SOME LIBYANS IN US ARE STRONG SUPPORTERS OF QADDAFI

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480018-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: January 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480018-3
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13 January 1986
Some Libyans in US are
strong supporters of Qaddafi
By Warren Richey
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
In a disc met office in suburban Vir-
ginia, not far from the Central Intelligence
Agency, a small group of Libvan students
is finin" its part to a van ce the revolution.
of Libyan leader Muammar gad i.
Last spring, the headquarters of the
People's Committee for Students of the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Inc. was under
24-hour surveillance by Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents. The FBI was inves-
tigating an alleged Libyan plot to assassi-
nate anti-Qaddafi dissidents
living in exile in the United
States. No indictment was
ever returned, but officials
claim their actions helped foil assassina-
tion plots in four states.
Now, with recent statements by Colo-
nel Qaddafi suggesting possible Libyan-
backed terrorist actions in the US, the
spotlight is once again on the student-run
office in McLean, Va.
"This is a friendship office that is deal-
ing purely with students," says Saleh
Juma, a graduate student studying inter-
national management at Washington's
Southeastern University - and one of
four "student chairmen" who run the of-
fice. "We are building bridges of commu-
nication between us and the American
people to understand each other better."
Mr. Juma, who says he has studied in
the US on and off since 1977, denies his
group has been or could be used to carry
out attacks within the US. "We aren't
people who look for war. We are people
who look for peace and justice and equal
ity," Juma says. "To me this is nonsense.
A small country like Libya will hit targets
in the US from such a far range?"
Nonetheless, the FBI is taking seri-
ously Qaddafi's Jan. 2 warning that he
would "pursue US citizens in their coun-
try and streets" in retaliation for US sanc-
tions over the recent terrorist attacks at
the Rome and Vienna airports. "There
definitely is an infrastructure here in the
United States that, if tasked by Mr.
Qaddafi, could attempt to commit acts of
terrorism," an FBI official says.
According to Immigration and Natu-
ralization Service statistics,
INTERVIEW
there are 3,200 to 3,300 Lib-
yan citizens in the US on vi-
sas. Of these, 1,200 to 1,300
are students. There are also several thou-
sand Libyans with anti-Qaddafi senti-
ments who have been granted asylum in
the US or who are here illegally.
If the White House orders bombs
dropped on Libya, will Mr. Juma be acti-
vated by Colonel Qaddafi for guerrilla ac-
tivities in the US?
"I can't comment on that because I
don't have that much knowledge about
the situation. But I can comment on one
thing: If the USA attacks Libya, I believe
the war will escalate in the Middle East
and will be an endless war," Juma says.
The office in Mclean is one of only two
official Libyan offices in the US. It
oversees the administration of student
loans and scholarships for Libyan stu-
dents. The other office is Libya's United
Nations mission in New York City. The
Libyan Embassy in Washington was
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480018-3
closed and US diplomatic relations suspended in 1981 fol-
lowing the attempted assassination of a dissident Libyan
student atte ding Colorado State University.
Libyan students in the US have complained about the
cloud of suspicion that seems to follow them. Several stu-
dents have voiced concerns about FBI surveillance.
Juma says he was tailed by federal agents around the
clock last spring, adding that he suspects that he is still be-
ing watched and that his phones are tapped. "It is some-
thing we have to live with, it is a fact of life," he says. But
he stresses, "We are not doing anythin& We are conduct-
ing our student activities, carrying our full [aced nicj load,
keeping our visa status current - if they want to accuse
us, that is their problem, not ours."
And he adds, bftwl$ "'Aiat is a strange manifestation
of democracy and hwdom for those who deem to give les-
sons-in it. We [Libyansl feel it here as students."
From the point of view of US security personnel, it pays
to be cautious.. In May 1984, two 36-year-old Libyan stu-
dents" were arrested in Philidelphia after they purchased
three .45 caliber pistols and two bulletproof vests from an
undercover FBI agent. One of the two students was later
identified by US law enforcement officials as an Libyan in-
telligence offer.
In addition, last May, Farhat Tibar, an administrative
attache at Libya's mission to the United Nations, was ex-
pelled from the US after the FBI linked him to a purported
plot to assassinate anti-Qaddafi Libyans in the US.
Asked about Qaddafi's alleged 1980 death sentence on
Libyan dissidents, Juma says, "I don't think Brother
Qaddafi did give the order to do such a thing." Juma says
he suspects Libyan hit-squad stories were "created by the
secret services to create paranoia in the United States or to
justify an action that could be taken against Libya."
Juma emphasizes that Qaddafi and the Libyan people
are not opposed to the citizens of the United States. "We
don't have a problem with the American people; the
American administration has a problem with us."
Juma adds, "We do not have nuclear arsenals six miles
or 10 miles from your shores. But they [the US Sixth Fleet)
do. That's what is terrorizing us," he says.
The Libyan student also denounced US plans to topple
or assassinate Qaddafi. The Washinton Post reported last
fall that the Reagan administration was considering a pro-
posal to undermine the power of the Libyan leader.
"This is not the first time the US administration is in-
volved in assassination attempts on Brother Qaddafi
Jima says, charging that an October 1984 attack on
Qaddafi was a joint Sudanese-US plot.
"What is not understood by the American people is you
do not jeopardize the life of one person, you are challenging
the masses of 3.5 to 4 million [Libyan) people. They are
ready to die to be independent and to defend the
revolution."
Recent tensions with Libya led Sen. Howard M.
Metzenbaum (D) of Ohio to suggest last week that perhaps
Qaddafi should be "eliminated."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480018-3