Speaking before the anti-Daesh coalition in Rome, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the terrorist organization was being defeated in Syria and Iraq, but gaining ground in Libya – a scenario for which the US and NATO bear responsibility.
"One of the reasons ISIS is in Libya is precisely because of the NATO onslaught of 2011 which led to a power vacuum in which terrorist organizations such as ISIS actually thrive," journalist and political analyst Hafsa Kara tells Loud & Clear host Brian Becker. "It was hugely predictable that this would happen given the Iraqi scenario of ten years before."
Much of the blame for Libya’s chaos can be placed directly on then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently the Democratic Party’s presidential frontrunner for the 2016 election.
"She was the flagbearer, if you will, of the NATO operation," Kara says. "Hillary Clinton was very much in favor it, and she applauded it and she supported it, and she sort of sold it to the US public…She is very central to the ouster of Gaddafi and the consequence chaos that ensued.
"And it’s utterly shameful that the person currently running for the highest office in the US is someone who gleefully celebrated the lynching and the extrajudicial assassination of a 70-year-old man," she adds, referring to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
While the West bombed Libya on the pretense of protecting civilians, the true aim of the campaign may have been more self-serving.
"The endgame was always designed to benefit US interests, and that was primarily the goal regardless of how many people died."
At the time of his ousting, Gaddafi was helping Africa to become a more independent continent, free from the influence of imperialism.
"When you think about it, Africa is the wealthiest continent on the planet, and without African natural resources, almost all of Western industries couldn’t function," Kara says. "A destroyed Libya, which is incredibly oil- and gas-rich…is actually a much, much better source for Western corporations to exploit the country and region…"
While Secretary Kerry has expressed shock that Daesh is gaining a foothold in Libya, its growth should have come as no surprise.
"Wherever the US has spread or has expanded…that is where ISIS has actually thrived. So it is no surprise that as a result of not only the US, to be honest, but of the Western bombing campaign of Libya, that ISIS, and organizations that are affiliated to it, have actually thrived in Libya."
As the anti-Daesh coalition meets, is there any hope that it can restore order to the nations it has helped destroy?
"I hope they don’t do anything," Kara says. "Whatever these countries will do in the region will make a bad situation worse.
"Any further Western intervention will make a very bad situation far, far worse."
