About 126 US Peace Corps Volunteers teaching English in primary school left and a Libyan paper described them as "spies in teaching clothes'
Libya: 5 reasons why UK and US keep pressure on Libya
By John Munoru
There are at least 5 reasons why Washington and London do not want to ease up their campaign against Libya.
The first one, and the main one, is the Libyan Revolution of 1969 that brought the current government to power. The previous government had all types of connection with the British and American government and businesses.
In fact the British and American companies had various oil businesses in Libya. Britain and US had naval and army bases in Libya and were Libya's main arms suppliers.
The Revolution changed all that. The naval and army bases were closed. The oil industry nationalized. For example a contract between Libya and UK for Britain to supply Libya with missile defense system was cancelled as well as one to provide Libya with army tanks.
The same happened with US. Not only did the US lose their military bases and businesses in oil but also US government personnel were removed from Libya. Even the US Peace Corps were thrown out. About 126 US Peace Corps Volunteers teaching English in primary school left and a Libyan paper described them as "spies in teaching clothes' saying they were notorious all over the World for embodying a group of volunteers who work for the CIA or who use the teaching profession to sing the praises of American Culture which allows exploitation of his fellow men".
UK and US governments were dumbfounded by the turn of events in Libya. The new Libyan Leader Muamar Gaddafi commented:
"The whole World stands mesmerized now, unable to believe its eyes over what was happening on Libyan soil,"
Secondly the Libyan government joined with the other governments in the region that were anti-imperialist such as the government of Abdel Nasser in Egypt. Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal from the British and French interests. Since then Libya has always taken an anti-imperialist stand on issues ranging from the US and British bombing of Iraq to the war against Iraq in 1991. They have also condemned US raids on Sudan and Afghanistan.
Thirdly Libya has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause a stand that has earned Tripoli a lot of enmity from Tel Aviv and Washington, Palestinian people's two main enemies. Libya has not supported the current manipulations by Washington and Tel Aviv to try to buy themselves some time in what they call peace process.
The fourth element is the African question. For many years now the US has tried sponsor some countries and their governments against Libya. The US for example supported a previous government in Chad against Libya. Libya on its part supported the Liberation Movements in Africa. From Zimbabwe to Angola to Mozambique to South Africa Libya armed the Liberation Movements there. That is why Mandela, South African President, has resisted US pressure to isolate Libya. In fact Mandela went a head and visited Libya despite US protests. More than 15 African Leaders have visited Libya in the last one year to protest against the US and British sanctions. This is what makes the US and UK try to move to impose tougher sanctions on Libya. They fear these actions might break the entire sanctions regime.
The last reason why UK and US are moving against Libya is because their commercial competitors buy the Libya Oil. These sanctions are aimed at Italy and Germany as they are aimed at Libya. This is the same situation with Iraq. Which countries were affected by the Iraq sanctions? Japan and Germany. US and UK use the policy based on the philosophy if we "cannot get the Gaddafi oil no one should."
