AUTONEWS

From the CIA to Putin, the thousand faces of General Haftar


Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:15:41 +0100

He may be extremely hard, but also easy-going, eager to make himself well liked. He alternates the haughty ways of the career soldier all in one piece to those of the aspiring statesman determined to dominate great politics, but basically aware that this is not his world. Very sure of himself when he talks about weapons, soldiers, advances and borders. However, it is unfriendly if he has to explain his long-term strategies, or what he will want to do when he finally arrives in Tripoli to install his government. This is not the time for democracy. I am not looking for dialogue. First I have to fight my enemies, the militias, the terrorists. Later, when Libya is stable, then we will talk again about elections and press freedom, he has always argued extending in the three interviews with the Courier in recent years. The first time in his office in Benghazi in 2017 it took over an hour to explain that at the beginning he had all the numbers to become the defense minister of the government born from the revolution against Gaddafi in 2011. But the Islamic extremists and the Muslim Brotherhood who they dominate in Tripoli they didn't want me. It was then that I realized that with them there was no other system, except the iron fist. Their militias are prey to Al Qaeda and Isis, he said without managing to hide his anger at the humiliation of being rejected offensively.