We'll be needing many more before we're done ......................... FRegards
Posted on 03/28/2011 3:30:59 PM PDT by jazusamo
Washington (CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration has not expressed concern about terrorist infiltration of the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi, administration officials said Monday, hours before President Obama was to deliver an address to the nation explaining the U.S. mission in Libya.
A 2007 West Point study (PDF, 6.5 MB) found that Libya accounted for one of the largest per capita contributions to the foreign insurgency in Iraq.
The United States joined France and Britain in air strikes against Libya to enforce a no-fly zone over the country, authorized by the United Nations Security Council. NATO is set to take control of the operations, with responsibility both for enforcing the no-fly zone now in place and what is being called a “civilian protection mission.”
Some critics have raised doubts about the wisdom of helping an opposition whose makeup, ideology and goals are not well understood.
At a White House press briefing Monday Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough addressed a question about the administration’s comfort level regarding allied air strikes helping the Libyan rebels.
He voiced reluctance to characterize the Libyan opposition, but said it was “quite a broad movement of people.”
“You had the people – shopkeepers and others – and even in Tripoli, those first several days who were protesting and saying that the mistreatment that they’d been under for so long was – needed to end. I think they’re part of the opposition,” McDonough said.
“I think those people in Misurata right now who are pinned down by government forces are part of the opposition.”
McDonough said the opposition comprised not only of rebel forces heading westward from the opposition stronghold in Benghazi.
“It’s not just those individuals, but I think it’s individuals that we saw in those first several days – shopkeepers, students and others.”
McDonough did not take a question specifically about the 2007 West Point report, although the issue was put to White House press secretary Jay Carney later in the briefing.
“There was a report out of West Point in 2007 about the people going through Syria to get into Iraq to fight U.S. troops, and that report had about a fifth of those going in to fight U.S. troops from Libya,” a reporter said.
“There was also a Libyan opposition group that was affiliated with al-Qaeda. And my question is, how concerned is the administration about the possible presence within this broad group of Libyan opposition figures that there are those who fought jihad against the United States in Iraq, or are affiliated with al-Qaeda or affiliated groups?”
Carney replied that the administration had “obviously spent a lot of time looking at the opposition in Libya and speaking with opposition leaders.”
“What we have seen in Libya is something that’s national and organic, where, as we’ve seen in other countries, the people of Libya have expressed their desire for greater participation, greater voice in their government, more representation,” he said. “But beyond that, I don’t have anything specific on elements of the opposition that would be of concern.”
Asked how confident Obama was that a post-Gaddafi government would be better for the U.S., Carney acknowledged that the situation involved “a lot of unpredictability.”
“But the President believes strongly that it serves the U.S. national interest and national security interests to be on the right side of history and to – as he did with regard to Egypt and as he has with regard to situations across the region – to support the democratic aspirations of the people, to support political dialogue between governments and their people, and that an outcome that results in greater pluralistic, democratic representative governments in the region will increase prosperity, stability and … also be good for the United States of America.”
Citing Italian press reports, the Daily Telegraph of London reported on March 26 that Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, described as “a key leader of the Libyan rebels,” said he had recruited men from eastern Libya to fight against coalition forces in Iraq.
The paper said al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a group identified in the West Point report as having an “increasingly co-operative relationship” with al-Qaeda.
The West Point information was based on documents captured in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, which reportedly showed that LIFG members made up the second largest group of foreign fighters in Iraq, after Saudis.
According to the State Department, al-Qaeda announced in November 2007 that the LIFG had officially joined the terrorist network.
The Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed U.S. counterterrorism officials, reported on March 24 that there was no evidence that terrorists were playing a hidden role in the Libyan rebellion.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who take part in a multilateral meeting in London on Tuesday with allied governments and opposition leaders from Libya.
Liars and fools is correct.
McDonough and Carney know all about these goings on.
Thanks for the links, VR.
We need to all copy and send to everyone we know and post them everywhere we can.
We cannot let this traitor of our country get away with this.
The rebels havn’t been infiltrated by muslim terrorists.
They ARE muslim terrorists.
That is why Obama has ordered our military to support them.
Once Obama is gone we will end up fighting the very same muslim terrorists he has helped gain power in Egypt and Libya.
We'll be needing many more before we're done ......................... FRegards
There's no doubt you're right.
Bump!
anything about al-quaedia getting their hands on surface to air missiles there while he gave them air support?
I haven’t read a word about that and I’ve read a fair amount though not everything by a long shot.
The Obama administration just can't take criticism. They expect it from the right, and are now getting it from the left, too. The independents grow increasingly alienated by the day, seems to me. Will there be anything left of Obama on Election Day 2012?
>I haven’t read a word about that and I’ve read a fair amount though not everything by a long shot.<
well .. let me share something with you then ...
Thanks. Megyn Kelly just reported this was brought up in a Pentagon briefing about an hour ago which would have been about 12 Noon Eastern.
I’m Interested .. how did they play it off at the WH?
What did Megan Kelly say about it?
She was opening her show and that’s all she said. I haven’t checked further on it yet, if I find more later I’ll ping.
Much appreciated, I don’t watch the MSM news even from Fox, though I do tend to trust them more than any other source by far.
problem is I then turn on ABC, CNN, MSLSD and see nothing of real importance and just get very angry that they are so biased and letting us slip down into the abyss the whole time praising “The Won”
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