After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi\u2019s son and one-time heir apparent said Wednesday that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe liberals will escape or be killed,\u201d\u009d the son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, vowed in an hourlong interview that stretched past midnight. \u201cWe will do it together,\u201d\u009d he added, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering Islamic prayer beads as he reclined on a love seat in a spare office tucked in a nearly deserted downtown hotel. \u201cLibya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The leading Islamist whom Mr. Qaddafi identified as his main counterpart in the talks, Ali Sallabi, acknowledged their conversations but dismissed any suggestion of an alliance. He said the Libyan Islamists supported the rebel leaders\u2019 calls for a pluralistic democracy without the Qaddafis.<\/p>\n