News from Libya

How are things going in Libya?

Glad you asked.

Everyone cheered the Obama administration’s foreign policy triumph in Libya.

Allying itself with Nicholas Sarkozy and Bernard-Henri Levy the administration helped mount an insurrection against the evil dictator Qaddhafi.

It won. Qaddhafi was killed. A new dawn rose over Libya. Or so the media would like us to believe.

Readers of this blog know that more sober foreign policy hands have been suggesting that we should not get our hopes up. Link here.

When faced with reality hope proves to be thin gruel, indeed.

Recently, Congressional policymakers commissioned a new report from strategic advisory firm, Kronos LLC. Written by counterterrorism expert Michael Smith the report shows that Islamist radicals, including those affiliated with al Qaeda, are getting into position to take over Libya.

Smith wrote: “"Despite early indications that the Libyan revolution might be a largely secular undertaking ... the very extremist currents that shaped the philosophies of Libya Salafists and jihadis like (Abd al-Hakim) Belhadj appear to be coalescing to define the future of Libya."

Catherine Herridge explained: “Belhadj is considered one of the most powerful militia commanders in Libya as head of the Tripoli Military Council. As Fox News reported earlier this year, Belhadj is reported to be a former emir of an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group or LIFG. Founded in 1995 to set up an Islamic state or emirate inside Libya, it waged jihad against the regime of former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.”

Smith offered some historical background: “Libyans have been featured prominently in the history of core al Qaeda. Libyan LIFG member Abu Yahya al-Libi is regarded as core al Qaeda's top Sharia official and many analysts anticipated he would be appointed bin Laden's successor. His brother is Abd al-Wahad al-Qayid, a founding member of the LIFG who was one of the six LIFG leaders who authored the group's corrective studies while imprisoned in Libya."

Let’s see. Islamic extremists are taking over Egypt. First on their agenda is repudiating the Egypt/Israel peace treaty. The new president of Tunisia wants to take back Jerusalem from the Zionist criminals. And now the Obama administration, fresh from its victories over al Qaeda in Pakistan, had managed to empower al Qaeda in Libya.

Heck of a job, Barack.