Syria Links for 2/9/12

MacMillan Backed Syria Assassination Plot - Ben Fenton, The Guardian, 9/26/03:  This article draws upon previously unknown discussions recorded in the private papers of Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defense under PM Harold Macmillan.  They report that in 1957, a high level working group convened in Washington DC, led by Macmillan and U.S. President Eisenhower, and signed off on a "preferred plan" to topple the Syrian government.  The plan centered around the assassination of three Syrian government officials, but also included the full bag of dirty tricks.  Parts read: "Once a political decision is reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS [MI6] will attempt, to mount minor sabotage and coup de main incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals...CIA and SIS should use their capabilities in both the psychological and action fields to augment tension."  The plan also called for a "Free Syria Committee" to be founded, and the arming of "political factions with paramilitary or other actionist capabilities."
              While this coup never took place, it is striking to look back on how little the attitude of intelligence agencies have changed over 50+ years.   


The Horrors of 'Extraordinary Rendition' - Maher Arar, Foreign Policy in Focus, 10/27/06:  This is the acceptance speech given by Arar when he recieved the Lettellier-Moffitt International Human Rights Award.  Arar, a Canadien citizen of Syrian descent, was subject to an "extraordinary rendition" when traveling through New York City in 2002.  He was first detained by the FBI, and kept in a federal detention center for 12 days, following which he was forced to fly back to Syria.  His first hand account of the process reads:

Eventually on October 8th, against my will, they took me out of my cell. They basically read the pieces of document to me saying, that we will be sending you Syria. And when I complained, I said to them, I did explain to you if I'm sent back I will be tortured and they, I remember, the INS person flipped a couple of pages in this document, to the end of this document and read to me a paragraph that I still remember until today, an extremely shocking statement she made to me.  She said something like: The INS is not the body or the agency that signed the Geneva Convention, convention against torture. For me what that really meant is we will send you to torture and we don't care.  So they put me on a private jet, which I found extremely strange. I was the only passenger on that, on that plane. Its a luxurious plane, with leather seats in it. My only preoccupation during this trip is how I could avoid torture. By then, I realized that they were exactly sending me to Syria for torture. And that became very clear to me. Then the plane flew to Washington from Washington it flew to Maine then to Rome, then from Rome to Jordan...

I arrived in Syria that same day, at the end of the day and I was able to confirm that I was in fact in Syria after my blindfold was removed and I was able to see the pictures of the Syrian President. My feeling then is I just wanted to kill myself because I knew what was coming. I knew that the Americans, the American government send me there to be tortured.

Arar goes on to describe in detail the torture he underwent during his 9 month long detention.  He was eventually released after giving a false confession of training in Afghanistan, and was never charged with any crime by Canada, the US, Syria, or Jordan.  This speech illustrates first hand the U.S.'s complicity and knowledge of Syria's brutual security practices.  Arar was also not alone in being sent by the U.S. to Syria to be tortured.  In a Guardian article drawing from Stephen Grey's book Ghost Plane, it was written "In December 2002, Syrian president Bashar Assad and his wife paid an official visit to London. They were guests of honour at the City of London.  But back in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on that same day in December 2002, seven prisoners were languishing in jail, sent there by the US despite President George Bush's view that Syria was part of an "axis of evil" with a legacy of "torture, oppression, misery, and ruin". There is clear evidence the seven rendered there by the US were brutally tortured."




"I am now a refugee"  The Iraqi Crisis that has No Name - Dahr Jamail, Tomdispatch.com, 4/22/2007: This article, written by independent journalist Jamail, recounts his two weeks in Syria researching the Iraqi refugee diaspora.  He cites the UN number at the time being 1-1.2 million Iraqis that have fled to Syria.  But he quotes a UN official on the ground, Sybella Wilkes, as saying this estimate was probably low, and that the Syrian government, relying on reports from border posts, estimates the number to be closer to 1.4-1.5 million.  Jamail also describes the inadequacy of services being provided by the UN High Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Damascus.  He writes that staff member Erdogan Kalkan said that only 35,000 appointments have been scheduled at the cramped office, of which only 25,000 have been completed.  The budget allocated by the UNHCR for Syria in 2006 was $700,000, less than a dollar per person.  On top of this, according to Kalkan, the UNHCR "is essentially the only UN agency assisting Iraqis in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. UNICEF and other UN agencies have voiced interest, but as yet have provided little support in Syria."  Jamail then goes on to report a great number of stories he heard from Iraqis living in the slums of Damascus.
             Jamail's reporting can be added on to by the reports of Doctors without Borders/Medeciens Sans Frontiers, who set up a small station in Damascus in 2009 to help with migrant healthcare.  In their 2010 report, they state that only 215,000 Iraqi refugees are registered with the Syrian government, and that "without documentation permitting their stay in Syria, many refugees and asylum seekers are living in precarious conditions: they are excluded from healthcare and suffer political neglect and marginalisation. Syria is also host to migrants and refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and other countries in the region, who are living in similarly precarious conditions."

U.S. officials statements on Syria

12/17/11: Frederic C. Hof, a State Department Official in the office of Middle East Peace and its point man for Syria, tells a Congressional Subcommittee that the State Department views the Assad government as "the equivalent of dead man walking," and that "I do not see this regime surviving."


11/18/11: Speaking on ABC News, Secretary of State Clinton says that their "needs to be a change at the top" of the Syrian government, and that "the growing armed opposition" and "army defectors" will topple the Syrian leader. 


10/30/11:  U.S. officials tell the New York Times that plans are underway to build a new "security architecture" among the six GCC states in the Gulf, integrating missile defense and air and naval patrols between the six states.  Announced shortly after Obama's decision to pull all troops out of Iraq, an unnamed senior official described it as not going to be a "NATO tomorrow, but the idea is to move to a more integrated effort."






10/23/11:  Senator John McCain speaks in Jordan at a meeting of the World Economic Forum.  He states: "Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what partial military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria...The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder."  A week later, he repeated this same message at an AIPAC conference in Arizona, raising the bar even higher by stating "The Assad regime has spilled too much blood to stay in power.  Its days are numbered, but it will use those days to murder more of its own people.  In this way, there is no moral distinction whatsoever between the case of Syria and that of Libya."


9/30/11: The U.S. and NATO allies try to pass a resolution through the UNSC, calling for a weapons embargo and other sanctions against Syria.  The draft resolution, however, is vetoed by Russia, and discussed critically by the BRIC states.


9/16/11:  The U.S. and Turkey sign a military agreement on a NATO backed missile defense system. Admiral Mike Mullen remarked that this was "the most significant military cooperation between Washington and Ankara since 2003."  This "defense system," made operational in January 2012, consists of a radar station located in the Turkish town of Malatya but controlled from Germany, which transmits data to Naval forces in the area and U.S. command posts.




8/23/11:  Ambassador Robert Ford visits town of Jassem without Syrian govt's permission


8/18/11: President Obama, in an announcement choreographed with European allies, wrote: "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way...He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."  A similar statement, cosigned by PM Cameron, President Sarkozy, and President Merkel, was released at the same time.  Obama also announced that he had frozen all Syrian assets in American jurisdiction, banned imports of Syrianoil and barred American citizens from having any business dealings with the Syrian government. 

Stage 2: hard edged diplomacy "An illegitimate government necessitates a transition to democracy"

7/18/11: Qatar closes its embassy in Damascus and removes its ambassador.  Qatar, which has been friendly with Syria for the past decade, had come under intense criticism from Syria for the al-Jazeera's portrayal of the protest movement.


7/15/11-7/16/11:  Secretary of State Clinton visits Turkey, where she formally recognizes the Libyan NTC, although officially has no interaction with the Syrian opposition conference that is taking place at the same time.  She does make a number of remarks pertaining to Syria on her visit.  Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul on the 15th, she reiterated that the State Department position was that  "Syria can’t go back to the way it was before, that Asad has lost his legitimacy in the eyes of his people because of the brutality of their crackdown, including today. And we, along with many others in the region and beyond, have said we strongly support a democratic transition."  In an open "coffee Hour" hosted by CNN-Turk, she responded to a question on the ongoing violence in Syria by saying the Assad government had to work with the opposition for stability: "And stability inside Syria is important for Turkey, but the right kind of stability – a transition to democracy – is what would be best for Turkey and even more importantly what would be best for the Syrian people."  


7/12/11:  In an interview with the CBS evening news, President Obama tells host Scott Pelley, "I think that increasingly you're seeing President Assad-- lose legitimacy in the eyes of his peoplel.  And-- you know, he has missed opportunity after opportunity to present-- a genuine reform agenda."


7/10/11-7/11/11: According to the Washington Post, July 10th was a turning point in the Syria policy, because it was when Assad failed to begin negotiating with opposition figures.  Jeffrey Feltman, the Assistant Secretary of State who heads the Bureau of Near East Affairs, tells the Post "People here are genuinely appalled that you have a government, you have a leader who claims to want a dialogue, but at the same time is overseeing a government that is practicing torture, terror, theft, firing upon people."  As a result of this, the White House decided to turn up the rhetorical notch on Assad, by declaring him "not indispensable," evidently a reference to private boasts Assad had made, where he described himself as being "indispensable" in the eyes of American and European leaders (ibid).  Secretary Clinton uses this phrases--"not indispensable"--the following day, following her meeting with Catherine Ashton, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.  She stated in regards to the Syrian leader, "if anyone, including President Asad, thinks that the United States is secretly hoping the regime will emerge from this turmoil to continue its brutality and repression, they are wrong. President Asad is not indispensible, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power. Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs." 
   


7/8/11:  Hillary Clinton, speaking to reporters at the State Department, says of the Assad government "From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy...President Assad is not indispensable, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power."  This follows Pro-Assad demonstrations at the American and French embassies in Damascus, which were provoked by the American and French Ambassadors visiting an anti-Assad rally in the town of Hama.  Robert Ford, the American Ambassador, released a message on the US embassy Facebook page of all places talking about the trip and the anti-American protests that followed.


7/7/11:  Ambassador Robert Ford visits the city of Hama to meet with protestors.  State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland describes the reasoning behind the trip: "The fundamental intention ... was to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change, who want a democratic future and who are expressing those views peacefully."


6/12/11: Senator Lindsay Graham says the military option should be on the table in Syria


5/31/11:  Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Secretary of State Clinton says "Every day that goes by, the position of the government becomes less tenable and the demands of the Syrian people for change only grow stronger."


5/18/11:  The Treasury Department issues a second round of"human rights abuse" sanctions on Syria, this time personally against President Assad and six of his top aides, seizing all financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and barring any dealings with U.S. companies and individuals.  Just like Obama's rhetorical statements, the sanctions were immediately matched by the European Union.

5/17/11: President Obama gives a speech on the Middle East, where he states regarding Syria: "The Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy. President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition, or get out of the way."


Weeks of 5/11/11:  Freshman Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, introduces a resolution urging President Obama to issue a second round of Syrian sanctions, this time targeting Assad and his top officials.  The resolution was sponsored by Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Ben Cardin.  In response to the Presidents speech a week later, Rubio would give his view on Assad, stating "I think Assad needs to get out of the way, leave power, and I wish the president would have said that."


5/7/11:  EU announces first round of sanctions against Syria, targeting 13 government officials, but not the highest up in the Syrian government.


5/6/11: Speaking to reporters in Rome, Secretary of State Clinton still speaks of Syria in the context of "reform" stating: "There are deep concerns about what is going on inside Syria and we are pushing hard for the government of Syria to live up to its own stated commitment to reforms...What I do know is that they have an opportunity still to bring about a reform agenda."


4/29/11:  The White House issues an executive order (full text) leveling financial sanctions against three prominent Syrian military officials- Mahir al-Asad  Brigade Commander in the Syrian Army’s Fourth Armored Division and brother of President Assad, Ali Mamluk the director of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, and Atif Najib, the former head of the Syrian Political Security Directorate for Dar’a Province--as  well as the Syrian Quds force and General Intelligence Directorate.  A WH official also states in regard to the Syrian president, "Don’t think for a second Bashar is not on our radar, and that if these abuses continue we won’t sanction him."  The sanctions in question allow the Treasury Department to seize all financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and bar any dealings with U.S. companies and individuals.


4/28/11:  Senators Joe Lieberman, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham release a statement urging President Obama "to state unequivocally -- as he did in the case of Qaddafi and Mubarak -- that it is time for Assad to go. The President should take tangible diplomatic and economic measures to isolate and pressure the Assad regime, including through targeted sanctions against Assad himself and other regime officials who are responsible for gross human rights abuses."


4/26/11:  An article by Josh Rogin in Foreign Policy's: The Cable, speaks of a White House "mood change" that had occurred in the past two weeks, and that Assad was no longer seen as likely to reform. Rogin reports that "after a series of deliberations, culminating in a Deputies Committee meeting at the National Security Council last week, a new policy course was set." 

Stage 1: Reform

4/1/11:  Rep.  Gary Ackerman, the top democrat on the house subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia releases a statement calling for Assad to step down: "No less than Qaddafi, Assad, a bloody, brutal tyrant, has made war against his own people, and has lost whatever putative right to rule he has claimed. Syria deserves to be free and Assad needs to go."

3/27/11:  Senator Joe Lieberman speaks on Fox News, and advocates for a military intervention in Syria, following the Libyan precedent.


3/27/11: Secretary of State Clinton appears on CBS's Face the Nation, as does Defense Secretary Gates.  Clinton speaks of both Libya and Syria, and draws a distinction between the two situations.  Concerning Syria, she describes the Assad regime in terms of reform, calling for the Syrian government, "to be responding to their people's needs, not to engage in violence, permit peaceful protests and begin a process of economic and political reform."  She also lays out a long scenario necessary for military intervention: 'If there were a coalition of the international community, if there was the passage of a Security Council resolution, if there were a call by the Arab League, if there was a condemnation that was universal." 

Syria Links for 2/8/12

Washington's Secret Wars - Philip Giraldi, Antiwar.com, 12/7/11
               At the beginning of last December, Giraldi breaks the story that the White House has issued two classified "findings" to the intelligence community, authorizing "stepped-up covert action against both Damascus and Tehran."  In the context of Syria, this comes after an intensive period of collaboration between the U.S. government and Syrian opposition groups, notably the Syrian National Council and its associated military wing, the Free Syrian Army.


Obama Administration secretly preparing options for aiding the Syrian opposition - Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy: The Cable, 12/28/11
             This article follows up on Giraldi's reporting, stating that "The National Security Council (NSC) has begun an informal, quiet interagency process to create and collect options for aiding the Syrian opposition."  Rogin reports that the group, led by NSC senior director Steve Simon and State Department official Frederic C. Hof, is considering "establishing a humanitarian corridor or safe zone for civilians in Syria along the Turkish border, extending humanitarian aid to the Syrian rebels, providing medical aid to Syrian clinics, engaging more with the external and internal opposition, forming an international contact group, or appointing a special coordinator for working with the Syrian opposition." One of the two officials who provided the information with Rogin also gives a key quote, stating, "There are many people in the administration that realize the status quo is unsustainable and there is an internal recognition that existing financial sanctions are not going to bring down the Syrian regime in the near future."


The Shadow War in Syria - Pepe Escobar, The Asia Times, 12/2/11
              This article reports much of the political groundwork that led to the bureaucratic movement noted above.  It states that Libya's new "Transitional National Council," held a secret meeting with the SNC in Istanbul, following which 600 Libyan fighters, armed with the remnants of Gadafhi's arsenal, were sent to join the Free Syrian Army.  It also reports that diplomats in Brussels have told the Asia Times that the FSA has set up a command center in Iskenderun, Turkey, on the Westernmost crook of the Mediterranean.  Built to engineer what is being termed "humanitarian corridors" the Iskenderun command is located only 60 miles from Aleppo, the cultural capitol of Syria.  Escobar writes that "these humanitarians consist of ground, naval, air force and engineering specialists. Their mission: infiltrate northern Syria, especially Idlib, Rastan, Homs but most of all the big prize, Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, with at least 2.5 million people, the majority of which are Sunni and Kurdish. "  The article also contains extensive information about the Syrian peoples opinions of the FSA, as well as the role of Saudi Arabia and the GCC in promiting intrigue in the country.


The Great Game in Syria - Alastair Crooke, The Asia Times, 10/22/11

Syria Links for 2/6/12

The March to War against Syria: the long shadow of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon - Nazamroaya, CRG, 2/5/12
            -Article discusses the history of Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian relations since 2006, and argues that what is now being implemented in Syria was the desired outcome of Israel's failed attack on Lebanon in 2006.  Whereas then a Lebanon with a diminutive Hezbollah was to be used as a springboard to take down Damascus, now Lebanon is being used as one of many basing camps for armed opposition forces to attack government troops and commit terrorism in Syria.


NATO vs. Syria - Philip Giraldi, The American Conservative, 12/19/11
            -Former CIA officer Giraldi reports that NATO forces are building up capabilities in Turkey, which he says is taking the lead as a U.S. proxy.  He writes:

Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army. Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers.

Two weeks later, the British newspaper The Daily Star also reported on the presence of CIA and MI6 officers in Syria, quoting a british security source as saying "MI6 and the CIA are in Syria to infiltrate and get at the truth."  This is compounded by reporting in the same article stating "The NATO-backed flight ban over Syria has been discussed by the British Cabinet’s National Security Council.  And the Ministry of Defence has made provisional plans to implement any government order. The security source revealed military planners are considering the use of Tornado GR4 attack fighters and other aircraft."  The presence of a French and British intelligence presence in Turkey, tasked to assist the opposition, was first reported in late November, in an article in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet 

What is really going on in Syria: an Insider Update - Boris Dolgov, CRG, 2/1/12
           -Dolgov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow's Institute of Oriental Studies, reports on his two delegation trips to Syria in August 2011 and January 2012.  He reports many of the same developments as the Arab Leagues Monitoring Mission, namely that there is an "armed entity" in Syria which is perpetrating terrorism and attacks on government establishments.  He writes:

 In the last two months Syria has seen a number of terrorist attacks. The terrorist attacked Syrian servicemen and military facilities, law enforcement agencies institutions, blasts on oil pipelines, railroads, murders and taking of hostage among peaceful citizens (In the city of Homs insurgents killed five well known scientists), arson of schools and killing of teachers (since March 2011, 900 schools have been set on fire and 30 teachers have been killed). 

Terrorist attacks in Damascus became one of the bloodiest. Two of them were carried out on December 23, 2011 when cars loaded with explosives went off in front of the buildings of state security service killing 44 and injured about 150 people. On January 6, 2012 on a busy street a suicide bomber attack killed 26 and wounded 60. There were officers of the law enforcement agencies among the victims but most of the victims were occasional by-passers.

Dolgov then goes on to breakdown the various political movements in Syria and their view on the uprising and the government response.

Official Arab League Monitoring Mission Report on Syria

http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/Report_of_Arab_League_Observer_Mission.pdf
Other relevant reading:
  Exposed: The Arab Agenda in Syria - Pepe Escobar, Asia Times
  Syria: Arab League Observer Mission Refutes Mainstream Media Narrative, Hauben, CRG, 2/1/12

League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria 

Report of the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the period from 24 

December 2011 to 18 January 2012 

In subsections A and B of section VI. "implementation of the missions mandate under the protocall", the Arab League monitoring mission finds that it is not the government attacking protestors, but oppositional forces partaking in deadly terrorism and provocation, against both government forces and civilians.

            In describing the situation in Homs and Dera'a, the report states that the mission "observed armed groups committing acts of violence against Government forces, resulting in death and injury among their ranks." (section 26, pg. 4 In cities like Homs, Idlib, and Hama these acts included "bombing of a civilian bus, killing eight persons and injuring others, including women and children, and the bombing of a train carrying diesel fuel."  Additionally in Homs, the mission reported "a police bus was blown up, killing two police officers." (section 27, pg. 4)
          
           Concerning the crackdown by the Syrian security forces, the mission found that when they arrived, the Syrian security forces were indeed forcefully and violently opposing oppositional forces.  However, they report that "As a result of the Mission’s insistence on a complete end to violence and the withdrawal of Army vehicles and equipment, this problem has receded. The most recent reports of the Mission point to a considerable calming of the situation and restraint on the part of those forces." (section 25, pg. 4)  They also state that "group team leaders witnessed peaceful demonstrations by both Government supporters and the opposition in several places. None of those demonstrations were disrupted, except for some minor clashes with the Mission and between loyalists and opposition." (section 30, pg. 4)

          What this report makes clear is that the Assad government is not nearly the butcher he is being portrayed as in the Western Press, and in fact is witnessing his security forces being constantly provoked by armed insurrection and terrorism.  Most tellingly, while the implementation of the Monitoring Mission was embraced by the GCC and the Western states in the region, its finding have been heavily suppressed.

GCC and the Arab Spring Essay

Relevant Links: The US-GCC Fatal Attraction - Pepe Escobar
                             Class and Conflict in the Gulf: The Political Economy of the GCC - an interview with Adam Hanieh

Journalist Pepe Escobar, writing in the Asia Times, describes the Gulf Cooperation Council as "the core of the empire in the Arab world. Yes, it's essentially about oil; the GCC will be responsible for over 25% of global oil production within the next few decades. Their tiny ruling classes - from monarchies to business associates - function as a crucial annex to the mighty projection of US power all across the Middle East and beyond." 


In the cases of Syria, Libya and Iran one very loud drumbeat is coming from the Gulf Cooperation Council, the political coalition of the six Arab states littoral to the Persian Gulf, that is Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman.  Discounting Saudi Arabia, these states were the last possesions of the British Empire, some being granted independence as late as the 1970s.  

           They are ruled by autocratic and corrupt families and are flush with oil-wealth, a large part of which is spent on military weaponry.  Not surprisingly, these governments are heavy backers of the U.S. military presence in the region, allowing the Navy's Fifth Fleet to dock at Bahrain, and the Pentagon's Central Command regional headquarters to be based at Qatar, as well as military bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.  This footprint, which has slowly been growing since World War II, saw a heavy build up following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  Considering the Iraqi government decision in 2010 to not grant the United States a Status of Forces Agreement for its military bases constructed during the war, the build-up in the GCC states is the lasting logistical remnant of the war.  

Important Oppositional Libyans

Figures Important in the Libyan opposition

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil: Former Libyan Justice Minister, Defected from the government on Feb 21st, 2011, and declared the creation of a transitional government 5 days later. (http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110307-libyas-opposition-leadership-comes-focus).  Named head of the National Transitional Council once it was formed on March 6th.

Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga: Benghazi based lawyer, in opposition to Mustafa Abdel-Jalil's leadership of a transitional government.  Named spokesman of the NTC (ibid.)

Ali al-Essawi:  Former Libyan ambassador to India, defected from the government in Febuary 2011.  De facto foreign minister of the NTC (ibid)

Abdel Fattah Younis:  Former Interior Minister, became military leader of NTC paramilitary.  Assasinated in August 2011.

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi aka Abdel Hakim halbaj: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8407047/Libyan-rebel-commander-admits-his-fighters-have-al-Qaeda-links.html