Washington in fierce debate on arming Libyan rebels

NYT ^ | 3/30/2011 | MARK LANDLER, ELISABETH BUMILLER and STEVEN LEE MYERS

[throwback]

The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda.

The debate has drawn in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon, these officials said, and has prompted an urgent call for intelligence about a ragtag band of rebels who are waging a town-by-town battle against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, from a base in eastern Libya long suspected of supplying terrorist recruits.

“Al Qaeda in that part of the country is obviously an issue,” a senior official said.

Are Libyan rebels al-Qaida sympathizers? On a day when Libyan forces counterattacked, fears about the rebels surfaced publicly on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when the military commander of NATO, Adm. James G. Stavridis, told a Senate hearing that there were “flickers” in intelligence reports about the presence of Qaeda and Hezbollah members among the anti-Qaddafi forces.

The French government, which has led the international charge against Colonel Qaddafi, has placed mounting pressure on the United States to provide greater assistance to the rebels. The question of how best to support the opposition dominated an international conference about Libya on Tuesday in London.

While Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration had not yet decided whether to actually transfer arms, she reiterated that the United States had a right to do so, despite an arms embargo on Libya, because of the United Nations Security Council’s broad resolution authorizing military action to protect civilians.

[throwback]

They said the arms most likely to be of use were relatively light and simple shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons for defense against tanks, as well as rifles like Soviet AK-47s and communications equipment. Although these weapons are not especially sophisticated, months, if not years, of on-the-ground training would still be necessary.

I thought I was joking yesterday when I said Hillary would be in Benghazi today passing out RPG's. Who knew? Lord save us from the Peaceniks.

[Bean Counter]

Why not just give them some pallets of artillery shells and a case of cell phones?? Al Qaida and Iran have already taught many of these “rebels” how to make IEDs, so why not arm them with something they already understand...??

toggle/sarc/OFF

[BenLurkin]

[Oldeconomybuyer]

 

Obama's Allies.

[not2worry]

The French government, which has led the international charge against Colonel Qaddafi, has placed mounting pressure on the United States to provide greater assistance to the rebels

————————————————>

Now we are being pressured by the French? WTF

Oh, I guess the French will provide us with the white flags when these thugs turn against us in their civil war.

Wonder when the Camp LeJuene boots hit the ground? I never thought we would go to war for oil for France.

And we go oui, oui, oui all the way home.

[KeyLargo]

(CNN) — On a day when opposition forces in Libya suffered battlefield losses, President Barack Obama made clear in interviews Tuesday with the three major U.S. television networks that he was open to arming the rebel fighters.

“I’m not ruling it out, but I’m also not ruling it in,” Obama told NBC in one of the separate interviews he gave the day after a nationally televised speech on the Libya situation.

“I think it’s fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could,” Obama told ABC. “We’re looking at all our options at this point.”

[Texas resident]

obama is trying to vote “present”.

[Darksheare]

Why would Obama’s Libyan fiasco be any different from Clinton’s Kosovo fiasco?

[Sax]

NO US WEAPONS TO AL QAEDA

Any Al Qaeda presence = total Al Qaeda presence. Same thing.

[Buckeye McFrog]

If we arm them we could be arming elements of Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

But if they lose to Khadafy, Barry will look very foolish after his speech the other night.

hmmm....which side to YOU think they’ll come down on?

[Truth29]

This cuts both ways and is the road to proxy wars. We could have Russia, Ukraine, Serbia supplying manpad anti aircraft missiles to Kaddafi’s forces.

[Georgia Girl 2]

When did the French get so hot for war? Oh yeh they see a gazillion more boatloads of Muslim refugees heading for France. Time for the USA to bail them out one more time.

If there are Al Queda fighters with the rebels just hand out the arms and they will train the rebels. Later they can use these weapons to kill our Marines who will shortly be on the ground. Its all good. Way to go Barry you pathetic POS!!

[yorkie01]

Debate? The testosterone women? surrounding Obama are tasting red meat while the pussy in the WH contemplates his belly button.

[Londo Molari]

“But if they lose to Khadafy, Barry will look very foolish after his speech the other night.”

Yeah, but he has the mainstream media, aka his propaganda arm, backing him on this. Those people in the MSM remind of the media in George Orwell’s 1984. Follow dear leader, he knows what is best for the poor stupid masses.

[AfricanChristian]

Please whatever you decide to do about Libya, please do not lose focus on what’s going on in the rest of the World. The Chinese love a distracted America.

Iraq and Afghanistan took your focus away from key economic trends and reality landed on your heads like a ton of bricks in 2008.In a sense, you lost that decade to China.

Please don’t lose the next decade, the World needs you.

[AfricanChristian]

Please whatever you decide to do about Libya, please do not lose focus on what’s going on in the rest of the World. The Chinese love a distracted America.

Iraq and Afghanistan took your focus away from key economic trends and reality landed on your heads like a ton of bricks in 2008.In a sense, you lost that decade to China.

Please don’t lose the next decade, the World needs you.