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Libyan forces take control of Bani Walid after fighting pro-Gaddafi fighters

23 Oct

Pro-government forces fire a mortar launcher as fighting flared in Bani Walid, a former bastion of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Picture: Mahmu Turkia/AFP Source: AFP

LIBYAN pro-government forces seized control of Bani Walid, one of the last bastions of Muammar Gaddafi’s ousted regime, an AFP correspondent in the town said.

Hundreds of fighters, mostly former rebels from the rival town of Misrata, converged on the centre of Bani Walid, firing in the air to celebrate and hoisting the Libyan flag on abandoned public buildings, he said.

Some of the fighters blasted the walls and windows with anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikov rifles.

Several rebel chiefs, whose fighters patrolled in vehicles mounted with heavy weapons, told AFP the town was “almost liberated,” with only a few pockets of resistance left in its southern sector.

The town itself was deserted, with residents and foreign workers having fled since Sunday.

Fierce clashes in Bani Walid, which was accused of harbouring die-hard Gaddafi loyalists, cast a pall over celebrations for the first anniversary this week of the overthrow of his regime in a bloody conflict.

The fighting fanned old tribal feuds and underscored the difficulties of achieving national reconciliation.

A scaled-up offensive against Bani Walid since last week came in response to the death of Omran Shaaban, 22, a former rebel from the city of Misrata who was credited with capturing Gaddafi.

Shaaban spent weeks held hostage in Bani Walid, where he was shot and allegedly tortured, before the authorities managed to broker his release.

He later died of injuries sustained during the ordeal, stoking tensions between his hometown Misrata and Bani Walid, long-time rivals which fought on opposite sides of the 2011 conflict, and galvanising the authorities to act.

Pro-government fighters gather near the northern entrance to the town of Bani Walid. They have reportedly taken control of the town. Picture: Mahmud Turkia/AFP

The victorious fighters on Wednesday carried a massive portrait of Shaaban.

Clashes between pro-government forces and Bani Walid fighters over the past week killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, in scenes evocative of the civil war that led to Gaddafi’s overthrow and death.

Tribal leaders and commanders in Bani Walid, 185 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, had accused “lawless Misrata militias” of seeking to annihilate their historic rival.

Source

Eleven killed as Libyan militia shell Gaddafi stronghold

19 Oct

This picture shows a view of the town of Bani Walid.(AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)

Clashes between Libyan authorities and Gaddafi loyalists have left 11 dead during the siege of anti-regime bastion Bani Walid. Libyan authorities continue to struggle against multiple militia groups in the midst of growing political disarray.

Libya’s President of the General National Congress, Mohammed Magarief, is on the way to Bani Walid to persuade its tribal and military leaders to allow a peaceful army takeover, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, some reports suggest that ceasefire has already been agreed, and national military forces are preparing to enter the restive city.

Tensions have been rising in the former Gaddafi stronghold as government forces try to bring the dissident town to heal.

People from both sides were killed in the violence as militias operating alongside the Defense Ministry faced counter attacks on Wednesday.

“Bani Walid has been shelled since this morning from three sides – the south, the east and southeast,” Colonel Salem al-Wa’er, a spokesman for Bani Walid’s fighters, told news agency AFP by phone.

The commander of ex-rebel group Libya Shield said four of his men had been killed and 19 injured in the battle for the hilltop town. While the deputy director of the town’s hospital said that at least 75 people had been wounded, including a 14-year-old girl.

Humanitarian groups have condemned the situation in the town amid reports that residents have been left without food and medical supplies. Amnesty International says hundreds of residents have been unlawfully taken into custody by militia groups in the city and are being tortured and mistreated.

Violence erupted after Libya’s General National Congress gave the Ministries of Interior and Defense permission to use force to arrest those suspected of killing Omran Shaaban – the man who is credited with capturing the country’s ex-leader, Muammar Gaddafi, last year.

Acting on government orders, troops began to surround the town, threatening to “purge” the settlement of the vestiges of the regime.

Army spokesperson Colonel Ali al-Sheikhi told AFP on Wednesday that the military had issued no order to attack the city, while Shield Libya officers said that they had been told to advance on Bani Walid.

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Political disarray

Libya’s General National Congress has thus far failed to curtail violence in the country and bring militant groups formed of former rebels under control.

The country’s fragile government was plunged into disarray when the Congress sacked Mustafa Abushagur, the first prime minister to be elected after the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi.

Abushagur was elected as PM following the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The now ex-PM warned of rising instability in Libya and called for a “crisis cabinet” to be created.

The former leader said he respected the Congress’ decision to oust him, but stressed he wanted to form a “national unity government” with a view to persuading the country’s political factions to end their wrangling and work together.

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‘An embarrassing revelation’

­Human Rights Watch revealed in a report on Wednesday that stipulates Libyan rebels abused and murdered Colonel Gaddafi, along with his son Mutassim, and loyalists. Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers Association described the findings as an “embarrassment” for NATO given that they backed many of the armed militia groups that fought against Gaddafi.

“The major powers like the US and Britain were all telling lies, to say the least. This revelation, although now documented, is not new, everybody expected it,” Said al-Mukhtar to RT.

On the subject of the government’s harsh line on Beni Walid, he said the government is not in control of the fragmented military groups. Speaking about the militia groups, he told RT “their allegiance is not to Libya. Their allegiance is to their tribe, their town or their background.”

“The Libyan people are certainly suffering more than they did under Gaddafi,” said al-Mukhtar. “At the present moment we have a situation where the Libyans are pitched against each other.”

He concluded that the current situation will remain the same while there are international oil interests in Libya.

Source

‘Send this to Assad’: New shock video shows rebels mocking Gaddafi body

15 Oct

Still from YouTube video

A shocking video showing deposed Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi shortly after his death has appeared on YouTube. A Syrian activist tweeted the video, recommending that embattled President Assad watch it.

The new video shows the bloodstained shirtless body of the deceased leader surrounded by armed men in the back of a vehicle. The militants then lift Gaddafi’s limp body onto a stretcher.

Twitter user Sami al Hamwi uploaded the video to his account, adding the caption “someone needs to send Assad this.”

Although the footage has not been independently verified, it is dated October 20, the day that the leader was captured and killed by rebels.

The city of Sirte became the epicenter of the Libyan conflict and was eventually surrounded by National Transitional Council forces aiming to crush the vestiges of the pro-Gaddafi resistance.

A previous video was disseminated in October of last year shortly after the Colonel was arrested in the city of Sirte. The footage showed the former-dictator covered in blood, barely able to walk and being manhandled by a group of soldiers from the National Transitional Council.

The brutality of the ousted leader’s passing drew international condemnation and a flood of demands for the opening of an investigation into the circumstances of his death.

After initial strong rhetoric branding Gaddafi’s death as a possible war crime, investigations into the former leader’s killing never came to fruition.

The Syria connection

Concerns have been voiced by the international community that the Syrian conflict will go the same way as Libya.

The uprisings against Syrian President Bashar al Assad has been raging across the country for the past 16 months, claiming more than 10,000 lives according to UN estimates.

In recent months the conflict has become increasingly militarized, with reports of al-Qaeda militants filtering into Syria from neighboring countries.

The international community has thus far been unable to agree on a resolution to the Syrian crisis.

Western political rhetoric calls for the removal of President Assad, while Russia and China insist it is up to the Syrian people to decide the fate of their country.

UN special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan has drawn up a plan that stipulates a transitional government with members of the opposition incorporated. However, Syrian rebels have categorically refused to accept any resolution that does not call for the immediate removal of Assad.

Meanwhile, the latest reports from Syria say that fighting between rebel and government forces has reached the Syrian capital of Damascus in what the opposition has dubbed the “final battle.”

RT reports an increased military presence on the streets of Damascus and sporadic gunfire and blasts close to the city center.

Source

Nobel Prize: A tale of ignoble peace laureates

12 Oct

One man introduced indefinite detention and expanded the deadly global drone war. Another was the architect of the deliberate mass killing of civilian populations in Indochina. What do they have in common? Both are Nobel Peace laureates.

Gandhi never got one. Al Gore did. In one of the stranger ironies befitting of both Kafka and Orwell, sometimes the makers of permanent war are awarded for bringing temporary peace. Sometimes they don’t even get that far.

With the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize set to be announced in Oslo, Norway on Friday, the shadow of Barack Obama still looms large. In 2009, the committee awarded the current US president “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Nominations for the award are due by February 1, meaning Obama had served as America’s executive for less than two weeks when the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected him. Perhaps it was wishful thinking.

Since then, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, making it legal to indefinitely detain US citizens. There are also the deadly drone wars in Yemen and Pakistan, the war waged in Libya, the Afghan surge and a secret “kill list” revealed this year by The New York Times, which grants a select few American officials the option to mark perceived national security threats – foreign citizens or otherwise – for assassination. Ironic, yes, but they never could have known.

Even attempts for the committee to play it more conservatively have backfired. Last year, the committee decided to recognize three women for their role in a non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. The three women included a Yemeni activist, Liberian President Johnson Sirleaf and her fellow citizen and civil society activist Leymah Gbowee.

On Wednesday, Gbowee publically lambasted Sirleaf for failing to fight corruption and nepotism in Liberia.

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission even put Sirleaf on a list of 52 people who should be sanctioned for committing war crimes for supporting former Liberian warlord and President Charles Taylor in the late 1980s.

Taylor, who infamously campaigned on the slogan “He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him” during the 1997 general election that followed a war that killed over 200,000 people, fortunately did not win a Nobel Prize.

The post-Obama rehabilitation of the prize might not have gone as smoothly as hoped, but the prize’s history is replete with examples of questionable choices, to say the least.

Chief among them was the 1973 prize awarded to North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho and Henry Kissinger. Tho rejected the prize, telling Kissinger that peace had not been restored in South Vietnam. Kissinger for his part accepted the prize “with humility.”

Before, during and after his acceptance of the prize, Kissinger would be implicated in assassination, war crimes and the slaughter of civilians in a large swath of countries: East Timor, Pakistan, Greece, Cyprus, Chile, Argentina, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

This year’s winner(s) will be drawn from 231 different nominations, 188 of whom are individuals, while the rest are organizations.

Among them are Russia’s own radio station Ekho Moskvy and the Memorial human rights center.

Also on the list is Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, who might be recognized for his role in moderating Myanmar’s notoriously repressive military regime. But even Sein has been implicated in confiscating land from paddy farmers which was later sold to an officer from the effectively paramilitary United Wa State Arm, who then used the land for the production of amphetamines.

If Sein were to win, it might cause a scandal. But it certainly wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the prize’s hundred-plus years.

Source

Syrian Rebels: Bashar al Assad and family ‘will be killed like Gaddafi’

10 Oct


Friends of Mrs Assad, who grew up in Acton and attended Queens College Marylebone, said they were sure she was repulsed by the violence in defence of the dictatorship Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images

By Damien McElroy

The Syrian President Bashar al Assad, his British wife Asma and their family will meet a bloody end ‘like Gaddafi’ as his regime falls from power, a leading member of the opposition movement has warned.

Haitham Maleh, a member of the executive committee of the Syrian National Council, told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Assad had forfeited any chance of a peaceful exit from Syria as a result of his regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters.

The former judge, who has spent decades in Syrian prisons for his human rights activism, predicted that Mr Assad, his wife and three children would be killed in revenge for his failure to respond positively to peaceful demands for change.

“Assad and his family will be killed in Syria, their next steps will be very bloody,” he said. “Two months ago we offered him the option to leave us alone and go but instead he went for the blood of his people. The end for him will be that he is killed like Gaddafi.”

Persistent reports have emerged around the Middle East that Mrs Assad has sought to return to England – or at least flee the fighting in Damascus – with her three children, Hafez, Zein and Lareem. Al-Masry-Al-Youm reported yesterday that she was among a group of family members including the president’s mother and cousins that was driving to the airport to leave but forced to turn back by an opposition ambush.

The UN estimates that more than 5,000 have died on both sides of Syrian fighting as the regime uses tanks, shell fire and sniper units to snuff out protests. The government assault is a particularly familial affair with Mr Assad’s brother Maher commanding the 4th Division of ultra loyal troops that have spearheaded operations.

Mr Maleh said that very soon “two armies” would be clashing around Syria as the security forces desert the regime enmasse.

“Most of the army will separate off from the Assad troops to protect their people,” he said. “Maher is particularly brutal, he will go out and shoot people himself, the ordinary troops don’t want this.”

The 80-year old dissident rebuffed Russian attempts to broker talks with the regime to end spiralling violence. “Talks will not happen. How can we have dialogue with a criminal regime, we can’t do it now,” Mr Maleh, a founding member of the executive committee of the SNC, said. “The game is over. How can we talk with a person who has put a pistol to our heads. It is impossible to make dialogue with this person.

The SNC was increasing its support for the Free Syria Army which has gained increasing numbers of army defections.

“We are sending them money and they ask for weapons, we are sending them some,” he said. “The Turkish government has allowed us to open an account in the name of the national council.”

Friends of Mrs Assad, who grew up in Acton and attended Queens College Marylebone, said they were sure she was repulsed by the violence in defence of the dictatorship.

“She would be horrified with what is happening,” said Malik al-Abdeh, a TV magnate speaking to The Times. “She lived most of her life here. Her ethics and morality were formed here. I think she must be genuinely shocked.”

Source

Video: ‘Gaddafi regime beacon of light compared to current govt’

9 Oct

The siege of Bani Walid, Libya’s ongoing political instability, and the alleged torture of Gaddafi loyalists has left the country a far cry from the vision that western powers had when they supported last year’s NATO bombing.

Geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT that there’s no stability in Libya compared to before the onset of last year’s NATO bombing. But now as Bani Walid asks for UN help, Henningsen says residents shouldn’t expect much in terms of assistance.

‘No food, no drugs’: Libyan troops siege ex-Gaddafi stronghold

9 Oct

Libyan protesters from the city of Bani Walid hold slogans during a protest outside the National Congress in Tripoli on October 7, 2012 (AFP Photo / Mahmud Turkia)

Armed Libyan forces continue to surround the city of Bani Walid, Libya. As tension between government troops and opposition supporters continues to mount, residents have been left without food and other supplies – and are calling on the UN for help.

Human rights group Amnesty International has asked authorities to avoid unnecessary force, and to allow medical and other vital supplies into the city.

It comes after Libya’s General National Congress gave the Ministries of Interior and Defense permission to use force to arrest those suspected of killing Omran Shaaban – the man who is credited for capturing the country’s ex-leader, Muammar Gaddafi, last year.

Over the past week, government troops have surrounded the city.

“Right now, the armed forces are attacking our city at the eastern boundary between us and Misrata city,” Dr. Abdul-hamid Alshandoli, a member of Bani Walid’s social council who is inside the sieged city, told RT.

The government also called on the release of others being detained in Bani Walid, giving those in the city ten days to comply. The deadline came and went on Friday.

The chief of staff for Libya’s army issued a statement on Thursday, calling on residents to hand over the individuals to avoid a military assault.

According to Amnesty International, hundreds of residents in the city have been arrested by armed militias. Many continue to be detained without being charged or put on trial, and have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated, the organization said.

Protesters from Bani Walid shout slogans during a demonstration against the decision of the National Congress besieging the city of Bani Walid, in front of the National Congress in Tripoli October 7, 2012 (Reuters / Ismail Zitouny)

But despite calls from the army, a large number of residents have turned out to protest the demands.

“Many armed groups came to main entrance of Bani Walid and they asked the people to get out of the city. We have decided not to go because we want to defend our rights, our homes, and our families,” Alshandoli said.

As the conflict between government forces and opposition followers continues in the former Gaddafi stronghold, the city is reportedly suffering from a lack of necessary supplies.

On October 4th, local doctors said that a group of armed men prevented three vehicles carrying medical supplies, personnel, and oxygen from entering the city. The men had set up a checkpoint about 80 kilometers away from Bani Walid, according to Bikya Masr news.

“The situation is very bad. No fuel, no food, no drugs, no communication. Everything is in a very bad situation,” Alshandoli said.

A petition circulating around the city on Friday night asked the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting and “to immediately intervene to protect the civilians in the town.”

Signatories of the petition claimed that pro-government armed militias were trying to kill large numbers of people in Bani Walid, because of the city’s pro-Gaddafi history.

However, it seems the solution is not as easy as simply asking the UN for help.

“It’s difficult to know how to actually provide assistance in this case. It’s a question of what type of international body has the authority to come in, in what way they have the mandate or ability to act, and how they themselves can be protected – given the repeated and numerous strikes against Western targets in Libya over the past year,” editor of the Corbett Report, James Corbett, told RT.

Bani Walid was one of the last cities to fall under the control of anti-Gaddafi forces last year.

Libya is still plagued with violence between pro-Gaddafi loyalists and supporters of the country’s new government – calling into question whether the fall of Gaddafi was indeed the beginning of a new Libya.

According to the UN, many pro-Gaddafi loyalists have been detained in grim conditions, abused and tortured, since last year’s uprising.

Reports of mistreatment serve as an embarrassment for Libya’s new government, as well as for western powers – which fiercely supported the rebellion.

Mustafa Abushagur (Reuters / Ismail Zitouny)

Libyan leadership in turmoil

Meanwhile the rule in Libya is in the hands of factional lawmakers since the ousting of Mustafa Abushagur, the first prime minister to be elected after the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi.

The no-confidence vote came after his proposal of the new “crisis cabinet” after he withdrew his first ministerial line-up. The second attempt to submit the government composition resulted in his ouster, just a month after he took office.

Abushagur represented an offshoot of the country’s oldest anti-Gaddafi opposition movement.

The outgoing PM said he respected the decision made by the General National Congress, but warned of possible instability in the already conflict-torn country.

“I was going to form a national unity government, not based on quotas,”

Abushagur told the lawmakers. “But then there was pressure on me.”

Source

US Official: Military Action Needed in Mali

3 Oct

The apparent haven of radical Islamists in Mali is a consequence of US interventionism and now justifying further intervention

A top US official told the Associated Press that military action will be needed to eliminate radical Islamists from the haven they’ve developed in northern Mali.

Johnnie Carson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters that the thuggery and terrorism that these extremist militants are responsible for “must be dealt with through security and military means,” which can help establish a “strong, credible government” in Mali.

Carson’s statement is notable for several reasons. First, the apparent safe haven that these militant Islamists have in northern Mali is a direct result of the US-NATO war in Libya. When mercenaries returning from Libya waged a military coup in Mali, extremists flooded to the area to take advantage of the resulting power vacuum. That their presence is now justifying further military intervention is ironic to say the least.

Furthermore, American military action that aims to eliminate extremist groups in lawless regions and set up a “strong, credible government” has a terrible track record as a policy option, as the failing quagmire in Afghanistan has demonstrated.

Finally, in every US military intervention since 9/11 extremism and militancy has been fostered instead of eliminated. In Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Libya, and in Somalia – problems of extremism and terrorist groups worsened following intervention. Why intervening in Mali will be any different is a mystery.

Carson did say that “any military action up there must indeed be well planned, well organized, well resourced, and well thought through,” adding that, “it must, in fact, be agreed upon by those who are going to be most affected by it.”

Here Carson is referring to the African nations surrounding Mali, the regional bloc known as ECOWAS. In keeping with the Obama administration’s supposed ‘leading from behind,’ Washington has been pressing neighboring countries to take action, and probably offering them economic and military goodies to do so.

But Obama’s penchant for low-key militarism – special operations forces, drones, and secret wars as opposed to grand military invasions – has probably already begun to crop up in Mali. Administration officials have been hinting about expanded operations in the region, all without the permission or knowledge of the American people or Congress.

Source

Benghazi Attack a ‘Major Blow’ to CIA

29 Sep

CIA Forced to Evacuate Spies After Consulate Sacked

by Jason Ditz

The attack earlier this month on the Benghazi consulate, which killed four Americans including the US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was a blow to a lot of people. It cost the State Department its ambassador, it cost the Obama campaign the claim of Libya as a big “win” and it cost the Libyan government the pretense of security.

Lost in all the people who suffered from this, however, is the CIA, which officials say suffered a “catastrophic” loss after the destruction of the US Consulate, because it forced them to withdraw about a dozen spies who were staying there.

Not that the CIA was apparently doing a very good job. Even though officials say that they were surveilling a number of targets in Benghazi, and even though Libya was openly warning them about security risks, the US was caught entirely unawares by the attack.

The depth of CIA “cooperation” with the State Department isn’t well documented, though it has been established in previous incidents that the CIA has used the pretense of embassy employees to put spies in countries with the claim of diplomatic immunity, as with Raymond Davis in Pakistan, who the US claimed had “immunity” after he murdered two people in Lahore and after they admitted he was a CIA spy just pretending to be a consular employee.

The Libyan government has not commented on the story, so it is unclear if they were aware of the CIA operations in Benghazi or not.

Source

White House knew Benghazi attack was a terrorist act from day one

29 Sep

US President Barack Obama.(AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowski)

From day one, the Obama administration was aware that the September 11 assault on the US consulate in Benghazi was a pre-planned terrorist attack, despite offering up conflicting explanations in the weeks since.

Unnamed officials confirm to Fox News that the White House knew that al-Qaeda-linked terrorists were behind the murder of four Americans in Libya, but only today did US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta publicly acknowledge the truth.

Secretary Panetta now admits that the Pentagon knew within hours of the assault on America’s Benghazi consulate that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others dead that it was an act of terrorism.

The Obama administration has altered their explanation repeatedly in the weeks since Mr. Stevens and three others were killed on September 11, 2012 while on assignment in Libya. On Thursday, the Defense Department confirmed the attack as having been hatched by terrorists, despite earlier statements made by the White House that suggested an anti-Islam film produced in the US had triggered a spontaneous assault.

“The reason I think it pretty clearly was a terrorist attack is because a group of terrorists obviously conducted that attack on the consulate and against our individuals,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. “What terrorists were involved I think still remains to be determined by the investigation. But it clearly was a group of terrorists who conducted that attack against that facility.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested earlier in the week that the attack in Benghazi may have been hatched by an al-Qaeda affiliate, yet another drastic change of heart from an Obama appointee this week.

In New York City on Wednesday, Secretary Clinton told attendees at a special United Nations meeting that the September 11 assault first thought by the White House to be a spontaneous response to an Anti-Islam film made in America could have been orchestrated by extremists in North Africa, specifically those subscribed to an off-shoot of al-Qaeda.

“For some time, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other groups have launched attacks and kidnappings from northern Mali into neighboring countries,” Clinton told the crowd this week. “Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions. And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions underway in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.”

Secretary Clinton’s address was delivered at a United Nations meeting on instability in the Sahel, the region of Africa that includes Mali and, apparently, terrorist operatives conducting assaults on Americans for al-Qaeda.

Immediately following the September 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, the Obama administration all but confirmed their suspicious than “Innocence of Muslims,” an America-made film that mocked Islamic prophet Mohammed, was likely to blame for the violence. The movie was believed to have sparked protests in Cairo earlier in the day, which the White House then suggested spread to Libya and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Both the State Department and the White House initially hinted that the film was to blame for the Benghazi raid, and on September 16 Susan E. Rice, US ambassador to the United Nations, directly linked the movie with the mayhem.

Days later, what was once a “spontaneous” response was reconsidered by many as something more.

“I would say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen told Congress on September 19.

The next day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it’s “self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.” Nearly a week later on September 26, Carney altered the official explanation to say, “it is certainly the case that it is our view as an administration, the President’s view, that it was a terrorist attack.”

Carney’s reluctance to identify the assault as the act of terrorists could easily be explained as the White House’s unwillingness to admit a defeat in their War in Terror, not just on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks but so close to the November presidential elections. The United States has so far invested a substantial amount of men and money into efforts to allegedly free the Libyan people from the regime of fallen former leader Muammar Gaddafi, but now it appears as a man considered a ruthless dictator by Washington has only been replaced by rampant terrorism courtesy of al-Qaeda affiliates.

Now Secretary Clinton says that the assault was more than just an act of violent extremism and that the men behind the mob attack may have ties to America’s most notorious foe: al-Qaeda.

“We’re working with the Libyan government and other partners to find those responsible for the attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi and bring them to justice.But we are also expanding our counterterrorism partnerships to help countries meet their own growing threats,” she added at the UN meeting. “ We’re taking aim at the support structure of al-Qaida and its affiliates – closing safe havens, cutting off finances, countering their ideology and denying them recruits.”

Earlier in the week, US President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly, “I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.”

Source

‘Innocence of Muslims’ filmmaker was a federal informant

27 Sep

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (2nd R) is escorted out of his home by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers in Cerritos, California.(Reuters / Bret Hartman)

Much remains unanswered about the US-made film that sparked riots across the Arab World, but more is unraveling by the day regarding the movie’s producer. Now it’s reported that the man behind ‘Innocence of Muslims’ was once a federal informant.

In the wake of a serious of violent outbursts that have targeted American facilities abroad and left at least 40 dead including one US ambassador, authorities and media outlets in the United States continue to comb through information about the film that’s considered the catalyst in the attacks, an anti-Islam flick branded overseas under the name ‘Innocence of Muslims.’ Less than a week after four Americans were killed at a US consulate in Benghazi, it’s now being revealed that the film’s producer, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, worked for the feds.

A court transcript obtained by the Smoking Gun shows that, as recently as 2010, Mr. Nakoula was identified as a federal informant, a title that his attorneys hoped would help in his case when he went before sentencing that year over an earlier conviction for check fraud.

According to the transcripts, attorneys for Mr. Nakoula pleaded for leniency when their client was sentenced in June 2010, arguing that “cooperation” with prosecutors in a separate case should be taken into consideration. Authorities had hoped that Nakoula would provide them with an direct link to Eiad Salameh, the mastermind of a check kiting scheme described in court papers as “a notorious fraudster who has been tracked for more than a decade by state and federal investigators.”

On his own part, Nakoula pleaded that he had agreed to assist the government in order to reverse his wrongdoing.

“I would like to start that I’m sorry for what happened,” Nakoula told a judge, the transcript reveals. “Now I know that it was wrong. Therefore, I decided to cooperate with the government to retrieve some of these mistakes or damage happened. I want to cooperate with the government so that they can catch with this other criminals who is their involvement.”

That wasn’t Nakoula’s first run-in with the law, and might not be his last either. Authorities are currently investigating his role with ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ which has since been tied to an array of mob assaults in the Muslim World. Before his conviction for check fraud, though, he was charged with “intent to manufacture phencyclidine,” or PCP, back in 1997 after he was caught with dozens of boxes of pharmaceuticals and $45,000 in cash.

Source

The Times: Largest Shipload of Libyan Weapons Heading to Armed Groups in Syria

26 Sep

LONDON, (SANA)- The British newspaper The Times revealed that a largest shipment of weapons has arrived in Turkey to be delivered to the armed groups in Syria.

“A Libyan ship carrying the largest consignment of weapons for Syria…has docked in Turkey,” said The Times in an article published on Friday.

The article’s writer, Sheera Frenkel, said most of the Libyan ship’s cargo is making its way to the armed terrorist groups inside Syria.

Quoting a member of the so-called ‘Free Syrian Army’, who called himself Abu Mohammad, the article said the over 400 ton cargo included “SAM-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).”

Abu Mohammad, who told The Times that he “helped to move the shipment from warehouses to the border” said “this is the largest single delivery of assistance” the gunmen have so far received.

The article said the Libyan ship, which is called ‘The Intisaar’ (victory), is berthed at the Turkish port of Iskenderun and had been given “papers stamped by the port authority by the ship’s captain, Omar Mousaeeb.”

The article pointed out that Mousaeeb is “a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support,” which is delivering supplies to the armed groups in Syria.

Mouaseeb ascribed the defeats of these groups in Syria to the lack of weapons, adding however that “we now see there is even more they need.”

The British newspaper highlighted differences between the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Syria and the so-called Free Army over each claiming the cargo for themselves, which “delayed the arrival of the weapons in Syria.”

The article revealed that videos and photos confirmed the arrival of the shipment to the Syrian border and that “more than 80 per cent of the ship’s cargo…has been moved into Syria.”

According to the article, huge weapons stockpiles went missing in Libya after the killing of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, referring to photographs of empty boxes of SAM-7S and confirmations by Libyan officials that “more than 5,000 of the missiles had vanished.”

The Times affirmed that this is not the first time that Libyan ships try to deliver weapons to the armed terrorist groups in Syria, referring to “a large consignment of Libyan weapons, including PRGs and heavy ammunition,” which was seized by the Lebanese authorities in the Lebanese northern territorial waters as it was mend to reach the gunmen in Syria.

H. Said

Source

Clinton: Libya needs a Wal-Mart

25 Sep

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks as he opens the Clinton Global Initiative, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012, in New York. Participants, consisting of more than 50 current or former heads of state, will attend three days of sessions aimed at solving pressing world problems. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)(Credit: AP)

Former President Bill Clinton has an idea of what beleaguered Libya needs: a Wal-Mart.

Speaking at his eighth annual Clinton Global Initiative summit on Sunday, he challenged Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke to open a store in the troubled region to create jobs and foster international cooperation.

“If the new president of Libya asked you to open a store in Tripoli, would you consider it?” Clinton asked Duke (a panelist at the event).

Clinton’s yearly summit is intended to encourage business leaders, NGOs and politicians to brainstorm and make pledges in the name of global investment and humanitarianism — the sort of humanitarianism that sees more Wal-Mart stores and jobs as a solution.

Renowned in the past decade for a string of overseas labor abuses, Wal-Mart recently won praise from Clinton on “The Daily Show” for its sustainable energy efforts. Watch the clip below, in which Clinton also tells Jon Stewart about his CGI guest list:

Source

Worth a Thousand Words: Libya before and after

25 Sep

Video: General Wesley Clark explains US military plans to attack Iran & other countries

24 Sep
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