Above is a picture of Atiyan Abd al-Rahman a murderous Libyan who became Al Qaeda's (AQ) number two man after Osama bin Laden was killed. Al-Rahman was killed in a drone strike in August 2011.
Below is a video about Abu Yahya al-Libi (Libi means Libya)He was a deputy leader in AQ.
Below is a story about Abu Laith al-Libi, another deadly Libyan.
Patriots,
when I was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GITMO) from 2002 to 2003 I wrote an extensive report on the Libyans detained at Guantanamo. In that report I described the Libyans detainees as among the most dangerous of all the detainees. One of the most dangerous terrorist groups was The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) also known as Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya (Arabic: الجماعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا) is a group active in Libya which played a key role in deposing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, allying itself with the National Transitional Council. However the organisation has a troubled history being under pressure from Muammar Gaddafi and shortly after the 9-11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate of al-Qaeda) by the UN 1267 Committee. Listed at the Foreign Terrorist Organizations,[7] the group has denied ever being affiliated with al-Qaeda, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998. Members of the group participated in the 2011 Libyan Civil War under the name Libyan Islamic Movement (LIM) (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya) Below is a summary of LIFG.
LIFG was founded in 1990 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It aimed to establish an Islamic state in Libya and viewed the Gaddafi regime as oppressive, and anti-Muslim, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. LIFG claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Gaddafi in February 1996, which was in part funded by MI6 according to David Shayler, and engaged Libyan security forces in armed clashes during the mid-to-late 1990s. They continue to target Libyan interests and may engage in sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces.
Adnkronos International reported that the group was founded in Afghanistan by Abu Laith Al Libi and other veterans of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
[edit]Relationship with al Qaeda
The LIFG links to Al-Qaeda hail from Afghanistan, where hundreds joined Al-Qaeda. High ranking LIFG operatives inside Al-Qaeda, are the leader of the insurgency Abdel-Hakim Belhadj (also known as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq), and the recently killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who was killed in a CIA drone strike, and Al-Qaeda's Abu Yahya al-Libi.
The Telegraph reported that senior Al Qaeda members Abu Yahya al-Libi and Abu Laith al-Libi were LIFG members. One of al-Qaeda's most senior members, Atiyah Abdul-Rahman, was a member of LIFG as well.
In an audio message published in November 2007 Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Laith al-Libi claimed that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had joined al-Qaeda.
[edit]UK Terrorism Act 2000
On October 10, 2005, the United Kingdom's Home Office banned LIFG and fourteen other militant groups from operating in the UK. Under the United Kingdom's Terrorism Act 2000, being a member of a LIFG is punishable with a 10-year prison term. The Financial Sanctions Unit of the Bank of England acting on behalf of HM Treasury issued the orders to freeze all their assets.Mohammed Benhammedi lived and worked in Liverpool at the time of the UN sanction against him. Sergey Zakurko, the father to his Lithuanian mistress was suspended from his job at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for fear that the link could pose a security threat.
[edit]UN-embargoed LIFG affiliates and their subsequent de-listing
On 7 February 2006 the UN embargoed five specific LIFG members and four corporations, all of whom had continued to operate in England until at least October 2005. Those nine are in the following table; the accusations are according to the US State Department.
| Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih | عبد الرحمن الفقيه | Possibly the same person as the jihadist writer Abdul-Rahman Hasan.[26] Wanted in Morocco in connection with the mass murders of 16 May 2003 in Casablanca. |
| Ghuma Abd'rabbah | غومه عبد الرباح | Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity, by which he transferred money and travel documents to terrorists abroad. |
| Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled | عبد الباقي محمد خالد | Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity; GIA affiliate. |
| Mohammed Benhammedi | محمد بن حامدي | Financier of LIFG. |
| Tahir Nasuf | طاهر ناصف | Previously of the Libyan GIA circle in the UK. He denied any relation with the LIFG[27]. |
| Sara Properties Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Meadowbrook Investments Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Ozlam Properties Limited | Source of some of Benhammedi's money. | |
| Sanabel Relief Agency Limited | Alias SARA, a charity front by which LIFG transacted with other al-Qaeda components (including GICM) via its office in Kabul, prior to the fall of the Taliban. |
The "Summary of Evidence" from Mohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal. states: "The Sanabal Charitable Committee is considered a fund raising front for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group."
In June 2011, all of the entities included in the table above were de-listed by the United Nations Security Council Committee.
[edit]Reconciliation and mass release of prisoners
In September 2009 a new "code" for jihad, a 417-page religious document entitled "Corrective Studies", was published after more than two years of intense and secret talks between incarcerated leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.
On April 9, 2008, Al Jazeera reported that Libya released at least over 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. The Italian press agency Adnkronos International reported the release was due to the efforts of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and leader of the charity Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. It reported that a third of the LIFG members Libya was holding were released. A further 200 prisoners were released in March 2010, including group leader Abdelhakim Belhadj.
In January 2011 members of the group threatened a return to violence unless still imprisoned members were released.
2011 Libyan civil war
In March 2011, members of the LIFG in Ajdabiya declared to the press that the group supports the revolt against Gaddafi's rule, and had placed themselves under the leadership of the National Transitional Council. They also stated that the group had changed its name to Libyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya), had around 500–600 militants released from jail in recent years, and denied any past or present affiliation with Al-Qaeda.
A leader of the LIFG, Abdelhakim Belhadj, became the commander of the Tripoli Military Council after the rebels took over Tripoli during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli. On March 2011, Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leading member of the group, admit to the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that his fighters had al-Qaeda links.[34] Al-Hasidi was captured in 2002 in Peshwar, Pakistan, later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008. He admit in the same interview that he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" of Afghanistan.
I think Al-Hasidi would be a prime suspect in the Benghazi attack on our fellow Americans.
In September 2011, Ismail Sallabi (a leader of LIFG) said in an interview to the Washington Post: “We want [Libyan Islamic Movement] to be a good government that comes from Islam, that respects human rights and personal freedoms,” “The Islamic way is not something dangerous or wrong. The West hears ‘Islamic law’ and they think we want to lock our women in boxes,” “The Islamic groups want a democratic country, and they want to go to the mosque without being arrested. They’re looking for freedom like everyone else.”
My intelligence sources believe “the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was directly tied to Al Qaeda — with a former Guantanamo detainee involved.”
Sufyan Ben Qumu, a Libyan, is the former Gitmo detainee. He is one of a circle of former detainees released from Gitmo who have returned to jihad against the United States.
Qumu was released in 2007 and handed over to the Libyan authorities who were supposed to keep him in jail there. They did not. Ironically, the Qaddafi regime released him as part of its attempt to reconcile with Islamists. Well, so much for Qaddaffi's rehab program. bviously, Qaddafi’s efforts at reconciliation did not work out so well for the late dictator. But the return of Qumu and other Gitmo alumni to jihad has not worked out very well for us either.
The information regarding Qumu’s possible involvement in the Benghazi consulate attack is yet another nail in the coffin of the Obama administration’s absurd initial explanation of the Libyan attack. They at first claimed it was essentially the product of a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim video that was exploited by extremists.
Obama’s Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed last Friday that the violence was “in response not to United States policy, obviously not to the administration, not to the American people. It is in response to a video, a film, that we have judged to be reprehensible and disgusting.” Our UN Ambassador Susan Rice made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows and said pretty much the same thing. Both Carney and Rice deplored the violence but saw no link to any larger pattern of Islamist terrorism aimed squarely at Americans.
It took several days before a top Obama administration official finally conceded that once again on 9/11 Americans were indeed the target of a terrorist attack. “We are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda’s affiliates, in particular Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” said Matt Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing earlier this week.
It is unclear to what extent Sufyan Ben Qumu, the Guantanamo alumnus, was the leader of the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the death of John Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. However, the fact that he was involved at all is a tragic unforced error of our catch-and-release policy in dealing with some Gitmo detainees that goes back to the Bush administration.
According to the Defense Department file on Sufyan Ben Qumu made available to Fox News, Qumu was considered “MEDIUM to HIGH risk” (bull crap, Qumu was high risk!)and “likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.” More bull and political correctness writing, he is a definite threat to U.S. and our allies interests.
The Defense Department write-up stated that Qumu had been detained at Guantanamo because of his “long-term association with Islamic extremist jihad and members of Al-Qaida and other extremist groups.” His behavior was described as “generally uncooperative and aggressive.” Despite this, he was still regarded as having “HIGH intelligence value.” Yes, he definitely possessed valuable intelligence information, the probelm was getting it out of him!
Nevertheless, Qumu was recommended for transfer “to the Control of Another Country for Continued Detention (TRCD) to his country of origin (Libya) if a satisfactory agreement can be reached that allows access to detainee and/or access to exploited intelligence. More bull, many of us at GITMO opposed the release of these murderous thugs. I once asked a high-ranking officer what he and others were going to do when these thugs were released and murdered more innocent people, including U.S. citizens and and our allies. He did not give me a satisfactory reply. If a satisfactory agreement cannot be reached for his continued detention in Libya, he should be retained under DoD control.”
Apparently, a “satisfactory agreement” was reached with the Qaddafi regime, which the Bush administration was foolish enough to trust would keep its word.
Obama came into office vowing to close down Guantanamo altogether. He changed his mind. Guantanamo remains open, but with a total detainee population as of July 2012 down to 168 — from a high of 680 in May 2003. When I was at GITMO when we had 680 prisonrs. I cannot believe they have released 32 more thugs, down to a figure of 168. Every prisoner who remains in GITMO is a natural born killer. All 168 should spent the rest of their lives in detention.
The good news is that Obama has kept Guantanamo open as part of a continuation of key elements of the Bush anti-terrorism security policies. The bad news is that he is also continuing the Bush era detainee release program to bring the Gitmo population down. All told, approximately 600 detainees have been released during the Bush and Obama presidencies, about a quarter of whom are believed to have returned to their terrorist or insurgent activities. Although the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Defense Secretary to certify that steps are being taken by the transferee country to “ensure” that a freed “individual cannot engage or re-engage in any terrorist activity,” it is one of those feel good provisions that has no practical impact.
The Gitmo alumni club is continuing to expand with more “medium to high risk” ex-detainees like Sufyan Ben Qumu.
For example, Ibrahim al-Qosi, who had admitted to being Osama bin Laden’s bookkeeper and driver and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy with al Qaida and supporting terrorism, was released this past July.
Even more alarming are reports that the Obama administration is seriously considering moving several Taliban detainees from Guantanamo to a prison in Afghanistan. To entertain for even a moment the idea that we can trust the corrupt, inept government of Afghanistan to keep these detainees in jail is beyond comprehension. Remember the murder of our own soldiers by Afghans we thought we were training to take over responsibility for Afghanistan’s security. Do you think for a moment that a Taliban detainee released from Guantanamo will be sitting in an Afghan jail rather than re-joining his friends on the battlefield?
It’s time to stop releasing any Guantanamo detainees deemed a medium or high security risk unless tried and acquitted in a military court. Giving second chances may end up producing more tragedies like the Libyan killings in which one former Gitmo detainee was very likely involved.
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