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NYT: Obama admin approved secret weapons deals that ended up arming Islamists in Libya
Hotair ^ | 12/06/2012 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 12/06/2012 10:49:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Oopsie! In what has to be one of the least-shocking outcomes of Barack Obama's Libyan adventure, the New York Times reports that his administration secretly gave approval of weapons shipments to Libyan resistance fighters, only to learn that the weapons ended up arming Islamist terror networks. Who could have seen that coming, right?

The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.

No evidence has emerged linking the weapons provided by the Qataris during the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to the attack that killed four Americans at the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in September.

But in the months before, the Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government.

Maybe we can offer an alternative headline for this: Reporting that might have been valuable before the election. Tammy Bruce tweeted:

A month after the election the NYT tells us: “U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis’ Hands” nytimes.com/2012/12/06/wor…

— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) December 6, 2012

This is yet another indictment of the Obama approach to decapitating regimes. In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Qaddafi, the administration didn’t hesitate to favorably compare the outcome in Libya to that in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of American troops were used to secure the gains after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The NYT provides a post-mortem on that strategy courtesy of a former State Department adviser on the region:

The Qatari assistance to fighters viewed as hostile by the United States demonstrates the Obama administration’s continuing struggles in dealing with the Arab Spring uprisings, as it tries to support popular protest movements while avoiding American military entanglements. Relying on surrogates allows the United States to keep its fingerprints off operations, but also means they may play out in ways that conflict with American interests.

“To do this right, you have to have on-the-ground intelligence and you have to have experience,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department adviser who is now dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, part of Johns Hopkins University. “If you rely on a country that doesn’t have those things, you are really flying blind. When you have an intermediary, you are going to lose control.”

And when you don’t have any way to control what happens on the ground, you can bet that “control” will be the first thing to go. The US knew that Islamist terrorists operated in eastern Libya for years before Obama came into office. Al-Qaeda recruited heavily in the region for its fight against the US in Iraq. Decapitating Qaddafi meant losing pressure on AQ and other Islamist terror networks, and flooding the area with uncontrolled weapons almost guaranteed that the already-organized terror networks would hijack them from other less-organized resistance movements.

But this brings up another important question. The Obama administration knew that the Islamist terror networks ended up controlling many if not most of these weapons, and had become much more dangerous as a result. If that’s the case, how could they possibly have left the consulate in Benghazi as unprotected as it was?


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2012; benghazi; bhoislamism; democrats; islam; jihad; libya; obama; terrorism; waronterror; wot
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To: I want the USA back

Why would the House waste it’s time with the Current Senate lineup?


21 posted on 12/06/2012 11:27:00 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: SeekAndFind

This is the guy who said:
“I will side with the muslims in any conflict”.
Since it is not a religion, but a violent world-domination movement cleverly disguised as a religion, this man is a traitor.


22 posted on 12/06/2012 11:27:00 AM PST by I want the USA back
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To: Buckeye McFrog

>> And why would the NYT suddenly drop this little bombshell on their boy Barry?

If “suddenly” normally takes about a month or two, then you have a good question there.


23 posted on 12/06/2012 11:30:11 AM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: Uncle Miltie; TigersEye; Marine_Uncle; onyx; Grampa Dave; Carry_Okie; BOBTHENAILER; NormsRevenge; ..

Thanks for the info,....disturbing for sure....but no surprise.


24 posted on 12/06/2012 11:31:12 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Gene Eric

I agree. What I meant to say is, interesting timing.


25 posted on 12/06/2012 11:32:12 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I know — just having fun at the expense of the NYT.


26 posted on 12/06/2012 11:35:32 AM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: All
One more time:

Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam And the American Left [Paperback]

David Horowitz (Author)

The bestselling "Unholy Alliance" is now in paperback! Former Leftist radical David Horowitz blows the lid off the dangerous liaison between U.S. liberals and Islamic radicals. With America's battle against the disastrous force of terrorism at hand, Horowitz takes us behind the curtain of the unholy alliance between liberals and the enemy - a force with malevolent intentions, and one that Americans can no longer ignore.....

27 posted on 12/06/2012 11:35:35 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: SeekAndFind

Fast and Furious Middle East edition.


28 posted on 12/06/2012 11:47:38 AM PST by crosshairs (Hurricane Barry is 1000 times more destructive than Hurricane Sandy.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Impeach Obama and get Johnny Eisl...I mean, Joe Biden.


29 posted on 12/06/2012 11:58:08 AM PST by onedoug
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To: Chainmail
You have to have a law before it can be enforced. You have to have people willing to enforce the law before a criminal gets punished. Obviously this nation has gone lawless for those at the top.
30 posted on 12/06/2012 12:02:06 PM PST by drypowder
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Yes: The only surprise is that the New York Times is printing the story.

Gives one some thought.


31 posted on 12/06/2012 12:03:19 PM PST by Venturer
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To: I want the USA back

I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting if I were you.


32 posted on 12/06/2012 12:05:45 PM PST by Venturer
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"By the age of 14, (Ayman) al-Zawahiri had joined the Muslim Brotherhood. The following year the Egyptian government executed Qutb for conspiracy, and al-Zawahiri, along with four other secondary school students, helped form an "underground cell devoted to overthrowing the government and establishing an Islamist state." It was at this early age that al-Zawahiri developed a mission in life, "to put Qutb's vision into action."[20] His cell eventually merged with others to form al-Jihad or Egyptian Islamic Jihad.[14]"

al-Zawahiri is the "current leader of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Zawahiri

So far, 0bambi has helped Al Qaeda's font, The Muslim Brotherhood take Egypt.

0bambi helped arm Al Qaeda in Libya (with the Qataris) to overthrow Ghaddafi. Who will win that state is currently being contested.

Finally, 0bambi is apparently arming Al Qaeda in Syria with arms from Libya, and Benghazi is a cover up of that operation.

So, in each country so far, Egypt, Libya, and Syria, 0bambi is on the side of Al Qaeda.

33 posted on 12/06/2012 12:32:10 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (BOHICA eGOP!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting in light of the UN Arms Treaty that was almost pushed on us. So, the states trying to disarm their citizens are running small arms and perhaps more. Hmmmmm.....


34 posted on 12/06/2012 12:35:18 PM PST by 556x45
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To: 556x45

Nothing to see here, Citizen. Move along.


35 posted on 12/06/2012 12:46:17 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Wow. In the New York Times. That means there’s misdirection going on. Notice how the Times article keeps referring to Qatar. It was Qatar that was bombing Libya. Oh, no, that was us.
I think this article shows that the Democrats are afraid that this is going to blow open on them. They’re trying to put out pre-emptive excuses.
Why did Obama and Hillary feel the need to overthrow the government in Libya? And isn’t it convenient that Gadaffi died. He can’t tell anybody if him and Soros were arguing about Gadaffi’s cut in those new Libyan oil fields.

The Middle East. Oil. Soros. Obama. Hillary.


36 posted on 12/06/2012 1:10:28 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Uncle Miltie

Thank you. This is as close to “aid and comfort to the enemy” as it gets. Sadly, it will be a cold day in hell before a Republican in the Senate has the guts to let those words pass his lips.


37 posted on 12/06/2012 1:12:02 PM PST by Carry_Okie (The Slave Party: advancing indenture since 1787.)
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To: Chainmail

Well, when you are dealing with a political party that has no ethics or morals, their only goal is tyrannical control, did you expect otherwise?


38 posted on 12/06/2012 3:55:26 PM PST by Quickgun (I came here screaming and covered in someone else's blood. I can go out that way if I have to)
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To: I want the USA back

Yeah, he already told us whose side he was on. So why did retards elect him anyway?


39 posted on 12/06/2012 3:59:56 PM PST by Quickgun (I came here screaming and covered in someone else's blood. I can go out that way if I have to)
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To: SeekAndFind

The even bigger news:

“NY Times Publishes Article Vaguely Critical of Obama”


40 posted on 12/06/2012 4:04:08 PM PST by tweakDU (Romney Ryan 2012 Vote!)
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