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Profile: Libyan rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhaj (Jihadist, Taliban, former CIA prisoner)
BBC ^ | 5 September 2011 Last updated at 12:59 ET

Posted on 09/06/2011 6:46:20 AM PDT by Pan_Yan

As leader of the newly formed Tripoli Military Council, Abdel Hakim Belhaj is arguably the most powerful military man in the Libyan capital.

He stood victorious inside Col Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound last month, after fighters from his Tripoli Brigade broke through the defences of the ousted leader's fortress in the heart of the city.

...

Mr Belhaj - known in the jihadi world as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq - commanded the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

...

There, Mr Belhaj is alleged to have developed "close relationships" with al-Qaeda leaders and Taliban chief Mullah Omar, according to an arrest warrant issued by the Libyan government in 2002.

The warrant says that he was based in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, from where he ran and financed training camps for Arab mujahideen fighters.

...

After the 11 September attacks and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, he and most of the LIFG leaders fled that country as well, only for Mr Belhaj to be arrested in 2004 in Thailand by the CIA and then handed over to Col Gaddafi's government.

Mr Belhaj spent time in Tripoli's notorious Abu Selim Prison, before being freed in 2010 under a "de-radicalisation" drive championed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader.

...

"He was rendered by the CIA, he was captured, abducted together with his pregnant wife and flown on the so-called black flight to Tripoli for his interrogation," he said.

Mr Bouckaert said Mr Belhaj was one of about eight or nine suspects who were abducted and handed over to the Libyan intelligence service.

"From the files it's very clear [CIA agents] were present in some of the interrogations themselves."

Mr Belhaj was held in Tripoli's notorious Abu Selim prison for seven years, where he says he was "regularly tortured".

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cia; islam; libya; ntc
Long article, lots of stuff in it. I tried to exceprt the gist of it.
1 posted on 09/06/2011 6:46:28 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

Libya’s new rebel commanders say they will shun extremism...................................................... RIIIIIGHT. Just another great American foreign policy move by the current administration. :)


2 posted on 09/06/2011 7:17:04 AM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (Liberals fight with smear, Conservatives fight with truth. Palin & West team 4 me)
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To: Pan_Yan

So gadaafi was helping the west in regards to terrorists ?

Now the west trained them, used NATO as a mercenary force to help them?

I even hear that NATO did even more providing small arms and even flying these terrorists around.

THAT is news that is hard to find, only a few sources one from RT.

Anyone have info on NATO, the UK and USA flying former terrorists to Libya and into Tripoli ?


3 posted on 09/06/2011 10:48:06 AM PDT by Para-Ord.45
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To: Para-Ord.45
So gadaafi was helping the west in regards to terrorists ?

From Wikileaks:

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR EXPLANATION OF RETURNED DETAINEE ARM DISABILITY
2007-11-07 09:14

Apparently one of the terrorists we turned over complained that his arm was broken and teeth knocked out in Gitmo. I'll bet after a few weeks in Club Gaddafi he wished he was back in Gitmo.

SUBJECT: LIBYA: FOLLOW-UP ON ACCESS TO RETURNED GTMO DETAINEES REF: A) STATE 165729, B) STATE 127608, C) TRIPOLI 723, D) TRIPOLI 797 CLASSIFIED BY: Chris Stevens, DCM, Embassy Tripoli, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
2007-12-13 16:50

SUBJECT: LIBYA: REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO REPATRIATED GUANTANAMO DETAINEES
2008-02-20 12:01

4 posted on 09/06/2011 11:29:18 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

The irony is Gaddifi’s apparent cooperation concerning terrorism intel, and the alleged surrendering of his nuclear ambitions.


5 posted on 09/06/2011 12:16:13 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been Redistributed. Here's your damn Change!)
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To: Gene Eric
the alleged surrendering of his nuclear ambitions.,p>browsing through hundreds of Wikileaks documents it appears he sincerely gave up nuclear arms. Unfortunately, there still might be a bunch of uranium in barrels sitting next to the runway in Tripoli. They were having problems getting all the stuff accounted for and sent to Russia for disposal (savor the irony).
6 posted on 09/06/2011 12:21:01 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

No doubt the WMD extend into the field of nerve gas.


7 posted on 09/06/2011 5:10:13 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been Redistributed. Here's your damn Change!)
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