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Best of the Web: Could Gaddafi's son Saif Al-Islam solve the Libyan crisis? Yes, he can

Saif al-Islam
US President Donald Trump has a unique chance to fix the mess in Libya by backing Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam as head of state.

Libya remains a dysfunctional state largely due to failed American policy. The 2011 Obama/Clinton support to Al Qaida affiliated groups in order to oust Muammar Gaddafi heavily backfired, with ISIS now profiting from the massive wave of immigration, which also destabilizes Europe.

President Trump has a unique chance to fix this terrible mess by backing the appointment of the leader of the Libyan national reconciliation, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, as head of state, the only man able to reunite the tribal nightmare in Libya, and to form a proper democracy, exterminate ISIS, and solve the immigrant crisis.

Millions marched in Libya July 1st, 2011 in support of the government of Muammar Gaddafi, and pleaded for NATO to stop the destruction of the country. At that time, the massive support for Gaddafi was not reported in the mainstream media, yet it was well known that Gaddafi had many supporters. Libya was Africa's richest country, a socialist, welfare state with lavish benefits, free education, and good living standards. Since 2003, Libya had opened up towards the West in a liberalization process largely led by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was instrumental in resolving the Lockerbie-bombing issue and paying damages to the victim's families, deescalated the military, removing its nuclear arms and privatized the economy.

It was Saif al-Islam who freed the Bulgarian nurses in Benghazi, led the large scale Benghazi housing projects, created the Charity Gaddafi Association which helped poor countries in Africa, as well as worked diligently to democratize Libya. He called for a free press and hoped to issue a Constitution of the state. It was also Saif al-Islam who led the Reconciliation Project in 2006 between the government and the opposition, and the peaceful release of political prisoners, like Abdelhakim Belhadj and Khaled Sharef, most of whom joined the rebels and are controlling Tripoli now.

Comment: Herland is 100% correct. The Tribes fully support Saif al-Islam. And they're willing to work with Trump to eradicate radical Islam in their country. The ball is in Trump's court. Will he take the opportunity?

See also:


Hiliter

Trump reverses Obama's order on Justice Department succession

trump signing
© twitter.com
President Trump has quietly signed an executive order changing the order of succession in the Department of Justice, reversing an executive order by President Obama signed just last month. The order appears to be the first that Trump has not signed in a public ceremony. It's dated Thursday — the same day Attorney General Jeff Sessions was sworn in — but was not posted to the White House website until Friday morning. The White House did not explain the discrepancy.

The executive order spells out who will act as the nation's highest law enforcement officer if the attorney general dies, resigns or becomes incapacitated. Such orders have been routine since the 2001 terrorist attacks, but Trump's is notable becomes it comes two weeks after he fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to defend his executive order banning travelers from seven predominately Muslim countries.

That time, Trump went outside the official order of succession — as he has the right to do — to elevate Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to acting attorney general.

Because the Senate has not confirmed any other top Justice Department officials, Boente will continue to be second in the line of succession under Trump's order, followed by Zachary Fardon, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Tammy Dickinson, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Seven days before he left office, President Obama changed the order of succession without explanation to remove Boente from the list. Obama's order had listed U.S. attorneys in the District of Columbia, the Northern District of Illinois and the Central District of California.

The top positions remain unchanged: the deputy attorney general, the associate attorney general and — at the discretion of the attorney general — the solicitor general and other assistants. But because those positions are now officially vacant, the order currently skips to the Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys.

Comment: Presidential prerogative precludes predecessor's preference.


Snakes in Suits

Damascus: We demand apologies from countries destroying Syria if they want to get on the rebuilding gravytrain

Destroyed damascus
© www.abc.net.au
The Syrian government plans to demand apologies from the countries that deliberately destroyed the Arab republic and now want to take part in its reconstruction, Syrian Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Adib Mayyaleh said Monday.

Speaking of the future of the Syrian reconstruction, the minister stressed that the Syrian government had a "number of special conditions" for the countries that supported illegal armed groups on Syrian territory and are now using non-governmental funds and national enterprises to become part of the reconstruction process.

"To be allowed to take part in the process of Syrian reconstruction, these countries will have to apologize to the Syrian people and publicly admit they have made a mistake," Mayaleh told the Lebanese Al Mayadeen channel.

Damascus is "keeping an eye" on all the companies that expressed desire to take part in the revival of Syrian economy, the minister said, underlining that the closest allies of Damascus - Moscow, Beijing and Tehran — will have the advantage in the matter.

"Cooperation with these [three] countries will be carried out within the framework of the plan of the revival of the economy, which will be developed by a strong centralized state," the minister said, adding that over the past two weeks alone Syria has signed five agreements with Iran.

In December 2016, representative of the Moscow-Cairo-Astana-formed opposition group Qadri Jamil said Syria would demand financial compensation to its people from the countries that took part in the destruction of the Arab republic.

Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including al-Nusra Front and Daesh, banned in a range of countries, including Russia.

Comment: An apology is but the precursor to the huge mea culpa owed the Syrians. Reparations will never, ever equalize the wrongs perpetrated on this nation, nor salve their suffering at the hands of the US and its Western cabal.


Star of David

Netanyahu's "Responsible Policies" coming to Washington DC next visit go-round

Trump Netanyahu
© CNN.com
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will put forward "responsible policies" when he travels to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran on the agenda. Netanyahu will leave for Washington on February 13 and is scheduled to meet the president on February 15 for their first meeting since Trump's inauguration.

Netanyahu had often-difficult dealings with Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, and he has expressed hopes of a better relationship with the new president.

During his presidential campaign, Trump expressed strong support for Israel while indicating a tough stand on the Palestinians. But, since taking office, Trump has pulled back on unqualified support for Netanyahu's policy of establishing more Jewish settlements in territory claimed by the Palestinians. In an interview on February 10, Trump said settlement growth was not "good for peace."

Trump has also backed off a campaign pledge to transfer the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move fiercely opposed by the Palestinians, who regard East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

"For [the past] three weeks, Donald Trump has been speaking differently," said Michael Oren, an Israeli deputy minister. "We must act cautiously."

Comment: There's a small but refreshing change in Trump's line of thinking regarding Israel. Will he hold his resolve under Netanyahu's pressure?


Snakes in Suits

Leaked Trump memo draft might allow US companies to buy conflict minerals from African warlords

Conflict minerals DRC
© The Backbencher
The leaked draft of a presidential memorandum Donald Trump is expected to sign within days suspends a 2010 rule that discouraged American companies from funding conflict and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo through their purchase of "conflict minerals."

The memo, distributed inside the administration on Friday afternoon and obtained by The Intercept, directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to temporarily waive the requirements of the Conflict Mineral Rule, a provision of the Dodd Frank Act, for two years — which the rule explicitly allows the president to do for national security purposes. The memorandum also directs the State Department and Treasury Department to find an alternative plan to "address such problems in the DRC and adjoining countries."

The idea behind the rule, which had bipartisan support, was to drain militias of revenue by forcing firms to conduct reviews of their supply chain to determine if contractors used minerals sourced from the militias.

The impending decision comes as Trump held a meeting Wednesday with Brian Krzanich, the chief executive of Intel, one of the leading firms impacted by conflict mineral regulations. At the White House today, Krzanich appeared with the president to announce a new manufacturing plant in Arizona.



Comment: Big companies have found ways around the restrictions, negating the usefulness of the legislation. A re-evaluation would be useful if human rights solutions were the outcome.


Better Earth

Munich Security Report forecast: A new world order if US changes tack

Land grab
© unknown
The latest Munich Security Report predicts a new world order should Washington abandon its role of the global leader. New US President Donald Trump's isolationist policies could significantly undermine the current liberal world order and weaken numerous international institutions, the latest Munich Security Report, published on Monday, said.

"The consequences for the international order could be tremendous: if the US does retreat, vacuums will be filled by other actors. Key institutions will be weakened, spoilers will be emboldened. And some US allies may see no alternative than to start hedging by seeking out new partners," the report, released by the organizers of the annual Munich Security Conference several days before the event kicks off in Germany, said.

Throughout his election campaign, Trump voiced criticism of "obsolete" NATO, stating that the United States contributes too much with little return, as well expressing hope to mend ties with Russia. The president has also made moves to bring down various international trade agreements, pursuing a more bilateral approach.

Comment: Change is inevitable, a no-brainer. It is 'maintaining the current course' that has the world in its present condition of human and resource deterioration. Instead of being led by their noses, some follower nations will actually have to step up, take responsibility and contribute. Balance is a fundamental law of the universe and this world is due for a huge correction.


Eye 1

Running out of 9 lives? Daesh leader Baghdadi injured in airstrike in Iraq

Abu Bakr Baghdadi
© AP Photo/ Militant video
Leader of the Daesh terrorist organization Abu Bakr Baghdadi was possibly injured during an airstrike carried out by the Iraqi Air Force in the city of Qaim on February 9, according to Iraqi media.

Leader of the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorist organization Abu Bakr Baghdadi was injured in an airstrike in western Iraq, local media reported on Sunday, citing sources in security agencies.

Baghdadi was possibly injured during an airstrike carried out by the Iraqi Air Force in the city of Qaim on February 9, the Alhurra channel reported citing intelligence department of the country's interior ministry.

Comment: More on the elusive Baghdadi: Update (Feb. 13): The US Department of Defense has no information to corroborate reports that Daesh leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi was injured in an Iraqi military strike on February 9, department spokesperson Jeff Davis said in a briefing on Monday.
Baghdadi may have been injured during an Iraqi Air Force airstrike in the city of Qaim on February 9, the Alhurra channel reported citing Iraq's Interior Ministry intelligence department.

"We don't have any information to corroborate it," Davis told reporters. "Clearly, Baghdadi is someone who we would like to see meet his end, but we have not independently been able to corroborate that."



Vader

The revolt by Intelligence Community against Trump begins

Michael Flynn
© Department of DefenseMichael Flynn
In a recent column, I explained how the still-forming Trump administration is already doing serious harm to America's longstanding global intelligence partnerships. In particular, fears that the White House is too friendly to Moscow are causing close allies to curtail some of their espionage relationships with Washington—a development with grave implications for international security, particularly in the all-important realm of counterterrorism.

Now those concerns are causing problems much closer to home—in fact, inside the Beltway itself. Our Intelligence Community is so worried by the unprecedented problems of the Trump administration—not only do senior officials possess troubling ties to the Kremlin, there are nagging questions about basic competence regarding Team Trump—that it is beginning to withhold intelligence from a White House which our spies do not trust.

That the IC has ample grounds for concern is demonstrated by almost daily revelations of major problems inside the White House, a mere three weeks after the inauguration. The president has repeatedly gone out of his way to antagonize our spies, mocking them and demeaning their work, and Trump's personal national security guru can't seem to keep his story straight on vital issues.

That's Mike Flynn, the retired Army three-star general who now heads the National Security Council. Widely disliked in Washington for his brash personality and preference for conspiracy-theorizing over intelligence facts, Flynn was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for managerial incompetence and poor judgment—flaws he has brought to the far more powerful and political NSC.

Flynn's problems with the truth have been laid bare by the growing scandal about his dealings with Moscow. Strange ties to the Kremlin, including Vladimir Putin himself, have dogged Flynn since he left DIA, and concerns about his judgment have risen considerably since it was revealed that after the November 8 election, Flynn repeatedly called the Russian embassy in Washington to discuss the transition. The White House has denied that anything substantive came up in conversations between Flynn and Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador.

That was a lie, as confirmed by an extensively sourced bombshell report in The Washington Post, which makes clear that Flynn grossly misrepresented his numerous conversations with Kislyak—which turn out to have happened before the election too, part of a regular dialogue with the Russian embassy. To call such an arrangement highly unusual in American politics would be very charitable.

In particular, Flynn and Kislyak discussed the possible lifting of the sanctions President Obama placed on Russia and its intelligence services late last year in retaliation for the Kremlin's meddling in our 2016 election. In public, Flynn repeatedly denied that any talk of sanctions occurred during his conversations with Russia's ambassador. Worse, he apparently lied in private too, including to Vice President Mike Pence, who when this scandal broke last month publicly denied that Flynn conducted any sanctions talk with Kislyak. Pence and his staff are reported to be very upset with the national security adviser, who played the vice president for a fool.

Comment: Further reading: 'The knives are out': Trump silent as Flynn falls under growing pressure for alleged Russian contacts


Passport

SOTT Focus: Libya Tribes leader: Trump's travel restrictions justified, terrorists using fake Libyan passports to enter U.S.

moriarty libyan passports
Passports of Syrian mercenaries who come to Libya to receive new identities.
In his first week in office, President Trump signed an order temporarily freezing immigration from seven Middle Eastern and North African countries, including Libya. According to Trump, the order's purpose was to "keep America safe" by blocking groups of people who can not yet be properly vetted. Trump's critics labeled the order a 'Muslim ban', deeming it unfair, mean-spirited, and racist. One recent editorial even criticizes Trump for playing up "the imaginary threat of terrorists" from the countries in question.

Now, after the U.S. court of appeals upheld federal judge Robart's restraining order on the executive order, it appears that Trump plans to sign a new executive order before, or perhaps alternatively to, the appeal to the Supreme Court. But the question remains: is the executive order unreasonable? And is the terrorist threat 'imaginary'?

Libyan tribal leader Sheikh Khaled Tantoush doesn't think so. Sheikh Tantoush, a fierce critic of the jihadist movements and one of Libya's most esteemed clerics, was captured by Libyan "rebels" in Sirte in 2011 along with Colonel Gaddafi. He performed the final Islamic rites over Gaddafi's body after he was murdered, and the Sheikh himself was subsequently imprisoned and tortured. In a 2013 show trial he was sentenced to life in prison on trumped-up charges of "glorifying Gaddafi", but was released last month after spending over five years in prison.

Eye 1

Samsung boss suspect in South Korea's biggest political corruption scandal

Samsung boss
© Kim Hong-Ji / ReutersSamsung Group chief, Jay Y. Lee (C).
The head of Samsung Group Jay Y. Lee was questioned for a second time on Monday as a suspect in South Korea's biggest political corruption scandal which could lead to the impeachment of President Park Geun-Hye.

Lee is suspected of pledging $37.31 million (43 billion won) to a business and organizations backed by Park's secret confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, in exchange for approval of the 2015 merger of two Samsung companies.

Investigators are expected to decide whether to again seek a warrant to arrest the 48-year-old Lee.

"I will once again tell the truth," he told reporters before the hearing.

Lee was questioned with several other company executives in January, but prosecutors decided there were insufficient grounds for an arrest. During the past weeks, they have reviewed the case and found new aspects that required further questioning.

Comment: See also: Impeached South Korean president Park Geun-hye refuses to cooperate with corruption probe