Newly disclosed emails show that Libya's plan to create a gold-backed
currency to compete with the euro and dollar was a motive for NATO's
intervention
By Brad Hoff
Foreign Policy Journal, Cross Village, Michigan
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
The New Year's Eve release of over 3,000 new Hillary Clinton emails from
the State Department has CNN abuzz over gossipy text messages, the "who
gets to ride with Hillary" selection process set up by her staff, and
how a "cute" Hillary photo fared on Facebook.
But historians of the 2011 NATO war in Libya will be sure to notice a few
of the truly explosive confirmations contained in the new emails: admissions
of rebel war crimes, special ops trainers inside Libya from nearly the start
of protests, Al Qaeda embedded in the U.S. backed opposition, Western nations
jockeying for access to Libyan oil, the nefarious origins of the absurd
Viagra mass rape claim, and concern over Muammar Gaddafi's gold and silver
reserves threatening European currency. ...
Though the French-proposed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 claimed
the no-fly zone implemented over Libya was to protect civilians, an April
2011 email sent to Hillary with the subject line "France's client and
Qaddafi’s gold" tells of less noble ambitions.
The email identifies French President Nicholas Sarkozy as leading the attack
on Libya with five specific purposes in mind: to obtain Libyan oil, ensure
French influence in the region, increase Sarkozy's reputation domestically,
assert French military power, and to prevent Gaddafi's influence in what is
considered "Francophone Africa."
Most astounding is the lengthy section delineating the huge threat that
Gaddafi's gold and silver reserves, estimated at "143 tons of gold, and
a similar amount in silver," posed to the French franc (CFA) circulating
as a prime African currency. In place of the noble sounding
"Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) doctrine fed to the public, there
is this "confidential" explanation of what was really driving the
war:
"This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was
intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan
golden dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African
Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA).
"(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this
quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French
intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current
rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President
Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.)"
Though this internal email aims to summarize the motivating factors
driving France's (and by implication NATO's) intervention in Libya, it is
interesting to note that saving civilian lives is conspicuously absent from
the briefing.
Instead, the great fear reported is that Libya might lead North Africa
into a high degree of economic independence with a new pan-African currency.
French intelligence "discovered" a Libyan initiative to freely
compete with European currency through a local alternative, and this had to
be subverted through military aggression. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/0...mails-reveal...
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