Libyan intelligence documents show ties to CIA

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By BEN HUBBARD - Associated Press | AP – 8 mins ago

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talks with with Libyan Transitional National …

Freedom fighters climb on a tank for a lookout at a defensive outpost, some 30 kilometers …


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - The CIA worked closely with Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence services in the rendition of terror suspects to Libya for interrogation, according to documents seen Saturday by the AP, cooperation that could spark tensions between Washington and Libya's new rulers.

The CIA was among a number of foreign intelligence services that worked with Libya's agencies, according to documents found at a Libyan security agency building in Tripoli.

The discovery came as the Libyan rebels said they would surround pro-Gadhafi cities until the Sept. 10 deadline for their surrender.

"We are by the grace of God in a position of strength, capable of entering any city, to deploy any of our fighters in any direction," the head of the rebels' National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, told reporters in Benghazi.

"However, in our desire to avoid bloodshed and to avoid more destruction to public properties and national institutions, we have given an ultimatum of one week to the areas of Sirte, Bani Walid, Jufra and Sabha."

"It is an opportunity for these cities to peacefully join the revolution," he said, adding the rebels were providing humanitarian aid to the besieged areas along with water and electricity services.

The intelligence documents found in Tripoli, meanwhile, provided new details on the ties between Western countries and Gadhafi's regime. Many of those same countries backed the NATO attacks that helped Libya's rebels force Gadhafi from power.

One notable case is that of Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the anti-Gadhafi rebel force that now controls Tripoli. Belhaj is the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-dissolved militant group with links to al-Qaida. Belhaj says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison, then returned to Libya.

Two documents from March 2004 appear to be American correspondence to Libyan officials to arrange Belhaj's rendition.

Referring to him by his nom de guerre, Abdullah al-Sadiq, the documents say he will be flown from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Libya and asks for Libyan government agents to accompany him.

It also requests American "access to al-Sadiq for debriefing purposes once he is in your custody."

"Please be advised that we must be assured that al-Sadiq will be treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected," the document says.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, which found the documents, called the ties between Washington and Gadhafi's regime "a very dark chapter in American intelligence history, and it remains a stain on the record of the American intelligence services that they cooperated with these very abusive intelligence services."

In Washington, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood declined to comment Saturday on any specific allegation related to the documents.

"It can't come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats," Youngblood said. "That is exactly what we are expected to do."
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Rami al-Shaheibi contributed from Benghazi, Libya.

 

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So, If Gadaffi would have not attacked Benghazi killing people there he was safe he would have continue to Rule Libyan's as he was establishing good relationships with CIA and other western intelligence...

It was not a one sided situation at all... things are coming out showing that Western Nations they were ready to live and embrace Gadaffi

 

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Karatasi za Siri: CIA, MI6 Walimsaidia Gaddafi Kutesa Wapinzani Wake.

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Reuters - Documents found in the abandoned Tripoli office of Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief indicate the U.S. and British spy agencies helped the fallen strongman persecute Libyan dissidents, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

The documents were uncovered by campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW)in the abandoned offices of Libya's former spy chief and foreign minister, Moussa Koussa.

The group said it uncovered hundreds of letters between the CIA, MI6 and Koussa, who is now in exile in London. Letters from the CIA began, "Dear Moussa" and were signed informally with first names only by CIA officials, HRW said.

The current military commander for Tripoli of Libya's provisional government, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, was among those captured and sent to Libya by the CIA, according to HRW.

"Among the files we discovered at Moussa Koussa's office is a fax from the CIA dated 2004 in which the CIA informs the Libyan government that they are in a position to capture and render Belhadj," HRW's Peter Bouckaert, who was part of the group that found the stash, told Reuters.

"That operation actually took place. He was captured by the CIA in Asia and put on a secret flight back to Libya where he was interrogated and tortured by the Libyan security services."

HANDED OVER FOR TORTURE

Belhadj has claimed that he was tortured by CIA agents before being transferred to Libya, where he says he was then tortured at Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison.

The CIA has not commented directly on the HRW report. A British government spokesman told Reuters that Britain did "not comment on intelligence matters."

Western intelligence services began cooperating with Libya after Gaddafi abandoned his program to build unconventional weapons in 2004. But the files show his cooperation with the CIA and MI6 may have been more extensive than previously thought, analysts say.

The depth of the ties could anger NTC officials -- many of whom are long-term opponents of Gaddafi who are now responsible for charting a new path for Libya's foreign relations.

Bouckaert showed Reuters photos of several documents on his computer and also photos of letters he said were from the CIA to Koussa and were signed, "Steve." He also displayed photographs he said were of letters from MI6 giving Libyan intelligence information on Libyan dissidents in Britain.

"Our concern is that when these people were handed over to the Libyan security they were tortured and the CIA knew what would happen when they sent people like Abdel Hakim into the hands of the Libyan security services," Bouckaert said.

More recent documents showed that after the war broke out six months ago, Libya reached out to a former rebel group in the breakaway Somali state of Puntland, the Somali Salvation Front, asking them to send 10,000 fighters to Tripoli to help defend Gaddafi.

(Writing by Barry Malone; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Caroline Drees)