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Al-Qaeda snatched surface-to-air missiles in Libya

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
March 26, 2011

AL-QAEDA'S offshoot in North Africa has snatched surface-to-air missiles from an arsenal in Libya during the civil strife there, Chad's President says.

Idriss Deby Itno did not say how many surface-to-air missiles were stolen, but told the African weekly Jeune Afrique that he was "100 per cent sure" of his assertion.

"The Islamists of al-Qaeda took advantage of the pillaging of arsenals in the rebel zone to acquire arms, including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries in Tenere," a desert region of the Sahara that stretches from northeast Niger to western Chad, Deby said in the interview.

"This is very serious. AQIM is becoming a genuine army, the best equipped in the region," he said.

His claim was echoed by officials in other countries in the region who said that they were worried that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) might have acquired "heavy weapons", thanks to the insurrection.

"We have sure information. We are very worried for the sub-region," a Malian security source who did not want to be named said.

AQIM originated as an armed Islamist resistance movement to the secular Algerian government.

It now operates mainly in Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, where it has attacked military targets and taken civilian hostages, particularly Europeans, some of whom it has killed.

"We have the same information," about heavy weapons, including SAM 7 missiles, a military source from Niger said.

"It is very worrying. This overarming is a real danger for the whole zone," he added

"AQIM gets the weapons in two ways; people go and look for the arms in Libya to deliver them to AQIM in the Sahel, or AQIM elements go there themselves."

Elsewhere in the interview, Chad's president backed the assertion by his neighbour and erstwhile enemy Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that the protests in Libya have been driven in part by al-Qaeda.

"There is a partial truth in what he says," Deby said.

"Up to what point? I don't know. But I am certain that AQIM took an active part in the uprising."


After years of tension between the two nations, which were at war during part of the 1980s, Deby has more recently maintained good relations with Gaddafi.

The Chadian leader described the international military intervention in Libya, launched a week ago by the United States, France and Britain, as a "hasty decision".

"It could have heavy consequences for the stability of the region and the spread of terrorism in Europe, the Mediterranean and the rest of Africa," he cautioned.

Deby denied assertions that mercenaries had been recruited in Chad to fight for Gaddafi, though some of the several thousand Chad nationals in Libya may have joined the fight "on their own".

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/al-qaeda-snatched-missiles-in-libya/story-e6frfku0-1226028543204#ixzz1HfuN7XWb
 

Steve

Well-known member
We never learn.

arming any faction in the region seems to have dire consequences..

Other then the possibility of gadaffy getting killed, one strong side benefit is the destruction of his heavy equipment, now no matter who takes control, they will not have as many tanks and missile batteries to shoot at US
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Steve said:
We never learn.

arming any faction in the region seems to have dire consequences..

Other then the possibility of gadaffy getting killed, one strong side benefit is the destruction of his heavy equipment, now no matter who takes control, they will not have as many tanks and missile batteries to shoot at US

Steve they don't need tanks and that many missile batteries. Look at the harm they cause in Israel with the missiles they do have, or Afghanistan for that matter.

Iraq's military arsenal was destroyed within a couple of weeks, but the war went on for years.
 

Steve

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
Steve said:
We never learn.

arming any faction in the region seems to have dire consequences..

Other then the possibility of gadaffy getting killed, one strong side benefit is the destruction of his heavy equipment, now no matter who takes control, they will not have as many tanks and missile batteries to shoot at US

Steve they don't need tanks and that many missile batteries. Look at the harm they cause in Israel with the missiles they do have, or Afghanistan for that matter.

Iraq's military arsenal was destroyed within a couple of weeks, but the war went on for years.

I agree militarily it is more dangerous to fight a small ragtag bunch, but that is only if you enter their territory.

by destroying the heavy equipment we limit that same bunch from projecting a threat beyond their territory..

there are no real winning solutions here.. just the unknown... so I do not expect this to turn out well for US, or Israel..
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Further, and perhaps more troubling for the Obama Administration, White House sources confirm that in the run up to the decision to involve U.S. military personnel, President Obama was fully briefed that a large portion of the Libyan rebel forces most active in areas around such critical cities as Benghazi had ties to al Qaeda, particularly Al Qaeda in Iraq, the wing of the terrorist group that killed hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"He was warned that should we reach a point where NATO needs to re-arm the rebels -- it appears that time is coming now -- we will be arming the very enemy that we have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan," says a career employee at the State Department. "Secretary Clinton knows it, the White House knows it, but we're working with these thugs anyway because the President thinks it's the moral thing to do in the face of Gaddafi."


http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/28/obama-arming-al-qaeda
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
" the President thinks it's the moral thing to do in the face of Gaddafi."

That's where it all went wrong. This president doesn't think and he
has no prior experience. And he won't listen...obviously...

I wonder if we can ever UNDO the damage he has caused this country.
 

Lonecowboy

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
" the President thinks it's the moral thing to do in the face of Gaddafi."

That's where it all went wrong. This president doesn't think and he
has no prior experience. And he won't listen...obviously...

I wonder if we can ever UNDO the damage he has caused this country.

maybe FH it depends on what a person is basing their "morality" on?

if you were to base your "morality" on the Koran instead of the Bible this might make more sense to you.
I believe he knows exactly what he is doing.
I believe this is planned and calculated

I wonder if we can ever UNDO the damage he has caused this country.
I don't know if we can undo anything, but we are Americans and with God's blessings we will overcome it!
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Point taken.

The question is, "how much longer is God going to bless this country
when we've taken him out of everything?"
The church even talks about that as of late...
 
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