al-Qaida's No. 2 Threatens Libya
Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 3, 7:40 AM EDT
*al-Qaida's No. 2 Threatens Libya*
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Al-Qaida's No. 2 figure harshly criticized Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi in a new audio tape Saturday, accusing him of
being an enemy of Islam and threatening a wave of attacks against the
North African country because it improved relations with the U.S.
In the 28-minute audio tape called "Unity of the Ranks," Ayman
al-Zawahri also announced that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was
joining ranks with al-Qaida.
"The Islamic nation is witnessing a blessed step ... The brothers are
escalating the confrontation against the enemies of Islam: Gadhafi and
his masters, the Washington crusaders," al-Zawahri said in the audio
tape. The recording could not be independently verified, but it appeared
on a Web site commonly used by insurgents and carried the logo of
al-Qaida's media production house, as-Sahab.
The recording also carried a message from Abu Laith al-Libi, a Libyan
al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan who accused Gadhafi of decades of tyranny.
"He is the tyranny of Libya and is dragging the country to the swamp,"
al-Libi said in the recording that also featured old video footage of
him walking with other masked gunmen.
"After long years, he (Gadhafi) discovered suddenly that America is not
an enemy ... and is turning Libya into another crusader base," said
al-Libi, who has appeared in several recent al-Qaida videos.
For decades, the U.S. had regarded Libya as a pariah state after Gadhafi
came to power in a military coup in 1969 and turned against the West.
Libya was demonized for sponsoring various terrorist groups and for
trying to undermine pro-Western governments in Africa. Washington put
Libya on a list of state sponsors of terrorism and imposed sanctions
that barred American companies from doing business in the oil-rich
country. In 1986, U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes against Libya.
But the tide started to turn in 2003, after Gadhafi's surprise decision
to dismantle Libya's clandestine nuclear program. That same year, Libya
reached a $2.7 billion settlement with families of the victims of the
1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the next year it paid
$170 million in compensation to the families of the 170 victims of the
1989 bombing of a French UTA passenger jet.
The U.S. resumed full diplomatic relations with Libya last year and
removed Libya from the State Department's list of terrorism sponsors.
The State Department also has praised Libya's cooperation in helping the
U.S. in the search for al-Qaida and other terror suspects in the Middle
East and North Africa.