Meeting in Vienna to exempt the new Libyan government from an arms embargo, 70-year-old Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to provide Libya’s fragile government more humanitarian and military support. Repeating the same mistakes in Iraq, Kerry backs arming the unstable Libyan military to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] that moved into the region after U.S.-backed coalition toppled Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi Aug. 24, 2011. Faced with explaining the White House decision to topple Gaddafi, former Secretary of State and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton insists that she prevented a potential genocide, her excuse to justify military intervention. Former President George W. Bush found out the hard way toppling Saddam Hussein April 10, 2003 for presenting an unverified danger to U.S. national security.
By the time Baghdad fell, Bush found out that Saddam was not the threat Secretary of Sate Colin L. Powell presented to the U.N. Security Council Feb. 5, 2003. Once anarchy and terrorism flooded Iraq, it didn’t take long for U.S. war material to fall into the wrong hands, actually arming ISIS and other terrorist groups. “The United States stands ready to provide humanitarian, economic and security support to the new Libyan government on their request,” said Kerry, repeating the exact same mistake as Bush and President Barack Obama arming the Iraqi military and so-called moderate opposition groups. When ISIS defeated the Iraq military and Free Syrian Army in 2014, most of the U.S. military equipment fell into ISIS hands. Arming the current Libyan regime promises the exact same outcome. Kerry and Hillary won’t admit that toppling Gaddafi opened the terrorist floodgates in Libya.
Libya’s so-called Government of National Accord [GNA] hasn’t been able to make a dent in ISIS’s takeover of a vast area around Sirte on the Mediterranean coast. If Obama and Hillary had left Gaddafi alone, Libya would not be today’s hotbed of terrorism. World powers meeting in Vienna, backed by Italian Foreign Minister Pablo Gentilioni, seek to arm the GNA to battle ISIS. “From the U.N. arms embargo to acquire those weapons and bullets needed to fight Daesh and other terrorist groups,” said Gentilioni, urging international partners to arm the GNA. Getilioni sees “the stabilization of Libya is the key answer to the risks that we have, and to stabilized Libya we need a government,” urging world powers to arm the GNA. Libya’s military, with our without new weapons, is in no position to battle ISIS without losing arms to ISIS and other terror groups.
Obama, Kerry and previously Hillary couldn’t decide on an appropriate strategy to fight terrorism in the region. Had Hillary opposed toppling Gaddafi, Libya wouldn’t be in today’s chaos. ISIS has no problem getting as much weapons as it wanted to battle the Libyan government and other terrorist groups. Delivering boatloads of weapons to the GNA practically guarantees that it will arm ISIS and other Islamic terror groups. With the Saudi-U.S.-Turkey Syrian War creating the biggest refugee crisis since WWII, the European Union fears more floods of refugees from North Africa. Whatever humanitarian relief efforts needed to manage the crisis, U.S. foreign policy continues to worsen the disaster. Unable to reach a peace agreement in Geneva, the Saudi-U.S.-Turkey-backed proxy war continues to kill Syrian civilians and drive millions more refugees to Europe.
Europe can’t afford to continue going down the path of toppling Mideast dictators and flooding the region with terrorists. Whether the U.S. meets in Vienna or Geneva, the hard facts on the ground in Iraq, Libya and Syria continue: Toppling authoritarian Mideast dictators has consequences. Hillary decision to topple Gaddafi proved she learned little from Bush’s mistakes in Iraq. Hillary not only toppled Gaddafi but she seeks to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hillary’s chief revival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warned about Hillary’s bad judgment, especially in Iraq. GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump can’t wait to point out Hillary’s actual record toppling Mideast dictators. Neither the U.S. nor Europe can take the mass of Syrian and North African refugees flooding Europe and the Mideast. Arming Libya’s GNA increases chances of arms falling into the wrong hands.
Kerry’s decision to recognize the GNA as Libya’s only sovereign government opens the door to repeating the mistakes in Iraq. ISIS armed itself from arms stolen from the Iraqi Army and other friendly U.S. rebel groups, like Brig. Gen. Salim Idris’s Free Syrian Army. Arming Libya’s new government carries even bigger risks than in Iraq and Syria. “We are ready to respond to the Libyan government’s requests for training and equipping the Presidential Guard and vetted forces from throughout Libya,” jumping the gun with Libya’s Western-backed government. Libya’s current Prime Minster Fayez al-Sarraj lacks the popular support from numerous factions carving up Libya after Gaddafi’s death Aug. 24, 2011. Supplying arms to Sarraj’s unstable Tripoli coalition practically guarantees Western arms’ shipments fall into terrorists’ hands, especially ISIS and various al-Qaeda affiliates.
