From Libyan Jihad to a Strike in UK's Heartland

Can’t get a much directer blow-back for a generation of causing havoc in the Middle East with utter hypocrisy dripping from policies created in Downing Street 10 and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Because of sheer destruction of the Twin Towers, US policymakers refuted the idea that blow-back for foreign policy throughout decades could strike at the very heart of America as the mightiest global military power. Looking at a democratically elected president Donald Trump, perhaps some soul searching would be apt for at least U.S. Congress … I for one won’t be holding my breath for sanity to return to the Bubble covering that shiny hill.

As this attack had not been on the NSA – GCHQ – Unit 8200 radar, despite all the privacy offering of its citizens, the western world is dumbfounded how and especially why this attack could happen. A British born and bred person from Libyan parents, a Mancunian! For Christ’s sakes! Another attack is imminent as more questions have been raised than answers offered!

○ Manchester Arena attacker named by police as Salman Ramadan Abedi

○ The current threat level for international terrorism in the UK is CRITICAL | MI5 |

Everyone at MI5 is revolted by the disgusting terrorist attack in Manchester last night. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, the injured and everyone affected by it.

Our teams have been working with the police through the night to assist the investigation. We remain relentlessly focused, in numerous current operations, on doing all we can to combat the scourge of terrorism and keep the country safe.

Andrew Parker
23 May 2017

Just days earlier, Salman Abedi ‘travelled to Libya’ before carrying out Manchester attack

Salman Abedi returned from a visit to Libya just days before carrying out the Manchester attack and may have travelled to terrorist strongholds in Syria [can find no evidence for this – Oui], it has been revealed.

The 22-year-old’s potential links to Isis militants and recruiters around the world are being probed by investigators attempting to find out how he was able to transport a nail bomb into Manchester Arena and use it to massacre 22 people.

A family friend told The Independent Abedi and his brother, Ismael, remained in the UK when their parents returned to Libya with the rest of the family four years ago but travelled back and forth to the war-torn country.

Chaos engulfing Libya since the British-backed removal of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has left armed groups including Islamist factions battling for control as smugglers launch thousands of refugees from its shores.

Isis has gained a foothold in the country, using it for terror training camps that were bombed by the US in January over intelligence that “external plotters were actively planning operations against Europe”.

Not only was Libya wrecked by the West, also in its aftermath jihadists by the thousands traveled from Tunisia and Libya to northern Syria via Turkey. All travel expenses were paid for by the GCC Gulf states and especially the Muslim Brotherhood stronghold of Qatar. Hundreds of thousands tons of weapons and munitions were shipped into the rebel enclaves of the FSA, later Al Qaeda groups and in the end the more powerful and ideological barbarians from Anbar province of Iraq. The Islamic State was incorporated by the Americans as a proxy to defeat the secular state of Syria under Assad.

Will Gaddafi’s son save Libya – 2017?

○ In His Last Days, Qaddafi Wearied of Fugitive’s Life | NY Times – Oct. 22, 2011 |
○ Could Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Solve the Libya Crisis? | Feb. 2017 |

Can it even get worse? Libyan jihadists from Manchester, Birmingham and London traveling to overthrow regimes in the Middle East to establish an Islamic State!! Fighting fire with fire, on whose side are the British youths on? In both Libya and Syria, nobody really knows. Certainly not the US and British security and intelligence establishment. Failure upon failure, it does’t matter who is occupying the White House, the policy is just rotten to the core.

Manchester attack: The Libya-jihad connection | BBC News |

As each hour passes we learn more about Salman Abedi. What we don’t know yet is his exact journey from Manchester-born boy to suicide bomber. The BBC has been told by a Muslim community worker that members of the public called the police anti-terrorism hotline about Abedi’s extreme and violent views several years ago.

We don’t know how the police responded to these reported hotline calls – but we have also learnt that earlier this year, Abedi’s behaviour again raised concerns. According to our sources, he told local people about the value of dying for a cause.

He also made hardline statements about suicide bombings and the conflict in Libya.

The Libyan connection

Abedi’s parents fled Libya as opponents of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime. Libya, alongside its North African neighbours, has been a centre for the rise of modern Islamist political movements.

These movements were originally dedicated to overthrowing dictatorial regimes and, to varying extents, promoting the idea of Islamic government.

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) wanted to overthrow Gaddafi and became the dominant revolutionary force in the country in the 1990s, until the dictator began turning the screw.

Many of those with Islamist connections tried to flee – and many of them were granted refuge in the UK. Salman Abedi’s father, Ramadan, was part of the broad network of opponents who supported those Islamist anti-Gaddafi aims. He arrived in the UK in the early 1990s.

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was founded by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It aims were to establish an Islamic state in Libya and to depose Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, LIFG was banned worldwide because of its affiliation with al-Qaeda, which the group has consistently denied, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic front bin Laden declared against the west in 1998. Members of the group participated in the Libyan civil war under the name Libyan Islamic Movement. Before Gadhafi’s demise, the “old” Libya had become a “critical ally in US counterterrorism efforts” Gadhafi was particularly eager to cooperate, given his interest in taming Libya’s own homegrown al-Qaeda affiliate, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). The organization — of which Libi was a member — had long been dedicated to overturning…

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as Fighting Islamic Group, Libyan Fighting Group, Libyan Islamic Group, LIFG, Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah, Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya, Libyan Islamic Movement (name changed in 2011), al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya, The Libyan Islamic Killing Group is an active group formed c. 1995.

Refuge in Britain

That brings us to south Manchester. It has long been a centre of Libyan politics in the UK, if not Europe. It’s where the British government gave refuge to many of those Gaddafi opponents – Birmingham and London being the other locations.

Some of the Libyans in the UK, and in particular from Manchester, were later suspected by the security services of being aligned to al-Qaeda. I have spoken to some of these men down the years. They say their jihad was against Gaddafi alone. They wanted him overthrown.

And overthrow him they eventually did – with the help of the British and Americans.

As the Arab Spring grew and Gaddafi began to wobble, these dissidents – and a fair few of their British-raised sons – returned to their revolutionary roots. Many joined the February 17th Martyr’s Brigade, one of the key fighting units in that war. We have been told that Salman Abedi’s father was part of the group who left the UK for one last battle against Gaddafi.

The BBC has been trying to put these questions to Ramadan Abedi. Shortly before that was to happen, Mr Abedi was arrested by security forces in Libya.

Manchester fighters

There were others from Manchester who went to fight – and most of them lived very close to each other.
Just a mile away from the Abedi home lived Abdal Raouf Abdallah – now jailed for five-and-a-half years for terrorism offences.

Abdallah was among the young British-Libyans who fought to overthrow the dictator – and he nearly paid for it with his life. He was shot in the back and was paralysed from the waist down. He returned home proud. But at his later trial, prosecutors said his revolutionary fervour led him to facilitate the travel of other men from Manchester to join terror groups in Syria.