It is this alliance of rebels that we're banking on to usher in a democratic civil society in Libya. "Islamists suspected over Libyan rebel death," by Rania El Gamal for Reuters, July 29:
(Reuters) - Libyan rebels say the gunmen who shot dead their military chief were members of an Islamist-linked militia that is allied to their struggle to overthrow veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The assassination of Abdel Fattah Younes, apparently by his own side, has hurt the opposition just as it was winning broader international recognition and launching an offensive against Gaddafi's forces in the west of the country.
It will deepen concerns among the rebels' Western backers including the United States, keen to see them prevail in a five-month-old civil war but frustrated by their lack of unity and nervous about the influence of Islamists.
But rushing headlong into funding and arming them nonetheless.
After 24 hours of confusion, rebel minister Ali Tarhouni said Younes had been killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, a militia allied to the rebels and named after one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammad, suggesting that Islamist elements were involved.
Whose prophet?
Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi on Friday that a militia leader who had gone to fetch Younes from the front line had been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates had carried out the killing.
"It was not him. His lieutenants did it," Tarhouni said, adding that the killers were still at large.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Thursday Younes had been recalled for questioning to Benghazi but was killed before he arrived. Relatives said they retrieved a burned and bullet-riddled body.
Younes took part in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969 and served him for four decades. He quit as interior minister in February and defected to the side of the rebels, becoming their military chief.
Parts of the opposition distrusted him because of his long and close ties to Gaddafi.
One rebel commander, who asked not to be named, said Islamists whom Younes had targeted in his job as interior minister may have killed him in retaliation.
"Some of those Islamists are now fighting with the rebels and they have always refused to fight under Younes's command and have always viewed him with suspicion," he said.
"Abdel Jalil could not directly accuse the Islamists because he fears them. And I don't think the investigation will lead anywhere. They don't dare to touch the Islamists."....
Yeah, look who's supporting these Arabic-led Muslim Brotherhood-organized Islamic Rebels all along, not just in Libya, but in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere? Caliph Hussein Obama, that suspected agent and Trojan horse of the Muslim Brotherhood, and his Dhimmi SLAVES, Cameron and Sarkozy! Look at how Sarkozy invaded the OIL-RICH Ivory Coast and propped up a vicious mass murderer Muslim President there - it's so sickening!
"Suncor's Libyan exit illustrates shifting attitudes toward unstable oil regimes"
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Suncor+Libyan+exit+illustrates+shifting+attitudes+toward+unstable+regimes/5179643/story.html#ixzz1TaIqBl8I
The following is from Debka who, despite a rather checkered record of journalistic excellence to say the least...lol, beat most others to the rebel's initial lies. They are also first to report AQ attacks in the Sinai leaving 7 dead which I have not been able to collaborate through other sources....
"Gen. Abdel Fatah Younis, commander of the Libyan rebel forces fighting Muammar Qaddafi, was put to death on the orders of Mustapha Abdul Jalil, head of the rebel Transitional National Council, who wanted him out of the way before the start of peace negotiations, debkafile's intelligence and military sources report.
His execution was set up by TNC officers who first abducted him and the two colonels who never left his side. After they were removed to a point 20 kilometers east of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, all three were shot in the head. The killers brought the bodies back to Benghazi to prove the TNC chief's orders had been carried out and collect their payment.
Younis, a former interior minister, defected to the rebel side in February after working with Qaddafi for 40 years. The circumstances of his death were deliberately confused by Benghazi.
Our sources report that the TNC chief Jalil wanted the powerful Younis out of the way for good before negotiations for the transition of government in Tripoli began. Jalil is a weak figure who enjoys scant respect – even among the Libyan tribes supporting the insurgency. He was clearly concerned that at some point in the negotiations, Gen. Younis's name would be put forward as the most suitable candidate for leading rebel representation in the post-war government in Tripoli, Qaddafi would then appoint his son Saif al-Islam as his successor and the two would run the future government as a team.
This plan is revealed here for the first time. It was already taking shape at the highest levels in Washington, Paris, Moscow and Berlin when it was derailed by the death of Younis. French foreign minister Alain Juppe brought the plan to London on Tuesday, July 26 to help the British government climb down from the demand to keep the war going until Qaddafi quit and departed Libya.
And indeed, the Cameron government agreed to line up behind Washington, Moscow and Berlin and conceded that the Libyan ruler would stay in the country after he stepped down.
But then, on Thursday, the TNC announced the death of the rebels' military chief. It was followed by a claim that pro-Qaddafi loyalists had shot him to impair rebel military capabilities and punish him for defecting. Jalil claimed that Younis had been called to the Benghazi headquarters for questioning but never arrived, tacitly encouraging the rumors that he had been a double agent who secretly served Qaddafi after his defection and made sure the rebels lost the war.
Those rumors were disseminated as a smokescreen to cover Gen. Younis' warning to the rebel administration in closed meetings - starting four months ago - that they would never defeat Qaddafi's army in battle and they would do well to stop the bloodshed and sit down to work out a power-sharing deal.
The general explained that were it not for the NATO air umbrella and Qaddafi's fear of the losses air strikes would inflict on his army he would have trounced rebel forces in eastern and western Libya and retaken Benghazi in less than a week.
When the TNC leader Jalil refused to heed these warnings and cut rebel losses, Younis gave his field commanders a free hand to negotiate a ceasefire with their opposite numbers on the pro-Qaddafi side. As a result, from the second week of May, an informal truce descended on the main battle fields of Misrata and Brega.
From time to time, rebel headquarters in Benghazi sent out officers with orders to tackle Qaddafi forces in defiance of the truce. But they were no match for the superior strength of government troops and were forced back - proving Gen. Younis had got it right.
When negotiations for ending the conflict hove in sight, Jalil suspected Gen. Younis of planning to beat his own path to Qaddafi and bypassing both the TNC delegation and the NATO powers. The TNC leader resolved to protect his own standing and bid for power by scotching the threat posed by the general." Debka
note: posting this comment in not an endorsement of any supremacist's call for violence against Muslims.
"Libya Will Not End Well"
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/libya-will-not-end-well
Good article, thanks for the link.
'Democratic civil society" in a Muslim country; I don't think so.
Once again, the USA backs an unstable, infighting, and unreliable ally against a thuggish and thoroughly despicable enemy. Rick's comment above is right on target.
The US-Al Qaeda Alliance: Bosnia, Kosovo and Now Libya. Washington’s On-Going Collusion with Terrorists
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25829
".. They don't dare to touch the Islamists." !!!
Why not? afraid? afraid from a bunch of cowards? Islamists, all over the world, are cowards, just like their prophet Muhammad who used to hide behind his army unit and cry like a little girl.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/03/muhammad-coward.html
They have yet to win the civil war and yet are already vying for the spoils. I detect a very bad outcome here and NATO will naturally get the blame no matter how it ends.
"Islamists," and former allies, suspected in assassination of Libyan rebel chief
.......................
I don't know the whole story here—but it is clearly another case of Jihadists eating their own.