“The rebels, armed with weapons stolen from Muammar Gaddafi’s formidable arsenal, took over an area of the Sahara as big as France in an astonishing 72 hours, taking advantage of the chaotic aftermath of an army coup. Foreign governments were left scrambling to find out exactly who the rebels were, amid fears that a base for al-Qaeda will now be set up in the Sahara similar to ones in lawless parts of Pakistan and Somalia.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood in Libya announced on Saturday that it has formed a political party after six decades in the shadows of dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s regime. The Islamist group declared the creation of the Justice and Development Party in the absence of laws laying out a formal process for the establishment of political parties. The Brotherhood’s spokesman, Mohamed Gaair, said the group has representation in more than 18 cities across the country, and that more than 1,400 members attended Friday’s meeting in Tripoli to declare the formation of the political party.”
“The South Asian survey revealed widespread support for democracy, but also revealed some fractures in the depth of that support. For example, 62 per cent of those surveyed said they preferred democracy to any other form of government, while only ten per cent clearly preferred dictatorship in certain circumstances. However, 28 per cent of respondents - quite a significant proportion - said that it did not matter to people like themselves whether the government was democratic or non-democratic. About a third of respondents, also a high proportion, did not understand the question or did not give any response.”
Source: talkstraightA piece of footage in an Al-Jazeera English segment showing Free Syrian Army fighters showed a black-and-white flag similar (but not the same) as that used by the Islamic State of Iraq and Somalia’s Al-Shabab. The footage also shows a banner reading, “Al-Bara’ bin Malik Brigade,” named after a prominent Companion of the Prophet Muhammad who is renowned for his bravery and military prowess. This historical personage is popular. Al-Qa’ida in the Land of the Two Rivers (Iraq) named its martyrdom brigade after him.
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We’ve also seen the Al-Qaeda flag openly flown in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt
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“Human Rights Watch said that Omar Brebesh, a career diplomat who was cultural attache and then ambassador to France between 2004 to 2008, was brought in for routine questioning in Tripoli over his work for the former regime. His body turned up at a hospital in Zintan, the town two hours’ drive to the south-west that was a hub of last year’s revolution, beaten, bruised and with some of its toenails removed.”
“A senior anti-Qaddafi rebel commander says he was among the IHH-terrorists on the Mavi Marmara who attacked IDF navy commando.”
“As Libya emerges from a bloody civil war, many observers believe the next elections could pit religious political groups against secular parties, with better-organized Islamists such as the Brotherhood having a tactical advantage.”
The link includes graphic video of Libyan rebels celebrating after they have killed Qaddafi. His body is seen in the video, clearly killed and bloodied.
