The fact that this comes as a surprise to the Der Spiegel magazine regardless of many out there who have been long predicting this very outcome, is hilarious. No doubt Der Spiegel gets its intel from the same myriad of wonk foreign policy institutions that the Finnish government does. What a bunch of losers. KGS
NOTE: Only the clueless would consider pondering the words of the likes of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, because he never was a part of al-Qaida. The only difference between this piece of crap and al-Crapaida, is that they belong to groups that have different names.
For years, American and British intelligence agencies hunted Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the commander of the Libyan rebels’ Tripoli brigade, believing him to be a terrorist and ally of then al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. They also reportedly had him abducted, which led to his being tortured with syringes and ice-cold water. Now though, the West and many in Libya are paying close attention, and are listening to his every word.
“In reality, our group had nothing to do with al-Qaida at the time,” says Belhaj, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and the former head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which, persecuted by the regime of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, took refuge in Afghanistan for years. Belhaj, the battle-hardened Islamist, is now the commander of all rebel troops in the Libyan capital.
His men drive around in their pickups, outfitted with automatic weapons while the civilian heads of the rebellion seek to map out a path for their country’s future. Belhaj says that the power lies “in the hands of the Libyan people,” and that Libyans can now decide democratically how they wish to live their lives. “We want a secular country,” he adds. But many Libyans don’t believe a word the Islamist is saying.
