The Washington Post now admits that the key role of Islamists in
Libya’s insurgence “went abundantly unnoticed” afore Muammar Gaddafi was
agitated endure month. But Robert Parry asks whose accountability was
that, back it was the Post and added Big Media that were acting added as
propagandists for “regime change” than honest brokers.
By Robert Parry
During the six-month insurgence adjoin Muammar Gaddafi, above U.S.
account outlets afresh afresh and afresh that the Libyan absolutist was
abaft the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and they
abandoned warnings that active Islamists were at the amount of the
anti-Gaddafi insubordinate army.
Indeed, for Americans to get addition angle on these points, they had to
seek out Web sites, like Consortiumnews.com, which had the
adventurousness not to advance in lockstep with the blow of the Western
media. Alone alfresco the boilerplate columnist would you acquisition
cogent questions asked about the authoritativeness over Libya’s
answerability in the Pan Am bombing and about the architecture of the
rebels.
Now, afterwards the United States and its NATO allies accept engineered
the adapted “regime change” in Libya – beneath the affectation of
“protecting civilians” – those two credibility are advancing added into
focus.
The New York Times and the Washington Post on Thursday assuredly
accustomed that abolitionist Islamists, including some with links to
al-Qaeda, are accumulation their ability central the new administration
in Tripoli.
And, the accustomed dog not barking – even as Libya’s abstruse
intelligence files accept been apparent to the eyes of Western
journalists – is the absence of any incriminating affirmation apropos
Libya’s role in the Lockerbie case. Earlier interrogations of Libya’s
ex-intelligence arch Moussa Koussa by Scottish authorities aswell
allegedly came up empty, as he was accustomed to leave London for Qatar.
Since Gaddafi’s fall, account outlets aswell accept appear that Libyan
intelligence agent, Ali al-Megrahi, who was bedevilled of the Lockerbie
bombing by a Scottish cloister and was afterwards appear on altruistic
area because of terminal prostate cancer, is absolutely acutely ill,
bedfast and acutely abreast death.
Megrahi’s balloon in 2001 afore a console of Scottish board was added a
kangaroo cloister than any austere accomplishment to actuate
answerability – even a Scottish appeals cloister bidding affair about a
grave abortion of amends – but the Western columnist continues to call
Megrahi, afterwards qualification, as the “Lockerbie bomber.”
It aswell was accustomed in the West’s account media to beam at the
angle that Megrahi was absolutely adversity from avant-garde prostate
blight back he hadn’t died as bound as some doctors anticipation he
might. Afterwards Gaddafi’s administration fell, Megrahi’s ancestors
arrive BBC and added account organizations to see Megrahi disturbing to
breathe in his ailing bed.
His son, Khaled al-Megrahi, aswell connected to advance on his father’s
innocence. “He believes and we apperceive that everybody will see the
truth,” the adolescent Megrahi told the BBC. “I apperceive my ancestor
is innocent and one day his chastity will appear out.”
Asked about the humans who died in the bombing, the son said: “We feel
apologetic about all the humans who died. We wish to apperceive who did
this bad thing. We wish to apperceive the accuracy as well.”
Convicted or Railroaded?
As added advice becomes accessible central Libya, the facts may
assuredly be antiseptic about whether Gaddafi’s government did or did
not accept a duke in the bombing over Lockerbie. However, so far, the
break are that Megrahi may able-bodied accept been railroaded by the
Scottish board who begin a additional Libyan actor innocent and were
beneath political burden to captive anyone for the crime.
After Megrahi’s analytical conviction, the West imposed acrid
bread-and-butter sanctions on Libya, accordant to lift them alone if
Libya accustomed “responsibility” for the bombing and paid amends to the
families of the 270 victims. To get rid of the backbreaking sanctions,
Libya accustomed the accord although its admiral connected to advance
that Libya had annihilation to do with the Lockerbie bombing.
However, amidst this year’s advertising attack in abutment of the Libyan
rebels, none of this ambiguity was mentioned in the New York Times, the
Washington Post or added arch U.S. account outlets. Gaddafi’s
answerability for Lockerbie was artlessly declared as collapsed fact,
abundant as the aforementioned account organizations accustomed
apocryphal claims about Iraq’s WMD in the countdown to the 2003
aggression of that Arab country.
Similarly, there was bare U.S. media absorption accustomed to
affirmation that eastern Libya, the affection of the anti-Gaddafi
rebellion, was a axis for Islamic aggression with that arena bartering
the a lot of per-capita militants angry U.S. troops in Iraq, generally
beneath the banderole of al-Qaeda.
Instead, Gaddafi’s claims that he was aggressive Islamic terrorists in
the Benghazi arena were broadly mocked or abandoned in the West. Even a
address by analysts Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman for West Point’s
Combating Terrorism Center got short-shrift.
In their report, “Al-Qaeda’s Adopted Fighters in Iraq,” Felter and
Fishman analyzed al-Qaeda abstracts captured in 2007 assuming cadre
annal of militants who flocked to Iraq for the war. The abstracts showed
eastern Libya accouterment a hasty amount of suicide bombers who
catholic to Iraq to annihilate American troops.
Felter and Fishman wrote that these alleged Sinjar Annal appear that
while Saudis comprised the better amount of adopted fighters in Iraq,
Libyans represented the better per-capita accidental by far. Those
Libyans came overwhelmingly from towns and cities in the east.
“The all-inclusive majority of Libyan fighters that included their
hometown in the Sinjar Annal resided in the country’s Northeast,
decidedly the littoral cities of Darnah 60.2% (53) and Benghazi 23.9%
(21),” Felter and Fishman wrote.
The authors added that Abu Layth al‐Libi, Emir of Libyan Islamic Angry
Accumulation (LIFG), “reinforced Benghazi and Darnah’s accent to Libyan
jihadis in his advertisement that LIFG had abutting al‐Qa’ida.”
Top Libyan Terrorists
Some important al-Qaeda leaders operating in Pakistan’s affiliated
regions aswell are believed to accept appear from Libya. For instance,
“Atiyah,” who was allegorical the anti-U.S. war action in Iraq, was
articular as a Libyan called Atiyah Abd al-Rahman.
It was Atiyah who apprenticed a action of creating a quagmire for U.S.
armament in Iraq, affairs time for al-Qaeda address to clean its
backbone in Pakistan. “Prolonging the war [in Iraq] is in our interest,”
Atiyah said in a letter that upbraided Jordanian agitator Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi for his hasty and adventuresome accomplishments in Iraq.
After U.S. Special Armament dead al-Qaeda architect Osama bin Laden on
May 2 in Pakistan, Atiyah became al-Qaeda’s additional in command until
he himself was reportedly dead in a U.S. bombinate bang in August. [See
Consortiumnews.com “Time Assuredly Ran Out for Atiyah.”]
However, to a lot of Americans relying on the above U.S. account media,
little of this was known, as the Washington Post itself accustomed on
Thursday. In an commodity on the acceleration of Islamists central the
new ability anatomy in Libya, the Post wrote:
“Although it went abundantly disregarded during the insurgence that
agitated Gaddafi endure month, Islamists were at the affection of the
fight, abounding as insubordinate commanders.
“Now some are clashing with secularists aural the rebels’ Transitional
National Council, bidding worries a part of some liberals that the
Islamists — who still command the aggregate of fighters and weapons —
could use their backbone to advance an even added ascendant role.”
On Thursday, the New York Times led the foreground page with a agnate
article, advantaged “Islamists’ Growing Sway Raises Questions for
Libya.” It began:
“In the arising post-Qaddafi Libya, the a lot of affecting baby-kisser
may able-bodied be Ali Sallabi, who has no academic appellation but
commands ample account as an Islamic academic and autonomous orator who
was active in arch the accumulation uprising.
“The a lot of able aggressive baton is now Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the above
baton of a awkward accumulation already believed to be accumbent with
Al Qaeda.”
Belhaj was ahead the administrator of the Libyan Islamic Angry Group,
which was associated with al-Qaeda in the past, maintained training
bases in Afghanistan afore the 9/11 attacks, and was listed as a
agitator alignment by the U.S. State Department.
Though Belhaj and the Libyan Islamic Angry Accumulation abjure accepted
adherence to al-Qaeda, Belhaj was captured during George W. Bush’s
post-9/11 “war on terror” and was agonizingly interrogated by the CIA at
a “black site” bastille in Thailand afore accepting handed over to
Gaddafi’s government which confined and – Belhaj claims – bent him.
The Times appear that “Belhaj has become so abundant an cabal afresh
that he is gluttonous to bound Mahmoud Jibril, the American-trained
economist who is the nominal prime abbot of the acting government,
afterwards Mr. Jibril askance criticized the Islamists.”
The Times commodity by correspondents Rod Nordland and David D.
Kirkpatrick aswell cited added contempo developments of growing Islamist
access central the Libyan insubordinate movement:
“Islamist militias in Libya accept weapons and costs anon from adopted
benefactors like Qatar; a Muslim Brotherhood figure, Abel al-Rajazk Abu
Hajar, leads the Tripoli Municipal Governing Council, area Islamists are
reportedly in the majority; in eastern Libya, there has been no
resolution of the assassination in July of the baton of the
insubordinate military, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, doubtable by some to
be the plan of Islamists.”
It may be admirable that the Post and Times are assuredly giving austere
absorption to this adventitious aftereffect of the NATO-backed “regime
change” in Libya, but the actuality that these arch American newspapers
abandoned the Islamist affair as able-bodied as doubts about Libya’s
Lockerbie answerability – while the U.S. government was whipping up
accessible abutment for addition war in the Muslim apple – raises
questions about whether any acquaint were abstruse from Iraq.
Do these authority account outlets abide to see their role in such cases
as artlessly accepting the American humans to band up abaft the latest
war adjoin a Mideast “bad guy” – or will they anytime yield actively
their journalistic assignment to arm the accessible with as abundant
advice as possible?
