Behind the Scenes of an Al Qaeda Massacre {Masterlist}

Masterlist created May 27, 2012
Last edits Sept. 20, 2012
(new wiki link Nov. 18)

The original article "Behind the Scenes of the Al-Baida Massacre" has been moved here.
"Al-Baida" wasn't necessarily the location, for one thing, which remains unsettled.

The Sub-posts: 

Original article, first published March 30, 2011, as Behind the Scenes of the Al-Baida Massacre - one of the first articles plugged in as this site was started a month later.

Further Behind the Scenes - quick updates from April 30 - a transcript, some other things.

Al Baida Massacre III: Three Killings in February.
From October, the Al-Hassadi Al-Qaeda link and a location-Maktub-come into focus.

Report: Behind the Scenes of an Al Qaeda Massacre
(pretty slick cover at left, report forthcoming, no estimated due date).

Update Sept.20:
Still no report or even effort towards one. Sorry. There should be a more cogent summary of the stuff at the links above, but I'm swamped. However, since this post is getting plenty of views lately, let's take a look at some Al Qaeda / Islamo-nihilist atrocities happening in Syria more recently.

In Douma, near Damascus, the same kind of matching work between rebel captives and murky massacre victims yields fruit more brilliantly than it did here (luckier with abundance of clear visuals). Sixteen regime victims were found, throats slit, rebels said, around Aug. 17, 2012. Only six were clearly shown, and all match with six out of 16 known FSA captives. Those were last seen alive in a video shot by a rebel death squad from the neighboring town (Harasta). (the six seen dead marked here)

See here for the fuller explanation, mostly citing existing work but with a few additions from our own.

See also the expanded Syria page at the CIWCL site for more things relevant things done well.

The Christopher Stevens Operation

September 12, 2012
Updates Sept.18

The average reader should need no links to know of this story by now, and I have nothing great to offer other than this post to collect commentary. Maybe I'll put something more here, depending. I'm curious if this gets blamed on remnants of Gaddafi loyalists, or on the Salafists it would seem like.

Sept.18: On blaming loyalists: Indian Express:

A senior Libyan official accused supporters of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi of carrying out an attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi.
Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif told a news conference in Benghazi that the attackers had used rocket-propelled grenades.
There were RPGs...which shows there were forces exploiting this. They are remnants of the (former) regime, he said. The news conference was broadcast on Al Jazeera television.

Fox News/Infowars:

While the establishment media has engaged in a concerted effort to bury the fact that today’s attack on a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was carried out by the same extremists the U.S. armed during the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi, Libya’s Ambassador to Washington Ali Aujali launched his own lame attempt to shift the blame, ludicrously pointing the finger at Gaddafi loyalists.
“We know that Qaddafi’s associates are in Libya. Of course, they took this chance to infiltrate among the people,” Aujali said in today in an interview.

Also, Petri has somehow assembled a playlist of 83 videos of the Benghazi consulate attack. One in particular sounds interesting, and was picked up by Dputamadre: Chris Stevens: Hunting or Saving?

Al Qaeda's Flag Over Benghazi

October 31, 2011
last updates Sept. 12, 2012

Bumped Sept. 12 in response to the news of the US envoy to Libya's killing during Salafi protests, and roughly on the anniversary of 9/11 to boot.
---
Happy Halloween, everyone. You want something spooky? As usual, you can find something to fit the bill here.How about the flag of al Qaeda in Iraq being flown surreptitiously above the flag of new Libya, over the NTC headquarters-cum-capitol building in Benghazi?
Via Libya S.O.S., a video and a story from Vice.com.


http://youtu.be/ZAfBoOsYK1c

http://www.vice.com/read/al-qaeda-plants-its-flag-in-libya
AL QAEDA PLANTS ITS FLAG IN LIBYA
By Sherif Elhelwa

Excerpts:

... [A]ccording to multiple eyewitnesses—myself included—one can now see both the Libyan rebel flag and the flag of al Qaeda fluttering atop Benghazi’s courthouse.
[...]
According to one Benghazi resident, Islamists driving brand-new SUVs and waving the black al Qaeda flag drive the city’s streets at night shouting, "Islamiya, Islamiya! No East, nor West," a reference to previous worries that the country would be bifurcated between Gaddafi opponents in the east and the pro-Gaddafi elements in the west.

Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that “there is no God but Allah” and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, "Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don't publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.”

He followed me inside the courthouse, but luckily my driver Khaled was close by, and interceded on my behalf. According to Khaled, the guard had angrily threatened to harm me. When I again engaged him in conversation, he told me "this flag is the true flag of Islam," and was unresponsive when I argued with him that historically Islam has never been represented by a single flag. The guard claimed repeatedly that there is no al Qaeda in Libya, and that the flag flying atop the courthouse is “dark black,” while the al Qaeda flag is charcoal black.

Update Nov 1:
Reader Peet73 alerts me the same flag can be seen in a demonstration last Friday in Benghazi. The New York Times made no mention of the flags, but showed a photo with at least five of them, the most common one carried, per that image. The demonstration was in support of extremist Sharia law, particularly to support the Jibril/NTC stance on marriage (no-consent polygamy, rescinding of female-friendly divorce laws). How their terrorist flag wound up atop the main courthouse (the same spot as the famous Benghazi beheading, by the way) is a puzzle that was bound to make news. In fact:
Digital Journal
Fox News (readers vote it "scary")
Daily Caller: "A CNN report on Saturday [the 29th] showed al-Qaida’s black flag flying over the Benghazi courthouse, which was one of the rebellion’s starting points."
The CNN video, submitted to them, is the one shown above.

There was also this:
Anti-Qaddafi Forces Flew al-Qaeda Flag During Siege of Sirte (National Review Online)
John Rosenthal here conflates the similar "Emirates flag" and the al Qaeda flag, the former actually being seen flown in Sirte. Hence, no al Qaeda.

The appearance of the al-Qaeda flag over the Benghazi courthouse has been generally spun by commentators in the Western media as a sign that Islamic extremists are now rushing to fill the “vacuum” left by the fall of the ancien régime in Libya. But the Echorouk report and the accompanying photo indicate that anti-Qaddafi forces in fact fought under the “Islamic Caliphate” banner in the decisive battle of the rebellion.

Only one or the other flag can be flown, apparently, and it was this one. So see, these aren't bad guys. That other black (bad) flag of Islamist extremists helped them to lay siege to Sirte and mop up afterwards. Far from a troublesome symbol of Islamist terrorist war criminals, the AQ/Emirates flag is now just another way of saying "FREEEEEDOOOOMMM!"

But reader Sam 1 alerts me, in comments below, new video (if not a new procession) of rebel fighting vehicles in Sirte flying the same al Qaeda flag with the full moon. The occupants of those vehicles are all disguised too, like bank robbers or snuff film makers. Was this from October, during the slaughter, or more recently, to mop up again inside the shattered and scattered onetime "capitol of the resistance?"

Others think it's possibly new. ABC News (US) has picked up the story, saying these are "police" vehicles." Similar processions have been seen in Tripoli. Ibrahim Dabbashi says:

But the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told ABC News that the video is not what it seems. Libyan brigades have flown similar flags in the past and, when questioned about them, the brigade commanders always said they were simply the "flag of the Prophet Muhammad," Dabbashi said.

"These brigades have no relation whatsoever with al Qaeda," he said. "There are no al Qaeda elements in Libya."

So it is al Qaeda then. Great.

Shed Massacre Annivesrsary

By Caustic Logic
Aug. 21, 2012
last update Sept. 3/4

<< The Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre
      << Report: A Question Mark Over Yarmouk

It's about that time - Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of the Khaimis Brigade Shed Massacre. There have already been some pre-anniversary developments (too tired to collect ATM) and there will surely be more as the date arrives.

Blogger analytics suggests some trafic lately, from Libya, following our graphic of the dead doctors Omar Salhouba and Ali Al-Darrat from the related Qasr Ben Ghashir "massacre." It would seem that issue has gotten some mention in Libya recently...

For now, this is just a spot for comments so the readers/contributors can drop references to anything they see on the mythical Yarmouk massacre remembered, and related-enough things like the above.

I don't have to follow all this stuff personally for hours a day, thank God and my readers.

http://www.libyaherald.com/?p=12761

They were on it a bit early, and again Libya's new Independent Daily seems short of Libyan staff...

The Yarmouk Massacre Anniversary

By Rhiannon Smith.

15 August 2012:

On Saturday 11 August, the 23rd Ramadan, a memorial service was held in Tripoli to mark the anniversary of the notorious Yarmouk massacre which took place during the final days of the 2011 Libyan Revolution. The 32nd Khamis Brigade, run by Colonel Qaddafi’s son Khamis, were holding prisoners arrested during the revolution in a warehouse adjoining the Yarmouk Military Base just outside Tripoli. Statements from eyewitnesses and journalists at the time and a subsequent in depth report on the massacre compiled by Physicians for Human Rights in December 2011 confirm ...

Cyclical confirmation, cool! Rebels ("survivors") say, rebels tell HR groups with no bullshit detectors, and they "confirm" what the rebels say... CIWCL tears it all wide open...

Update, Sept. 3/4: I still haven'tdone a detailed search, and have only gotten a few tips. But one from h was very good. A set of photos at Facebook of "ألبوم إحياء الذكرى الاولى لشهداء محرقة ومعتقل اليرموك" ["Album commemorate the first anniversary of the Holocaust Martyrs' and Yarmouk detainee"].
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.276885319092843.61479.156854547762588&type=1

Album commemorate the first anniversary of the Holocaust Martyrs' and Yarmouk detainee
Posted by the Ministry of care for the families of martyrs and missing - Libya [ وزارة رعاية أسر الشهداء والمفقودين - ليبيا]

Here, at the site, I recognize Mr. Sabri Tahir Al-Tabal - صبرى الطاهر الطبال , Vice-president of the association of holocaust Yarmouk survivors, alleged onetime prisoner (not escapee).
Otherwise, no familiar faces are obvious. The anniversary appears to have been an ambitious, festive, all-day affair. There was a luncheon, a visit to the site and display of photos of the alleged victims (I recognize Ramadan Jabr), then what seems (at left) like a disco party to celebrate the rebel victory at Yarmouk base that happened about the same time as this alleged mass-killing.

(a few more notes later)

Citing many photos, but not all: There's a one year since the massacre banner, with some famous photos included. Early arrivals have that banner behind them. There were fliers printed up en masse. I want a copy of one of those. If this is a real family of a real victim, her father's killers are providing this girl with her chicken and orange soda. People were bussed in and/or from site to site. An interesting-looking banner I can't read. A bigger one-year banner with more photos (including the sobbing man congratulated by Dr. Salem). (Sadly, but not surprisingly, Dr. See-Through Salem is not present in any of these photos.)

Speakers at the table or podium: possibly Said Falba on the right here - same guy speaking. A little girl speaks, and so does a woman in black. By his black skin, bald head, and camo pants, this speaker (survivor, presumably) must be related to all the dead, Black, army-type guys found around the shed. Is he the same as seen in the Class of Yarmouk '11 post? Doesn't seem to be. So are there now two fully Black survivors, or what? Here's a whole different kind of Black guy speaking. A third? Another guy. This guy (speaking) looks familiar, but not one of the guys discussed here as I wondered...  None of these guys do ... I guess this is the new Fathallah (I like season one's actor better)

Two main guys - speaking to the media, again, again, again, again, the guy on the right here and left here appeared in some of those. Here's the bearded guy with the five dead (sons?), in front of the shed. En route down Al Hadbha Road to the site, the entourage got a police escort to protect them from Gaddafi snipers or whatever. The friendly post-Gaddafi cops kept the order at the shed compound. Quite a few people attended. ... a young relative of Ramadan Jabr's - Something odd about this portrait, perhaps besides the photoshopping. It's held by this kid.

Then again, the victory party at the end.