client state.

Nah.

He's a man of the "Libyan people," this right chap. There's nothing dodgy about him.

This is the guy picked by the rebels to lead their "interim government." There couldn't possibly be anything to recommend against him, right?

Mahmoud Jibril is a voice for liberty, revolution and justice. People of conscience everywhere can now rest easily, knowing that American, British and French bombs did the work of peace and freedom, buying space for the "Libyan People" to choose a guy who was, until very recently...

"Mahmoud Jibril - foreign affairs

Before the uprising, Mr Jibril was involved in a project called "Libyan Vision" with other intellectuals, which sought to establish a democratic state. He is also head of the rebel council's crisis committee, which aims to streamline decision making.

Born in 1952,Mr Jibril has both a master's degree in political science and a PhD in strategic planning and decision-making from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

After completing his doctorate in 1984, he taught strategic planning and decision-making at the university for several years. He also wrote several books and ran leadership training programmes in several Arab states.

He later became the head of the Libyan National Planning Council. Then in 2009, he was appointed chairman of the National Economic Development Board (NEDB), reporting directly to the prime minister.

A leaked US diplomatic cable from November 2009 written by the US ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, described Mr Jibril as "a serious interlocutor who 'gets' the US perspective".

"He is also not shy about sharing his views of US foreign policy, for example,