In the Dark of War by Sarah M. Carlson

Author:Sarah M. Carlson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N/A
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2020-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

In February 2014, the political situation in Libya took a dramatic turn for the worse. The public believed the GNC had been hijacked by the Islamists, specifically by the Libyan president, who they felt obstructed progress.

The public believed he did so in coordination with the Muslim Brotherhood associated political party The Justice and Construction Party (JCP). The opposing party, the National Forces Alliance (NFA) supported the prime minister, and called for protests against the current course of the government. The JCP and the NFA were the two major political parties in Libya, which were banned under the Ghadafi regime.

The JCP was Islamist-aligned and the NFA more secular-aligned. They, along with independents, made up the GNC.

Libyans believed the GNC’s mandate to govern expired on February 7, 2014. The ambassador, Reebok, and I discussed the date several times and the ambassador stated that even though Libyans held widespread conviction that February 7th was the specific date the government should dissolve according to the original mandate, she could find no such records or confirmation. The ambassador remained silent in the ongoing debate. She watched and waited. She did not intervene.

Various elements of the Libyan government sought public support for their causes. The prime minister called for international support to his government. The NFA claimed to best represent Libyan interests. The Zintan opposed the JCP and also boasted of their intent to correct the course of their revolution.

Muhammad called me on multiple occasions demanding to know why the US abandoned Libya. He accused us of supporting the Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood as the US did in Egypt. Muhammad claimed the US only cared about Libya’s oil, but begged for more help.

The GNC voted to give themselves an extension on their electoral mandate and to remain in power through the end of the year. The president approved the extension.

Anger swelled in Libya over the perceived abuse of power and on February 7, 2014 the people took to the streets. A massive protest began centering in Martyr’s Square in downtown Tripoli. People held up signs demanding “no to extension” and “no to the brotherhood roadmap.”

Nomad and Blue, who were out on a move that day, avoided Martyr’s Square but drove nearby and saw signs in Arabic for sale. They bought several and brought them back to the compound for me to analyze. They tried to determine the size of the crowd and noted general atmospherics they later relayed to me. In turn, I passed the information to analysts at CIA Headquarters.

Protests in Tripoli were not uncommon, but I hadn’t heard of one so large since the Revolution. My major concern centered on the fact the protests contained strong anti-Brotherhood, anti-Islamist, rhetoric. I believed that was another strong indicator of the deepening divide, and shared that belief in cables to CIA Headquarters.

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