Nightmare in Libya: 20,000 Surface-to-Air Missiles Missing

ABC News ^ | 9/27/2011 | Brian Ross

[ex-Texan]

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.

The nightmare has been made real with the discovery in Libya that an estimated 20,000 portable, heat-seeking missiles have gone missing from unguarded Army weapons warehouses.

The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant's shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.

[Ingtar]

So did the terrorists we recognize as the government, or other terrorists get them?

[pieceofthepuzzle]

But it’s springtime..

[GlockThe Vote]

How much will anyone on this site bet me that one of Obama’s campaign donors and bundlers will get the exclusive contract to outfit the planes for the laser tech that Boxer is talking about in this article at $1,000,000 per plane?

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Great goin’, Zero.

[throwback]

Unintended consequence. I heard Iran had some of their folks over there collecting weapons. Nice job Barry, John McCain et. al.

[dead]

an estimated 20,000 portable, heat-seeking missiles have gone missing from unguarded Army weapons warehouses.

It's OK, they're Arab Spring freedom fighters.

They're our buddies since the Obama Administration helped them win a war. I saw it on ABC and read it in the NYTimes.

[GOPJ]

The nightmare has been made real with the discovery in Libya that an estimated 20,000 portable, heat-seeking missiles have gone missing from unguarded Army weapons warehouses.

Let me guess - that smiling, oh so friendly, helpful Arab who acts like a best friend - was stealing, lying, and working for the other side? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.

[Truth29]

Easily predictable and will foster the creation of the Greater Caliphate. Another Obama accomplishment.

[Pollster1]

I think the media will call this "UNEXPECTED".
They love Barack and always cover for his blunders.

[CedarDave]

Hey Babs, it was you buddy Barack Hussein who pushed for Kadifi’s ouster. Now if he had thought through the consequences a bit, he might have gone a different route.

[DesertRhino]

Obama,,,the gift that keeps on giving,,

[Joe Brower]

You'll all love this little bit of good news.

Another reason to stay off commercial airliners. As if getting yer nuts fondled by some TSA drone wasn't already enough reason.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[Rockitz]

This debacle is only rivaled by GHWB’s blunders in rounding up the Soviet nuclear weapons materials after the Cold War victory.

[ilovesarah2012]

So more terorists now have surface-to-air missles and people are surprised? I’m not. Obama arming his friends (and our enemies).

[andy58-in-nh]

How... unexpected.

Oh, well: who could possibly have seen the risk in helping to destabilize a dictator known to stockpile huge caches of weapons by assisting radicals known to be in league with international terrorist groups?

[G Larry]

I’m shocked! Shocked I tell you!

[ilovesarah2012]

So more terorists now have surface-to-air missles and people are surprised? I’m not. Obama arming his friends (and our enemies).

[txroadkill]

Outstanding, and once they're brought into the US with the help of Mexican drug smugglers and shoot down a couple of airplanes out of DFW Big Sis can tell us how the system worked and Obama will be able to blame Bush and Perry.