August 28, 2011
The Wisdom Fund

America's Libyan Rebels

by Enver Masud

Twenty years ago, three hundred and fifty Libyans -- trained by the CIA to topple President Ghaddafi, arrived in the United States. A few weeks ago, they returned to "liberate" Libya.

In 1990, operating out of neighboring Chad, when a new government less sympathetic to the U.S. mission was formed in Chad, a new home was needed for these rebels.

The rebels were flown to the U.S. from Kenya where they were temporarily housed.

The rebel leader, Col. Khalifa Haftar spent much of the past 20 years in suburban Virginia, and was reported to be the leader of a contra-style group based in the U.S. called the Libyan National Army.

Upon Col. Haftar's return to Libya a few weeks ago, military command of the rebel tribes was "fiercely contested" between General Younes and Col. Haftar.

General Younes, who defected from the Libyan regime in late February, was "shot and killed in circumstances that remain unclear".

Presumably, the three hundred and fifty Libyans - trained by the CIA to topple President Ghaddafi, returned to Libya with Col. Haftar.

Presumably, the Libyan rebels with American accents shown in crowd scenes from Libya, include some from the contingent of three hundred and fifty Libyans trained by the CIA to topple President Ghaddafi.

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Enver Masud, "Revealed: America's Hidden Hand Behind The UN Resolution For A No-fly Zone Over Libya," The Wisdom Fund, March 19, 2011

"Libya Endgame: Divide, Rule And Get The Oil," The Wisdom Fund, March 25, 2011

"Libya: Independent Reporters Silenced, News Broadcasts Suspect," The Wisdom Fund, August 23, 2011

"Next, 'Humanitarian' Occupation -- Welcome to Libya's 'Democracy'," The Wisdom Fund, August 24, 2011

[The British investment in "deradicalization" paid off when Belhaj and his associates in the ex-LIFG formed their "Islamic Movement for Change" and called for NATO to intervene on the rebels' behalf. Soon after the assassination by Islamists of the rebels' top military commander, Abdul Fatah Younes - a former Interior Minister in Gadhafi's government who defected to the rebel camp amidst much ballyhoo - Belhaj was made chief of the Tripoli Military Council, the Libyan rebels' equivalent of the Pentagon, and given the official imprimatur of Western elites. As the Guardian notes, citing jihadi "expert" Noman Benotman:

"The experiences of the LIFG leaders in armed conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Algeria have forced them to mature politically, recalculate strategically, moderate behaviorally, modify their ideological beliefs."

Modified them to allow for NATO intervention on behalf of an emerging Islamist emirate, lorded over by "Emir" Belhaj?

Benotman, himself a former LIFG fighter, now works for the Quilliam Foundation, which is described by the Guardian as "a UK government-funded counter-radicalization think tank in London." The Quilliamites are the institutional expression of the West's latest grand strategy in the endless "war on terrorism," a campaign of ideological warfare aiming to split the Islamist movement into pro- and-anti Western factions. The Libyan intervention is the culmination of this co-optation strategy.--Justin Raimondo, "Islamist Neocons? The West's latest tactic in the war on terrorism," antiwar.com, September 7, 2011]

[Last July Jazawi signed an order for the arrest of the former commander Abdul Fatah Younes. Hours after Younes was arrested, separated from his bodyguards and taken to Benghazi for questioning, his burned, bullet-riddled body was found dumped in the town.--Chris Stephen, "Libyan military prosecutor shot dead in Benghazi," Guardian, June 22, 2012]