Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, whose false claims that Saddam had biological weapons aided Bush's invasion, has died
By John Amato Monday May 11, 2009 5:45amA C&L reader passed this information on Sunday afternoon.
With Dick Cheney going on the offense to justify his torture legacy, now comes the news that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who gave false information that helped promote the war in Iraq because he did not want to be tortured, has committed suicide.
The Arabic media is ablaze with the news that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the emir of an Afghan training camp — whose claim that Saddam Hussein had been involved in training al-Qaeda operatives in the use of chemical and biological weapons was used to justify the invasion of Iraq — has died in a Libyan jail. So far, however, the only English language report is on the Algerian website Ennahar Online, which reported that the Libyan newspaper Oea stated that al-Libi (aka Ali Abdul Hamid al-Fakheri) “was found dead of suicide in his cell,” and noted that the newspaper had reported the story “without specifying the date or method of suicide.”
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In Egypt, he came up with the false allegation about connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that was used by President Bush in a speech in Cincinnati on October 7, 2002, just days before Congress voted on a resolution authorizing the President to go to war against Iraq, in which, referring to the supposed threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, Bush said, “We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases.”Four months later, on February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell made the same claim in his notorious speech to the UN Security Council, in an attempt to drum up support for the invasion. “I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these [chemical and biological] weapons to Al Qaeda,” Powell said, adding, “Fortunately, this operative is now detained, and he has told his story.” As a Newsweek report in 2007 explained, Powell did not identify al-Libi by name, but CIA officials — and a Senate Intelligence Committee report — later confirmed that he was referring to al-Libi.
Al-Libi recanted his story in February 2004, when he was returned to the CIA’s custody, and explained, as Newsweek described it, that he told his debriefers that “he initially told his interrogators that he ‘knew nothing’ about ties between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden and he ‘had difficulty even coming up with a story’ about a relationship between the two.” The Newsweek report explained that “his answers displeased his interrogators — who then apparently subjected him to the mock burial. As al-Libi recounted, he was stuffed into a box less than 20 inches high. When the box was opened 17 hours later, al-Libi said he was given one final opportunity to ‘tell the truth.’ He was knocked to the floor and ‘punched for 15 minutes.’ It was only then that, al-Libi said, he made up the story about Iraqi weapons training.”
This is what happens when torture is used: False information is given to stop the madness and suffering.
The NY Times did a story about al-Libi's fabricated allegations:
The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.
The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.
The new disclosure provides the first public evidence that bad intelligence on Iraq may have resulted partly from the administration's heavy reliance on third countries to carry out interrogations of Qaeda members and others detained as part of American counterterrorism efforts. The Bush administration used Mr. Libi's accounts as the basis for its prewar claims, now discredited, that ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda included training in explosives and chemical weapons...read on
But Cheney wants to release memos when he's not in power and had the authority to do so to prove that torture is wonderful. The power to torture can not be handled by men and women. It corrupts and is immoral and nothing justifies it as a policy for America. And as the al-Libi example points out---it can help take a country to war.
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It would only be right.
could rendition him back to Madrid to stand trial for war crimes...
He'd hardly be concerned over a broken egg, or thousands and thousands of broken eggs.
They barely attended the funerals of American soldiers.
From 2006:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ameri...
call bush a felon...on faux noise of all places...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/1100
Vacation Days over eight years: 864
Funerals of US Soldier killed under your command: 4200
Funerals of US soldiers attended: 0
Having a clear conscience at the end of your presidency: Priceless
For powerful elite, there's no accountability.
For everyone else, there's Mastercard.
"If the President does it, it's legal"
Military Commissions Act of 2003 says so retroactive to 9-11-2001!
That's one of John McCain's babies. The President "Defines Torture" nothing is illegal he says we can do. Forget Geneva and all those treaties and laws against Torture. If Bush says it's legal, it is, and the MCA of 2003 granted him that authority.
That baby was Conceived by John McCain and Delivered behind closed doors with Bush in attendance demanding it's passage.
A Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice through Legislation and grant Bush Officials Immunity from Prosecution. Bush nor McCain extended that convenience to the Troops who have had their Careers and lives ruined following orders!
Sure he did...
And what's more 'bizarre' is that this guy had been fighting to be transferred to a Libyan prison for over a decade, but the US and the UK blocked it.
So he finally gets transferred a few days ago apparently, but within hours commits suicide?? Bullsh** is right.
He intended to release new information and evidence once he got back to a Libyan court.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8...
That's a different person ..
Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi is not Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
Don Corleone's speech at the meeting of the "Five Families":
"But I'm a superstitious man -- and if some unlucky accident should befall him, if he should get shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning -- then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room."
"You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Señor Ugarte is dead. I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or was shot trying to escape."
needs new batteries for his Light Saber.
The dark side is giving up on him and looking for a new Sith.
Well, the conservatives got their "John Wayne" president and, yes, those Rambo movies do make a lot of sense... to a f*cking idiot.
realizes that First Blood was about a Vietnam Vet who goes vigialante and kills a lot of law enforcement agents and blows up a good portion of an American city.
I never liked that actor anyway!
To make it stop.
The part that gets me is, they believed him. w/o question.
I suppose it doesn't matter. They would've invaded Iraq on some trumped up reason anyway.
Investigations please.
freedom and liberty as Hanoi did in the past. Both wars were ramped up based on lies and there was no shortage of torture and other war crimes then as well. It's a wonder Cheney doesn't use the fact that no politician was prosecuted for Vietnam as precedent for the Bush regime's crimes.
less than twenty inches high for seventeen hours and then beaten senseless? The thought of what was done to Mr al-Libi makes me nauseous.
May he and all of the others who suffered similar horrible fates rest in peace.
Dick Cheney and his pals need to pay for their crimes against humanity. The time has come.
on the orders of the senseless Bush and Cheney.
here they come
Cheney fantasy?
Specter, Lieberman, etc. They'd turn their own mothers into the Nazis if they thought it would benefit them. They don't know or care what Party they belong to as long as they don't get kicked off the gravy train.
... they'd wail about how much they've sacrificed to keep AmeriKKKa safe.
I think we'll probably see more Iraq-war enablers commit "suicide" so they can spend more time with their families.
Cheney's death squads are gonna be busy...
"The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials."
The purpose of torture was to produce false information. That, it seems to me, is as big a crime as torture itself.
If he stabbed himself thirteen times in this suicide.
Was he due to be called as a witness?
Soldier kills fellow troops and self at Camp Bush War....er, I mean Camp Liberty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/iraq...
If Rumsfeld were at the Defense Department the story would be he and the troops were killed by the enemy while charging up the hill defending freedom.
According to Cheney, Condi and rest of the Neocon crap this is SOLID INTELLIGENCE. Powel Speech at the UN. Made by the The OSP (Office of Special Plans)of course with a little help from the friends (TORTURERS).
While the title of this one is already quite long, I need to point out that the word "conveniently" was omitted...
No man, no problem. Right Dick?
Mission accomplished.
Cleanup on aisle three. Say hello to the DC Madam when you get wherever you end up...
FFS, can we please arrest these BushCo maniacs?
If we wait long enough to arrest Cheney et al, there won't be any witnesses left alive to testify against them.
No muss, no fuss and ain't life grand!
Well worth the regular visit. He has been out in front on the criminality of Gitmo from the get go.
Oh but surely he shot himself and then hid the gun?
Now we know the purpose of the torture was to extract false confessions to justify the War On Iraq.
All along I thought the purpose of the torture was to extract false confessions to cover the trail to the real perpetrators of 9-11.
Perhaps it was for that purpose too.
confessions in the Kennedy assassination, too. Why waste a golden opportunity.
They always bring up 9/11 where over 3000 died as their excuse for everything. When will the media point out that over 4000 Americans and hundreds of thousands Iraqis have died because they tortured and lied? I can't believe that the families of the fallen troops aren't calling for their heads on pikes.
The lies just keep on coming and now even the missing detainees are ending up dead. Yes the Cheney Assassanation Squad is at work as each detainees missing from the list will be found dead. Now Cheney can lie without anyone telling the truth. As we listen to the Bush Administration call out the countries that were Axis of Evil we're now learning how well he worked with them for a price of course. Talk about making complete fools of Americans. Ibn al Shaykh al Libi gave false information about everything and everybody as the White House used it and even kidnapped innocent men/woman/children and tortured them. Now we know there are secret prisons used by the US. Now the famlies of the thousands of dead soldiers know it was all a lie about Iraq and our soldiers lost their lives because the Bush Administration wanted to hear Iraq/Al Qeada even knowing it was false information. We read about sick evil World Leaders now we can add the Bush/Cheney team to that list.
Plenty of Dick Cheney wanted him dead, I'm sure.
...then I could be content with the knowledge that some "god" is now kicking the crap out this dead war criminal. Sadly, the only justice is what we met out here during our lives. So I say let's go after that clown's supporters and especially his bosses--and hang them all (after a fair trial, of course).
This is the record from the Senate investigation into WMD in Iraq regarding Al-Libi:
These immoral fucks wouldn't think twice about getting rid of a witness.
and we will never know the true depth of their depravity. It makes me sick that Bushco and his merry band of torturers are getting away with their crimes.
Be afraid, be very afraid!
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