Saving the Libyan Islamists

Pajamas Media ^ | March 20, 2011 | John Rosenthal

[jazusamo]

For weeks as international pressure built against him, Muammar al-Gaddafi insisted again and again that the rebel forces that he was fighting in eastern Libya were linked to al-Qaeda. The mere fact that Gaddafi said it was seemingly enough for virtually all commentators to dismiss the claim out of hand. And in case doubts about the source were not enough, then we had the New York Times to send a reporter to Darnah, one of the eastern Libyan towns at the heart of the supposed Islamist uprising, and to assure us that there was nothing to see there, “move along.”

But the problem is that it is not only Muammar al-Gaddafi who has identified the coastal cities of Libya’s eastern Cyrenaica region as al-Qaeda strongholds. The analysts of the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point have as well. The findings of the latter are based on the so-called Sinjar Records: captured personnel records identifying foreign combatants who joined al-Qaeda in Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007. (The full study is available online here. The relevance of the study to the current situation in Libya was first pointed out by Andrew Exum in a blog post here.)

The West Point analysts’ statistical study of the al-Qaeda personnel records comes to the conclusion that one country provided “far more” foreign fighters in per capita terms than any other: namely, Libya. Furthermore, the records show that the “vast majority of Libyan fighters that included their hometown in the Sinjar Records resided in the country’s Northeast.”

The contributions of two cities in particular stand out. One of these has in the last month become a household name: Benghazi. The second is precisely Darnah: the city in which, according to Libyan government sources, an Islamic emirate was declared when the unrest started in February and that thereby earned a visit from the New York Times to prove that it was not so. Darnah lies to the east of Benghazi, behind the battle lines created by the furthest advance of Libyan government forces prior to the announcement of Thursday’s UN Security Council resolution.

While in Darnah, New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid even spoke with Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi: the man who, according to Libyan government sources, had declared the Islamic emirate. Shadid found al-Hasadi “running Darnah’s defenses.” According to Shadid’s would-be reassuring account of their conversation, al-Hasadi “praises Osama bin Laden’s ‘good points,’ but denounces the 9/11 attacks on the United States.” (One must read backwards from the introduction of al-Hasadi’s name into Shadid’s narrative to realize that these quotes come from him.)

A report from Benghazi in the French daily Le Figaro identifies the same al-Hasadi as the “voice of Libya’s Islamists” and claims that a transitional government could only be formed with his approval. The New York Times — or the Obama administration — might remember that the Osama bin Laden whom al-Hasadi “praises” has declared war on America.

According to the West Point study of the Iraqi Sinjar Records, of the 440 foreign al-Qaeda recruits whose hometowns are known, 21 came from Benghazi. This makes Benghazi the fourth most common hometown listed in the records. Fifty-three of the al-Qaeda recruits came from Darnah. That is the highest total of any of the hometowns listed in the records. The second highest number, 51, came from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, the population of Darnah (80,000) is less than 2% the population of Riyadh. This is to say that in per capita terms more the fifty times more foreign fighters joined al-Qaeda in Iraq from Darnah than from Riyadh. As the authors of the study put it, Darnah contributed “far and away the largest per capita number of fighters.”

It is virtually unthinkable that al-Qaeda and/or the local Libyan affiliate of al-Qaeda (the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) are not today involved in the Cyrenaica-based insurrection against the rule of Muammar al-Gaddafi. This is even more unthinkable when one considers that the North African branch of al-Qaeda — al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – has declared its support for the rebellion and vowed to do “everything we can” to aid it.

Barack Obama rose to prominence as a ferocious opponent of the war in Iraq. With barely any objection from either the left or the right, he has today deployed American military power to support some of the very same forces — in all likelihood some of the very same fighters — who were just recently fighting and killing American troops in Iraq.

John Rosenthal writes regularly on European politics for such publications as The Weekly Standard, Policy Review and The Daily Caller. More of his work can be found at www.trans-int.com.

[Diogenesis]

Obama has helped al Qaeda enter the USA,
just as he and the DNC/RINOs have used the DOJ
to defend al Qaeda and all terrorists against Americans.

So why would the undocumented pRes_ _ent Obama
NOT help al Qaeda in Libya as he has helped them
(and Ikhwan) in Egypt and everywhere else?

[Bean Counter]

This could be at least partially true, but it is still no excuse for allowing Kadaffy to remain in control of Libya. He needs to go, and if we don’t remove him nobody will.

[jazusamo]

The enemedia isn’t having any part of this along with the NY Slimes.

[jazusamo]

Agreed. We just missed him in his tent long ago and need to get him now.

[tsowellfan]

He needs to go, and if we don’t remove him nobody will.

It will require ground forces and occupation

[bereanway]

We need to butt out of this. It’s an internal struggle and there are no good guys in this fight.

[353FMG]

>Obama has helped al Qaeda enter the USA<

.
As much as I dislike 0, this is a totally baseless statement.

Our muslim enemies have been pouring into the country ever since we opened immigration to muslims back in the sixties. No president or Congress since then has made an attempt to stop this flow.

Obama was nowhere around when Mohammed Atta and his buddies were taking flying lessons in preparation for 911.

[Bean Counter]

First, we likely already have ground forced in Libya doing target designation, BDA and laser ilumination and intelligence gathering.

Next, we need to kill Kadaffy and his supporters. Any solution that leaves Kadaffy alive is unacceptable. If we just remove Kadaffy, we don’t need to do much of anything else except to turn Libya over to the Libyans and allow the Libyans to finally form a decent government.

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

[Bean Counter]

“We need to butt out of this. It’s an internal struggle and there are no good guys in this fight.”

Funny, that’s almost the same thing Dennis Kucinich is saying this morning.

Do you endorse impeaching Obama for every missile strike too??

[tsowellfan]

If we just remove Kadaffy, we don’t need to do much of anything else except to turn Libya over to the Libyans

That will require occupation

[Bean Counter]

That is certainly your opinion, and you are entitled to it. But making four word cryptic statements about your own narrow views is usually not considered informed conversation.

[Gaffer]

Yes, remove someone who’s been historically very susceptible to behavior modification through the various odd threat or two. Replace him with a bunch of Muslim Brotherhood fanatics who’ll provide yet another free home base for jihadists. Yes, that sounds like a real plan.

[dfwgator]

“If we just remove Hitler, we can just turn Germany over to the Germans.”

[Bean Counter]

No, we are trying to encourage the Libyan people to finally form a real Government.

Are you aware that there isn’t even a Parliament in Libya?

I grant this mission is not easy, but it is not as disastrous as many of you would like to believe, and it is not going to automatically result in the Muslim Brotherhood taking over the Country.

Kadaffy has been an international terrorist for decades, and we should have taken him our back in 1986. Since we did not, right now is the best chance we will ever get to get rid of that SOB once and for all.

We should have had a heavily booted foot knee deep in Kadaffy’s ass a month ago. Our tardiness has resulted in thousands of deaths and that is more encouragement to the Muslim Brotherhood than a show of force like this is ever will be.

Historically, the only thing Arabs understand is raw power.

[tsowellfan]

Actually it's not my opinion. Its that of the CTC.

The (CTC) Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point have identified the coastal cities of Libya’s eastern Cyrenaica region as al-Qaeda strongholds which Gadaffi has kept in check.

It is suspected that the "rebels" who we are helping today are actually supported by groups from the same areas.

[Bean Counter]

Believe it or not, if Hitler had been taken out in 1939, we might have avoided WWII.

But Libya is hardly the same thing, and I wish you would not put words in my mouth.

[Bean Counter]

That still does not mean that Libya is going to be summarily turned over to them when Kadaffy is gone.

[tsowellfan]

That still does not mean that Libya is going to be summarily turned over to them when Kadaffy is gone.

Not if we occupy Libya (a la Iraq and Afghanistan)

[bereanway]

Didnt’ hear Kucinich and don’t much care what he had to say.

97% Islamic and the northeast where the uprising is centered is a hotbed for extremism. There is no good outcome for our involvement.

Western style government and freedom in this setting is laughable.