Hi!
Find below articles from the FT, CNN & Sky News about the secret
relationship between the US, Britain and the Gaddafi regime. Have a
good weekend.
Buharry.

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FROM FINANCIAL TIMES
--------------------
Libyan documents implicate UK in rendition plot
By Michael Peel in Tripoli

Britain was complicit in a successful US plot to capture and send to
Libya an Islamist fighter who is now a senior commander in the rebel
forces that ousted Col Muammer Gaddafi, according to secret documents
discovered in Tripoli.

The UK provided intelligence on Abdul Hakim Belhadj and then
despatched an officer to Tripoli to obtain information of ?urgent
importance? to Britain from him after he was captured, papers found
among Gaddafi regime files suggest.

The apparent British role in the delivery of Mr Belhadj into the hands
of Col Gaddafi?s repressive regime raises questions about whether
London?s facilitated torture and highlights potential tensions with
Libya?s emerging new leadership.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, who
found the documents among of stash of paper in an office used by Moussa
Koussa, Libya?s former head of external security, said: ?It?s hugely
embarrassing to the CIA and MI6 to have these documents out in
public.?

The key British paper in the Belhadj case is a memo dated March 18,
2004: ?for the urgent personal attention of Musa Kusa?, with no
letterhead and the address ?London SE1?. While its authenticity could
not be independently verified, the circumstances of its discovery and
the consistency of the information in it with other sources give it
credibility.

The document is headed ?following message to Musa in Tripoli from Mark
in London?.

Sir Mark Allen was MI6?s counter-terrorism chief at the time and was
closely involved in dealing with Libya. Britain?s Foreign Office
declined to discuss the memo and Sir Mark could not be reached.

The memo?s author congratulates Mr Koussa on ?the arrival of Abu ?Abd
Allah Sadiq?, a nom de guerre for Mr Belhadj, according to Human Rights
Watch. Another document Mr Bouckaert discovered, apparently authored by
a CIA agent in early March, describes a plan to ?take control? of Mr
Belhadj and his pregnant wife in Bangkok and deliver them to Libya.

The rendition that took place shortly afterwards was ?the least we
could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable
relationship we have built over recent years?, the MI6 officer tells Mr
Koussa. He goes on to express gratitude to Mr Koussa for ?helping the
officer we sent out last week,? adding: ?Abu Abd ?Allah?s information
on the situation in this country is of urgent importance to us.?

The document says Britain will ignore a request from Washington that
all information from the suspect should be channelled through the US.
The MI6 officer asserts: ?the intelligence about Abu ?Abd Allah was
British?.

He continues: ?I know I did not pay for the air cargo. But I feel I
have the right to deal with you direct on this and am very grateful to
you for the help you are giving us.?

Britain?s foreign office said it did not comment on intelligence
matters. It said it unreservedly condemned the so-called ?extraordinary
rendition? of terror suspects to third countries where they might be
tortured, a much-criticised policy of George W Bush?s US
administration.

It said: ?The Government?s clear policy is not to participate in,
solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhuman or
degrading treatment for any purpose.?

The emergence of Mr Belhadj as the head of the military council in
Tripoli highlights how Libya?s rebels are a disparate group ranging
from liberals to Islamists, some of them hostile to the US, Britain and
other Nato countries whose bombing campaign was crucial to the
opposition?s capture of the capital this month.

As opposition fighters hunt for Muammer Gaddafi and seek to take his
remaining strongholds, attention is switching to what kind of
government the rebels? ruling National Transitional Council will form
and how it will relate to its western wartime allies.

Mr Belhadj said in an interview Saturday that he had never been
involved in terrorist activities and was now part of a revolution that
wasn?t about Islamic ideology, but about rebuilding Libya after Col
Gaddafi?s 42-year rule.

He said: ?We will work with all nations. We will do our best to make
Libya safe. Then make our region safe - until we make the whole world
safe.?

The documents on the Belhadj case were part of huge stash found by
Human Rights in the former office of Mr Koussa, who defected from the
Gaddafi regime and fled to Britain six weeks after the rebel uprising
began in mid-February.

Human Rights Watch?s Mr Bouckaert said the premises appeared to have
been abandoned in a hurry, with computers and air conditioners still
on, leaving behind a vast collection of data ranging from wiretaps of
phone calls from embassies in Tripoli to records of hotel guests in
Tripoli.

The building was shut to journalists on Saturday, after the first
reports of its contents appeared on Friday night.

Other papers discovered at the building detailed further US renditions
to Libya and highlighted the closeness of the co-operation between
intelligence services in Washington, London and Tripoli in 2003 and
2004, as Libya tried to shed its image as a terrorist pariah and gave
up its weapons of mass destruction.

The British files include Christmas greetings, accounts of Libyan
gifts of dates and oranges ? and records of information given by London
to the Gaddafi regime about Libyan opposition figures suspected of
links to Islamist groups.

Another document talks about arrangements for the landmark 2004 visit
of Tony Blair to Libya, saying that 10 Downing Street was keen his
meeting with Col Gaddafi should take place in one of the Libyan leaders
trademark tents.

?The plain fact is the journalists would love it,? it said.
--------------------

FROM CNN
--------
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Documents seized at the Libyan intelligence
headquarters have revealed a surprisingly close relationship between
the CIA and their counterparts in the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.

They highlight the cooperation between Libya and Western intelligence
agencies after Libya ended its weapons of mass destruction program in
2004. They also shed light on the West's controversial rendition
program -- the questioning of terror suspects in third-party
countries.

CNN saw documents in the former office of Libya's external security
agency and received material from Human Rights Watch on Saturday. They
are from 2004 and 2005.

CNN found an exchange of information between Libyan intelligence and
Western intelligence agencies -- such as the CIA, the MI-6 in Britain
and Canada's intelligence service.

For example, the Libyans were interested to learn about alleged
Islamic radicals involved in anti-Gadhafi activity in Canada, the
United States and Europe. The United States and Britain were interested
in any detail Libya could provide about al Qaeda.

One piece of correspondence focused on the prospect of Libya providing
help to the United States in Somalia, where anti-American militants
have a strong presence. There was contact between Porter Goss, who
served as CIA director in the mid-2000s, and former head of external
intelligence Moussa Koussa.

Reports of Libya rendition have emerged. It occurred amid regular
State Department reports of Libyan abuse of prisoners, underscoring
concerns of human rights advocates about the practice.

For example, in the State Department's 2005 report on human rights in
Libya, it said, "Security forces reportedly subjected detainees to
cruel, inhumane, or degrading conditions and denied adequate medical
care, which led to several deaths in custody."

One report, in The New York Times, said documents suggested that the
United States "sent terror suspects at least eight times for
questioning in Libya despite that country's reputation for torture."
The newspaper said the documents cover 2002 to 2007, "with many of them
concentrated in late 2003 and 2004."

And CNN saw a March 6, 2004, CIA letter to Libyan officials about
Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a former jihadist with the Libyan Islamic Fighting
Group and now a senior commander in the anti-Gadhafi forces.

It concerned the Malaysian government's arrest of Abdullah al-Sadiq,
Belhaj's nom de guerre for his rendition. A CIA officer said the man
and his pregnant wife were being placed on a commercial flight from
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to London via Bangkok and then onto Libya.

"We are planning to arrange to take control of the pair in Bangkok and
place them on our aircraft for a flight to your country," the officer
wrote.

CNN's Nic Robertson recently profiled Belhaj. As a young man in the
late 1980s, Belhaj was one of scores of jihadists in the Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group who went to fight in Afghanistan. His military prowess
soon made him a commander among his fellow fighters.

After the fall of the Taliban, Belhaj left Afghanistan and was
arrested in Malaysia in 2004. After some questioning by the CIA, he was
sent back to Libya and jailed.

Belhaj was released from Moammar Gadhafi's notorious Abu Salim jail
last year. He and dozens of others of LIFG fighters negotiated with the
Gadhafi regime for their freedom -- in return for denouncing al Qaeda
and its philosophy of jihad.

Fran Townsend, CNN counter-terror analyst who worked as President
George W. Bush's homeland security adviser, said that when suspects
were transferred to any country, not just Libya, U.S. officials asked
the government for assurances that they wouldn't violate human rights
of the person in question.

Also, they would oversee the process of incarceration and questioning
to make sure the prisoner wasn't abused, she said.

"It wasn't just sign a piece of paper. It was also, by the way we have
to have the right to visit them on short notice and speak with them,"
she said, referring to the suspects.

Townsend said the MI-6 and the CIA worked very closely with Libyan
intelligence in terms of persuading them to turn over their weapons of
mass destruction program and to maintain a relationship with them.

The relationship, she said, was "by no means a straight line. It had
its ups and downs."

The CIA would not comment specifically on the reports about the
relationships between Libya and Western spy agencies.

But CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood did say, "It can't come as a
surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign
governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly
threats. That is exactly what we are expected to do."

A U.S. official who would not speak for attribution because of the
sensitivity of intelligence relationships said, "There are lots of
countries willing to take terrorists off the street who want to kill
Americans. That doesn't mean U.S. concerns about human rights are
ignored in the process."

The official added this needs to be kept "in context."

"By 2004, the U.S. had successfully convinced the Libyan government to
renounce its nuclear weapons program and to help stop terrorists who
were actively targeting Americans in the U.S. and abroad," said the
official.

The British Foreign Office said it does not comment on intelligence
matters.

CNN's Pam Benson and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.
--------------------------------
FROM SKY NEWS
-------------
Secret files show UK, US Libya ties
Updated: 12:01, Saturday September 3, 2011

British and US intelligence cooperated closely with Libya, with
prisoners being offered to Muammar Gaddafi's regime under the rendition
program, a report says citing files found in Tripoli.

British newspaper The Independent said the secret documents discovered
in the office of former Libyan foreign minister Mussa Kussa also show
that Britain passed details of exiled opponents to Gaddafi's spies.

The cache further shows that it was the office of former British prime
minister Tony Blair that requested that a 2004 meeting with Gaddafi in
Tripoli should take place in a Bedouin tent, the daily said.

There was no immediate reaction from British or US authorities to the
report.

The paper said the documents would raise questions about the ties that
Britain, in particular, and the US forged with Kussa and the regime as
the western powers tried to bring Libya out of isolation.

Kussa flew to Britain in March and defected, but despite being accused
of rights violations was allowed to fly to Qatar the following month.

The Independent said the papers include leters and faxes to Kussa
headed Greetings from MI6 (Britain's foreign intelligence service) and
a personal Christmas greeting signed by a senior British spy with the
epithet: 'Your friend'.

It also cites a US administration document, marked secret, saying that
it was 'in a position' to deliver a man named as Shaykh Musa, a member
of the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, 'to your physical
custody.'

'We respectfully request an expression of interest from your service
regarding taking custody of Musa,' it quotes the document as saying.

Secret CIA rendition flights transported dozens of terror suspects
around the world following the 9/11 attacks, often for interrogation in
third countries.

Meanwhile, British intelligence in a letter dated April 16, 2004
informs a Libyan security agency that a Libyan opposition actvist had
been freed from British detention, the Independent said.

A further document purportedly from MI6 seeks information about a
suspect travelling on a Libyan passport, adding that it is a 'sensitive
operation'.

The cache also shows that a statement given by Gaddafi announcing that
his regime was giving up weapons of mass destruction in a bid to shed
its pariah status was put together with the help of British officials.

A letter addressed to a Libyan official from British intelligence
attached a 'tidied up version of the language we agreed ...', it said.

Meanwhile the Independent said a sizeable amount of the correspondence
was devoted to preparations for Blair's landmark Tripoli visit, and
showed that Kussa played a role as conduit with the premier's 10
Downing Street office.

In one, it sad an MI6 officer wrote to Kussa saying: 'No.10 are keen
that the Prime Minister meet the leader in his tent. I don't know why
the English are fascinated by tents. The plain fact is the journalists
would love it.'

Blair was duly pictured shaking hands with Gaddafi in a Bedouin tent.

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