Is this man a terrorist mastermind?

OSAMA IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images

Over the weekend, a police official in Iraq’s Anbar Province pointed the finger at an unusual suspect: Seif al-Islam al-Gadhafi, the Western-friendly scion and heir apparent of Libyan leader Moammar a-Gadhafi.

A devastating explosion in northern Iraq was spearheaded by foreign fighters under the sponsorship of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader, a security chief for Sunni tribesmen who rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq said Saturday.

Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, who also is a police official in Anbar province, said the Anbar Awakening Council had alerted the U.S. military to the possible arrival in the northern city of Mosul of the Seifaddin Regiment, made up of about 150 foreign and Iraqi fighters, as long as three months ago. […]

“They crossed the Syrian border nearest to Mosul within the last two to three months. Since then, they have taken up positions in the city and begun blowing up cars and launching other terror operations,” Naief told The Associated Press.

It’s an accusation that comes out of left field. The explanation being peddled by DEBKAfile, an Israel-based Web site with a dubious record for accuracy, is that Seif was so outraged last September when his father chose his younger brother, Mutasim-Billah, as his successor that he began sponsoring this terrorist regiment in Iraq. According to DEBKA, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prefer Mutasim-Billah, so Moammar went along with their requests.

It seems pretty clear that this story is a bunch of hogwash. Seif, who has been working assiduously to bring about a rapprochement with the United States, has no incentive to undermine his own efforts. Moreover, it’s highly doubtful that either Mubarak or Rice has that kind of influence with the notoriously mercurial Moammar. Assuming the story is baseless, what’s the motive behind those promoting it? I can’t figure it out.