Sorry to take so long in replying I ve only had a small amount of WP time the last few days I see the point you are making on the other hand it seems useful to say something about General Haftar s character given such a reputable source says something about it after consulting 20 odd people which given FT s reputation you would think is a balanced representation of his contacts but they do not say who they were I agree the FT quote wasn t well informed in politics is very surprising given his position I m happy with you removing this and will ponder if there is a better way to give the info FT registration is no cost for a few articles a month but here is a wider quote of what they said Even supporters acknowledge his political ambitions suspecting he plans to anoint himself leader of the country s liberals The armed forces he now purports to lead are successors to the Gaddafi era military he repeatedly turned against the Islamist militias he is fighting are the ones with which he fought in the 2011 uprising Many wonder whether he is a committed democrat as he claims or just another Arab military officer with dictatorial ambitions in the mould of Egypt s Gamal Abdel Nasser Syria s Hafez Assad and Gaddafi You need someone tough like Haftar to step up to the outlaws says the commentator Abdel Hamid el Jadi He has experience in the Libyan military and he knows the tribes If he has political ambitions we ll deal with that in the second stage But others worry about what they describe as a brittle personality and myopic worldview Of nearly two dozen people who have had dealings with him and spoke to the Financial Times none could identify any of his interests outside war In meetings with exiled opposition groups in the US and Africa before he returned to serve as the rebel army s chief of staff in the 2011 uprising he spoke only of his military expertise He wasn t well informed in politics relationships between countries or cultures said one Gaddafi era opposition activist Many Libyans and international experts fear the offensive that Mr Haftar is co ordinating could further destabilise the country In televised appearances he has a habit of conflating the Islamist militias with members of parliament and the government who belong to the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and with al Qaeda