Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi said the U.S.-led war on terror has strengthened al-Qaida because Muslims have perceived the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as aggression against Islam and attempts to spread American influence.
| Guess they're gonna have to recruit some Buddhists and Zoroastrians to fix that, huh? |
In an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week," Gadhafi stressed that Libya was cooperating with the United States to fight terrorism and the "common enemy" of al-Qaida. But he criticized America's foreign policy as colonialist and controlled by Jewish groups. He also said America's targeting of al-Qaida's leader — Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden — has transformed him into "a symbol for defending the Islamic world." He did not elaborate.
| Didn't have to. That's the whole thrust of Binny's propaganda machine... |
"As long as America (is) approaching (the war on terror) in such a method ... together with the Israelis ... the more they do that, the more they create an environment or atmosphere for the development of al-Qaida," Gadhafi said, according to a transcript received by The Associated Press office in Egypt. Gadhafi's interview with George Stephanopoulos took place Wednesday in Al-Bayda, on the Mediterranean coast about 450 miles east of the LIbyan capital of Tripoli. Gadhafi described al-Qaida terrorists as "crazy and insensible people" who have committed attacks on America, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and other countries. "So all these countries are fighting one common enemy," he said.
| Not very enthusiastically, in some cases... |
Gadhafi, who has been in power for 34 years, said his country has exchanged information with the Americans and arrested some suspected terrorists who entered Libya after the war in Afghanistan. "There is an exchange of information and an exchange of persons between these respective countries," Gadhafi said.
| Toldja Muammar's trying to change sides... |
The Libyan leader also blamed Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi sect of Islam for being behind the emergence of al-Qaida and other extremist groups and accused "the regime or the system in Saudi Arabia (as being) based on fundamentalism."
| Yep. I like him even more, despite his funny hats... |
Gadhafi said Libya opposed all extremist and radical Islamic movements and invited Western countries to talk with his World Islamic Leadership, which he said he formed to demonstrate "the civilized aspect of Islam."
| A counterweight to the Soddies' conspiracy. Not a bad idea. Wonder who thought that up? |
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