by Claire Bernish
Outspoken critic of Big Government and former U.S. presidential candidate, Dr. Ron Paul, blasted the West for ignoring admonishments from deposed, late, Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who asserted prior to his death, the rise of U.S.-supported Islamic extremists would lead to attacks on Europe — years before Salman Abedi detonated an explosive device, killing 22 at a concert in Manchester.
Children, adolescents, and adults had gathered for a concert by pop superstar Ariana Grande and had begun to exit the Manchester venue when Abedi exploded a shrapnel-laden device — causing pandemonium, severely injuring scores, and killing 22 people.
Could the Manchester attack have been prevented — even long before MI5 also warned an incident may be forthcoming?
On the Liberty Report, Daniel McAdams noted:
“Gaddafi — when the radicals had started rising in Eastern Libya, when the U.S. was supporting them — he said, “I’m telling you guys, these are radical Islamists, these are terrorists, if you keep supporting them, there’s gonna be trouble.’”
McAdams and Dr. Paul cited an article from January, 2016, from the Telegraph, titled, “Colonel Gaddafi warned Tony Blair of Islamist attacks on Europe, phone conversations reveal,” in which the content of communications between the two leaders revealed how precisely the ill-fated leader of Libya prognosticated future blowback from current Western support of radicals.
Apparently lucid enough to grasp the ramifications Western support would effect throughout Europe — in the aiding terrorists to fit its own ends — on Feb. 25, 2011, Gaddafi portended the dark turn in a phone conversation with former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, cautioning:
“They [jihadists] want to control the Mediterranean and then they will attack Europe.”
Gaddafi, in the half hour call, insisted repeatedly he only wished to shield Libyan civilians from an onslaught of violence wrought by al-Qaeda fighters — a battle in which government forces were unable to make headway. Quoting transcripts of Gaddafi’s comments during the call, the Telegraph continued:
“We are not fighting them, they are attacking us. I want to tell you the truth. It is not a difficult situation at all. The story is simply this: an organization has laid down sleeping cells in North Africa. Called the Al-Qaeda Organization in North Africa… The sleeping cells in Libya are similar to dormant cells in America before 9/11.
“They have managed to get arms and terrify people. People can’t leave their homes… It’s a jihad situation. They have arms and are terrorising people in the street.”
Then, in a subsequent call four hours later, he added:
“I will have to arm the people and get ready for a fight. Libyan people will die, damage will be on the Med, Europe and the whole world. These armed groups are using the situation [in Libya] as a justification – and we shall fight them.”
In fact, Abedi’s very family fought Ghaddafi during the revolt in 2011.
As Dr. Paul notes, Gaddafi’s desperate words weren’t intended as a threat, rather, as counsel to Blair on the deleterious repercussions manipulation by the U.S. and Western allies would reap — not only across northern Africa and the Middle East, but in Europe.
Gaddafi, Dr. Paul said, was “saying, ‘this could have bad consequences.’ And it turned out, he was absolutely right.”
Indeed, today saw headlines plastered with news Abedi’s family twice approached British Intelligence with concerns their loved one had begun entertaining terrorist fantasies.
“Abedi’s support for terrorism was reported this year to the security services, and friends had called,” The Times reports. “Britain’s anti-terrorist hotline five years ago with concerns about his views, it was claimed. He was reported for violent statements, including a claim that being a suicide bomber was ‘OK.’”
While it remains unclear whether Abedi garnered targeted surveillance from MI5, what has been made apparent is even direct and unequivocal warnings on specific persons of interest don’t necessitate an open and willing ear from perpetually — if ostensively, only — suspicious Western Intelligence agencies.
Abedi’s brother, now having been arrested in Tripoli, allegedly affirmed Salman and himself to be members of the pernicious, self-titled Islamic State — and that his brother told of his plans for the Manchester attack.
However, when it comes to insidious dealings of Intelligence services, the ends — and not warnings with immediacy — seem far too often to play into State decision-making.
Not long after Gaddafi’s pleas to Blair and other Western leaders, his and Libya’s tragic fates were sealed.
With his ouster and killing, plans to supplant the U.S. petrodollar with the gold-based African dinar — which could have brought the continent into economic relevance — could not come to fruition.
And his warnings of impending doom throughout Europe — resulting from years of meddling in the cultures and affairs of governments of sovereign nations, and the manipulation of terrorist groups to serve hegemonic plunder — can now only echo in the minds of those most guilty for turning a deaf ear.
