Al Qaeda backs Libyan protesters and condemns Gaddafi

DUBAI | Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:59am EST

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African wing has condemned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and expressed solidarity with protesters revolting against his rule, the SITE Intelligence Group quoted it as saying on Thursday.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) accused Gaddafi of hiring African mercenaries and ordering aircraft to fire on protestors, SITE said, citing a jihadist statement issued on Thursday. AQIM urged Muslim scholars, thinkers and journalists to support the Libyan people in their uprising. "We were pained by the carnage and the cowardly massacres carried out by the killer of innocents Gaddafi against our people and our unarmed

Muslim brothers who only came to lift his oppression, his disbelief, his tyranny and his might," AQIM was quoted as saying in the statement. "We only came out to defend you against these despots who usurped your rights, plundered your wealth, and prevented you from having the minimum requirements of a dignified life and the simplest meanings of freedom and human dignity," AQIM said. The group, under pressure from Algerian security forces in the north, moved some of its operations to the desert area straddling Niger, Mali, Algeria and Mauritania where the vast expanses and porous borders have provided it with a safe haven. Massive protests have swept through Arab countries in past weeks, threatening Gaddafi's four-decade rule after toppling the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. "We call upon the Muslim Libyan people to have steadfastness and patience, and we incite them to continue their struggle and revolution and to escalate it to oust the criminal tyrant," the group said. (Reporting by Martina Fuchs; Editing by Maria Golovnina) Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/us-libya-alqaedaidUSTRE71N12B20110224

Bye-bye Gaddafi, welcome Al-Qaeda? Pepe Escobar to RT

RussiaToday on Aug 27, 2011 While Tripoli is celebrating the end of a dictatorship, analysts are skeptical democracy is next in line for Libya. Journalist Pepe Escobar told RT, AlQaeda is already effectively in power in the capital. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D7yVkSyIPs

AL QAEDA FIGHTERS JOIN LIBYAN REBELS

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 | AL QAEDA

LIBYA has just turned into a no-win situation for America and one that will surely be used against Obama by Republicans that will run for President or ones trying to score political points, it also provides ammunition for the conspiracy theorists and tea party nuts.

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddas regime. [LINK] Al-Qaeda snatched missiles in Libya: AL-QAEDAS offshoot in North Africa has snatched surface-to-air missiles from an arsenal in Libya during the civil strife there, Chads President says. Idriss Deby did not say how many surface-to-air missiles were stolen, but told the African weekly Jeune Afrique that he was 100 per cent sure of his assertion. [link] Al-Qaida has traditionally recruited heavily from eastern Libya, where most of the anti-Gadda forces are based [link] The US military study of insurgents in Iraq that showed the highest per capita contributors of ghters to Al Queda were two of the cities in Libya that are currently under revolt. [LINK]

IRAQI INSURGENTS FROM LIBYAN TOWNS

Source: http://thepoliticalelite.com/al-qaeda-fighters-join-libyan-rebels/

Gadhafi blames al Qaeda for uprising in Libya

Gunmen prepared to ght against Libyan leader Moammar Gadha stand on a small military truck with weapons taken from a Libyan military base, in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday Feb. 24, 2011. Army units and militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadha struck back Thursday against rebellious Libyans who have risen up in cities close to the capital, attacking a mosque where many were holding an anti-government sit-in and battling others who seized control of an airport. Medical ofcials said 15 people were killed in the clashes. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

By Ashish Kumar Sen The Washington Times Thursday, February 24, 2011

Col. Moammar Gadha on Thursday blamed Osama bin Laden for the unrest sweeping Libya, even as forces loyal to the dictator waged erce battles in cities around Tripoli in an attempt to crush the pro-democracy uprising.

In the eastern and southern parts of the country, which are largely under the control of the regimes opponents, scores of civilians and soldiers piled into vehicles bound for Tripoli and Col. Gadhas tribal stronghold of Sirte for what is expected to be a deadly showdown with the regime. Meanwhile, the White House said it was examining all options, including imposing a no-y zone over Libya, and the Swiss government announced that it had frozen assets belonging to Col. Gadha and his family. Convoys of vehicles packed with heavily armed civilians and soldiers who defected from the army were leaving Benghazi, Libyas second-largest city, residents and eyewitnesses told The Washington Times in phone interviews. Rebel soldiers chanted slogans in support of Libyans in the west. We are coming to free you, our capital, they shouted. By Thursday night, residents in Tripoli were reporting that groups allied against the regime had arrived on the outskirts of the capital. Meanwhile, Col. Gadhas forces unleashed retribution on in cities in the western part of the country. Libyans spoke of alarming levels of violence in Al-Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and in Misurata, 130 miles to the east of the capital. Several sources conrmed that scores of people had been killed and hundreds wounded in both cities. Today has been a very bad day in Al-Zawiya, said Ahmed Bentaher, a doctor based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Dr. Bentaher said a colleague who works at a hospital in Al-Zawiya told him that security forces and African mercenaries had used machine guns to re at people in the city. Hospitals were inundated with dead and wounded victims of the carnage.

People in Al-Zawiya were afraid to leave their homes out of fear that they would be shot by snipers and mercenaries. Bodies piled up in the streets and anyone trying to retrieve them risked being shot. Fighting was also reported in Sabratha and Zuara, 50 miles and 75 miles west of the capital respectively. Benghazi, the scene of much celebration since it shook off the regime earlier this week, was quiet on Thursday as residents anxiously awaited news from the west. Residents are going with the army to Tripoli, said Abdullah Al-Huni, a Benghazi resident. He said almost a million people are expected to gather in prayer on Friday in solidarity with the residents of Tripoli. A resident of Tripoli, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal against his family, said people are busy planning a big protest on Friday. We are not scared any more. Tomorrow will be [Col. Gadhas] last day in power, he said. Another Tripoli resident who only gave her rst name, Rehna, said the city resembled a ghost town as residents were in a state of self-imposed lockdown. Those brave enough to venture out faced security forces at checkpoints, where they were arrested if they failed to display signs of allegiance to the regime. In a unusual phone call to state TV, Col. Gadha blamed Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda for inciting Libyans against him.

Our children have been manipulated by al Qaeda, Col. Gadha said. Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night. They put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe. Those exploiting the youth have to be arrested, he added. Libyans who heard the address were struck by the fact that Col. Gadha spoke by phone, a marked departure from the dictators usual rambling speeches delivered in front of crowds. Some doubted that the speaker was in fact Col. Gadha. We have heard so many of his speeches, we would recognize his voice! This wasnt him, said a resident of Benghazi, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Al-Huni burst into laughter when he heard Col. Gadha blame the unrest on Bin Laden. There is nothing like that happening here. He is lying, he said. African mercenaries, who were trained by the Gadha regime to ght in other parts of the continent, have been called back to Libya. Some residents in areas in and around Tripoli say they have seen the mercenaries amassing for what appears to be a major offensive by the regime. The mercenaries are almost an ofcial division of the military in Libya, Dr. Bentaher said. Meanwhile, Frances top human rights ofcial said up to 2,000 peoplehave possiblydied in the unrest. The question is not if Gadha will fall, but when and at what human cost, said Francois Zimeray. For now the gures we have, more than 1,000 have died, possibly 2,000, according to sources.

A humanitarian crisis is brewing on Libyas eastern border with Egypt where scores of Egyptian workers have crossed back into their home country. However, people of other nationalities have been stranded in no-mans land. Ousama Abushagur, who is coordinating relief work at the Libya-Egypt border, said about 3,000 Nepalese and Vietnamese workers employed with a South Korean construction rm had been stuck at the border without food or water. Workers from Chad, who were until recently employed by a Turkish rm, were also stranded. We are going to start seeing more and more people in this situation, Mr. Abushagur cautioned in a phone interview with The Washington Times.
Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/24/gadha-blames-al-qaedafor-uprising-in-libya/?page=all

Video: Herman Cain Suggests Taliban is Part of Libya's New Government

Submitted by Michael Allen on Nov 18, 2011

During a press conference in Orlando, Florida on Friday, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was asked about his stumbling answer to a question earlier this week about the Obama administrations policy on Libya. Cain insisted that he was trying to get the interviewer to be more specific about what part of the administrations policy he meant, but in doing so he may have opened himself up to further ridicule. Do I agree with siding with the [Libyan] opposition? he asked. Do I agree with saying that Qadhafi should go? Do I agree that they now have a country where youve got Taliban and Al Qaeda thats going to be part of the government? I was trying to get him to be specific, and he wouldnt be specific. The Taliban is a militant Afghan group that also has bases in neighboring Pakistan, some 3000 miles away from Libya.

Video: http://bcove.me/m6g4rqvr