Hillary Clinton reaffirms U.S. commitment to continue stirring conflicts in Africa and the Middle East

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | JANUARY 24, 2013

As major conflicts in the Middle East wane down, the United States prepares itself to ramp up wars and conflict in other regions of the world. In fact, history shows that U.S. interventionism has been a potpourri of attempts to destabilize governments by activating proxy terrorist groups that do the dirty work on behalf of Washington.

If Hillary Clinton’s words were to mirror what is coming in the next few months and years, the world will see a continuation of the current foreign policy, which in addition to military attacks, is also composed by financial and economic warfare.

In her latest relevant appearance as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton warned Congress on Wednesday that the United States will have to fight Al Qaeda in North Africa and the instability and insecurity caused by revolutions in several Arab countries, which the U.S. itself helped instigate. In her opinion, the U.S. government will be forced to become directly involved in preventing the spread of terrorism in the region. Clinton forgot to say that most if not all acts of terrorism are either carried out by U.S. special forces and members of the intelligence community or executed by terrorist groups armed and financed by the United States government.

“The terrorist attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, which killed four brave Americans, are part of a broader strategic challenge for the United States and our allies in North Africa,” Clinton told the Foreign Affairs Committee Senate investigating those events. No one in the Committee questioned Clinton about the role of U.S. special forces or other groups in the conflict and neither did any congressman asked about why U.S. forces were ordered to stand down, even though they were close enough to intervene during the attack on the U.S. office in Benghazi.

Clinton has taken personal responsibility for any errors that may have been made to prevent the death of Americans in Libya, but said it is not a single event, attributable to the lack of security measures at the consulate in Benghazi, but a broader offensive to which the U.S. is obliged to respond with urgency. “Which means,” she said, “to intensify our efforts to combat terrorism and to find ways to support the emerging democracy in North Africa and elsewhere.”

“We face,” she recalled, “a menacing environment rapidly changing, and we must work to increase the pressure on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other terrorist groups in the region. We’ve decimated al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but its members have dispersed to other countries,” she added. As it has been reported by the media, U.S. sponsored al Qaeda-affiliated groups arrived in Libya and Syria as part of an international contingent of terrorists who worked with government opposition groups to bring down Gaddafi and who are now working to dethrone Bashar al-Assad.

The Secretary of State has referred particularly to Mali, “where instability,” she said, “has created a large sanctuary for terrorists, seeking to extend their influence and prepare new attacks like the one we saw last week in Algeria.”

Clinton did not refer to the current French military operation in that country, but said that “it is important that the U.S. maintain its leadership in the Middle East, North Africa and the rest of the world. We have come far in the past four years and we can not leave now,” she said, reaffirming the American commitment to occupy some of the most volatile regions in the world, where, according to the BBC, France and other allies have returned to reconquer what once was part of their colonies.

U.S. has begun helping France by providing air transport of French troops and military equipment.

Clinton said that American diplomacy is in full operation in the area — that means military infiltration — which suggests that other stronger measures will be taken in the coming months. “When the U.S. is absent,” she said, “there are consequences: extremism takes root, and our security interests at home are threatened.”

The Secretary of State has admitted that revolutionary movements occurred in the last two years in the Arab world “have complicated power dynamics and have destroyed the security forces in the region”, which provides the ground for the spread of terrorism. She stated that “many of the weapons used by terrorists in Argelia and Mali come from Libya”, where the current authorities are powerless to control all armed groups that emerged during the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi. In reality, powerful weapons were provided by the U.S. to those same terrorist groups to carry out attacks on innocent civilians in Libya.

Only John McCain and Rand Paul showed a bit more dissatisfaction about Clinton’s excuses. Congressman Paul told Clinton that given her lack of leadership he would have dismissed her from her position at the State Department. However, Paul and the other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee failed miserably to ask real questions about what really happened in Benghazi.

Democrat John Kerry will be Clinton’s substitute at the State Department once he is confirmed in Congress.

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