Iranian President Ahmadinejad Says West to 'Plunder' Libya
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised Libyans in a televised speech Tuesday for liberating their country from the decades long rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi. However, Ahmadinejad hardly praised the West and NATO allies that aided in the operation that ultimately liberated Libya, and used his speech as a warning to the people of Libya.
Ahmadinejad warned the Libyan people that the Western world would attempt to take over their newly liberated country in an attempt to loot Libya of its mass reservoir of black gold.
In the speech Ahmadinejad said, “Show me one European or American president who has not traveled to Libya or has not signed an agreement (with Gaddafi).”
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Following that statement the Iranian leader suggested that the west ordered the exaction of Gaddafi so as to silence him.
Ahmadinejad is not the only leader to come out to suggest that Gaddafi’s death was a violation of international law.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the death of Gaddafi breached the Geneva Conventions.
He said, “We have to lean on facts and international laws. They say that a captured participant of an armed conflict should be treated a certain way. And in any case, a prisoner of war should not be killed.”
Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president and a long-time Gaddafi ally, told CNN that the former leader was “murdered.”
Ahmadinejad continued his accusations Tuesday, warning Libyans that the UN resolution to take action against Gaddafi in the guise of protecting civilians was in actuality an authorization to “plunder” Libya’s oil.
He added, “Any decision that would strengthen the presence, domination or influence of foreigners would be contrary to the Libyan nation’s interests.”
Ahmadinejad’s warnings to the Libyan people come on the same day that Gaddafi was buried in a secret and undisclosed location following a five day ordeal in which Libyans were able to view a display of the tyrant’s rotting corpse.
The warnings also come on the same day that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggested that NATO might extend its operations in the country.
