Deceased dictator Muammar Gaddafi described the rise of the Islamic State in a phone call with former British Prime Minster Tony Blair, according to recently released documents.
“The story is simply this: an organization has laid down sleeping cells in North Africa,” Gaddafi told Blair in February 2011. “Called the Al Qaida Organization in North Africa … They don’t use Arab words, they use Islamic.”
The Libyan dictator then described how the group obtained weapons and terrorized people on the street.
“(We) can’t reason with them,” Gaddafi told Blair. “They keep saying things like Muhammad is the profit. (It’s) similar to Bin Laden. They are paving the way for him in North Africa.”
Phone records indicate the call took place just after anti-government protests began against the dictator.
Gaddafi was well known for his human rights abuses that turned his country against him. Indeed, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity.
Yet, he pleaded with the international community, by way of Blair, to take notice of the growing terrorist group that became the Islamic State.
“They want to control the Mediterranean and then they will want to attack Europe,” Gaddafi said. “(We) need to explain to the international community. Reporters can come to make sure this is the truth, they are welcome. (But) once in their hands, they slaughter them.”
It appears time proved Gaddafi’s predictions accurate.
The Islamic State frequently threatens Europe and America. In Syria, alone, more than 55,000 people were killed in 2015 for ISIS-related violence.
“It is worth noting that the numbers do not include thousands of missing detainees people inside regime prisons and others of those who disappeared during the raids and massacres by the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them,” according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “It also does not include hundreds of regime’s soldiers and pro-regime militants and supporters captured by ISIS, Islamic fighters, Al-Nusra front, rebel and Islamic battalions on charge of ‘dealing with the regime.’
“These statistics do not include also the more than 3000 abductees from the civilians and fighters inside ISIS jails from Deir Ezzor tribes who were kidnapped from their areas.”
Gaddafi may have died, but his speculations about ISIS live on.
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