It's been about 24 hours since it was announced that the United States killed Al-Qaeda's number 2 in Pakistan, Atiyah Abn Al-Rahman. Not much about Al-Rahman is publicly known, except that he is Libyan (from Misratah) and got his start in terrorism in the banned group Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which officially merged with Al-Qaeda in 2004.
Meanwhile in Libya, in a striking bit of irony, it has been confirmed that the leader of the rebel force who took the capital is none other than the head of the LIFG, Abdel Hakim Belhadj (aka Abu Abdallah Assadaq). That's right, the commander of the Tripoli Military Council that led the invasion and is acting as head-honcho in Tripoli right now was called the "Emir of the Mujahideen" in Libya by none other than (AQ's new leader) Ayman Al-Zawahiri just 4 years ago.
Yesterday, The Independent on Sunday learned that the rebel military commander behind the successful assault on Tripoli had fought in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban and was an Islamist terror suspect interrogated by the CIA. Abdelhakim Belhadj, the newly appointed commander of the Tripoli Military Council is a former emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) – banned by Britain and the US as a terrorist organisation after the 9/11 attacks.
The 45-year-old first went to Afghanistan in the late 1980s, where he fought against occupying Soviet forces. Arrested in Malaysia in 2004, he was interrogated by the CIA in Thailand before being extradited to Libya, where he was released from prison last year...
You would think this would be sort of big news. Or at least that some good journalists would start asking some serious questions, such as how this LIFG commander got in this strong position (who backed him) and whether this puts a damper on the whole Libyan freedom narrative? Maybe some reporter would go a step further and ask how one LIFG commander gets assassinated by our Government without trial (Al-Rahman), and another coordinates war and regime change plans together with NATO (Belhadj).
Instead, after more than a week to investigate this guy, I can count on one hand the number of Western media reports that have even mentioned the commander's connection to the LIFG and terrorism. And each of the reports seem to go out of their way to assure us that there is no problem.
The Independent (UK) goes as far as to try assure us that Belhadj has "renounced violence," despite the small detail that he is head of an armed insurgency that is currently toppling a government. In fact some basic research would find that the LIFG only renounced violence against Muslim leaders, deciding to concentrate on Western enemies instead. I guess Gaddafi's regime was not sufficiently Islamic (many of the rebels regard him as a Jew due to some obscure family history).
The other reports do not even call him Belhadj the leader of the rebels in Tripoli. They just say he's one of the leaders, "according to Arab reports" (they could just quote the rebel command, but that looks bad).
It is certainly a good thing for Mr. Hakim that the government he is overthrowing is one that the West agrees should go, not a shining light worthy of protection like Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan - where anyone would be liable to be killed by a drone for what he is doing.
Similarly, there is not one article in the world right now mentioning the different fates of these two LIFG brothers in arms, both dedicated to jihad against the West. it appears the Libyan rebel story is too good to tarnish with things like human rights abuses (particularly against dark skinned persons), Islamic fundamentalism and terrorist leaders taking the lead.
Today's Reuters report comes the closest to making a connection. It says:
"The killing is likely to be particularly highly prized by Washington as U.S. strategists would have been concerned about Rahman's potential influence in Libya's turmoil following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, analysts say.
But they could not go that one extra step and say exactly why Al-Qaeda might have a potential influence in the new "free" Libya. Abdel Hakim Belhadj's name does not appear.
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