There goes Musa Kusa, the 'envoy of death'
Musa Kusa (left) announcing the first of Gaddafi's ceasefires, with Musa Ibrahim (real name, Musa Mansour)
When Gaddafi’s foreign minister Musa Kusa stopped showing up at press conferences with ‘interpreter’ Musa Ibrahim, the whispers began. When his deputy took on his role and there was no sign of him at all, the rumour went out that he had been killed when Gaddafi’s compound was hit.
Musa Kusa was one of the most senior figures in the Libyan regime and also one of its most public and sinister faces.
On Monday, he was seen driving across the border to Tunisia with his family. Then he was spotted at a hotel on the Tunisian island of Djerba, which has its own airport. Today he flew to England and asked for refuge.
The news of his ‘defection’ has been well received – of course. But I would prefer to call it desertion and not defection. Some of the rats have stayed, but this is one of the rats who have deserted the sinking ship. I hope he is not going to be lauded for it, because he has done it only to save his own skin. It is the worst opportunists and amoral pragmatists who we shall see deserting Gaddafi now, and not the best men or the most moral out of a bad lot.
Let’s be clear about that.
Musa Kusa arrived in England saying that he could not support Gaddafi any longer when he began killing civilians. In the last couple of hours since the news broke, his words have been reported faithfully and not put into context. Perhaps the news networks will have got their act together by tomorrow: Musa Kusa was known as the ‘envoy of death’ because of his role in kidnapping and killing Libyan dissidents and those who opposed Muammar Gaddafi and his regime.
Last week, the United States placed him on its sanctions list.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/30/libya-middle-east-syria-bahrain-yemen
10.40pm: Libya’s chief of intelligence and speaker of the house is reported to have crossed over the border to Tunisia, according to unconfirmed reports from journalist Karl Stagno-Navarra Ksnavarra on Twitter.
For what it is worth.
The ones which have not crossed over will now be exterminated by Gaddafi before they have the chance to escape and humiliate him.
http://www.zimvi.com/?p=6825&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=libyan-foreign-minister-moussa-koussa-defects-in-london-in-protest-against-actions-of-leader-muammar-qadhafi
Koussa served as intelligence chief for 20-plus years before Gadhafi elevated him to his current post in 2009. He had a reputation as a ruthless and bloody loyalist to Gadhafi.
Koussa was known as Gadhafi’s “envoy of death” during the 1980s, when his intelligence service was working with other terrorist groups — including Abu Nidal and the Irish Republican Army — and engaging in assassination attempts against Libyan dissidents around the world, some of which were successful. The British Foreign Office expelled him from the Libyan embassy in London in 1980 after he approved the killing of two U.K.-based dissidents.
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/944679–son-of-libyan-envoy-of-death-living-in-hamilton-area
Kusa is widely considered the mastermind behind the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people and earned his grisly nickname by allegedly sending henchmen overseas to assassinate political opponents.
Interesting because both sides of the border as well as the approach to Djerba airport are peppered with checkpoints even in time of peace. Must have cost the guy some.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/envoy-of-death-brokered-deal-in-a-pall-mall-club-577450.html
Mr Kusa was expelled as head of the Libyan diplomatic mission in 1980 after backing the murder of Libyan dissidents. In an interview at the time, he said: “The revolutionary committees have decided last night to kill two more people in the United Kingdom. I approve of this.”
He went on to warn that Libya would give active backing to the IRA if Britain refused to hand over opponents of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi sheltering in Britain.
The threats led the Tory government to announce, to cheers in the Commons, that Mr Kusa was being ordered out of the country immediately.
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2010/06/envoy-of-death.html
Mr Kousa’s terrorist background extends to the 1980s when he was accused of sending hit men around the world to kill critics of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. In London, he was known as the “envoy of death” when he was the head of the Libyan diplomatic mission to Britain, according to reports in the London newspapers, The Times and The Independent.
.
There’s passion for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0l6SU-P13U
Did his arrival in the UK and Britain’s expulsion of Libyan ‘diplomats’ merely a coincidence?
Kousa took too long to defect after so many lives have been lost. He wants to be able to enjoy the financial fruits deposited away from Libya. I hope that the UK has understood how hateful this person has been since the early 80s when he unleashed his assassins from “people’s bureaux” against the Libyan dissidents who where called “stray dogs”.
[Daphne – He was ambassador to London when PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot by somebody inside the Libyan embassy. I saw film footage of that demonstration by Libyan dissidents outside the embassy in London in the early 1980s, and what struck me most was the fact that they all had their faces and heads completely concealed by scarves, balaclavas and hats – that’s how frightened they were of the regime and its representatives inside the embassy.]
Gaddafi’s external hit squads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i53uR7731xg
Libya’s current PM was deported from the UK 1984 for involvement in hit squads. He became PM when the previous incumbent unnerved the regime with his plans for reform.
OK, the ICC has work to do now. He must be brought to justice as soon as possible. And his trial should be broadcast across the world.
“We are coming. And we shall show no mercy.”