The leader of the newly established Tripoli Military Council is Abdelhakim Belhadj, the former head of the terrorist Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) (Digital Journal)
Terrific. Libya's new security head Abdelhakim Belhaj admits to ties to Al-Qaeda.
No Pasaran reported:
In a Le Monde interview with Christophe Ayad that is highlighted on the front page of the French daily, the National Transition Council's newly-nominated head of Tripoli's security admits to having been part of Al Qaeda. Needless to say, Abdelhakim Belhaj adds in a reassuring voice that the faction that he was part of (the Islamic Combat Group) was never subservient to Osama Bin Laden's organization.
Not to worry, therefore: Abdelhakim Belhaj — who claims to having been arrested in Malaysia in 2004, tortured by the CIA in Bangkok, and put on a plane for Libya to be handed over to Kaddhafi's henchmen (he was not released until March 2010) — claims further that his ideals are "a civilian state with real liberties, and respect for law and justice. We wanted change, we wanted reforms. We never fought just for the sake of fighting."
Abdelhakim Belhaj insists he has no connection to Al-Qaeda. The Australian reported:
AS the new head of Tripoli's security forces, Abdelhakim Belhaj represents hope for the future and the fear that religious extremists will poison the Libyan revolution... The Libyan rebels had "no connection whatever with al-Qa'ida and we have never, ever in our history had any connection with them", he said at the weekend.
"We completely reject targeting of civilians and the killing of innocent people. The revolutionaries will answer directly to the National Transitional Council." A charismatic figure who dresses in camouflage uniform and wears a pistol on his hip, Mr Belhaj fought with the mujaheddin in Afghanistan, returning to Libya after the Soviets withdrew to found the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, the only organisation to oppose the now-ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi on the ground.
The group was banned by the UN and listed as a terrorist organisation by the US. In 2004, Mr Belhaj was kidnapped while in Malaysia and, in an "extraordinary rendition", taken to a secret CIA facility in Thailand, where he was tortured for two weeks.
...Washington fears he is an al-Qa'ida sympathiser.
