Talk:Ibn Sheikh al-Libi
Howard incorrectly states he was a member of al Qaeda
All the references I read say he was a RIVAL to Osama bin Laden. All the references I read say OBL was jealous of al-Libi, because they competed for donations from wealthy conservative Saudi princes.
All the references I read say Al Libi had a key ideological difference with OBL. Al Libi's opinion was that Islam prohibited first strikes, sneak attacks, and OBL was committed to that strategy.
Al Libi operated the Khaldan camp, a camp whose initial funding came from the CIA. It provided the equivalent of "basic training" for the foreign volunteers who went to Afghanistan to help oppose its Soviet invaders.
When OBL returned to Afghanistan he set up rival camps, modeled on al Libi's Khalden camp. Individuals seeking basic training were a vien of recruits for al Qaeda, but al Libi's more famous camp was siphoning off the cream of the recruits.
So OBL pressured the Taliban to pressure al Libi to put his camp under OBL's general control. In 2000 the Taliban gave al Libi a choice - swear obedience to al Qaeda or we will shut you down.
Al Libi refused to join al Qaeda, to put his camp under al Qaeda direction, and it was closed down. George Swan (talk) 15:21, 14 February 2024 (CST)
- The above is a succinct and interesting story, and if this article had been written in a way that highlight this, it might be a keeper. But it's not, and I'm not going to spend my time on this topic, so it's still a candidate for deletion. Pat Palmer (talk) 08:31, 22 February 2024 (CST)
Obvious keep
The most important reason to keep an article on al Libi is that Colin Powell was told he confessed to accepting Iraqi trainers at his camp, who taught his recruits how to use Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell repeated this lie to the United Nations, and it was a key factor in getting the General Assembly to authorize the invasion of Iraq.
His confession was said to prove:
- Al Qaida had ties to the Saddam Hussein regime;
- That Saddam still possessed a dangerous arsenal of WMD.
Colin Powell's long time aide has said Powell didn't know that the confessions were wrung from him through torture.
Al Libi was interrogated, a second time, in 2005, when the USA failed to find the non-existent WMD.
The article Howard wrote asserts he was a member of al Qaeda, a US assertion dating back to using him to justify the invasion. George Swan (talk) 15:33, 14 February 2024 (CST)