British journalist and historian Andy Worthington, an expert and author on Guantanamo, reports that the man who had supplied a key false tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda — after being tortured in Egypt, where he had been rendered by the U.S. — has died in a Libyan prison. “Dead of suicide in his cell,” according to a Libyan newspaper.
Worthington has excellent coverage of the story tonight, which, he says, is “ablaze” in the Arabic media, but so far unreported in all but one English language outlet.
“This news resolves, in the grimmest way possible,” Worthington writes, “questions that have long been asked about the whereabouts of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, perhaps the most famous of ‘America’s Disappeared’ – prisoners seized in the ‘War on Terror,’ who were rendered not to Guantánamo but to secret prisons run by the CIA or to the custody of governments in third countries – often their own – where, it was presumed, they would never be seen or heard from again.”
The “emir” of a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, al-Libi “was one of hundreds of prisoners seized by Pakistani forces in December 2001, crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Most of these men ended up in Guantánamo after being handed over (or sold) to US forces by their Pakistani allies, but al-Libi was, notoriously, rendered to Egypt by the CIA to be tortured on behalf of the US government.”
Worthington reports:
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.”
Worthington concludes: “The most important question that needs asking just now, of course, is whether it was possible for al-Libi to commit suicide in a Libyan jail, or whether he was murdered. I doubt that we will ever find out the truth…Whatever al-Libi’s actual crimes, his use as a tool in a program of ‘extraordinary rendition’ and torture, exploited shamelessly not to foil future terrorist plots but to yield false information about al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, remains a low point in a ‘War on Terror’ that has few redeeming features.”
UPDATE: 16 hours later, and virtually zero coverage of this story in the U.S. corporate mainstream MSM. Amazing. Details now here… [That report has now also been updated to include a few U.S. outlets finally jumping in to the story, 24 hours later.]
Even if he killed himself, or died of a heart attack or burst aneurysm, however he died, it was still murder.
It’s just Cheney cleaning up “loose ends” after saving “maybe hundreds of thousands from terrorist attacks “…remember when America was a country of Law.
Not necessary to imply someone killed him to clean up lose ends. I would guess that his state of mind and body was pretty much screwed up after 8 years of torture.
Hi Sibel and Brad,
This is off-topic but please have a look at this from the ACLU.
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1480
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1480
“Act now. Ask your representative to co-sponsor the State Secrets Protection Act of 2009.
For those who have had their attempts at justice stymied by improper claims of “state secrets,†this bill could prop open the courthouse doors once again and put us on the right path towards restoring justice.”
No wonder they destroyed the torture tapes, who in their right mind cannot conclude they would show how blow your face off’s cover story was feed to these people? I hope to hell New Yorkers vote for a new 9/11 investigation. The billion dollar asbestos liability and the pnac “new pearl harbor” are just too obvious to ignore. Half faked measures will not root out the black hole at the center of our “security” that spreads through out the world.
Thanks for those links Konstantin.
See the excellent article on Smirking Chimp by Elizabeth de la Vega.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21729
So:
– Torture was only used on terrorists
– It obtained valuable information
– By the definitions in the Patriot Act, people who torture or conspire to torture are terrorists
– Cheney has admitted to conspiring to torture
It seems there is definitely enough evidence out there for further investigation.
So, why don’t we just torture Cheney, a known terrorist, in order to get all the facts?
Don’t worry, Deadeye, there will be a doctor present.
“I hope to hell New Yorkers vote for a new 9/11 investigation. The billion dollar asbestos liability and the pnac “new pearl harbor” are just too obvious to ignore.”
We all have been robbed by the fake “War on Terror” and we deserve compensation ,America owes every person in the world at least a full unhindered investigation.I just flow out of Sydney airport and had to pay $120.00 anti-terror tax …all because 911 was never investigated.
Wilburrr… ~ If America suffers another terrorist attack … “Khalid Sheik Cheney” is the first person the authorities aught to investigate . . .
So, does the Obama DOJ, FBI and CIA know where Cheney’s hit squad members are RIGHT NOW? Can’t imagine a likelier target, between the ghosts of Connell and Ibn, imagine what stories we might hear.
See, this is why we shouldn’t completely close Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition.
I’m a firm believer that what goes around comes around.It’s just convenient that he picks this time, to commit suicide,considering all the torture he endured. We just aren’t falling for this timing.Who was the person who found him, and who was the last to see him? We’re not hearing anything about that ,are we? The Bush Adm. was a bunch of wolves in sheep’s clothing, and everyone knows it.Who do they think they are kiddin?
“Who do they think they are kiddin? “, 300 million Americans minus a relative few “informed citizens”.
“what goes around comes around” will not help the dead .
the scary thing is that cheney has his people embedded all over the place and they can reach out and off people like this—Coincidence after
6 years–give me a break!
How convenient, for those neo-con that argued about the ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq dictator, that this person is dead. We need to launch an investigation to determinate the exact cause of death.