All kinds of interesting things have been coming out, as Libyan rebels have been releasing some of the top secret files from Gaddafi’s intelligence agency. After the Bush regime threatened to invade, and Gaddafi caved in on support for al Qaeda and his nuclear program, Bush and Gaddafi buddied up, shared intelligence data and even worked together in torture.

Documents seized at the Libyan intelligence headquarters have unearthed new insights into the CIA’s "surprisingly close relationship" with their counterparts in the Gadhafi regime. They highlight the cooperation between Libya and Western intelligence agencies after Libya ended its weapons of mass destruction program in 2004. They also shed light on the West’s controversial rendition program — the questioning of terror suspects in third-party countries. CNN saw documents in the former office of Libya’s external security agency and received material from Human Rights Watch on Saturday. They are from 2004 and 2005. CNN found an exchange of information between Libyan intelligence and Western intelligence agencies — such as the CIA, the MI-6 in Britain and Canada’s intelligence service. For example, the Libyans were interested to learn about alleged Islamic radicals involved in anti-Gadhafi activity in Canada, the United States and Europe. The United States and Britain were interested in any detail Libya could provide about al Qaeda… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CNN>

I’m not surprised at the close relationship between the Bush and Gaddafi regimes, because they were so similar in their goals and ideology. Sadly, I’m also not surprised that the cooperation included torture.

The flurry of communications about renditions are dated after Libya’s renouncement of its weapons program. In several of the cases, the documents explicitly talked about having a friendly country arrest a suspect, and then suggested aircraft would be sent to pick the suspect up and deliver him to the Libyans for questioning. One document included a list of 89 questions for the Libyans to ask a suspect. While some of the documents warned Libyan authorities to respect such detainees’ human rights, the C.I.A. nonetheless turned them over for interrogation to a Libyan service with a well-known history of brutality. One document in the C.I.A. binder said operatives were “in a position to deliver Shaykh Musa to your physical custody, similar to what we have done with other senior L.I.F.G. members in the recent past.” The reference was to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which was dedicated to the overthrow of Colonel Qaddafi, and which American officials believed had ties to Al Qaeda. When Libyans asked to be sent Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq, another member of the group, a case officer wrote back on March 4, 2004, that “we are committed to developing this relationship for ,the benefit of both our services,” and promised to do their best to locate him, according to a document in the C.I.A. binder. Two days later, an officer faxed the Libyans to say that Mr. Sadiq and his pregnant wife were planning to fly into Malaysia, and the authorities there agreed to put them on a British Airways flight to London that would stop in Bangkok. “We are planning to take control of the pair in Bangkok and place them on our aircraft for a flight to your country,” the case officer wrote. Mr. Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said he had learned from the documents that Sadiq was a nom de guerre for Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who is now a military leader for the rebels. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Belhaj gave a detailed description of his incarceration that matched many of those in the documents. He also said that when he was held in Bangkok he was tortured by two people from the C.I.A… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Note that all the dates involved are during Bush’s reign, because you can be sure that Republicans will try to blame this on Obama.