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| Africa North |
| France Defends Libyan Ex-Jihadi Rebel Commander |
| 2011-09-01 |
| [An Nahar] President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... 's office defended on Wednesday a Libyan rebel commander who once reportedly led a jihadi group with ties to al-Qaeda, insisting Libya's revolution is not led by Islamists. A bigwig in the Elysee told Agence La Belle France Presse that Sarkozy's senior own military aide had met Adbul Hakim Belhadj, the rebel commander who led the assault on Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... 's bunker complex, and had no concerns about his affiliations. Previously, Belhadj was reportedly "emir" of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group -- an Islamist guerrilla movement once allied to the al-Qaeda network -- and he was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in Malaysia in 2004 on suspicion of Death Eater activity. After his arrest he was said to have been interrogated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency before being sent back to be tossed in the slammer in Libya. Belhadj renounced violence while a prisoner of Moammar Qadaffy's government and was released in March 2010. This year he joined the revolution against the regime and is now commander of the rebel fighters in control of Tripoli. His return to the frontline has raised concerns in some quarters that the revolution against Kaddafi, which was warmly supported by La Belle France and several other Western countries, might include un-democratic forces. But the Elysee official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , insisted La Belle France has no concerns about Belhadj nor about the National Transitional Council, the rebel political body now recognized as Libya's interim government. "As it happens, the head of the president's military staff met him very recently, and was able to form the personal opinion of him that does not correspond at all to the accusations against him," he said. The official did not say where the meeting took place, but last week Belhadj attended a conference of the Libya contact group in Doha, Qatar, and Sarkozy's military head of staff General Benoit Puga could have met him there. "There is a very important distinction between practicing Mohammedans and Islamists who want to lead a jihad," the Elysee source said, insisting that the NTC was neither infiltrated nor controled by Death Eater elements. "There may be cells but we are certain of one thing: They neither represent a threat nor a large slice of Libyan public. We are not worried," he said. "There are a lot of fantasies. There are religious people in the NTC, but that doesn't make them Islamists." When the Libya revolt erupted in March, Kaddafi and his son Seif al-Islam branded the rebels al-Qaeda operatives, an allegation firmly denied by the NTC and its supporters, who have promised to form a broad-based government. A rebel front man in Tripoli has denied that Belhadj has a jihadi agenda, insisting that he shares the NTC's "moderate" vision of a democratic Libya. Like al-Qaeda, the LIFG was formed by former Mohammedan volunteers who fought the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Its leadership split from that of al-Qaeda, but its members have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Rather have M16, Besoeker. The lady and I go back a long way. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-09-01 01:32 |
| #2 You'd better get that Galil cleaned and oiled properly g(r)om. Klik |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-09-01 01:00 |
| #1 French. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-09-01 00:54 |