NYT: Qaddafi son seeks bond with Islamists
A son of Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi reportedly said the nation was on course to resemble Iran and Saudi Arabia because of a strong bond he was forming with radical Islamists, though they deny any new alliance with the regime.
Seif al-Islam Qaddafi discussed the about face in the regime's approach to radical elements in Libya, which he referred to as both "terrorists" and "my friends," in an interview The New York Times published Thursday. The man once considered an heir apparent to his father said the nation's Islamists and the regime would root out the rebels who have carried out an uprising for six months.
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"The liberals will escape or be killed," Seif al-Islam told the Times. "We will do it together.
"Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran," he added. "So what?"
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Sallabi also said that he supported the rebels' calls for a regime change to democracy, which isn't much of a surprise considering that Qaddafi referred to Islamists as "terrorists."
"We don't trust them, but we have to deal with them," Qaddafi told the Times. "I know they are terrorists. They are bloody. They are not nice. But you have to accept them."
Besides the comparison to Iran and Saudi Arabia, Qaddafi didn't provide much of a picture of what an Islamist Libya would look like. He said the government would follow the Muslim holy book, the Quran (Koran). Sallabi told the Times that he has published writings supporting the adoption of a civil constitution.
