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The name of Osama bin Ladens spectral terrorism organization is being exploited and abused by all sides in connection with current events in Libya.
Muammar Gaddafi declares that Al Qaeda is pulling the strings behind the protest movement, accusing jihadist veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan of fighting alongside the rebel forces.
His opponents say Gaddafi is playing the Al Qaeda card to conjure up the Wests fear of terrorism, presenting himself as a bulwark against militant Islamism in North Africa, and the guarantor of security and stability in the region.
But looking back into the past, it turns out that Gaddafi was warning about the terrorist threat presented by Al Qaeda long ago, even before Sep. 11, making Libya the first country to put out a warrant for the arrest of the Saudi terrorist. On March 16 1998, Libyas Ministry of Justice in Tripoli issued an international arrest warrant for bin Laden, naming him as the main suspect in the murder of two German citizens in Libya. The warrant was subsequently forwarded to Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France. This document - seen by Die Welt - was deemed legal, and on April 15, 1998, Interpol issued an official arrest warrant against the Al Qaeda leader.
Here is the little known story of the origins of this Gaddafi-bin Laden faceoff. In early March 1994, Silvan Becker and his wife Vera entered Libya while holidaying in the region. By law, Gaddafi's empire was out of bounds for the 56-year-old German citizen. Becker worked for Germanys domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the Terrorism Department, and was thus banned from all travel to Libya.
Chief advisor on Arab extremists
In Germany, Becker had been the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitutions Division Six the department responsible for dealing with "international terrorism." For years the terrorist expert was the chief advisor on "Arab extremists," before transferring to the unit responsible for observing the Tamil extremist group LTTE.
According to reports by Libyan investigators, Becker and his wife were attacked and shot by four armed robbers on March 10 1994, shortly after their arrival in Libya. The two German citizens were initially taken to a military hospital in the city of Surt in Eastern Libya, where Vera Becker is said to have died on March 28 1994. Her husband finally died from his injuries on April 10.
It remains a mystery why the Beckers decided to enter Libya in spite of the travel ban. It has been rumored the German agent was using his private holiday as a premise to make contact with Libyan Islamists. The Office for Protection of the Constitution has vehemently denied this theory, insisting there is no reason to believe that Becker was a double agent, or was engaged on a mission in Libya on behalf a foreign secret service.
The German office declined to give Die Welt any further comment on the Becker case. Even 17 years after the murders, no information can be released on the work of former employees or their dependents. "That was our policy at that time, and it has not changed," said a spokeswoman.
Dude your picture looks like a TI album.
Bin Laden was just a part of Al-Qaeda which is just a part of the Islamic terrorist effort which is just a part of the Islamist movement, so the announcement of his death today by the U.S. government makes little operational difference. The war on terror has not fundamentally changed, much less been won.
