The U.N. envoy to Libya reports that weapons depots in that country remain unguarded and large amounts of weaponry have gone missing, including thousands of shoulder-fired missiles. At least two sites contain chemical weapons and nuclear material, including approximately 7,000 drums of uranium. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro says terrorist groups have expressed interest in obtaining the missiles, which “could pose a threat to civil aviation.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi has admitted that a significant number of the Libyan rebels consisted of al-Qaeda fighters, many of whom fought U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Numerous news outlets report that in the last two weeks, scores of al-Qaeda flags have been raised over Benghazi and throughout Libya, including over the headquarters of the Libyan rebels.
Given the evident allegiances and sympathies of many of the Libyan rebels, what is the probability that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups will acquire, or already have acquired, at least some of the missing Libyan weapons?
Do we have any basis for determining how many of the chemical weapons and drums of uranium are missing?
Is Libya a lesser threat to U.S. security now than it was a year ago, or is it a greater one?
These posts have become my favorites on NRO.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePlease don't try and besmirch the glorious victory over Quackdaffy that Our Dear Leader has achieved. Next you will be telling me that being run out of Iraq is not "Victory" and that our 10 years fighting to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban is not ending with The One's State Department negotiating with the Taliban for the handover of power as we quit. Don't even try your right-wing secret powers with me, sir! I have seen the truth on MSNBC and on CurrentTV and nobody can take away The Obama's great victories for Islamists, I mean for Democracy!!!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy would Obama care about any missing Libyan ordnance of any kind, unless he thought he could have Holder's people pass it on to the Mexican drug cartels....
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"These posts have become my favorites on NRO."
Because they are so stupid. Until another airliner comes down in Scotland, I'm going with "Libya will not be worse". And if it is equal, then no change. It's not like we spent a Trillion dollars there.
and BTW, do we really know that Iraq wont be worse in the future?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUm . . . but we did spend a trillion dollars . . . more, in fact . . . I haven't seen the final numbers posted anywhere but CNN has a June 15th article with the following "In a 32-page report titled "United States Activities in Libya," the administration says the cost of military and humanitarian operations through June 3 was about $800 million. It estimates the total cost through September 30 will be $1.1 billion."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExcellent article. It would have been far better to have left both Gaddafi and Mubarek in place and concentrated our efforts on seeking regime change in the two most dangerous and anti-western countries in the Middle East, Iran and Syria. These two countries have the deaths of countless Americans on thier hands and they are state sponsors of terrorist organization. Many of the young people in Iran are well educated and pro western in their views. We need to support them and start looking at military intervention to destroy Iran's nuclear power.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"weapons...remain unguarded and large amounts of weaponry have gone missing"
Meh...no big deal. We have experience with that right here in North America. Just ask President Obama.
We've had enough of war for a while. Give it a rest.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGotta love the exercise of "smart power."
:-)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis country has spent billions securing nuclear material and WMD from what was the Soviet Union. Obama was a supporter of securing nuclear and WMD material and has been on the far left of the isle where this obsession was as far as support for unilateral US nuclear reductions to the point of nuclear disarmament. Now its clear that the left is primarily interested in disarmament and securing nuclear and WMD materials only when it can be done in the context of railing against Republicans and when it can allocate absurd billions of funding to the project. The Left doen't make a peep when there is a low cost opportunity to secure fairly massive amount of said materials in Lybia. Instead of using the military to get control of this situation alongside the Lybia "freedom fighters" we supported, we instead send hundreds of military advisors a 1000 miles further south to Uganda to try to help suppress a few hundred thugs terrorizing a much less strategic region. How is the Obama administration looking out for US interests? Typical Obama administration stuff. No suprise at all...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe do know one thing: Iraq is now a greater threat than it was 10 years ago.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse1) More secular Iraq forcibly turned over, by the US, to the Ayatollahs of Iran, the deadly sworn enemy of the US.
2) More secular Egypt forcibly turned over, with the full support and aid of the US, to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
3) Under the leadership of the US the fundamentalist Taliban/alQaida was allowed to retain hold on Afghanistan by diverting US forces to Iraq when they could have been crushed and get the job done quickly and at very low cost.
4) Moderate Tunisia was forcibly turned over, with US support, to who knows what kind/brand of Islamic extremism.
5) Purposely or unintentionally, the US policy has encouraged the moderate Fatah and the Palestinian Authority to yield to Iranian controlled terrorists group Hamas to join forces together to sideline the US and to make a bid to join the UN despite the US opposition.
How far will they choose to go astray before they get wise and stop being foolish. As it is written, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools... became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened".
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