Reply #45: Libyan rebel's story shows links to Taliban, Al Qaeda, NATO

[tabatha]

(Misleading headline, sad sad tale)

He once lived under the Taliban's protection, met with Osama bin Laden and helped found a group the U.S. has listed as a terrorist organization. He died in a secondhand U.S. military uniform, ambushed by Moammar Kadafi's men as he cleared a road after an airstrike by his new NATO allies.

Aides to Abdul Monem Muktar Mohammed say the Libyan rebel fighter was leading a convoy of 200 cars west of this hotly contested strategic city Friday when a bullet struck him on the right side of the chest. He opened his passenger door and jumped out. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded nearby.

.........

On a recent day, Mohammed sat in an empty villa in Ajdabiya, on a residential street decorated with a pink flower hedge. He had just come back from manning battle positions. Three fighters slept on a couch, cradling their rifles. He fiddled with his phone and wolfed down some boiled chicken and pasta.

He said that, when the fighting is done, he dreamed of returning to his birthplace and being left alone. "I want to hand in my gun and be with my children," he said. Then he walked to his olive-green pickup, followed by his men.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-qaeda-20110417,0,6153551.story?page=1&utm_medium=feed&track=rss&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20latimes%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fworld%20%28L.A.%20Times%20-%20World%20News%29&utm_source=feedburner