|
Libyan rebel leader spent much of past 20 years in suburban Virginia
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, McLean, VA by any chance? 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. Cheez, just because a guy spends three decades at the elbow of a bloodthirsty tyrant doesn't mean he can't be trusted to lead a rebel army... Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 2011-03-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=319418 |