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| Africa North |
| Rebel Libya Finance Chief Hunts for Funds and Hope |
| 2011-06-05 |
| No doubt his seat at the University of Washington is being kept warm for him in case this little adventure ends in a fiasco. Eat your heart out Jesse James. Maybe you should have studied economics before getting into the business of holding up banks. ..."I'm sick and tired of this," he said, explaining legal hurdles that have kept the rebels from receiving pledged funds. "We literally have days before the lights are off." As manager of the rebels' finances, Mr. Tarhouni is among the most critical players in the movement trying to overthrow Colonel Qaddafi, an effort that gains broader international recognition by the day. He has established himself as a pragmatic, and occasionally audacious, leader, who in the early days of the uprising ordered the rebels to rob a branch of the central bank in Bengazi where they found the equivalent of more than $320 million. "Basically, we drilled holes," Mr. Tarhouni said, explaining how they opened the safe. AMONG opposition leaders, Mr. Tarhouni occupies a unique place. As an economics professor with a populist streak, he bridges a divide between the technocrats who have returned from exile or remain abroad, and home-grown academics and former Qaddafi government officials. He is blunt when describing the rebels' desperate straits, using expletives to talk about donors lagging in their payments. At the same time, Mr. Tarhouni, who abruptly took a leave from his job teaching economics at the University of Washington to join the revolution, can appear a practiced politician. On a recent tour of the Benghazi courthouse, the emotional heart of the Libyan revolt, he was busy shaking hands and posing for pictures with children. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 I recommend that Mr. Tarhouni go to Helen Hunt for those funds... |
| Posted by: regular joe 2011-06-05 09:27 |
| #1 “We literally have days before the lights are off.” Umm, do you mean "ON". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-06-05 07:12 |