedom from a dictator, and want only that - freedom, peace, justice, human rights, a piece of the pie, etc. And someone very powerful is obviously trying to hijack their revolution [and their oil]

......I've seen this movie before and the ending wasn't pretty....

[Magda Hassan]

Apparently they are still fighting for their lives but some how the Libyan rebels have managed in between pitched battles to set up their own central bank and State Oil Company. :darthvader::popworm:

Libyan Rebel Council Forms Oil Company to Replace Qaddafi's

By Bill Varner - Tue Mar 22 09:17:09 GMT 2011

Play Video

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Jason Gammel, an analyst at Macquarie Capital, discusses the outlook for Libya's oil production and crude prices. Gammel speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)



Libyan rebels in Benghazi said they have created a new national oil company to replace the corporation controlled by leader Muammar Qaddafi whose assets were frozen by the United Nations Security Council.
The Transitional National Council released a statement announcing the decision made at a March 19 meeting to establish the "Libyan Oil Company as supervisory authority on oil production and policies in the country, based temporarily in Benghazi, and the appointment of an interim director general" of the company.
The Council also said it "designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi."
The Security Council adopted a resolution on March 17 that froze the foreign assets of the Libyan National Oil Corp. and the Central Bank of Libya, both described in the text as "a potential source of funding" for Qaddafi's regime.
Libya holds Africa's largest oil reserve. Output has fallen to fewer than 400,000 barrels a day, Shokri Ghanem, chairman of the National Oil Corp., said on March 19. The country produced 1.59 million barrels a day in January, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Exports may be halted for "many months" because of sanctions and unrest, the International Energy Agency said.
Extended Shutdown'

Brent crude for May settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange fell 0.3 percent to $114.62 as of 8:50 a.m. It surged to a 2 1/2-year high of $119.79 on Feb 24 as geopolitical tensions spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The European benchmark will average $109 a barrel this year, up from a previous forecast of $98, on expectations of an "extended shutdown" of Libyan oil supplies, Societe Generale SA said in a monthly review dated yesterday.
The statement by the Transitional National Council also said the rebels would "urgently prepare a file on the referral of Qaddafi and his gang and his associates involved in the killing of Libyans to the International Criminal Court."
The Security Council referred allegations of human rights violations by the Qaddafi regime to the court in a resolution adopted on Feb. 26.
The statement said the council would begin choosing ambassadors to foreign countries.
The UN said yesterday that Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, who broke with the regime last month and said he was then representing the rebels, was no longer Libya's accredited ambassador. Ambassador Mohammed Shalgham, who also broke with the regime, similarly lost his accreditation when Qaddafi appointed former UN General Assembly President Abdussalam Treki as envoy to the world body.
Treki hasn't presented his credentials yet to Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, a prerequisite for officials taking the post. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-21...afi-s.html

[Peter Lemkin]

It appears there has been a leak from within the US Govt. by someone not too happy with the new 'front' of the US/NATO in the Middle East....but whatever the motive: Several teams of CIA agents have been infiltrated into Libya. It is said they all speak Arabic with a Libyan style and are wearing local dress, etc. I'm sure they are just there to sightsee and take photos.....

....and Mousa Koussa [what a great name!] the Libyan spy chief has defected to the U.K. [watch, he won't be charged with crimes against humanity]. Interestingly, his name was notably missing from the list of persons who's financial assets were to be frozen and subject to the ICC. :joystick: It is believed by many that it was he who was the CIA's main 'contact' and deal maker in recent years in Libya. With a name like that, [and friends like that] one can't go wrong....

[Peter Lemkin]

Mussa Kussa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mussa Kussa

Kussa in September 2010
Former Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
4 March 2009[citation needed] 31 March 2011[clarification needed]
Preceded by Abdel Rahman Shalgham
Succeeded by position vacant (as of 31 March 2011)

Born circa 1949[citation needed]
Libya[citation needed]
Alma mater Michigan State University[1]


Mussa Kussa (Arabic: موسى كوسا[pronunciation?]; born circa 1949[citation needed]) is a Libyan political figure and diplomat, who served in the Libyan government as Minister of Foreign Affairs from March 2009, into the 2011 Libyan uprising, when he resigned his position in 30th March 2011.[2]

Kussa previously headed the Libyan intelligence agency from 1994 to 2009, and was considered one of the country's most powerful figures.[3] He arrived in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2011, and later the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office released an official statement saying that Mussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government,[4] and intended to resign.[2]Contents [hide]
1 Education
2 Diplomat and intelligence chief
3 Foreign minister
4 UK diplomatic visit and defection
5 See also
6 References

Education

He attended American Michigan State University, located in East Lansing, Michigan, earning a bachelor's in sociology in 1978.[1] [my note: I believe there was a CIA program uncovered out of this university at about that time...have to look it up...P.L.]
Diplomat and intelligence chief

Kussa worked as a security specialist for Libyan embassies in Europe before being appointed as Libya's Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1980. He was expelled from the United Kingdom in 1980, after stating in an interview with The Times newspaper that his government intented to eliminate two political opponents of the Libyan government, who were living in the UK.[5]

Later he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994 and as the head of the Libyan intelligence agency from 1994 to 2009.[3] He was a key figure in the normalization of relations between Libya and many NATO nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Kossa was key in securing the release of Pan Am flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. In October 2008, he met both British and Scottish government officials, listed as an interpreter. In a second visit in January 2009, he was listed as Minister of Security.[5]
Foreign minister

On 4 March 2009, Kussa was designated as Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Abdel Rahman Shalgham, in a ministerial reshuffle announced by the Libyan parliament.[3][5]

In April 2009, he presided over the 28th council meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union (comprising Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia) in the Libyan capital Tripoli.[6]

In an interview published by Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 10 November 2009, Kussa sharply criticized some aspects of Chinese investment in Africa. According to Kussa, it was unacceptable for the Chinese to bring "thousands of Chinese workers to Africa" when Africans themselves needed jobs, and he spoke of "a Chinese invasion of the African continent" that he said "brings to mind the effects that colonialism had on the African continent". Kussa also harshly criticized China's unwillingness to deal with the African Union and its preference for dealing with individual African states, which he said was suggestive of a divide and rule policy. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of political cooperation in addition to economic cooperation, saying that the former was lacking in China's relationship with Africa. He said that China only dealt in business, and never engaged in political support, in order to please all sides in a dispute.[7]

Kussa was described as "hands shaking" as he announced a ceasefire weeks into the 2011 uprising, after the UN Security Council had opened the way to a no-fly zone. Western "officials indicated that they were prepared to move quickly if a decision was made to take military action. France and the UK and then the United States responded [to the ceasefire announcement] with almost identically worded skepticism ...." Attacks by government troops on Benghazi were also being reported and denied at the time, some hours after the announced ceasefire.[8]

On 29 March 2011, Kussa wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, nominating the former foreign minister of Nicaragua's socialist Sandinista government and one-time president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, as Libya's new ambassador to the UN. The letter stated that Brockmann was nominated, as Ali Abdussalam Treki, also a former General Assembly president who was their first choice, was denied a visa to enter the United States under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.[9]
UK diplomatic visit and defection

After departing Tripoli by car and arriving in Tunis, Tunisia, on 28 March 2011, via the Ras Ejder border crossing, a Tunisian Government spokesman via Tunis Afrique Presse stated that Kussa had arrived on a "private visit."[10] On 30 March 2011, he departed from Djerba on a Swiss-registered private jet,[11] arriving at Farnborough Airfield, England, according to Libyan sources on a diplomatic mission.[12] The Foreign and Commonwealth Office later released an official press statement, stating that Mussa no longer wished to represent the Libyan government and intended to resign,[2][4][13] unhappy with Libyan Army attacks on civilians.[14]

References
^ a b[unreliable source?] Staff writer (30 May 2006). "Rumored Coordinator of Pan Am Bombing to be Named Libyan Envoy to U.S." (scroll down page). Vital Perspective: Clarify on Middle East Issues (blog hosted on TypePad). Retrieved 30 March 2011.
^ a b c Press release (30 March 2011). "Foreign Office Statement on Musa Kusa". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
^ a b c Staff writer (4 March 2009). "Libyan Spy Chief Named FM in Reshuffle". Agence France-Presse (via Google News). Retrieved 30 March 2011.
^ a b Staff writer (30 March 2011). "Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa Flees to UK". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
^ a b c Bloxham, Andy; McElroy, Damien (30 March 2011). "Profile: Moussa Koussa, the Lockerbie Spymaster Who Defected Moussa Koussa, the Libyan Foreign Minister Who Defected from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's Regime, Was One of the Architects of Its rehabilitation in the International Community But a Deeply Controversial Figure Who Is Likely To Pose David Cameron a Particularly thorny Political Problem". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
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[Magda Hassan]

This looks as if it has been in place for a while. Having the private Swiss registered plane there etc ready to go. When was the list put out of assets to confiscate? And if his name was not on that then that also says something. Most likely asked by his handlers to stay in place as long as possible to feed as much info on the inner circle as possible. Clearly the UK government doesn't care too much for the Lockerbie victims having the 'mastermind' living there now.

[Peter Lemkin]

This looks as if it has been in place for a while. Having the private Swiss registered plane there etc ready to go. When was the list put out of assets to confiscate? And if his name was not on that then that also says something. Most likely asked by his handlers to stay in place as long as possible to feed as much info on the inner circle as possible. Clearly the UK government doesn't care too much for the Lockerbie victims having the 'mastermind' living there now.

He was expelled from the UK in the past [then Libyan Ambassador to UK] when he publicly stated he'd have Gadaffi opponents in the UK assassinated. [Libya has long hunted down and killed opponents both in and outside the country with impunity!]. I imagine when the American People aren't looking, he'll quietly slip into the USA.....my guess.

NB - while Libya had some involvement, I'm not of the opinion Lockerbie was a 'Libyan Operation'......it was by bigger fish than that....