Libyan rebel leader spent much of past 20 years in suburban Virginia

[EFerrari]

Libyan rebel leader spent much of past 20 years in suburban Virginia
By Chris Adams | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The new leader of Libya's opposition military spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled — even in his late-60s — to return to the battlefield in his homeland, according to people who know him.

Khalifa Hifter was once a top military officer for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but after a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s, Hifter switched to the anti-Gadhafi opposition. In the early 1990s, he moved to suburban Virginia, where he established a life but maintained ties to anti-Gadhafi groups.

Late last week, Hifter was appointed to lead the rebel army, which has been in chaos for weeks. He is the third such leader in less than a month, and rebels interviewed in Libya openly voiced distrust for the most recent leader, Abdel Fatah Younes, who had been at Gadhafi's side until just a month ago.

At a news conference Thursday, the rebel's military spokesman said Younes will stay as Hifter's chief of staff, and added that the army — such as it is — would need "weeks" of training.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/26/111109/new-rebel-leader-spent-much-of.html#ixzz1I7abEkNz

It would have been easier to protect him in Virginia, no?

[oberliner]

1. The rebel leader is named Hifter?

Good lord!

[MedleyMisty]

2. But Al Qaeda!

Fear! Terror! Enemies! We have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here! Poor brown people with guns! Run for your lives! Fear! Fear! Terror!

And this time the left is falling for it.

[Scuba]

3. Suburban Virginia, huh? Home of....

... the CIA...

... Quantico Marine Base, where FBI and other officers train...

... and a hundred other "secret" agencies.



Hmmmmm.

[MedleyMisty]

4. Like I said

this time the left is falling for it.

Tell me, do you follow any Libyans on Twitter? Have you been to the website of their transitional government? Have you watched any videos of what is actually happening there? Have you listened to actual Libyans at all? Or would that threaten your conspiracy theories?

[EFerrari]

5. I think you are confusing the left with Democratic party loyalists

although it's true, they overlap.

I don't see many on the left actually buying in to this except for, disappointingly, Juan Cole.

[Scuba]

6. No, I don't know any Libyans and don't follow any on Twitter. I do however....

...know that one in four American children are growing up in poverty, that we're talking about gutting Social Security, Medicare, schools and everything else that might help the American People.

I'm not insensitive to the plight of the Libyan People. But we're BORROWING every penny we spend there, while cutting everything needed at home.


There's a family of five living in a car down the block. Our government says there is no money to help them. Why then is there money to help the Libyans?

[EFerrari]

7. I think we'll see soon enough this isn't about helping Libyans.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Its no different here in the UK.

The government can afford missiles from the defense budget but defund the NHS from other budgets.

btw : It also doesn't follow that the Tweets come from Libyan Twots.

[Gregorian]

9. How conveenient.

That really is too much of a coincidence to not ponder a bit.

[bvar22]

10. More 3-Card Monty.

You CAN fool some of The People ALL of the time.

They don't even bother to change the marketing.

You either support the BOMBING, or you're with The Communists AlQaeda Saddam Qaddafi.

I've never seen a BOMB as a Humanitarian intervention.

[TorchTheWitch]

13. the marketing hasn't changed for centuries

Because it works, and it works in every culture all over the world.

Yes, equating bombs with humanitarianism is flat out loony tunes... yet there are always plenty of people that buy it. I just never imagined so many people here would and so easily.

[EFerrari]

11. .

[hunter]

12. "Badr said he was unsure exactly what Hifter did to support himself..."

Do I :rofl: or do I :cry: ???

Somehow I don't think he was driving a taxi.

[EFerrari]

17. I know.

I feel the same way(s). :)

[stevedeshazer]

14. Holy Crap!

What happens in suburban Virginia never stays in suburban Virginia.

[TorchTheWitch]

15. how did this guy get "appointed"?

and who "appointed" him?

Good grief, could it be more obvious?

[Turborama]

16. This is old news

Anyone who is finding this out just now hasn't been paying attention.

Until Obama made his speech on Monday a majority of Americans knew more about American Idol & Dancing With The Stars than anything that's been going on in Libya for the past several weeks.