Libya Wants ‘Clarifications’ on US Kidnapping Raid

Snatching Libyan Citizen Off Streets of Capital Controversial

The Libyan government has officially asked the US for “clarifications” today after the weekend raid against the nation’s capital city and the abduction of a Libyan citizen by US troops.

The captured Libyan, Abdul-Hamad al-Quqal, was kidnapped outside of his home in eastern Tripoli when foreign “commandos” attacked him and dragged him off at gunpoint, later revealed to be US special forces.

The US is arguing that Quqal was responsible for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and says he was “lawfully detained” in military custody, though the Libyan government is apparently less than enthused that he was taken away in a military raid and is being held incommunicado on a ship.

The legality of raiding a friendly country and capturing one of its citizens at gunpoint is shaky, to say the least, but US officials defended the move, and seem fine with using foreign military operations against major cities instead of seeking extradition.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.