THE DARK AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL – AT 11:09 P.M. ET:  We reported earlier about a rise in power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, not exactly a cheerful development.  We're also hearing stories, from CNN in particular, of brutality by the current governing power in Egypt that seems reminiscent of practices that the "revolution" was supposed to crush.   As one journalist said, old practices die hard.

And now a disturbing report from Libya, on Al Qaeda influence in the rebel camp.  Remember, the rebels, who are fighting the regime, are supposed to be the good guys.  Of course, as Bill Clinton might put it, that depends on what "good" is.  From London's Telegraph:

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".

His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".

Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.

US and British government sources said Mr al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which killed dozens of Libyan troops in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.

COMMENT:  I don't think I'd want this guy at a family wedding.  You know, they bring guns and shoot in the air.

And once again we're reminded that we don't know exactly who the rebels are.  We don't want to repeat the mistake that we made in the late seventies, helping to force the Shah of Iran out, and not understanding the people who came in to replace him. 

It's the Mideast.  Nothing is as it seems.  And we have very few legitimate experts here to sort it out.  Please notice the obscene silence of "Mideast Studies" departments of American universities during this "Arab spring."  One smug "scholar" said of these departments after the 9/11 attacks, "We don't do terrorism."  They apparently don't do revolution or democracy either.  But anti-Americanism?  Just wind them up and watch them go.

March 25, 2011