PRESS RELEASE

Obama's Benghazi al-Qaeda Allies Linked
to Algeria al-Qaeda Gas Field Attack

Jan. 16, 2013 (EIRNS)—According to an article by Reuters entitled Sahara Islamists take hostages, spreading Mali war, "Algerian Interior Minister Daho Quid Kabila told state news agency APS there were about 20 hostage-takers led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and set up his own group in the Sahara recently after falling out with other al Qaeda leaders."

The Library of Congress - Federal Research Division report "Al-Qaeda in Libya: A Profile", published in August 2012, reports the following on page 12:

"A March 2012 report from Dunia al-Watan, a Palestinian newspaper, published a video-illustrated article describing a military parade reportedly organized by Katiba al-A'hrar Libya (Free Libya), commanded by Wisam Ben Hamid, in the city of Sirt, a former Qadhafi stronghold, that looked like an al-Qaeda-type demonstration. The article pointed at Wisam, a 35-year-old Libyan from the town of Darnah, as the leader of al-Qaeda in Libya. The same article reported that Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar, the leader of AQIM in the Sahara, attended the parade as the honored guest of Wisam."

This is the same Wisam bin Hamid, leader of Libya Shield, who met with U.S. officials on Sept. 9 in Benghazi according to the report sent under Ambassador Chris Stevens's signature on Sept. 11, 2012, the day of the terrorist attack on the mission which killed him and three other Americans. This same Libya Shield led by Wisam bin Hamid met our forces that night at the Benghazi airport and delayed them for 3 hours before following them to the CIA annex. This is the same Wisam Bin Hamid, who, according to a New York Times article dated Nov. 28, 2012, escorted U.S. investigators when they visited Benghazi to investigate the attack on the mission.

This information is included in the Updated Fact Sheet on the Obama/al-Qaeda Alliance available on Lyndon LaRouche PAC (larouchepac.com).