Nbadan
10-02-2011, 03:57 AM
20K missiles are enough to turn a war....
U.S. officials had once thought there was little chance that terrorists could get their hands on many of the portable surface-to-air missiles that can bring down a commercial jet liner.
But now that calculation is out the window, with officials at a recent secret White House meeting reporting that thousands of them have gone missing in Libya.
"Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.
-snip-
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch first warned about the problem after a trip to Libya six months ago. He took pictures of pickup truckloads of the missiles being carted off during another trip just a few weeks ago.
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So, where are these missiles winding up?
The equipment is believed to be on its way to Sinai or Gaza for use by Palestinian Hamas against Israel.
Included with the missing SAMs are boxes that contained Russian MDM-3 sea mines, like those used by Qaddafi around Libyan ports at the beginning of the NATO led invasion.
Many of Qaddafi's weapons stores were raided and their contents sold to black-marketeers. So many weapons have been sold into the North African market recently that prices have dramatically dropped.
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/missing-libyan-weapons-are-on-their-way-to-palestinain-hamas-2011-9]business Insider (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/nightmare-libya-20000-surface-air-missiles-missing/story?id=14610199)
U.S. officials had once thought there was little chance that terrorists could get their hands on many of the portable surface-to-air missiles that can bring down a commercial jet liner.
But now that calculation is out the window, with officials at a recent secret White House meeting reporting that thousands of them have gone missing in Libya.
"Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.
-snip-
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch first warned about the problem after a trip to Libya six months ago. He took pictures of pickup truckloads of the missiles being carted off during another trip just a few weeks ago.
[/url]
So, where are these missiles winding up?
The equipment is believed to be on its way to Sinai or Gaza for use by Palestinian Hamas against Israel.
Included with the missing SAMs are boxes that contained Russian MDM-3 sea mines, like those used by Qaddafi around Libyan ports at the beginning of the NATO led invasion.
Many of Qaddafi's weapons stores were raided and their contents sold to black-marketeers. So many weapons have been sold into the North African market recently that prices have dramatically dropped.
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/missing-libyan-weapons-are-on-their-way-to-palestinain-hamas-2011-9]business Insider (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/nightmare-libya-20000-surface-air-missiles-missing/story?id=14610199)