West's fear - Gaddafi wants civil war

Sun Mar 6, 2011 2:9PM

Interview with Allen Roland, Online columnist, Sonoma, US.

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As Western nations move in, perching themselves like vultures over Libya waiting for the pickings, Gaddafi is holding more cards than has been anticipated.

Press TV talks with Allen Roland, a columnist in the US on his perspective of how the West is likely to react to unfolding events as they aggressively hang their warships off the coast of Libya.

Press TV: Allen, reports of various western countries now moving military ships and aircrafts towards North Africa are emerging. Reports say that these are for humanitarian assistance to Libya. Do you think that we are going to see these forces enter Libya at any point in time?

Allen Roland: I think Obama and the West are going to straddle this situation. Obama is the champion of the status quo. I think what you're looking at here is a 'stalemate.' It's becoming more and more like a stalemate right now. Gaddafi has developed exactly what western observers have feared the most, a protracted civil war.

We are not going to go in there and we're much more likely to do this: We'll stand by and watch and see who wins. We are not interested in the freedom of the people; we are interested in the oil and gas.

So we'll stand by, see who wins, and then we'll set up some kind of a deal. And Gaddafi knows that. He's got control of the military - he knows it, and we're heading for a stalemate unfortunately and probably a protracted civil war at worst.

You are not going to see Obama make any strong moves here - he's a very pragmatic person; he's not about to do that.

Press TV: If we leave it to the Libyans to deal with this situation - How is it going to work for these people? What do they need right now to succeed if they're going to succeed on their own?

Allen Roland: Remember that we're talking about tribes here. And some tribes are basically honoring Gaddafi because he's made them very rich.

This is not going to be easy - Gaddafi isn't standing there all alone. He's got a lot of people who he has made wealthy and that includes the African Union, which is basically standing on the side, too. So he is actually in a much more powerful position than the Western press is trying to portray.

This is Kabuki Theater in a lot of ways. We're posturing - Obama's posturing, but at the same time our real interest is guess what...OIL and GAS. How can we save a billion dollar connection; and we'll deal with ANYONE like we have in the past - we'll deal with anyone and the people be damned. I'm sorry, but that's where the West comes from... until that changes; so regarding the people of Libya, if they're looking for a solid front from the West to help them, that's not going to happen until Gaddafi goes.

Press TV: There has been a quote by Muammar Gaddafi. He has told a French newspaper that the Mediterranean region will soon be engulfed in what he called an Islamist Jihad or war. And he's warning of threats of what he calls Islamist terrorism. Why do you think he's making these kinds of comments? We are seeing what is happening in Libya despite media limitations, but the fact that he is making these comments and not for the first time; also these same allegations made by his son - What is the message he is trying to give to the West?

Allen Roland: It's political just political - its' like he's throwing out little hand grenade words like al Qaeda, Islamophobia etc. Islamophobia in the US is ALL OVER the South and it's a growing phenomenon in the US - Islamophobia.

And so he's pressing all of those buttons; fear buttons. It's all about control. It's all about control - the US wants to maintain control of the oil and the gas and if we have an insane dictator who is 'our guy' we'll keep him in there as long as he isn't doing us too much harm.

He knows this. Gaddafi knows the name of the game. Look at the deals he made with Tony Blair - he knows how the game is played. So he's playing all his cards and he's got the tribes - the wealthy tribes all behind him.

So, quite honestly, we're looking right now at a stalemate, and a protracted civil war, and he has the cards all in his favor. And we're not about to step in there and force him out. That's not going to happen.

Press TV: So we don't have a break through, this thing will just go on for weeks and weeks or do you think these people do have a chance of forcing Muammar Gaddafi sooner than we would expect?

Allen Roland: The Western nations, the US in particular; we don't really trust these people. We are a 'corpocracy'. We are totally in bed with corpocracy - oil, gas, the global elite; that's who's involved here and that's who Gaddafi answers to. The people are damned in some ways, really. Expect a stalemate, expect it to go on, and Gaddafi will make his own deal in the end and we'll wind up with him.

SC/PKH

Source:presstv.ir