LIBYAN MILITARY TERMED RESTIVE UNDER QADDAFI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504420003-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504420003-7
ARTICLE APl ED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE _ 14 January 1986
What seems clear is that his death
has enhanced the standing of Maj.
Libyan Military Abdel Salem Jauoud, the No 2 figure
TRIPOLI, Libya, Jan. 13 -Growing
discontent within the Libyan armed
forces has presented Col. Muammar el-
Qaddafi with one of the most politically
sensitive challenges in his 16-year rule,
according to diplomats and Libyan offi-
cials.
The officials and diplomats at-
tributed the restiveness, particularly
within the army, to efforts by Colonel
Qaddafi to create "armed masses."
They also cited the country's deepening
economic crisis as a factor.
in Libya. Both Major Jauoud and Cola
Termed Restive the maw that Colooneell Ishkal op.
the
posed
- principally the continued
shrinkage of privileges for the army
Under Qaddafi
and a growing role for the Revolution-
ary Committees and Guards. These are
made up of civilians who have peso-
By JUDITH MILLER trated even the hallowed ranks of the
SpwW to Tin Now York Timm military, which staged the bloodless
con-
officers have resented the decline in
their living standards due to a fail in
Libyan income from = billion in 1980
to between 88 billion and 30 billion. last
Colonel Ishltal had reportedly fa-
vored slashing investments in other
sectors to solve the economic crisis,
which be saw as potentially destabiliz?
ing within the military, diplomats laid.
But Colonel Qaddafi and Major Jal-
loud, who now supervises both. the
Revolutionary Guards and Revolution-
ary Committees, have preferred torusee
the economic Cr" to speed up 'the
revolution and to Justify-drastic actions
- such as WOM"ing revolutionary vanguards role of the
might
not have been acceptable before the
chronic shortages began last sprint.
Soviet Union in October, was killed at to kill Colonel Qaddafi. The 12 were
the Bab el-Azziziya military barracks killed, but diplomats here at the time
after he went there to protest a decision' said revolutionary guards and Revolu-
by Colonel Qaddafi to strip him of rank. tionary Committee members set up
Colonel Ishkal, whose wife is Egyp roadblocks and arrested some 2,000
tian, had been vehemently opposed to Libyans suspected of involvement.
what he saw as Libya's prw estive Western q ence sources said
policy towards Egypt, as well as to the there were two other attempts. in-
growth of influence within the military vo elements from each branch o ,
of the Revolutionary Guards and Revo- the Miu~Y, March or April of 19M.
lutionary Committees, civilian watch- Thenrst was an attempt cconserva- i
d whose role hen been tine officers to kill Colonel Qaddafi at
ev,~ m hi. union nn th& ruttcinrtq of Trio
death of Colonel Ishkal, a distant
cousin of Colonel Qaddafl, was de-
scribed as a blow to the professional
officer corps, whose benefits and
prerogatives Colonel Ishkal staunchly
defended.
Rumors About the Death
The malaise is said to have deepened ! main "pillar of the revolution."
since what is believed to have been the Watching Over the Army
slaying on Nov. 23 or Nov. 24 of Col.
Hassan Ishkal, the third most powerful According to one diplomat, the Revo-
man in Libya's Government and head lutionary Guards, a vanguard com-
to 2,000
1,000
of the military region of Sirte. The Pest Lfban esh
L
His death has been officially at-
tributed to a car accident on the road
between Sirte and Tripoli, but there has
been a flood of rumors about the place
and circumstances of his demise.
According to one version widely cited
by Libyans and by diplomats of other
nations, Colonel Ishkal, who accompa-
nied Mr. Qaddafi on his visit to the
authorities to allay unrest in the officer diplomats and others said, professional
corps, was that Colonel Ishkal, who
was 47 years old, had committed sui-
cide. However a post-mortem UM-
cared that he had been shot at least six
times, Libyans and diplomats said.
According to these accounts, Colonel
Ishkal was killed by gunfire at or near
the military barracks. It is not known
what role, if any, Colonel Qaddafi
played in the incident.
A third version, spread by the Libyan
coup that overthrew King Idris in 1909.
In an interview last week, Colonel
Qaddafi stressed his determination to
replace the professional military even-
tually with his "armed people."
Another blow to the prestige of the
military was said to have been Colonel
Qaddafi's decision to cancel, for the
first time, the annual military parade
that marks the Sept. 1 anniversary of
the coup.
Instead, the Colonel gave a major
speech in the oasis town of Sebha to
members of the Revolutionary Guards
and Committees praising them as the
o
young i yans W ve paam-
tary training, and many of whom come
from Col. Qaddafi's tribe in Sirte, have
only light weapons and hence are no
match for the army. However, they
have installed themselves as watch-
dogs at almost every army post and
barracks, Libyans said, even at the
Bab el-Azziziya installation, which is
Colonel Qaddafi's base. Revolutionary
guards now control the distribution of
live ammunition at the bases, one well-
placed diplomat said.
Diplomats say the Revolutionary
Committees and Guards began to grow
in numbers and influence shortly after
12 men attacked the Bab el-Azziziya
barracks on May 8, 1984, in an attempt
voy in which he was traveling. The
colonel was not hurt in either attempt,
the sources said, but the incidents
heightened his mistrust of the military.
In addition to resenting the growing
power of civilians in the military, the
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504420003-7