The Obama administration has no plan or policy for calming a suddenly war-torn Libya, LIGNET intelligence analyst Lisa Ruth told
Newsmax TV on Tuesday, but there is one ex-general who's angling to be the country's next secular ruler.
Ruth told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that Islamist warfare and deepening chaos in Libya, where the U.S. helped oust former strongman Moammar Ghadafi, has created a potential opening for a Gadhafi military aide, Khalifa Haftar — the retired general who's been cozy with the CIA and enjoys backing from key Mideast rulers.
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"Egypt as well as the UAE have been helping Haftar try to get rid of these Islamists," Ruth said, noting that one such radical militia group
has captured Tripoli's airport in the latest fighting.
Ruth said that Haftar was spirited out of the region, from Chad, by the CIA as Ghadafi's Libya crumbled and that he lived for a spell in surburban Virginia next door to CIA headquarters, where he was a not-infrequent guest.
Haftar is modeling himself on one of his patrons, Egypt's military chief-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to Ruth.
And with "nobody in control" in Libya, she said, the power vacuum is tempting Haftar to "step in" after a long time on the sidelines.
"He's probably maneuvering to take some of that control," said Ruth.