Libyan spy files detail Gadhafi regime's collapse

TRIPOLI, Libya — As the uprising grew against Moammar Gadhafi, secret reports from his vaunted intelligence service flowed back to Tripoli. Some were mundane — how agents erased anti-regime graffiti. Others were more deadly — a spy volunteered to poison rebel leaders' food and drink.

The reports grew more desperate as the Libyan rebellion veered into civil war: Military leaders in the western mountains were disregarding orders; troops in the city of Misrata ran out of ammunition, turning the situation into "every man for himself."

These reports and hundreds of other intelligence documents seen by The Associated Press in Tripoli trace how the tide shifted in the six-month uprising that ended Gadhafi's 42-year reign. They show how an authoritarian regime using all its means failed to quash an armed rebellion largely fueled by hatred of its tools of control.

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The Arab-language documents read and photographed by an AP reporter during a visit to Tripoli's intelligence headquarters contain a mixture of military data and regime propaganda. Amid reports on rebels' movements, phone tap records and dispatches from Gadhafi's domestic agents are memos claiming that al-Qaida was behind the rebellion and that 4,000 U.S. troops were about to invade from Egypt.

The uprising began in mid-February when security forces used deadly fire to suppress anti-government protests in the eastern city of Benghazi. The opposition responded to the fierce crackdown by taking up arms, quickly seizing a large swath of eastern Libya and establishing a temporary administration.

The conflict changed to civil war as rebel forces grew, expelling government forces from of the western city of Misrata and seizing much of the western Nafusa mountain range. It was from there that they pushed to the coast, then stormed into the capital on Aug. 21, effectively ending Gadhafi's rule.

Throughout the war, Gadhafi's security offices in Tripoli directed efforts to quash the rebellion. Among those leading the charge was intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi, whose well-fortified compound received reports from around the country.

Early on, his office struggled to understand the situation in Benghazi, birthplace of the rebels' National Transitional Council.

One of the handwritten intelligence reports, written by a man who said he had "infiltrated" the rebel council, gave the names of five members, their background and the hotels they frequented. None of the material would be unfamiliar to a Benghazi resident.

The note concluded with an offer to kill the council members.

"I can carry out any suicide operation I'm given to assassinate members of the council or poison their food and water," it read.

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The author is not identified. No council members have been killed by Gadhafi's regime.

Another report parroted stories spread by Libyan state media that the rebels were linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group, that they lacked local support, and that they carried Viagra and condoms into battle so they could rape women.

The regime took these claims to the international community, especially after NATO began bombing Libyan military targets under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

One document discovered was a draft letter from Gadhafi to President Barack Obama.

"It is necessary to support Libya to get rid of the armed men of al-Qaida before all of north Africa falls into the hands of bin Laden," it said. It is unclear if the letter was ever sent.

The documents refer to the rebels as "insurgents," "saboteurs" "armed gangs" and "rats."

Reports from across Libya detail the government's actions to erase opposition symbols, such as replacing rebel flags with the green banners of the Gadhafi regime or painting over rebel graffiti.

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Phone taps were common and sometimes detailed rebel capabilities and movements. One paper cited 30 calls intercepted in one week. Other records contained GPS coordinates of the callers.

The reports also showed how the regime was quick to believe its own disinformation. In one conversation log, an Egyptian man said 4,000 U.S. troops were in Cairo, waiting to enter Libya by land.

"Four thousand, some of them commandos," the Egyptian said. "It's unbelievable."

There were signs of paranoia. In one log, a man with a Gulf Arab accent advised that Gadhafi, his sons and associates "use their cellphone for no more than three minutes," out of fear that they, too, were being intercepted.

In April and May, bleak reports flowed back from the front lines. A report marked "secret" on the situation in the Nafusa mountains laid out a new military strategy while blasting commanders for failing to follow instructions.

"Not paying attention to them in the past did not succeed in ending the actions of armed gangs," it said. "Instead, they have grown stronger (in weapons and numbers)."

Another report detailed information about rebel bases and tactics, but added that government troops were hindered by "their ignorance of the landscape there."

Bad news also came from Misrata, where rebels pushed government troops from the city in late April after weeks of fierce street battles that killed hundreds of people.

A May 5 report depicted chaos in the ranks, saying soldiers often ran out of ammunition before reaching the battlefield, leading many to be killed or captured.

"The rest fled randomly in all directions," the report said, citing the "lack of leaders for members of the armed forces on site (every man for himself)."

Later reports suggested threats inside Tripoli from regime opponents. One envelope contained two handwritten letters, threatening to kill security forces.

"We will take mercy on no one, regardless of his position, and will kill anyone manning a checkpoint," one read. Next to a hand-drawn rebel flag, red ink declared, "You have been warned."

Others suggested a security collapse in the capital as rebel forces moved closer.

One letter from the Investigation and Surveillance Office pleaded with al-Senoussi to intervene at the station, which "has become an office of alcohol, prostitution and theft of property of those arrested."

In the next four pages, the officer accused his boss of getting drunk on the job, stealing money from prisoners and seizing cars to give to his guards, sons and favorite prostitutes.

He said his superior drugged an Egyptian woman and tried to rape her before an aide intervened, and later "sentenced" three of his officers to death.

"This order caused some confusion among those in the office," he noted.

NATO bombed many of Gadhafi's security offices, and rebels stormed the rest after seizing the capital last month.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam, and al-Senoussi, accusing them of killing civilians to try to crush the uprising. All three remain at large.

A ragged band of mountain rebels now handles security at al-Senoussi's compound, parking their truck under the intelligence services' motto: "The weapons are in the people's hands."

Inside, the fighters lounge in chairs and casually flip through the hundreds of documents strewn on the floor.

Among them is an order from al-Senoussi that wasn't carried out before he fled.

"In the crucial last moments, get rid of the contents of the administration and its secret documents by burning or destroying them," it said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Libyan rebel to give Gaddafi hat to his father (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – A Libyan rebel, wearing a flamboyant military peaked hat that he said he had seized from Muammar Gaddafi's bedroom in his Tripoli compound, said he planned to give the trophy to his father.

Speaking to Britain's Sky News, the bearded fighter identified only as al-Windy, was among the fighters who stormed Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday, seizing weapons and trophies.

"I just went inside his room, Gaddafi's bedroom, and I was really, I was like 'Oh my God'. I am in Gaddafi's room. Oh my God. Then this thing happened. I found this, oh my goodness," the rebel said, taking the red and grey hat embroidered with gold thread off his head.

"I am going to give this to my dad as a present because he has suffered a lot from Gaddafi and from Gaddafi followers," the rebel, who also wore a huge gold chain over his drab olive-green T-shirt and carried what looked like a ceremonial mace.

Gaddafi, reputed for his eccentricities, was once crowned Africa's "king of kings" by those from south of the Sahara.

The fighter said he had fought with rebels in the Western Mountains region before they advanced on Tripoli and overran Gaddafi's main stronghold early this week.

Pro-Gaddafi forces initially tried to defend the vast Bab al-Aziziya compound, the seat of Gaddafi's political power and the principal base of loyalists seeking to rescue his 42-year rule, but their resistance later faded, the reporters said.

"I am really proud for this moment that the Libyans have waited for 42 years," al-Windy said.

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Libyan rebels capture part of Brega, push north

SHALGHOUDA/BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan rebels said they had captured part of the oil town of Brega on Thursday while their forces in the west pushed toward Zawiyah, trying to get within striking distance of Muammar Gaddafi's capital.

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Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a near five-month-old NATO air campaign, tightening economic sanctions, and a lengthening war with rebels trying to end his 41-year rule.

The rebels have seized large swathes of the North African state, but are deeply divided and lack experience, and Thursday's gains in the east broke weeks of stalemate.

One rebel spokesman said the opposition had captured the residential districts of Brega but Gaddafi's forces still hold western parts of the town where the oil facilities are located.

"It is liberated. It is under our control now," spokesman Mossa Mahmoud al-Mograbi said of the eastern part of the town.

The residential area where the fighting was taking place is about 15 km (9 miles) east of the oil terminal and sea port.

It was not immediately possible for a Reuters reporter to verify the capture of Brega and rebels have repeatedly claimed to have seized towns, only to be repelled by Gaddafi's forces.

In the western mountains, rebels said they reached the village of Bir Shuaib, some 25 km (15 miles) from Zawiyah, which has unsuccessfully risen up against Gaddafi twice this year.

It lies less than 50 km west of Tripoli, on the main road to Tunisia, which has been a lifeline for Libya but has begun to crack down on rampant smuggling of gasoline.

"We've gone past Nasr village and right now we're about 25 km from Zawiyah," said Faris, a rebel fighter. Rebels prevented reporters from reaching the front to see for themselves.

Rebels in the western mountains do not operate as a single force, as each town has its own command. But when they join forces for major operations they can muster a few thousand men.

Their force is poorly trained and short of heavy weapons, despite a French arms drop earlier this year, and most analysts do not think they are capable of capturing Tripoli.

NATO HELP

In an effort to pile economic and military pressure on Gaddafi, more countries are set to announce next week that they will free frozen assets for the rebels, a British official said.

"While it's hard to predict when this will end, it's easy to see the pressure is building on Gaddafi and it is only a matter of time before he's forced to leave power," the official said.

Britain is playing a leading role in NATO air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, which have weakened his armory but have not enabled the rebels to deliver a knockout blow.

Tightening the economic noose around Gaddafi, Tunisia said on Thursday its troops were patrolling fuel stations to curb the flow of smuggled gasoline into neighboring Libya.

International sanctions and the effects of Libya's civil war have disrupted normal supplies of fuel to parts of the country under Gaddafi's control, but huge volumes of gasoline are instead being smuggled across the Libyan-Tunisian border.

"The armed forces are now conducting checks at fuel stations in the south of Tunisia ... so that neither Tunisians nor Libyans can fill up with large quantities," Tunisian defense ministry official Mokhtar Ben Nasr told a news conference.

"These checks are aimed at preventing the smuggling of diesel and gasoline to Libya."

BREGA PROGRESS REPORT

The western battle is one of three widely separated rebel fronts against Gaddafi forces. In the east around the ports of Misrata and Brega, fighting had been bogged down in recent weeks while the western rebels have advanced.

The two sides have been battling for months over Brega, 750 km east of Tripoli. The rebels see securing the oil facilities as a tipping point in the war and hope to resume oil exports from there as quickly as possible.

In the west, doctor Nuri Al-Fasi said one fighter had been killed and four wounded on Thursday in the rebel push.

At a nearby field hospital, he looked over a rebel shot in the stomach in the fighting in Nasr. "This is very serious. I don't think he will make it," said al-Fasi, shaking his head.

Dozens of pick-up trucks packed with rebels drove to a staging post a few kilometers behind the front line.

From rebel-held Misrata, east of Tripoli, rebels were fighting to break a partial encirclement by Gaddafi forces, striking south into the nearby village of Tawurgha.

Medical sources said six rebels were killed and 70 wounded in their offensive on Tawurgha, from which Gaddafi's supporters have been firing rockets at Misrata for weeks.

"Our rebels have just liberated Tawurgha. This is great news ... as this means that the rockets of Gaddafi's forces cannot reach Misrata anymore," said rebel spokesman Hassan Algallay.

Rebels said the offensive was led in coordination with NATO to protect Misrata from missile attacks. He said NATO asked rebels on Wednesday to paint their vehicles yellow and red.

The offensive comes days after Gaddafi's government accused NATO of killing 85 civilians, including women and children, in an air strike near Zlitan, west of rebel-held Misrata.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon voiced alarm over recent reports of civilian casualties and called on all sides to avoid killing innocent people.

Dozens of Libyans protested outside the Hungarian embassy in Tripoli, which has become an unofficial contact point for European nations and the United States, against NATO airstrikes.

Rights group Amnesty International also called on NATO in a statement to "thoroughly investigate" allegations of civilian deaths in the strikes on the village of Majar, close to the front line at Zlitan. NATO said it hit a military target.

(Created by Lin Noueihed)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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