Gaddafi, Gold, and Libyan Intervention

Over the course of the twentieth century, the United States (and its allies, most prominently the NATO coalition) has increasingly engaged in military intervention overseas. The justifications for intervention were many: maintaining stability, blocking the influence of other foreign powers, and humanitarian.

In 2011, NATO intervened during the Libyan Civil War between longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and various rebel groups, acting to enforce a no-fly zone and move towards a ceasefire. The intervention was justified partially on humanitarian grounds. Certain attacks on civilians, according to a UN resolution, could constitute "crimes against humanity".

Buried in one of the 3,000 recently released emails from Hillary Clinton's private server is an intelligence briefing detailing Gaddafi's supply of 143 tons of gold. Additionally, it notes French President Nicolas Sarkozy's reasons for seeking military intervention in Libya, none of which involve protecting from "crimes against humanity". His five reasons, according to the email, were:

1) A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production
2) Increase French influence in North Africa
3) Improve his internal political situation in France
4) Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world
5) Address the concern of his advisors over "Qaddafi's" long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa

 The email goes on to note that the supply of gold "was one of the factors that influenced" the decision to "commit France to the attack on Libya".

Gaddafi had been stockpiling gold with the hopes of creating a new gold-backed currency, the gold Dinar, to rival the Euro and the Dollar. He had hoped to force acceptance of this new currency by only selling Libyan oil in exchange for the new Dinar. Further, Gaddafi planned to use the gold reserves to make the Dinar a pan-African currency, and eliminate Western influence in the process.

Francophone Africa, the nations of Africa where French is widely spoken, widely uses a currency called the CFA Franc. The CFA Franc is backed by the French treasury, and trades at a fixed rate to the Euro. The ostensible purpose of the CFA Franc is stability in trade between France and nations using it, but it has the added benefit of maintaining French influence in the region.

Gaddafi's gold dinar would have served as a substitute to the CFA Franc throughout Africa. Whether or not the dinar would have replaced the CFA Franc entirely is uncertain, but Sarkozy feared the possibility enough to support military intervention in Libya. Gaddafi was without a doubt an evil man, a dictator, and responsible for the deaths of many innocents. Yet it seems that supporters of military intervention were actually concerned with maintaining Western influence in Libya and the rest of Africa, and not as motivated by humanitarian reasons as they claimed.