The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 9 | Issue 18 | Number 2 | May 02, 2011

1

The Libyan War, American Power and the Decline of thePetrodollar System Updated May 15, 2011　　リビア戦争、アメリカの威力、石油・ドル体制の衰退

Peter Dale Scott

The Libyan War, American Powerand the Decline of the PetrodollarSystem [Updated May 15, 2011] French translation is available(http://www.mondialisation.ca/la-guerre-en-libye-le-pouvoir-am-ricain-et-l e - d - c l i n - d u - s y s t - m e - d e s - p -trodollars/); Italian translation isa v a i l a b l e(http://vocidallestero.blogspot.com/2011/04/la-guerra-di-libia-il-potere-a m e r i c a n o . h t m l ) ; G e r m a nt r a n s l a t i o n i s a v a i l a b l e(http://info.kopp-verlag.de/hintergruende/geostrateg ie /peter -da le -s c o t t / d e r - k r i e g - i n - l i b y e n -amerikanische-macht-und-der-n i e d e r g a n g - d e s - p e t r o d o l l a r -systems.html);

Peter Dale Scott

The present NATO campaign against Gaddafi inLibya has given rise to great confusion, bothamong those waging this ineffective campaign,and among those observing it. Many whoseopinions I normally respect see this as anecessary war against a villain – though somechoose to see Gaddafi as the villain, and otherspoint to Obama.

My own take on this war, on the other hand, isthat it is both ill-conceived and dangerous -- athreat to the interests of Libyans, Americans,

the Middle East and conceivably the entireworld. Beneath the professed concern aboutthe safety of Libyan civilians lies a deeperconcern that is barely acknowledged: theWest’s defense of the present globalpetrodollar economy, now in decline..

The confusion in Washington, matched by theabsence of discussion of an overriding strategicmotive for American involvement, issymptomatic of the fact that the Americancentury is ending, and ending in a way that isboth predictable in the long run, andsimultaneously erratic and out of control in itsdetails.

Confusion in Washington and in NATO

With respect to Libya’s upheaval itself, opinionsin Washington range from that of John McCain,who has allegedly called on NATO to provide“every apparent means of assistance, minusground troops,” in overthrowing Gaddafi,1 toRepublican Congressman Mike Rogers, whohas expressed deep concern about evenpassing out arms to a group of fighters we donot know well.2

We have seen the same confusion throughoutthe Middle East. In Egypt a coalition of non-governmental elements helped prepare for thenonviolent revolution in that country, whileformer US Ambassador Frank Wisner, Jr., flewto Egypt to persuade Mubarak to cling topower. Meanwhile in countries that used to beof major interest to the US, like Jordan andYemen, it is hard to discern any coherentAmerican policy at all.

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

2

In NATO too there i s confus ion thatoccasionally threatens to break into opendiscord. Of the 28 NATO members, only 14 areinvolved at all in the Libyan campaign, and onlysix are involved in the air war. Of these onlythree countries –the U.S., Britain, and France,are offering tactical air support to the rebels onthe ground. When many NATO countries frozethe bank accounts of Gaddafi and hisimmediate supporters, the US, in anunpublicized and dubious move, froze theentire $30 billion of Libyan government fundsto which it has access. (Of this, more later.)Germany, the most powerful NATO nation afterAmerica, abstained on the UN Security Councilresolution; and its foreign minister, GuidoWesterwelle, has since said, “We will not see amilitary solution, but a political solution.”3

Such chaos would have been unthinkable in thehigh period of US dominance. Obama appearsparalyzed by the gap between his declaredobjective – the removal of Gaddafi from power –and the means available to him, given thenation’s costly involvement in two wars, and hisdomestic priorities.

To understand America’s and NATO’s confusionover Libya, one must look at other phenomena:

• Standard & Poor’s warning of animminent downgrade of the U.S.credit rating

• the unprecedented rise in theprice of gold to over $1500 anounce

• the gridlock in American politicsover federal and state deficits andwhat to do about them

In the midst of the Libyan challenge to whatremains of American hegemony, and in part asa direct consequence of America’s confusedstrategy in Libya, the price of oil has hit $112 abarrel. This price increase threatens to slow oreven reverse America’s faltering economicrecovery, and demonstrates one of the manyways in which the Libyan war is not servingAmerican national interests.

Confusion about Libya has been evident inWashington from the outset, particularly sinceSecretary of State Clinton advocated a no-flypolicy, President Obama said he wanted it as anoption, and Secretary of Defense Gates warnedagainst it.4 The result has been a series ofinterim measures, during which Obama hasjustified a limited U.S. response by pointing toAmerica’s demanding commitments in Iraq andAfghanistan.

Yet with a stalemate prevailing in Libya itself, aseries of further gradual escalations are beingcontemplated, from the provision of arms,funds, and advisers to the rebels, to theintroduction of mercenaries or even foreigntroops. The American scenario begins to lookmore and morelike Vietnam, where the waralso began modestly with the introduction ofcovert operators followed by military advisers.

I have to confess that on March 17 I myself wasof two minds about UN Security Council 1973,

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

3

which ostensibly established a no-fly zone inLibya for the protection of civilians. But sincethen it has become apparent that the threat torebels from Gaddafi’s troops and rhetoric wasin fact far less than was perceived at the time.To quote Prof. Alan J. Kuperman,

. . . President Barack Obamag r o s s l y e x a g g e r a t e d t h ehumanitarian threat to justifymilitary action in Libya. Thepresident claimed that interventionwas necessary to prevent a“bloodbath’’ in Benghazi, Libya’ssecond-largest city and last rebelstronghold. But Human RightsWatch has released data onMisurata, the next-biggest city inLibya and scene of protractedfighting, revealing that MoammarKhadafy is not del iberatelymassacring civilians but rathernarrowly targeting the armedrebels who fight against hisgovernment. Misurata’s populationis roughly 400,000. In nearly twomonths of war, only 257 people —including combatants — have diedthere. Of the 949 wounded, only 22— less than 3 percent — arewomen…. Nor did Khadafy everthreaten civilian massacre inBenghazi, as Obama alleged. The“no mercy’’ warning, of March 17,targeted rebels only, as reportedby The New York Times, whichnoted that Libya’s leader promisedamnesty for those “who throw theirweapons away.’’ Khadafy evenoffered the rebels an escape routeand open border to Egypt, to avoida fight “to the bitter end.’’5

The record of ongoing US military interventionsin Iraq and Afghanistan suggests that we

should expect a heavy human toll if the currentstalemate in Libya either continues or escalatesfurther.

The Role in this War of Oil and FinancialInterests

In American War Machine, I wrote how

By a seeming ly inev i tab ledialectic,… prosperity in somemajor states fostered expansion,and expansion in dominant statescreated increasing incomedisparity.6 In this process thedominant state itself was changed,as i ts publ ic serv ices wereprogressively impoverished, inorder to strengthen securityarrangements benefiting a fewwhile oppressing many.7

Thus, for many years the foreignaffairs of England in Asia came tobe conducted in large part by theEast India Company…. Similarly,the American company Aramco,representing a consortium of theoil majors Esso, Mobil, Socal, andTexaco, conducted its own foreignpolicy in Arabia, with privateconnections to the CIA and FBI.8…

In this way Britain and Americainherited policies that, whenadopted by the metropolitanstates, became inimical to publicorder and safety.9

In the final stages of hegemonic power, onesees more and more naked intervention fornarrow interests, abandoning earlier effortstowards creating stable internationalinstitutions. Consider the role of the

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

4

conspiratorial Jameson Raid into the SouthAfrican Boer Republic in late 1895, a raid,devised to further the economic interests ofCecil Rhodes, which helped to induce Britain’sSecond Boer War.10 Or consider the Anglo-French conspiracy with Israel in 1956, in anabsurd vain attempt to retain control of theSuez Canal.

Then consider the lobbying efforts of the oilmajors as factors in the U.S. war in Vietnam(1961), Afghanistan (2001), and Iraq(2003).11 Although the role of oil companies inAmerica’s Libyan involvement remains obscure,it is a virtual certainty that Cheney’s EnergyTask Force Meetings discussed not just Iraq’sbut Libya’s under-explored oil reserves,estimated to be around 41 billion barrels, orabout a third of Iraq’s.12

Afterwards some in Washington expected aswift victory in Iraq would be followed bysimilar US attacks on Libya and Iran. GeneralWesley Clark told Amy Goodman on DemocracyNow four years ago that soon after 9/11 ageneral in the Pentagon informed him thatseveral countries would be attacked by the U.S.military. The list included Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.13 In May of2003 John Gibson, chief executive ofHalliburton's Energy Service Group, toldInternational Oil Daily in an interview, “"Wehope Iraq will be the first domino and thatLibya and Iran will follow. We don't like beingkept out of markets because it gives ourcompetitors an unfair advantage,"14

It is also a matter of public record that the UNno-fly resolution 1973 of March 17 followedshortly on Gaddafi’s public threat of March 2 tothrow western oil companies out of Libya, andhis invitation on March 14 to Chinese, Russian,and Indian firms to produce Libyan oil in theirplace.15 Significantly China, Russia, and India(joined by their BRICS ally Brazil), all abstainedon UN Resolution 1973.

The issue of oil is closely intertwined with thatof the dollar, because the dollar’s status as theworld’s reserve currency depends largely onOPEC’s decision to denominate the dollar asthe currency for OPEC oil purchases. Today’spetrodollar economy dates back to two secretagreements with the Saudisin the 1970s for therecycling of petrodollars back into the USeconomy. The first of these deals assured aspecial and on-going Saudi stake in the healthof the US dollar; the second secured continuingSaudi support for the pricing of all OPEC oil indollars. These two deals assured that the USeconomy would not be impoverished by OPECoil price hikes. Since then the heaviest burdenhas been borne instead by the economies ofless developed countries, who need to purchasedollars for their oil supplies.16

As Ellen Brown has pointed out, first Iraq andthen Libya decided to challenge the petrodollarsystem and stop selling all their oil for dollars,shortly before each country was attacked.

Kenneth Schortgen Jr., writing onExaminer.com, noted that "[s]ixmonths before the US moved intoI raq to take down SaddamHussein, the oil nation had madethe move to accept Euros insteadof dollars for oil, and this became athreat to the global dominance ofthe dollar as the reserve currency,a n d i t s d o m i n i o n a s t h epetrodollar.."

According to a Russian articlet i t l ed "Bombing o f Lyb ia -Punishment for Qaddafi for HisAttempt to Refuse US Dollar,"Qaddafi made a similarly boldmove: he initiated a movement torefuse the dollar and the euro, andcalled on Arab and African nationsto use a new currency instead, thegold dinar. Qaddafi suggestedestablishing a united African

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

5

continent, with its 200 millionpeople using this single currency.… The initiative was viewednegatively by the USA and theEuropean Union, with Frenchpresident Nicolas Sarkozy callingLibya a threat to the financialsecurity of mankind; but Qaddaficontinued his push for the creationof a united Africa.

And that brings us back to the puzzle of theLibyan central bank. In an article posted on theMarket Oracle, Eric Encina observed:

One seldom mentioned factby western politicians and mediapundits: the Central Bank of Libyais 100% State Owned.... Currently,the Libyan government creates itsown money, the Libyan Dinar,through the facilities of its owncentral bank. Few can argue thatLibya is a sovereign nation with itsown great resources, able tosustain its own economic destiny.One major problem for globalistbanking cartels is that in order todo business with Libya, they mustgo through the Libyan CentralBank and its national currency, aplace where they have absolutelyzero dominion or power-brokingability. Hence, taking down theCentral Bank of Libya (CBL) maynot appear in the speeches ofObama, Cameron and Sarkozy butthis is certainly at the top of theglobalist agenda for absorbingLibya into its hive of compliantnations.17

Libya not only hasoil. According to theIMF, its central bankhas nearly 144 tons

of gold in its vaults.With that sort ofasse t base , whoneeds the BIS [Bankof Internat ionalSettlements], theI M F a n d t h e i rrules. 1 8

Gaddafi’s recent proposal to introduce a golddinar for Africa revives the notion of an Islamicgold dinar floated in 2003 by Malaysian PrimeMinister Mahathir Mohamad, as well as bysome Islamist movements.19 The notion, whichcontravenes IMF rules and is designed tobypass them, has had trouble getting started.But today the countries stocking more andmore gold rather than dollars include not justLibya and Iran, but also China, Russia, andIndia.20

The Stake of France in TerminatingGaddafi’s African Initiatives

The initiative for the air attacks appears tohave come initially from France, with earlysupport from Britain. If Qaddafi were tosucceed in creating an African Union backed byLibya’s currency and gold reserves, France,still the predominant economic power in mostof its former Central African colonies, would bethe chief loser. Indeed, a report from DennisKucinich in America has corroborated the claimof Franco Bechis in Italy, transmitted byVoltaireNet in France, that “plans to spark theBenghazi rebellion were initiated by Frenchintelligence services in November 2010.”21

If the idea to attack Libya originated withFrance, Obama moved swiftly to supportFrench plans to frustrate Gaddafi’s Africaninitiative with his unilateral declaration of anational emergency in order to freeze all of theBank of Libya’s $30 billion of funds to whichAmerica had access. (This was misleadinglyreported in the U.S. press as a freeze of thefunds of “Colonel Qaddafi, his children and

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

6

family, and senior members of the Libyangovernment.”22 But in fact the second section ofObama’s decree explicitly targeted “Allproperty and interests… of the Government ofLibya, its agencies, instrumentalities, andcontrolled entities, and the Central Bank ofLibya.”23) While the U.S. has actively usedfinancial weapons in recent years, the $30-billion seizure, “the largest amount ever to befrozen by a U.S. sanctions order,” had oneprecedent, the arguably illegal and certainlyconspiratorial seizure of Iranian assets in 1979on behalf of the threatened Chase ManhattanBank.24

The consequences of the $30-billion freeze forAfrica, as well as for Libya, have been spelledout by an African observer:

The US$30 billion frozen by MrObama belong to the LibyanCentral Bank and had beene a r m a r k e d a s t h e L i b y a ncontribution to three key projectswhich would add the finishingtouches to the African federation –the African Investment Bank inSyrte, Libya, the establishment in2011 of the African Monetary Fundto be based in Yaounde with aUS$42 billion capital fund and theAbuja-based African Central Bankin Nigeria which when it startsprinting African money will ringthe death knell for the CFA francthrough which Paris has been ableto maintain its hold on someAfrican countries for the last fiftyyears. It is easy to understand theFrench wrath against Gaddafi.25

This same observer spells out her reasons forbelieving that Gaddafi’s plans for Africa havebeen more benign than the West’s:

It began in 1992, when 45 Africannations established RASCOM(Regional African Satel l i teCommunication Organization) sothat Africa would have its ownsatellite and slash communicationcosts in the continent. This was atime when phone calls to and fromAfrica were the most expensive inthe world because of the annualUS$500 million fee pocketed byEurope for the use of its satellitesl i k e I n t e l s a t f o r p h o n econversations, including thosewithin the same country.

An African satellite only cost aonetime payment of US$400million and the continent no longerhad to pay a US$500 mill ionannual lease. Which bankerwouldn’t finance such a project?But the problem remained – howcan s laves, seeking to freethemselves from their master’sexploitation ask the master’s helpto achieve that freedom? Notsurprisingly, the World Bank, theInternational Monetary Fund, theUSA, Europe only made vaguepromises for 14 years. Gaddafi putan end to these futile pleas to thewestern ‘benefactors’ with theirexorbitant interest rates. TheLibyan guide put US$300 milliono n t h e t a b l e ; t h e A f r i c a nDevelopment Bank added US$50million more and the West AfricanDevelopment Bank a furtherUS$27 million – and that’s howAfrica got its first communicationssatellite on 26 December 2007.26

I am not in a position to corroborate all of herclaims. But, for these and other reasons, I ampersuaded that western actions in Libya have

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

7

been designed to frustrate Gaddafi’s plans foran authentically post-colonial Africa, not justhis threatened actions against the rebels inBenghazi.

Conclusion

I conclude from all this confusion andmisrepresentation that America is losing itsability to enforce and maintain peace, either byitself or with its nominal allies. I would submitthat, if only to stabilize and reduce oil prices, itis in America’s best interest now to join withBan Ki-Moon and the Pope in pressing for animmediate cease-fire in Libya. Negotiating acease-fire will certainly present problems, butthe probable alternative to ending this conflictis the nightmare of watching it inexorablyescalate.America has been there before withtragic consequences. We do not want to seesimilar casualties incurred for the sake ofanunjust petrodollar system whose days may benumbered anyway.

At stake is not just America’s relation to Libya,but to China. The whole of Africa is an areawhere the west and the BRIC countries willboth be investing. A resource-hungry Chinaalone is expected to invest on a scale of $50billion a year by 2015, a figure (funded byAmerica’s trade deficit with China) which theWest cannot match.27 Whether east and westcan coexist peacefully in Africa in the futurewill depend on the west’s learning to accept agradual diminution of its influence there,without resorting to deceitful stratagems(reminiscent of the Anglo-French Suezstratagem of 1956) in order to maintain it.

Previous transitions of global dominance havebeen marked by wars, by revolutions, or byboth together. The final emergence throughtwo World Wars of American hegemony overBritish hegemony was a transition between twopowers that were essentially allied, andculturally close. The whole world has animmense stake in ensuring that the difficulttransition to a post-US hegemonic order will be

achieved as peacefully as possible.

Interview update

The following interview with a Chinesenewspaper was conducted on May 6, 2011.Here are my answers to your questions. 1. If Gaddafi's plan to accept non-dollarpayments for oil is realized, what will be theconsequences for the US and EU? In this, howthreatening is Libya?If Gaddafi were simply to accept euros for oilshipments to Europe, we can be sure thatAmerica would try to stop it, making it difficultto estimate how severe the economicconsequences would be. Consider the case ofIndia and Iran this year. According to an Indiannewspaper, “In February, India started makingeuro payments through an Iranian bank basedin Germany. But that had to be stopped soonafter Germany came under pressure from theUnited States to put an end to this practice.The government also explored the option ofIndian oil firms opening accounts in Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank for direct transfer ofmoney to Iran. But the UAE is also learnt toh a v e r e f u s e d t o r o u t e p a y m e n t s ”(http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1989248.ece). Since 2006 Iran has beenaccepting euros from other countries, withoutany significant global economic effects.However America managed to keep theseexchanges on a small level also. (“The U.S.Treasury Department has threatenedinternational banks that are accepting dollarstransactions with Iran from being banned fromt h e U . S . b a n k i n g s y s t e m . ” - -http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-15/iran-may-switch-to-u-a-e-dirhams-from-euro-for-oil-sales-oil-daily-says.html) If Libya were successful in instituting anIslamic gold dinar, that would be a challenge tothe whole current dollar system of internationaltrade, and would be resisted even more

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

8

vigorously. But the truth is that it takes aconcerted multinational effort and economicbase to launch a new international settlementssystem. About six countries, notably Malaysiaand Libya, have tried since 2002 to get itstarted, but without success.

2. We found that NATO, especiallyFrance, provides great support forthe rebels in Libya, and throughtheir help, those rebels evenestablished a central bank. What doyou think of this? Why did they dothat? Does that indicate that theLibyan financial system is a veryimportant reason for this war?

The Benghazi rebels set up a rival centralbank in the hope of exporting Libyanpetroleum from eastern oilfields throughports under their control, and they signed acontract with Qatar to export this oil withpayments into the new bank, covered bybr idge loans f rom outs ide L ibya(http://economicsnewspaper.com/policy/german/super-minister-the-libyan-rebels-will-soon-export-oil-6887.html) (Hence theimportance of the struggle to controlBrega.) One tanker left Tobruk with 1.2million barrels of Libyan oil in early April(Platts Oilgram Price Report, April 6, 2011),earning the rebels $100 million. But sincethen both funds and oil have been runningout (Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2011). Thishas led to America’s recent decision to tryto release frozen funds for Benghazi.The decision to open a new central bankwas primarily an attempt to finance therebel l ion. I have no idea whetherWashington was behind it or not – maybeQatar was, since it made little sensewithout the contract to export oil.

3. Are there other actions by Gaddafithat threaten western countries?For example, he paid 300 milliondollar toward the African satellite.

Gaddafi’s successful financing of an Africansatellite put him in competition withwestern financial interests, but it should

not in my view have been a ground for war.A more serious threat to France, and tomultinational oil companies, was Gaddafi’sincreasing influence in France’s formerAfrican colonies, which could have alteredthe conditions for export of Africa’sresources, principally oil, to the west.

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomatand English Professor at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, is the author of Drugs Oila n d W a r(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0742525228/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) , The Road to 9/11(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0520258711/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20), The War Conspiracy: JFK,9 /11 , and the Deep Po l i t i c s o f War(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0980121361/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20). His most recent book isAmerican War Machine: Deep Politics, the CIAGlobal Drug Connection and the Road toA f g h a n i s t a n(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0742555941/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20).

His website, which contains a wealth of hisw r i t i n g s , i s h e r e(http://www.peterdalescott.net/).

Recommended citation: Peter Dale Scott, TheLibyan War, American Power and the Declineof the Petrodollar System, The Asia-PacificJournal Vol 9, Issue 18 No 2, May 2, 2011.

Notes

1 “McCain calls for stronger NATO campaign,”monstersandcritics.com, April 22, 2011, link(http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1634705.php/McCain-calls-for-stronger-NATO-campaign).

2 E d H o r n i c k(http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/31/

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

9

arming.libya.rebels.analysts/index.html),“Arming Libyan Rebels: Should U.S. Do It?”CNN, March 31, 2011.

3 “Countries Agree to Try to Transfer Some ofQaddafi’s Assets to Libyan Rebels,” New YorkT i m e s , A p r i l 1 3 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/world/africa/14libya.html).

4 “President Obama Wants Options as PentagonIssues Warnings About Libyan No-Fly Zone,”A B C N e w s , M a r c h 3 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gates-clinton-libyan-fly-zone-difficult/story?id=13037200).Earlier, on February 25, Gates warned that theU.S. should avoid future land wars like those ithas fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, but shouldnot forget the difficult lessons it has learnedfrom those conflicts.

"In my opinion, any future Defense secretarywho advises the president to again send a bigAmerican land army into Asia or into theMiddle East or Africa should 'have his headexamined,' as General MacArthur so delicatelyput it," Gates said in a speech to cadets at WestPoint” (Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2011,l i n k(http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/25/nation/la-na-gates-speech-20110226)).

5 A l a n J . K u p e r m a n(http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-14/bostonglobe/29418371_1_rebel-stronghold-civilians-rebel-positions), “False Pretense for War inLibya?” Boston Globe, April 14, 2011.

6 America’s income disparity, as measured byits Gini coefficient, is now among the highest inthe world, along with Brazil, Mexico, andChina. See Phillips, Wealth and Democracy, 38,103; Greg Palast, Armed Madhouse (New York:Dutton, 2006), 159.

7 This is the subject of my book The Road to9/11, 4–9.

8 Anthony Cave Brown, Oil, God, and Gold(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), 213.

9 Peter Dale Scott, American War Machine:Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection,and the Road to Afghanistan (Berkeley:University of California Press, 2010), 32. Onecould cite also the experience of the FrenchThird Republic and the Banque de l’Indochineor the Netherlands and the Dutch East IndiaCompany.

10 Elizabeth Longford, Jameson’s Raid: ThePrelude to the Boer War (London: Weidenfeldand Nicolson, 1982); The Jameson Raid: acentennial retrospective (Houghton, SouthAfrica: Brenthurst Press, 1996).

11 Wikileak documents from October andNovember 2002 reveal that Washington wasmaking deals with oil companies prior to theIraq invasion, and that the British governmentlobbied on behalf of BP’s being included in thed e a l s ( P a u l B i g n e l l(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-between-oil-firms-and-invasion-of-iraq-2269610.html), “Secretmemos expose link between oil firms andinvasion of Iraq,” Independent (London), April19, 2011).

1 2 R e u t e r s(http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/us-libya-iraq-idUSTRE72M21320110323), March23, 2011.

1 3 S a m a n M o h a m m a d i(http://www.opednews.com/Diary/The-Humanita r i a n - E m p i r e - M a - b y - S a m a n -Mohammadi-110331-803.html), “TheHumanitarian Empire May Strike Syria Next,F o l l o w e d B y L e b a n o n A n d I r a n , ”OpEdNews.com, March 31, 2011.

14 "Halliburton Eager for Work Across theMideast," International Oil Daily, May 7, 2003.

15 “Gaddafi offers Libyan oil production to

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

10

India, Russia, China,” Agence France-Presse,M a r c h 1 4 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/7661/Business/Economy/Gaddafi-offers-Libyan-oil-production-to-India,-Rus.aspx).

1 6 P e t e r D a l e S c o t t(http://www.peterdalescott.net/iraq.html),“Bush’s Deep Reasons for War on Iraq: Oil,Petrodollars, and the OPEC Euro Question”;Peter Dale Scott, Drugs, Oil, and War (Lanham,MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 41-42: “Fromthese developments emerged the twinphenomena, underlying 9/11, of triumphalistUS unilateralism on the one hand, and globalthird-world indebtedness on the other. Thes e c r e t d e a l s i n c r e a s e d U S - S a u d iinterdependence at the expense of theinternational comity which had been the basefor US prosperity since World War II.” Cf. PeterDale Scott, The Road to 9/11 (Berkeley:University of California Press, 2007), 37.

17 "Globalists Target 100% State Owned CentralB a n k o f L i b y a . " L i n k(http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27208.html).

1 8 E l l e n B r o w n(http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/289-134/5625-libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking), “Libya: All About Oil, or All AboutBanking,” Reader Supported News, April 15,2011.

1 9 P e t e r D a l e S c o t t(http://www.peterdalescott.net/iraq.html),“Bush’s Deep Reasons for War on Iraq: Oil,Petrodollars, and the OPEC Euro Question”;citing “Islamic Gold Dinar Will MinimizeDependency on US Dollar,” Malaysian Times,April 19, 2003.

20 “Gold key to financing Gaddafi struggle,”Financial Times , March 21, 2011, link(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/588ce75a-53e4-11e0-8bd7-00144feab49a.html#axzz1HIhKnkpz).

2 1 F r a n c o B e c h i s(http://www.voltairenet.org/article169069.html), “French plans to topple Gaddafi on track sincelast November,” VoltaireNet, March 25, 2011.Cf. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, “November 2010War Games: ‘Southern Mistral’ Air Attackagainst Dictatorship in a Fictitious Countrycalled ‘Southland,’" Global Research, April 15,2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24347); Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung, March 19, 2011.

22 New York Times, February 27, 2011.

23 Executive Order of February 25, 2011, citingInternational Emergency Economic Powers Act(50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the NationalEmergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)(NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United StatesCode, seizes all Libyan Govt assets, February2 5 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/25/executive-order-libya). The authoritygranted to the President by the InternationalEmergency Economic Powers Act “may only beexercised to deal with an unusual andextraordinary threat with respect to which anational emergency has been declared forpurposes of this chapter and may not beexercised for any other purpose” (50 U.S.C.1701).

24 “Billions Of Libyan Assets Frozen,” TropicP o s t , M a r c h 8 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://www.tropicpost.com/billions-of-libyan-assets-frozen/) (“largest amount”); Peter DaleScott, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, andthe Future of America (Berkeley and LosAngeles: University of California Press, 2007),80-89 (Iranian assets).

25 “Letter from an African Woman, Not Libyan,On Qaddafi Contribution to Continent-wideAfrican Progress , Oggetto: ASSOCIAZIONECASA AFRICA LA LIBIA DI GHEDDAFI HAOFFERTO A TUTTA L'AFRICA LA PRIMA

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

11

RIVOLUZIONE DEI TEMPI MODERNI,”Vermont Commons, April 21, 2011, link(http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2011/04/21/ethan-allen-qaddafi). Cf. Manlio Dinucci,“Financial Heist of the Century: ConfiscatingLibya's Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF),” GlobalR e s e a r c h , A p r i l 2 4 , 2 0 1 1 , l i n k(http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24479).

26 Ibid. Cf. “The Inauguration of the AfricanSatellite Control Center,” Libya Times,

S e p t e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 , l i n k(http://www.libyatimes.ly/news/national-news/71-the-inauguration-of-the-african-satellite-control-center.html); Jean-Paul Pougala(http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/72575), “The lies behind the West's war onLibya,” Pambazuka.org, April 14, 2011.

27 Leslie Hook, “China’s future in Africa, afterLibya,” blogs.ft.com, March 4, 2011 ($50billion). The U.S trade deficit with China in2010 was $273 billion.

(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0742525228/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20)

Click on the cover to order.

(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0520258711/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20)

Click on the cover to order.

APJ | JF 9 | 18 | 2

12

(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0980121361/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20)

Click on the cover to order.

(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0742555941/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20)

Click on the cover to order.