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Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Boeing workers busted in drug sweep at plant 29 Sep 2011 Amazon's $199 Fire sparks supply, margin questions 29 Sep 2011 Bank of America to charge debit card use fee 29 Sep 2011 Holly Madison insures breasts for $1 million 29 Sep 2011 Wasabi alarm, beetle sex win Ig Nobel spoof prizes 29 Sep 2011 Discussed 63 Herman Cain wins Florida Republican straw poll 62 Business group appeals health law to Supreme Court 53 Americans get too much healthcare, their docs say Watched Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video Tue, Sep 27 2011 Italy's Mount Etna erupts Thu, Sep 29 2011 China's "Heavenly Palace" space craft blasts off Thu, Sep 29 2011 Exclusive: Concern grows over militant activity in Libya Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Libya's NTC thinks Gaddafi hiding near Algeria Wed, Sep 28 2011 Gaddafi loyalists put up tough fight in Sirte Tue, Sep 27 2011 Libyan interim government forces close in on Sirte Mon, Sep 26 2011 Libya's NTC readies new push into Sirte Sun, Sep 25 2011 Special Report: How to win business in Libya Fri, Sep 23 2011 Analysis & Opinion What’s behind Libya’s fast march to democracy? Who fills the global power vacuum? Related Topics World » Libya » A rebel fighter prepares to tow away a government vehicle mounted with heavy machine gun after it was hit by a NATO airstrike on the eastern outskirts of Brega April 5, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Andrew Winning By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:25pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the dust settles after six months of fighting in Libya, U.S. officials are stepping up efforts to identify Islamic militants who might pose a threat in a post-Gaddafi power vacuum. U.S. counterterrorism and intelligence agencies have recently produced classified papers examining the strength, role and activities of militant activists and factions in post-Gaddafi Libya, four U.S. officials said. Some assessments examine the backgrounds of anti-Gaddafi leaders with militant pedigrees, and explore whether these individuals, some of whom have publicly renounced Islamic militancy, will stand by their pledges against extremism. During the half-year campaign by rebels to drive Muammar Gaddafi from power, U.S. and NATO officials downplayed fears that al Qaeda or other militants would infiltrate anti-Gaddafi forces or take advantage of disorder to establish footholds in Libya. Since then, however, the assessment of top experts inside the U.S. government has sharpened. "It's of concern that terrorists are going to take advantage of instability" in post-Gaddafi Libya, said a U.S. official who monitors the issue closely. "There is a potential problem," said another U.S. official, who said both the U.S. government and Libya's National Transitional Council were watching closely. Experts around the U.S. intelligence community "are paying attention to this," a third U.S. official said. Officials said that while the rebellion against Gaddafi continued, it was difficult to collect intelligence on the rebels. But now that Gaddafi's regime has dissolved, U.S. and allied agencies are taking a closer look. Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA analyst who has advised President Barack Obama on policy in the region, said there was particular worry that Islamic militants could use Libya as a base to spread their influence into neighboring countries such as Algeria or areas such as the Sinai peninsula, where Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip share borders. "There is a great deal of concern that the jihadi cadre now are going to be exporting their ideas and weapons toward the east and west," Riedel said. Riedel and current U.S. officials said one high-priority issue is whether militants can acquire, or have obtained, weapons from Gaddafi's huge arsenals, especially surface-to-air missiles that could be used against commercial airliners. POWER VACUUM Another key issue is trying to figure out what militant individuals or factions are presently in Libya. At the moment, two officials said, U.S. and NATO experts assess that a "power vacuum" exists while the shaky transitional council tries to organize itself and set up a new government. In late August, the Open Source Center, a U.S. intelligence unit that monitors public media including militant websites, reported that "in recent days, jihadists have been strategizing on extremist web forums how to establish an Islamic state" in the post-Gaddafi era. "Many forum members, describing the fall of Tripoli as the initial phase of the battle for Libya, have urged Libyan mujahideen to prepare for the next stage of battle against the (National Transitional Council) and secularist rebels to establish an Islamic state," the center said. U.S. officials said militant groups have a history of taking advantage of power vacuums to consolidate and expand. The United States and its allies want to avoid a replay of what happened when Afghanistan was governed, patchily, by the Taliban and al Qaeda was able to establish elaborate, semi-permanent training camps. Another worry is figures with a militant background getting into the higher echelons of the new Libyan government. One new Libyan leader under close scrutiny is Abdel Hakim Belhadj, a former Islamic fighter in Libya and Afghanistan who now commands post-Gaddafi forces in Tripoli. After allegedly forging ties in Afghanistan with the Taliban and al Qaeda in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, Belhadj reportedly was arrested with his wife by the CIA in Bangkok and later extradited to Libya, where he was imprisoned until 2010. He was released under a reconciliation plan promoted by Gaddafi son Saif al Islam. In an interview this month with the Al Jazeera website, Belhadj said he was subjected to "barbaric treatment" while in CIA custody and later to "many types of physical and mental torture" in Gaddafi's notorious Abu Salim prison. Asked about his dealings with al Qaeda, Belhadj said, "We have never been in a relationship with them or joined them in any kind of activity because we could never come to an understanding of (philosophies)." "Libyans are generally moderate Muslims, with moderate ways of practice and understanding of religion. You can find some extreme elements that are different from the mainstream, but this does not in any way represent the majority of the Libyan people." Secret British intelligence files recovered by anti-Gaddafi forces from the offices of Gaddafi's advisers show that the British kept a close watch on suspected militants in Britain who they believed were linked to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, the main anti-Gaddafi Islamic militant network. The documents, obtained by Reuters, show that during a February 2005 visit to Libya, British intelligence expressed concern the LIFG might be becoming more militant because some al Qaeda links were emerging. But in a 2008 visit, British officials reported that some UK-based Libyan militants had qualms about closer ties to al Qaeda. A person familiar with British government investigations of militants said U.K. authorities believe that LIFG, as a group, abandoned violence in 2009, although individual Libyan militants remained active in al Qaeda's central core. Some U.S. and British experts said today's militants may have no connection with vintage LIFG fighters. They fear that young militants who fought against Gaddafi will be angered if Libya's new government is seen as too close to the West. (Additional reporting by William MacLean; Editing by Warren Strobel and Doina Chiacu) World Libya Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (7) Mildmassacre wrote: “There is a potential problem,” said another U.S. official, Nah, what is the problem with going to war before assessing all possible outcomes. There is no problem when “kinetic operations”( code for focused destruction of lives and property)can be sold as an humanitarian imperative in order to save lives. Veterans For Peace! Sep 29, 2011 6:57pm EDT -- Report as abuse oseb wrote: When will American hypocrisy ever stop? We all know part of the plan is to install an Islamic republic of Libya. Libya would ultimately be sent back to the stone age. After all they were in the top 5 poorest nations before Qaddafi came to power. But the west will eventually loose out cos Libya will fall to Iran’s influence Sep 29, 2011 7:21pm EDT -- Report as abuse brian-decree wrote: Don’t forget the head of the Libyan NTC was kidnapped by the CIA and handed over to Gaddafi for torture a few years ago… There are others trying to exploit a fragile Libya, the US government is one of them. The grossly corrupt IMF and world money powers are writing slavery loans into their new constitution as we speak. In fact Islamism is probably the only thing with enough conviction to stop these enormous beasts from enslaving Libya like they have the rest of the world. US executive order 11110. Sep 29, 2011 8:10pm EDT -- Report as abuse See All Comments » Add Your Comment Social Stream (What's this?) 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