Former Libyan Intelligence Official Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: Deal with West Was a Maneuver to Lift Sanctions; Terrorists Obtained WMD Left in Libya

In a recent TV interview, former Libyan intelligence official Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam said that his country's deal with the West was a maneuver in order to get the sanctions lifted: "We carried out a smart maneuver. We gave them a little information, in return for the lifting of all the sanctions on Libya, on the travel of Libyans, and on providing technology to Libya." Qadhaf Al-Dam, a cousin of Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, further said that ISIS and other terrorist groups had gotten hold of the chemical weapons that had remained in Libya, "hidden in bases with which nobody was familiar, deep in the desert."

 

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on the Egyptian Dream TV network on January 18, 2016.

 

 

Interviewer: You said that ISIS has gained control of poisonous gases, such as the lethal sarin gas. Where did you get that information from?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: It is no secret that these gases exist in Libya. To be fair, ISIS is not the only one. Everyone has poisonous gases. It's not only in Libya. Everybody knows this. The Western countries know this. They have spies [in Libya]. They are the ones who attacked Libya, and then left these dangerous weapons there.

 

 

Interviewer: Didn't the [Western countries] claim that they had forced Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi to get rid of the chemical weapons – of those poisonous gases?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: They didn't force him. It was part of a deal. There was no longer any justification for building a [nuclear] bomb. For whom would we build it? The Arabs had recognized Israel and had begun to collaborate with it. We in Libya didn't have an enemy for which to build a nuclear bomb. This enterprise began in the early 1970s, when the Arab nation wanted to produce a weapon that would deter the Zionist enemy. But today, we have become on the best terms with the Zionists, so why would we want such a weapon?

 

 

Interviewer: Was it a plan to build a nuclear plant or to produce weapons?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: There was a nuclear plant and all the weapons that we were allowed [to produce], because we had the right to defend our nation. We have the right, just like others, to develop our own weapons for self-defense. I'm talking about the nation because we were all pan-Arabists, defending our nation. The weapons we manufactured were for this purpose, and we used them in the 1973 war.

 

 

Interviewer: All these weapons were decommissioned, and the money spent on the enterprise went down the drain. You say there was a deal, but the Arabs' resources were lost.

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: No, there are still Arab resources. We all worked and built up this might for the sake of our nation. If you recall, during the Lockerbie crisis, we were besieged by the Arab states themselves, after we stood alongside them, helped them, established a union with them, and handed them Libya on a silver platter, so that they could unite and establish a strong entity. Libya does not have plans to build nuclear weapons or to compete with the West. The West is right next to us.

 

 

We managed, with skillful maneuvering, to strike this deal. We postponed this deal from 1992 to 2011. At least we gained time, because [Al-Qadhafi] was a target. The Arab citizen should know that he has no friends [in the West]. You can be either their slave or their enemy. A man like Al-Qadhafi had no choice but to become their enemy. Today, we Libyans and our honorable government have agreed to this. It brought the West, which entered Libya, and we returned to the way we were prior to the 1969 revolution. We become a base [for the West], and we are ruled by its embassies. We are thrilled to be summoned by the Qatari or Turkish ambassador in Tripoli, or when anyone anywhere talks to us, or even when our Islamic brothers call us from Gaza, Afghanistan, or Pakistan. The [Libyan officials] are happy that someone deigns to speak to them, and view this as a positive thing.

 

[…]

 

 

Interviewer: Were these poisonous gases kept hidden? How were they discovered?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: They were held by the armed forces, and were hidden in bases with which nobody was familiar, deep in the desert.

 

 

Interviewer: Wasn't this weapon decommissioned in the deal you talked about?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: No. There were many maneuvers. Were we supposed to completely disregard our interests? No. This was a struggle on the political and security levels, and each side had its way of overcoming obstacles.

 

 

Interviewer: So Al-Qadhafi left behind some of the poisonous gases and chemical weapons, and you are saying that ISIS has now gotten hold of these weapons supplies.

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: ISIS and others… Unfortunately, these weapons were smuggled out of Libya, as the world knows. I believe that the weapons that reached Syria originated in Libya.

 

 

Interviewer: The chemical weapons that were used…

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: The weapons that Bashar Al-Assad was falsely accused of using came from Libya. This is well known. A Turkish opposition member talked about this in detail, giving names and presenting data. Western sources know the names of those who transferred the weapons from Libya, and know where the weapons went, how they entered [Syria], and what use they were put to. It was a big scandal.

 

 

[…]

 

 

Interviewer: Don't you consider the decommissioning of the chemical weapons to be a waste of Arab weapons and of the money of the Libyan people? Why was this forced upon Al-Qadhafi? Why was this forced upon Al-Qadhafi?

 

 

Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam: The Arabs forced this upon us. The Arabs besieged us for over 10 years, since the Lockerbie crisis, if you recall. That's it… And besides, the great plan that we dreamt about – developing a weapon of deterrence against the Zionist enemy… It was no longer an enemy. On the contrary, it had become an ally of some countries. So there was no longer any justification to keep these weapons. The West considered these weapons in North Africa to pose a threat to the EU. The EU has become a superpower – the Euroforce, which attacked us in 2011. They were looking for a pretext to attack Libya. We carried out a smart maneuver. We gave them a little information, in return for the lifting of all the sanctions on Libya, on the travel of Libyans, and on providing technology to Libya… All the documents exist. I believe that this was a positive, not a negative, thing.

 

 

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