Posted on 09/22/2011 11:37:16 AM PDT by Cardhu
Muammar Gaddafi's last prime minister has been arrested in Tunisia, becoming the most senior member of the former Libyan regime to be detained since the government's overthrow by Nato-backed rebels a month ago, it emerged on Thursday.
Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi was caught near the border with Algeria and jailed for six months for illegal entry, though he is likely to be handed over to Libya to face investigation, since the government in Tunis recognises the new ruling national transitional council (NTC) in Tripoli.
Gaddafi himself and his sons Seif al-Islam and Mutasim are thought to be still on the run or hiding inside Libya, while other family members have fled to Algeria and Niger. Other prominent Gaddafi supporters escaped to Niger after the fall of the key southern town Sebha on Wednesday, an NTC military spokesman said. The NTC also confirmed that banned chemical weapons had been found in the newly-captured area.
Al-Mahmoudi remained prime minister until the fall of Tripoli, when he crossed into Tunisia. He later appeared to try to create the impression that he had in fact defected when he told an Arabic TV channel he supported the rebels. But most Libyans are likely to see him as a man who stayed loyal to Gaddafi almost to the end.
Viewed as a technocrat, he also served as chairman of the Libyan Investment Authority, the country's sovereign wealth fund. In May he put out feelers towards the rebels – prompting speculation that he was trying to circumvent Gaddafi – but nothing came of the initiative.
News of his detention came on the day the US formally re-established its diplomatic presence in Tripoli after the end of fighting in most of the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Why is it I can’t believe a single word of the story of Libya without a great deal of hesitation? What is it that pegs the meter constantly? It is almost as if the whole story is a fiction book I have been reading that was not particularly well-written.
You are wise not to believe anything that has only the word of the rebels to support it - I usually discount anything they say until I can get some other independent confirmation.
In this case it appears that the Tunisian government has put this out.
You are wise not to believe anything that has only the word of the rebels to support it - I usually discount anything they say until I can get some other independent confirmation.
In this case it appears that the Tunisian government has put this out.
Impossible. The Libyan operation took just a couple days.
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