www.esryle.com
Posted on 06/10/2004 10:51:16 AM PDT by esryle
While Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was renouncing terrorism and negotiating the lifting of sanctions last year, his intelligence chiefs ordered a covert operation to assassinate the ruler of Saudi Arabia and destabilise the oil-rich kingdom, according to statements by two participants in the alleged conspiracy.
Abdurahman Alamoudi, an American Muslim leader now in jail in the United States, and Colonel Mohamed Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody, have given separate statements to US and Saudi officials outlining the plot.
Alamoudi has told FBI officials and federal prosecutors that Mr Gaddafi approved the plan. But Mr Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, called the accusation "nonsense."
US officials confirm that Alamoudi and Ismael have offered detailed accounts of a Libyan plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah and that they appear to be credible enough to have launched a US investigation.
But the officials said they were still examining the scope of the plot, how far it advanced and whether Mr Gaddafi was involved.
They said the accusations were one reason the US had not removed Libya from the US State Department's list of nations that support terrorism.
Alamoudi's statements were offered in plea negotiations with federal US prosecutors. The negotiations are not yet completed
Alamoudi was indicted last October in the US District Court for allegedly violating US sanctions by travelling to Libya and receiving money from Libyan officials. Under federal guidelines, prosecutors could urge a judge to reduce his prison term in exchange for his statements, criminal lawyers said.
The statements of the two conspirators were described by three people with extensive official knowledge of the case, who insisted that they not be identified because information about it remains classified.
Senior officials in the US, British and Saudi governments have been aware of the investigation of the assassination plot for several months.
Mr Gaddafi and Crown Prince Abdullah clashed at the Arab summit meeting before the Iraq war. They exchanged insults in open session, accusing each other of selling out to colonial powers. An indignant Prince Abdullah glared at Mr Gaddafi and said: "Your lies precede you and your grave is in front of you."
A Libyan terrorist plot, if verified, would undermine Mr Gaddafi's pledges that his government has abandoned terrorism. It could also trigger a reinstatement of international sanctions on Libya that were lifted by the United Nations Security Council last September after Mr Gaddafi's Government renounced terrorism, admitted responsibility for the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland in December 1988 and agreed to pay $US10 million ($A14.5 million) compensation to the families.
A senior Bush Administration official said that the emergence of convincing evidence that Mr Gaddafi ordered or condoned an assassination and terror campaign could cause a full "180 degree" change of US policy towards Libya.
US President George Bush has indicated to the Saudi royal family that he is going to find out what happened in the alleged conspiracy, says a diplomat.
Alamoudi has told prosecutors he twice met Mr Gaddafi, in June and August of 2003, to discuss details of the assassination plan, say those who have seen his statements.
Doesn't Mo-mar understand that the missles that missed him in the 80s ARE NOT the missles of today. They won't miss this time.
NO.. it couldn't be this from the Head of the Human Rights Commission for the UN?!?!?!
Could it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.