‘Libyan Islamists welcome pluralism in new regime’

As Libyan revolutionary troops continue their assault on the town of Sirte, one of the last Gaddafi holdouts, fears are growing of a possible rise in Muslim extremism in Libya. Analyst John Feffer, however, dismissed such concerns.

­Such fears are mostly voiced outside of Libya, Feffer told RT. The concerns mostly center around several veterans of fighting in Afghanistan and a former Guantanamo detainee, all of whom are fighting on the rebels’ side.  

But few concerns are being expressed in Libya itself, claimed Feffer, the co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

“Traditionally there has not been a great deal of support for Islamic extremism in Libya,” observed Feffer. “Still, even those folks who identified themselves as Islamists, who would like to see some form of political Islam take over in Libya – even they are ready to embrace a pluralist project in Libya.”

“The situation in Libya is still in flux,” he said. “There still are small holdouts of loyalists. So of course it is very difficult to know what the state of public opinion is and how much of the population on the whole still supports Gaddafi.”