Gaddafi regime fed names of jihadists to the CIA and to Britain
- From: The Times
- March 22, 2011
COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi's regime secretly provided information to Britain and the US on Islamic extremists in the east of Libya, according to leaked diplomatic cables and intelligence sources.
The names of hundreds of suspects were passed to the CIA and British intelligence.
“There was a strong, shared concern between Gaddafi and the US and UK Governments about radical Sunni jihadist terrorists, including the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG),” Paul Pillar, a CIA veteran who negotiated with Libya over its nuclear program, told The Times.
Diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks paint eastern Libya as a fertile ground for radical extremism. One source told US officials in 2008 that for young men from Derna, a city east of Benghazi, “resistance against coalition forces in Iraq was an important act of 'jihad' and a last act of defiance against the Gaddafi regime”.
However, Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of the CIA's Libya branch, said that Colonel Gaddafi had “sucked in” the West with allegations of terrorism in the east of Libya.
“Gaddafi conflated the LIFG with al-Qa'ida and that obviously caught the attention of the Americans and the British who, post-9/11, were hungry for terrorism intelligence,” he said. “There wasn't a lot of reporting sources and Gaddafi was providing it - but his motivation was to protect himself.”
Mr Cannistraro agreed that “sometimes you had to do deals with bad people”. But he added: “Gaddafi was an outright murderer. There shouldn't have been so much co-operation.”
In contrast, Dr Pillar maintained that the information was essential. “Some regimes paint their local opponents as part of a larger terrorist picture but this wasn't the case here. There have been an awful lot of Libyans in al-Qa'ida and among the violent resistance in Iraq and in Afghanistan.”
Even among the rebels now hoping to overthrow the regime are “radical Islamists who would be of concern”, he warned. “I think there's a high chance for people who would alarm us having a major influence should Gaddafi fall.”
The CIA first made contact with Colonel Gaddafi in the late 1990s, only 10 years after Libyan intelligence operatives blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland. British intelligence is understood to have become involved later, after Colonel Gaddafi renounced weapons of mass destruction in 2003.
Six years on, another leaked cable said that “Libya has acted as a critical ally in US counter-terrorism efforts, and is considered one of our primary partners in combatting the flow of foreign fighters”. The cable, sent from the US Embassy in Tripoli on August 10, 2009, emphasised that the US-Libya “strategic partnership in this field has been highly... beneficial to both nations”.
One senior British intelligence source confirmed that MI6 had close contact with Colonel Gaddafi. “I expect he was only giving us what he wanted,” the source said. “But valuable information was picked up.”
Close political and intelligence co-operation continued until last year despite the US State Department condemning Libya for oppression and human rights abuses in 2009.
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‘Libya assault planned months ahead’
Russia Today
March 21, 2011
RT talks to Stephen Lendman, a Chicago based radio host of a political talk show.
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Gen. Wesley Clark: Proof Libyan Invasion was Planned 10 Years in Advance
U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.), explains that the Bush Administration planned to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.
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FLASHBACK:
July 2010 – BP set to begin oil drilling off Libya
BBC News
July 24, 2010
Oil giant BP has confirmed it will begin drilling off the Libyan coast in the next few weeks.
The deepwater drilling will take place in the Gulf of Sirte following a deal signed in 2007 with Libya on oil and gas development.
The news comes amid major concerns over BP’s environmental and safety record following the Gulf of Mexico spill.
It also follows claims, denied by BP, that it lobbied for Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s release.
FLASHBACK:
29 May 2007 – BP Agrees Major Exploration and Production Deal with Libya
BP.com
Release date: 29 May 2007
BP’s single biggest exploration commitment,” says BP group chief executive.
BP and its Libyan partner, the Libya Investment Corporation (LIC), today signed a major exploration and production agreement with Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC). The initial exploration commitment is set at a minimum of $900million, with significant additional appraisal and development expenditures upon exploration success.
The agreement was signed today in Sirt, Libya, by BP’s group chief executive Tony Hayward and NOC chairman, Shokri Ghanem.
BP and the LIC will explore around 54,000 square kilometres (km2) of the onshore Ghadames and offshore frontier Sirt basins, equivalent to more than ten of BP’s operated deepwater blocks in Angola. Successful exploration could lead to the drilling of around 20 appraisal wells.
FLASHBACK:
U.S. OBTAINS IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR NON-MEMBERS OF THE ICC FOR CRIMES IN LIBYA
Alexandra Valiente
Ephemeris 360°.org
U.S. state and state sponsored terrorism in Libya is in direct contravention to International Law.
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE SUPRESSION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM
THE STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
THE ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
On Februrary 26, 2011, the U.N. Security council passed Resolution 1970.
Fearing ICC prosecution resulting from disclosures of their own terrorist activities within Libya, not to mention other dangerous, incriminating revelations that would inevitably arise should Gaddafi testify at The Hague, the United States forced the United Nations to include the following clause:
6. [...]nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a State outside the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council, unless such exclusive jurisdiction has been expressly waived by the State.
Mainstream media were quick to spin this into “African mercenaries ‘immune from prosecution for war crimes’”.
This was not a benevolent gesture made by the U.S. on behalf of mercenaries hired by Gaddafi to defend against the armed rebel hoardes. The U.S. is shielding only itself and those operating on its behalf.
The US is not a state party to the Rome Statutes and the ICC.
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