If what nazemroaya is implying was true, saif would be in a dungeon by now
Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi was vital in the process of opening up Libya to trade with Washington and the EU. In 2000 Saif Al-Islam graduated from a university in Austria and became heavily tied to foreign associates who became his policy advisors and friends. Prince Andrew of Britain reportedly became a close friend of Said Al-Islam: so close that Chris Bryant, a senior Labour Party politician, demanded in the British House of Commons that Prince Andrew be removed from his position as special trade envoy at the start of the conflict with Libya. Western advisors to Tripoli played an important role in shaping Libyan policy. A “New Libya” started to emerge under Saif Al-Islam, who pushed for the adoption of IMF-style neo-liberal economic reforms. Starting in 2005-2006, significant social and income disparities started to emerge in Libya. The Libyan Revolutionary Committees Movement was in large part disbanded by Saif Al-Islam. Had the Committees Movement remained, they would most probably have sought to prevent the present conflict from escalating. Moreover, Saif Al-Islam went to London and established ties in Britain with Noman Benotman, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. He became friends with Benotman. It would be Noman Benotman who would arrange for Musa Al-Kusa’s defection to Britain. Supported by Saif Al-Islam, Benotman and Ali Al-Sallabi, a Libyan citizen based in Qatar who was on Tripoli’s terrorist list, negotiated a truce between the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and the Libyan government. It is also worth noting that all the ministers and ambassadors who defected or left Libya were chosen by Saif Al-Islam.
– Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Global Research, Apr 26 2011
Here is the basis for Nazemroaya’s claim that Saif was involved with Benotman:
09TRIPOLI955 from Dec 2009 said the following:
On former friends and colleagues who defected to lead the rebellion: “They were my friends, we drink together, we eat together, we sit together, we travel together, they were my own people. To be honest with you. Now this is my biggest problem in Libya. I get messages from volunteers on the front, they told me: ‘After the victory, you, Saif, have no place here in Libya. Everything is because of you. Because those criminals, these traitors were your friends, and you brought them here, and you helped them to be ministers and to be big guys in Libya, and you have no place in the future, you and your friends in Libya.’ I brought them here, I helped them, I support them. But then, Saif is over, so we have to jump from the ship like rats. We jump from the ship. Let’s go to other ship. And I am telling you another secret. Do you know some of the people who did defect are coming back now, like some of our ambassadors? Listen, people sometimes are weak. Those people, one month ago they were ministers and heads of security, and now they find themselves sitting with Hillary Clinton, with the British, with the French, with the whole world, Qataris sending them private jets. So okay, yesterday I was minister, today I can be a president. So the West is contributing to this crisis, because they give them false hope they will be something in the future. Those people, they were our people one month ago, we know them very well, I brought them.”
On Mahmoud Jibril, a US-educated professor brought back to Libya by Saif to help run economic policy, who is now the rebels’ foreign affairs representative: “He was my best friend, he was my best friend, he changed completely, I don’t know why. We used to talk together, work together, he was one of my best friends. But anyway, shit happens. He was my friend when he was living in Tripoli. Now he is sitting with Hillary Clinton, with Hague, and with Sarkozy in the Elysees. Excuse me, he said, ‘Saif, you are too small for me now.’ Of course, come on. Can you imagine yourself: the whole world, US, UK, France, sending you private jets, saying ‘You are the president of Libya, you get the oil, you get the money.’ Come on, they are human beings at the end of the day. They are selfish and they have their own self-interest and they have their own advantage, they want to advance their own advantage. Come on, they want to be famous, they want to to be rich, they want to be powerful. ‘Okay, one month ago, I was a minister here in Libya, now I will be a president, I will control Libya.’ Libya is a rich country. Everyone wants to rule Libya, its oil, gas, money. And I understand this, I understand it. I don’t respect it, but I understand it.”
– Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Global Research, Apr 26 2011
Here is the basis for Nazemroaya’s claim that Saif was involved with Benotman:
Benotman has become an advocate for de-radicalisation programmes and even returned to Libya to help his home country’s authorities ‘turn’ jihadis. His work was not secret, nor was Saif al-Islam’s interest in promoting this work. This ultimately led to six prominent members of LIFG renouncing violent jihad and the release 600 former activists from prison. (Martin Bright, Jewish Chronicle, Mar 12 2011)
09TRIPOLI955 from Dec 2009 said the following:
The revised LIFG ideology is the result of a two-year initiative led by Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi and brokered on behalf of the Libyan government. According to press reports and Libyan officials, Saif worked closely with the UK-based former LIFG leader Noman Benotman on the effort to work on a revised ideology with the LIFG in exchange for amnesty.The source for Nazemroaya’s other claim, that Benotman helped Musa al-Kusa defect, is here. And this is what Saif himself said in an interview given to the WaPo in Tripoli nine days ago:
On former friends and colleagues who defected to lead the rebellion: “They were my friends, we drink together, we eat together, we sit together, we travel together, they were my own people. To be honest with you. Now this is my biggest problem in Libya. I get messages from volunteers on the front, they told me: ‘After the victory, you, Saif, have no place here in Libya. Everything is because of you. Because those criminals, these traitors were your friends, and you brought them here, and you helped them to be ministers and to be big guys in Libya, and you have no place in the future, you and your friends in Libya.’ I brought them here, I helped them, I support them. But then, Saif is over, so we have to jump from the ship like rats. We jump from the ship. Let’s go to other ship. And I am telling you another secret. Do you know some of the people who did defect are coming back now, like some of our ambassadors? Listen, people sometimes are weak. Those people, one month ago they were ministers and heads of security, and now they find themselves sitting with Hillary Clinton, with the British, with the French, with the whole world, Qataris sending them private jets. So okay, yesterday I was minister, today I can be a president. So the West is contributing to this crisis, because they give them false hope they will be something in the future. Those people, they were our people one month ago, we know them very well, I brought them.”
On Mahmoud Jibril, a US-educated professor brought back to Libya by Saif to help run economic policy, who is now the rebels’ foreign affairs representative: “He was my best friend, he was my best friend, he changed completely, I don’t know why. We used to talk together, work together, he was one of my best friends. But anyway, shit happens. He was my friend when he was living in Tripoli. Now he is sitting with Hillary Clinton, with Hague, and with Sarkozy in the Elysees. Excuse me, he said, ‘Saif, you are too small for me now.’ Of course, come on. Can you imagine yourself: the whole world, US, UK, France, sending you private jets, saying ‘You are the president of Libya, you get the oil, you get the money.’ Come on, they are human beings at the end of the day. They are selfish and they have their own self-interest and they have their own advantage, they want to advance their own advantage. Come on, they want to be famous, they want to to be rich, they want to be powerful. ‘Okay, one month ago, I was a minister here in Libya, now I will be a president, I will control Libya.’ Libya is a rich country. Everyone wants to rule Libya, its oil, gas, money. And I understand this, I understand it. I don’t respect it, but I understand it.”
