FIGHTER AGAINST QADDAFI BETRAYED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950011-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: November 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950011-6
WASHINGTON POST
13 November 1985
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA
Fighter Against Qaddafi Betrayed
n a shameful act of self-serving treachery, one
' of America's closest Arab allies, Morocco's King
Hassan, handed over a courageous Libyan
dissident to that country's brutal dictator,
Muammar Qaddafi. The betrayed anti-Qaddafi exile
was beaten and kicked to death by the colonel's
goons on the airport runway in Tripoli, according to
U.S. intelligence sources.
The victim of this high-level sellout was Omar
Muhayshi, a boyhood friend of Qaddafi and once a
high-ranking official in the Libyan revolutionary
regime before Qaddafi's insane excesses led
Mushayshi to join the opposition and go into exile.
For eight years, Qaddafi had tried everything to
have his one-time friend assassinated, even offering
an ex-CIA agent $1 million to arrange Muhayshi's
murder. The efforts failed, and Muhayshi thought
he had found safe haven in Morocco.
Some sources believe Qaddafi's obsession with
Muhayshi was the strongest motive for the
colonel's treaty with Hassan last year. The betrayal
of Muhayshi and his delivery to Qaddafi were part
of the quid pro quo for cutting off Libyan aid to
Polisario guerrillas battling Hassan for the western
Sahara region. So both Muhayshi and the Polisarios
learned to their sorrow the wisdom of the Biblical
injunction: "Put not thy trust in princes."
According to a CIA report, Muhayshi turned sour
on his longtime friend in 1974, when it became
clear that Qaddafi was wasting Libya's oil wealth on
a megalomaniacal dream of becoming the leader
who would unite all Arab states under his rule. As a
member of the 12-man Revolutionary Command
Council, Muhayshi "had a stormy relationship with
Qaddafi ... and often chafed under Qaddafi's
high-handed ways," the CI reported.
On Aug. 11, 1975, a plot by two council
members and 20 military officers was aborted, and
the conspirators went into hiding. Muhayshi
escaped to Tunisia, but most of the others were
rounded up and executed the following March. But
as the CIA ointed out. the "Muhayshi plot" was a
victory of sorts, because Qaddafi "lost his mystique
as the 'unchallengeable' leader, an important
underpinning for his brand of personal rule."
In exile, Muhayshi continued to irritate Qaddafi
by publishing revealing memories of the unstable
Libyan strong man and broadcasting radio attacks
on him from Egypt and Tunisia. Eventually,
Muhayshi was granted refuge in Morocco.
Other Libyan exiles warned Muhayshi two years
ago that a deal might be cooking between Hassan
and Qaddafi and that it might include him. But
Muhayshi paid no heed.
To his horror, Muhayshi learned too late that he
was part of the bargain. Whether Qaddafi's agents
were allowed to kidnap him in Morocco, or whether
the king's men put him on the plane, is not clear.
But the result was the same. Our sources say that
he was stomped to death as soon as he got off the
plane in Tripoli.
The sources say untold numbers of other
anti-Qaddafi exiles similarly were "extradited" to
Libya to face the dictator's vengeance. The only
reliably safe haven in the region seems to be Egypt,
which remains determinedly opposed to Qaddafi
and has an intelligence service sharp enough to
thwart his plots against Libyan exiles.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950011-6