They call it blowback

[BikerDude]

Friends like these ha?

Ever wonder how guys like Gadhafi and Saddam stayed in power for so long?

Islamists Becoming More Prominent

The Islamist message has resonated across the region in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"There's no doubt that this is the moment for Islamist politics and Islamist movements," says Samer Shehata, an assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University.

Michael Hanna, a fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive, nonpartisan think tank, adds that the decades of repression have actually helped push Islamist groups toward their strong position now.

There's no doubt that this is the moment for Islamist politics and Islamist movements.

- Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University

"This is a reckoning that was a long time in coming," Hanna says. "The postponement of the integration of political Islam into the political process, and the opening up of democratic potential probably exacerbated the current situation."

Still, it's something that makes many in the West uneasy. In the case of Libya, the fear is that NATO's intervention will clear the way for hard-line Islamists to take power, as happened in Afghanistan in the 1990s after the Soviets were driven out.

Already, many of the most powerful Islamists in Libya have a complicated relationship with Western nations. Britain and America often colluded with Gadhafi's regime against Islamist militants in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the most infamous cases is that of Abdul Hakim Belhaj, who headed the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. It was deemed a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, though Belhaj has denied belonging to Osama bin Laden's global terrorist group. Belhaj is now the powerful head of the Tripoli Military Council.

In an interview with NPR, he told of his rendition back to Libya from Malaysia in 2004.

Belhaj is now suing the British government for what he says is its complicity in his kidnap and torture at Gadhafi's hands. Documents recently discovered seem to support his claim that Britain's MI6 organized his transfer back to Tripoli.

Belhaj now has political aspirations, and he's been in talks with other prominent Islamists since last April. He plans to start a political party, but infighting has delayed a formal announcement.

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/03/144586903/in-post-gadhafi-libya-islamists-start-to-rise

[cckeiser]

New shit has come to light!

[DigitalBuddha]

Friends like these ha?

Ever wonder how guys like Gadhafi and Saddam stayed in power for so long?

Islamists Becoming More Prominent

The Islamist message has resonated across the region in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"There's no doubt that this is the moment for Islamist politics and Islamist movements," says Samer Shehata, an assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University.

Michael Hanna, a fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive, nonpartisan think tank, adds that the decades of repression have actually helped push Islamist groups toward their strong position now.

There's no doubt that this is the moment for Islamist politics and Islamist movements.

- Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University

"This is a reckoning that was a long time in coming," Hanna says. "The postponement of the integration of political Islam into the political process, and the opening up of democratic potential probably exacerbated the current situation."

Still, it's something that makes many in the West uneasy. In the case of Libya, the fear is that NATO's intervention will clear the way for hard-line Islamists to take power, as happened in Afghanistan in the 1990s after the Soviets were driven out.

Already, many of the most powerful Islamists in Libya have a complicated relationship with Western nations. Britain and America often colluded with Gadhafi's regime against Islamist militants in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the most infamous cases is that of Abdul Hakim Belhaj, who headed the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. It was deemed a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, though Belhaj has denied belonging to Osama bin Laden's global terrorist group. Belhaj is now the powerful head of the Tripoli Military Council.

In an interview with NPR, he told of his rendition back to Libya from Malaysia in 2004.

Belhaj is now suing the British government for what he says is its complicity in his kidnap and torture at Gadhafi's hands. Documents recently discovered seem to support his claim that Britain's MI6 organized his transfer back to Tripoli.

Belhaj now has political aspirations, and he's been in talks with other prominent Islamists since last April. He plans to start a political party, but infighting has delayed a formal announcement.

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/03/144586903/in-post-gadhafi-libya-islamists-start-to-rise

A friend of mine summed it up once stating "its all one big fucking mess." I had to admit, there was simple wisdom in that comment.

[Rev. Ed C]

I thought it was due to support from Western governments for decades to put these puppets into power until they get out of our pockets and control.  Well, that was true of Saddam, at least.

Whoops, we did it again :/

[DigitalBuddha]

I thought it was due to support from Western governments for decades to put these puppets into power until they get out of our pockets and control.  Well, that was true of Saddam, at least.

Whoops, we did it again :/

Interesting that you would use the word "puppet," after all, he did end up at the end of a rope. There's a symbol in that somewhere.

[Hominid]

I thought it was due to support from Western governments for decades to put these puppets into power until they get out of our pockets and control.  Well, that was true of Saddam, at least.

Whoops, we did it again :/

Interesting that you would use the word "puppet," after all, he did end up at the end of a rope. There's a symbol in that somewhere.

I think it's called irony.

[BikerDude]

Interesting that you would use the word "puppet," after all, he did end up at the end of a rope. There's a symbol in that somewhere.

Don't forget, the crime that he was convicted of was gassing the Kurds. It's ironic that he was flying helicopters that were provided to him by the US and dropping poison gas provided by the US and England.
He got a lot of support leading up to and including the was with Iran.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/06/17/how-reagan-armed-saddam-with-chemical-weapons/

And the same holds true for Noriega and the whole mess with the contras and CIA flights of cocain to fund the contras. Later we invade Panama and thousands of civilians are killed.

The stuff with General Haq in Pakistan during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.
It's a mess. You get the Taliban, A Q Khan spreading nuclear technology all over the place, mostly North Korea.

The list goes on and on. Latin America includes Guatemala, Chili, Dominican Republic, Haiti. Panama (4 times in the 20th century) and yet if you tell people that we have spent more time conducting some sort of military operations in Latin America over the last century than not they look at you like you have 2 heads. It's amazing. People are selectively fed information.
http://www.zompist.com/latam.html

Same holds true in the Middle East. Iran especially.

So basically lots and lots of covert crap that has resulted in making the world a much more dangerous place and dragging the reputation of our country through the mud without any knowledge of the citizens.
The sin is that so many people here really believe in principles of freedom and democracy and when any of our leaders speak of them the rest of the world just laughs because they hear the irony.

[meekon5]

The Shah of Iran's coup was backed because the Iranians dared to democratically elect a communist into government. We all know what followed his demise.

Also Bin Laden was trained and financed to make trouble for the Russians in Afghanistan

You have to love the CIA.

Actually a lot of the trouble stems from the treaty of Versailles were the western Europeans basically divided Arabia amongst themselves and refused to recognise the effort these people had committed to during the first world war.

[BikerDude]

The Shah of Iran's coup was backed because the Iranians dared to democratically elect a communist into government. We all know what followed his demise.

Also Bin Laden was trained and financed to make trouble for the Russians in Afghanistan

You have to love the CIA.

Actually a lot of the trouble stems from the treaty of Versailles were the western Europeans basically divided Arabia amongst themselves and refused to recognise the effort these people had committed to during the first world war.

Well Mosaddegh was not communist. His sin was that he nationalized the oil industry and British Petroleum was set to be ousted.
The British went to Eisenhower and the CIA ousted him in operation AJAX.
Then they put the Shah in and the CIA and Mossad (Israel) helped put together Savac, the Iranian secret police. Ironically the CIA had funded the Kurds in pre Shah Iran as part of the operation to depose Mosaddegh.

[BikerDude]

Actually knowing people from Iran and in Iran I can say that the number one sore point for them is
flight 655. Which once again hardly anybody knows about.
Civilian Airliner shot down with a guided missile from a US ship killing 290 people.
www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/opinion/witness-to-iran-flight-655.html

Nobody there believes it was a mistake and in fact the prevailing belief is that Pan AM 103 from Lockerbie was the response. It has gone down in history as being the work of Libya but the prevailing attitude in Iran is that it was them.
The dates would certainly give pause.
Flight 655 July 3, 1988,
Pan Am 103-December 21, 1988

http://terrorism.about.com/od/originshistory/p/PanAmBombing.htm