US Intelligence Report Says Libyan Jihadists Planning to Subvert Post-Gadhafi Gov’t and Create an Islamist State

I’m curious, did any of these White House ’employees’ influence Obama’s decision to support the Libyan ‘rebels’, or the ouster of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak for that matter?  The answer to this question is becoming increasingly clear, especially when we’ve already known for some time now that al Qaeda and possibly even Hezbollah had elements already entrenched among the rebel fighters.  Obama’s ‘non-war‘ war is about to get even more convoluted than it already is …

By Bill Gertz – “Jihadists among the Libyan rebels revealed plans last week on the Internet to subvert the post-Moammar Gadhafi government and create an Islamist state, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

U.S. officials said spy agencies are stepping up surveillance of Islamist-oriented elements among Libyan rebels. A government report circulated Tuesday said extremists were observed ‘strategizing’ on Internet forums about how to set up an Islamist state in Libya after the regime of Col. Gadhafi is defeated.

‘Several forum participants have suggested that, following a transitional stage, the battle should turn against secularist rebels and members of the [rebels’] Transitional National Council,’ the unclassified report stated.

Some U.S. officials sought to play down the remarks by noting that such Internet postings are not always accurate measures of jihadist plans.

The report said the jihadists’ strength and influence on the ground ‘are uncertain at this time.’

However, the report said the jihadist plotting coincided with the high-profile emergence of Abu Abdallah al-Sadiq, a former leader of the al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and now a leading rebel. He is currently known as Abdel Hakim al-Khulidi Belhaj and led rebels in overrunning Col. Gadhafi’s Tripoli compound.” Read more.

Flashback: Post Gaddafi: A Free and Democratic Libya? Not So Fast – Libyan Draft Constitution Declares Sharia Law the ‘Principal Source of Legislation’ – “The dust has not yet settled over the Libyan capital of Tripoli since rebels took control over the weekend. But already, a draft constitutional charter for the transitional state has appeared online… Much of the document describes political institutions that will sound familiar to citizens of Western liberal democracies… But despite the Lockean tenor of much of the constitution, the inescapable clause lies right in Part 1, Article 1: ‘Islam is the Religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia).’ Under this constitution, in other words, Islam is law.” Read more.

Flashback: Killers of Libyan rebels’ military chief were members of an Islamist-linked militia allied to the rebel campaign  – “The gunmen who shot dead the Libyan rebels’ military chief Abdul Fatah Younis were members of an Islamist-linked militia allied to the campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, according to a National Transitional Council minister. After 24 hours of confusion surrounding the death, the NTC’s oil minister, Ali Tarhouni, said Younis had been killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, a militia named after one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, suggesting that Islamist elements were involved.” Read more.

Flashback: The headless corpse, the mass grave and worrying questions about Libya’s rebel army– “The streaks of blood, smeared along the sides of this impromptu mass grave suggested a rushed operation, a hurried attempt to dispose of the victims. Who the men were and what happened to them, close to the Libyan rebels’ western front line town of Al-Qawalish in the Nafusa Mountains, remains unknown. But the evidence of a brutal end were clear. One of the corpses had been cleanly decapitated, while the trousers of another had been ripped down to his ankles, a way of humiliating a dead enemy. The green uniforms were the same as those worn by loyalists fighting for Col. Muammer Gaddafi in Libya’s civil war.” Read more.

Flashback: FBI Counter-Terror Official: Al Qaeda ‘Thrives’ After Dictators Fall – “On the same day reports emerged of a new al Qaeda video that praised the revolutions sweeping the Arab world, one the U.S.’s top counter-terror officials warned the terror organization ‘thrives’ in the political unrest that follows… Al Qaeda thrives in such conditions and countries of weak governance and political instability — countries in which governments may be sympathetic to their campaign of violence.’” Read more.