Human Rights Watch reports that Abdel Hakim Belhaj—recently an “al-Qaeda-linked terrorist” and now a military commander of Libya’s NATO-backed rebels—was actually “renditioned” by the CIA from Malaysia to Libya back in 2004.
France and the NTC deny claims in the Paris daily LibĂ©ration that they have signed a secret deal granting French companies exclusive access to 35% of Libya’s oil reserves. Qaddafi meanwhile charges imperialist designs on deep Saharan fossil aquifers.
Over the past days, more than 500 Tuaregs, including women and children, have crossed from Libya to Algeria, claiming they were forced to flee their homes by anti-Qaddafi fighters, who took reprisals after occupying their towns.
AlJazeera claims to have uncovered documents in the ransacked offices of Qaddafi’s intelligence chief implicating US officials—including Rep. Dennis Kucinich—in secretly aiding the strongman, in violation of stated policy.
Libya’s Transitional National Council denied charges made by Morocco’s official news service that some 550 Polisario Front fighters from occupied Western Sahara had been arrested for serving as mercenaries for Qaddafi.
As NATO carries out air-strikes and NTC forces advance on Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, the fugitive strongman’s forces are accused of holding the populace captive to use as “human shields.”
Abdelhakim Belhaj, recently appointed to Tripoli’s rebel military council, was a founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an anti-Qaddafi cell designated by the US State Department as a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaeda
Ali Tarhuni, oil minister of Libya’s Transitional National Council, has assumed executive powers in Tripoli. But the African Union, in an emergency summit at Addis Ababa, refused to recognize the TNC as the legitimate government.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility for three suicide attacks in Algeria this summer—most recently at military barracks in the coastal town of Cherchel, leaving 18 dead.
Ibrahim ag-Bahanga, the most intransigent of Mali’s Tuareg rebel leaders, died in a mysterious accident in his remote Saharan homeland. Locas say he was involved in a dispute with fellow traffickers who were moving weapons to the Libyan rebels.
Juan Cole was a hero of the left when he slapped down mainstream media jive on the Iraq war just a few short years ago. But now he takes on idiot-left jive on Libya—which has at times deteriorated into shameless cheerleading for Qaddafi.
AlJazeera uncovers evidence of “mass executions” of opposition activists by Qaddafi-loyalists in Tripoli, while AP finds rebels may have executed captive Qaddafi-loyalists. South Africa’s Jacob Zuma calls for an International Criminal Court probe of NATO.
