Reply #35: 'Gaddafi is the terrorist man. We are just ordinary people'

[pinboy3niner]

Source: The Guardian

Libya leader's claims that al-Qaida is at helm of country's revolution does not appear to hold much substance in Derna


Xan Rice in Derna
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011 16.13 BST



Neither Gaddafi supporters nor Islamic extremists: Derna's rebels say they are fighting for freedom. Photograph: Xan Rice for the Guardian


...


"Yes to pluralism," reads the slogan outside the port. "No to Qaeda (sic)."


A banner outside the Sahaba mosque is more wordy, and more adamant. "We refuse to be linked with Al Qaeda & other terrorist groups," it says.


Derna's rudimentary PR campaign, apparently led by university students, is clearly aimed at foreign journalists arriving in the town to seek evidence of claims made by Gaddafi's regime.

...


"Gaddafi is using al-Qaida as a boogieman, a scarecrow, to make western countries afraid," said Abdulkarim Bentaher, an English professor who serves on Derna's local transitional council.


"He wants to stop the west supporting us, and in some way he has succeeded. (But) there is no such thing as al-Qaida in this town."

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/12/derna-libya-gaddafi-al-qaida