Sources tell us -- and this report confirms -- that Musa Kusa, who has served as Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister and head of Moammar Gadhafi's External Security Organization (ESO), will soon be named the Libyan Ambassador to the United States.
Kusa had been deputy chief of Libyan intelligence when two of its agents blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, killing all 259 on board and 11 on the ground. He has also been rumored to be a coordinator of the attacks. Kusa has been barred from entering the U.S. because of his suspected involvement in the Lockerbie bombing.
The ESO is the principal intelligence institution in Libya which has been responsible for supporting terrorist organizations and for perpetrating state sponsored acts of terrorism. Musa has also been head of Al Mathaba (AIC), the Libyan center for anti-imperialist propaganda which has funded third world guerilla groups. With representatives in many Libyan embassies worldwide, the AIC runs its own independent clandestine operations and disburses payments to terrorist, insurgent, and subversive groups.
Kusa earned a degree in sociology from Michigan State University in 1978 and wrote a fawning political biography of Gadhafi for his master's thesis. The following year, he was posted to London as the head of Libya's embassy. Last year, he was named in a U.S. court as a key planner of an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, who became king after the death of King Fahd.
According to a State Department report this year, Kusa's agency was part of an "extensive security apparatus" overseeing a "pervasive surveillance system." Security forces have held numerous detainees for years without charge or trial, and torture was routinely used on political foes, the report says. Methods allegedly included beatings, electric shock, pouring lemon juice on open wounds, breaking fingers "and allowing the joints to heal without medical care," suffocation with plastic bags and hanging by the wrists.
Should Kusa be officially tapped as the top Libyan diplomat to the U.S. since the thaw in relations culminated with diplomatic recognition, we'll be watching closely to see if Bush accepts a nominee with blood on his hands. The Constitution affords Bush the sole responsibility to "receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers" in Article II, Section 3.
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