HOMELAND SECURITY NEWSWIRE: Secretary Clinton Demands Libya Return Lockerbie Bomber to Prison

Published 27 October 2011

courtesy of americanglob.com

Now that the fighting in Libya has drawn to a close with the death of Muammar Qaddafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pressing the new Libyan government to return the only individual convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al Megrahi, was convicted and jailed in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing which killed 259 people, mostly Americans; in 2009 Scotland released him on the grounds that he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and only had three months to live; al Megrahi returned to Libya where he has been living since; over the weekend Clinton said, "We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland, where he was serving the sentence"

LIBYA: Khamis Gaddafi Killed In NATO Airstrike

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's rebels said Friday they have reports that Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, who commands one of the regime's strongest military brigades, was killed in a NATO airstrike in the western town of Zlitan.

courtesy of dailyrecord.co.uk

NATO said in a statement that it was aware of the reports that Khamis Gadhafi had been killed, but it did not confirm his death. It said alliance strikes on Thursday night hit an ammunition depot and military police facility in Zlitan, which is the main front of fighting between rebels and Gadhafi's troops, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi said there were unconfirmed reports Khamis was among 32 troops killed when NATO hit a government operations center early Friday.

"We want to capture all of these criminals and try them and bring them to justice but if killing them this way will stop the bloodshed I think it is another option," al-Rajali told The Associated Press.

Libyan government officials could also not be reached for comment.  Read more

LIBYA > US Joins 30 Countries in Recognizing Libyan Rebels

David Gollust | Istanbul July 15, 2011

image courtesy of lmliberty.us

The United States joined 30 other countries Friday in formally recognizing Libya’s opposition Transitional National Council as the “legitimate governing authority." The decision announced at a meeting of the international Libya Contact Group in Turkey, will increase pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and allow the transfer of impounded Libyan funds to the rebels.

The United States had previously only referred to the opposition TNC as Libya’s “legitimate interlocutor.”

It made the decision to join other contact group members in full political recognition after the council’s leader, Mahmoud Jibril, presented a detailed plan here for a transition to an inclusive democracy once Mr. Gadhafi yields to international pressure to step aside.

VOA's Susan Yackee speaks with Robert Powell of the Economist Intelligence Unit in New York about the US recognizing Libya's rebel TNC:

U.S. officials said the meeting broke into spontaneous applause when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the move, which could eventually free billions of dollars in Libyan money frozen in U.S. banks for the financially hard-pressed TNC.

Clinton told reporters the decision was based on the progress the TNC has made in laying groundwork for a transition to a “unified, democratic Libya” which protects the rights of all its citizens including women and minority groups.

“Until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognize the TNC as the legitimate governing authority for Libya and we will deal with it on that basis," Said Clinton. "In contrast, the United States views the Gadhafi regime as no longer having legitimate authority in Libya.”

Senior administration officials said nearly $32 billion in frozen Libyan assets will remain in U.S. banks until legal issues can be ironed out.

They said one option would be to let the TNC borrow against the sum until direct transfers can be authorized by, among others, the United Nations sanctions committee.

At a Contact Group plenary session, Turkish Foreign Minister and conference chairman Ahmet Davutoglu said the TNC’s financial needs are acute.

“Above all the elevation of the TNC’s urgent need for cash is of primary importance as we approach the holy month of Ramadan," he said. "In this respect, I would like to encourage all our partners in the Contact Group to consider opening credit lines to the TNC, amounting to a certain percentage of the Libyan frozen assets in their country. As such, Turkey has already opened a credit line of $200 million to the TNC.

France and Italy, among the early countries to accord the TNC full recognition, also announced new financial pledges.

Clinton told the conference the international community needs to “plan in earnest” for Libya’s future after Mr. Gadhafi. She told reporters the TNC’s road map for a new democratic Libya was convincing, but that the process will not be easy.

“We believe them," she said. "We believe that’s what they intend to do. We are well aware of how difficult and challenging the road ahead them is. We are a long way from the kind of implementation that we all seek. We can watch what’s happening in their neighbors, which had strong institutions. And here we have a country in Libya where it was part of Colonel Gadhafi’s modus operandi to have no institutions.”

Senior officials said the United States will continue to be represented in the TNC stronghold of Benghazi by senior U.S. diplomat Chris Stevens and there will be no immediate move to set up a formal American mission there. The Obama administration some time ago halted contacts with Libya’s Washington embassy and expelled pro-Gadhafi diplomats.