Senator John McCain, former candidate of the Republican right to the latest U.S. presidential elections, went on a mission in Benghazi, where he called for Washington to recognize the transitional national council as the legitimate government of Libya, helping it to overthrow Qadhafi. Short memory. Just twenty months ago, August 14, 2009, the same McCain met Muammar Qadhafi in Tripoli, praising him for “his role as peacemaker in Africa”.

The delegation led by McCain included three other senators; the Libyan one was composed of Muammar Qadhafi, his son Moutassim (who, as a national security adviser, had met in Washington, in April, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), and three senior officials. The U.S. side called Libya “an important ally in the war on terrorism”, stressing that “common enemies make better friends”. The Libyan side reiterated the request for “security assurances from the United States” in exchange for Tripoli’s decision to give up weapons of mass destruction. Muammar Qadhafi commented that “friendship was better for the people of both countries” and expressed “his desire to see the relationship flourish”. McCain described the “bilateral military relationship as strong” and pointed to “Libyan officer training at U.S. Command, Staff, and War colleges as some of the best programs for Libyan military participation”.

Just twenty months later, in Benghazi, Senator McCain met with Mustafa Abdul Jalil and other former chiefs of the Libyan government, who now seek to overthrow Qadhafi. But something has not changed: the real purpose of McCain.

The Senator is supporter of big U.S. oil companies: ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and others. Only in the Senator’s election campaign they made “donations” of millions of dollars. In return, McCain supported their request to increase offshore drilling and proposed to reduce taxes on oil companies, making them earn billions of dollars. Funds given by Chevron were used to establish the International Republican Institute, whose chairman is McCain, with the mission of «promoting democracy», in fact paving the way for U.S. companies in oil-rich countries. So far, especially in Iraq, whose invasion was strongly sponsored by McCain in 2003. Same story and same stake today in Libya.