Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
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Posted on 08/13/2013 5:56:30 AM PDT by EBH
The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by The Associated Press in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests the group now possesses the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, known to the Pentagon as the Grail, according to terrorism specialists.
It confirms that the al-Qaeda cell is actively training its fighters to use these weapons, also called man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which likely came from the arms depots of late Libya dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
"The existence of what apparently constitutes a 'Dummies Guide to MANPADS' is strong circumstantial evidence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb having the missiles," said Atlantic Council analyst Peter Pham, a former adviser to the United States' military command in Africa and an instructor to US Special Forces.
"Why else bother to write the guide if you don't have the weapons? ... If AQIM not only has the MANPADS, but also fighters who know how to use them effectively," he added, "then the impact is significant, not only on the current conflict, but on security throughout North and West Africa, and possibly beyond."
This is not the first al-Qaeda-linked group thought to have MANPADS - they were circulating in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a terror cell in Somalia recently claimed to have the SA-7 in a video.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
No we are not and anyone that thinks so is buying in to the fallacy pushed by various Washington groups that think we see all and know all.
Terrorists could advertize an impending attack on every billboard the length of I-80 for 6 months and our “intelligence” agencies would have missed it.
Aside from Soccer mom's and NASCAR dad's kids starving, that would be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
There’s a lot we don’t hear about. News of finding one would reveal their loss (or worse) by those entrusted with them, and high level heads would roll; better for the powers that be if such a find were quietly buried.
Before his overthrow and death in the fall of 2011, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was believed to have purchased 15,000-20,000 Soviet MANPADS. Concern over the whereabouts of the missiles - and the possibility that terrorists could buy them on the black market and even use them to shoot down American passenger jets - drove a U.S. effort to recover as many as possible. But only about 2,000 were accounted for prior to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on Benghazi, Libya, according to the source. He describes those working to locate the missiles as “beside themselves” and “frustrated.”
The program to recover MANPADS in Libya was funded by the U.S. and said to have been run by South African contractors. The contractors attempted to appeal to Libyans, many of them ex-Gaddafi loyalists, to turn over or destroy the MANPADS as a matter of patriotism and pride.
“We told them that ‘if planes start dropping out of the sky, it will trace back to you and you’ll have the international reputation for terrorism,’” says the source. “We offered them money, we tried talking them out of it ... The only successes they had were in western Libya, the Tripoli area. In the eastern half toward Benghazi, they were getting nowhere.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57575892/thousands-of-libyan-missiles-from-qaddafi-era-missing-in-action/
The U.S. government has allocated $40 million in an attempt to secure the weapons stockpiles, but the guessing game remains over their existence. Some are believed to have been destroyed by NATO airstrikes during the Libyan conflict and others are in the hands of militias who raided weapons storage facilities in their fight against pro-Gadhafi forces.
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/319326#ixzz2bs7HF9js
bttt we need to hogtie thighness with this NOW
If the security and protection of American commercial-air passengers were a real government priority, effective counter-MANPAD systems would have been developed and deployed long ago. This need was acknowledged repeatedly following 9/11, and millions of American taxpayer dollars have been allocated to develop counter-MANPAD systems for protecting civilian passenger and cargo aircraft. And yet, the US civilian fleet, with more than 7,000 aircraft, remains vulnerable to the missiles, whose 10,000-foot range could hit them during takeoffs and landings.
The airlines have balked at the cost and weight of currently available American systems for what they strangely view as a limited threat. They rely mostly on a 2005 RAND study, which concluded that the then available protection systems were not cost effective.
Since then, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been working on a lightweight, laser-based system, called Excalibur, which would protect a variety of airborne platforms, from low-lying aircraft to unmanned, remotely piloted drones In its fiscal 2012 budget, the Defense Department requests $21.4 million to support the missile-countermeasures program. But with deep budget cuts a veritable certainty, Excalibur development could be delayed – or terminated completely.
However, there are alternatives. At least one well-tested, lightweight system is already available – the Multi Spectral Infrared Countermeasure system (MUSIC or C-Music for commercial applications). This missile-defense system was developed and tested by ELOP, a unit of Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd., and was selected, for example, for Brazil’s Embraer KC-390 transport-tanker, and by the Israeli government for all aircraft comprising the country’s commercial air fleet, including El Al’s.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2011/1209/Libya-s-missing-missiles-a-threat-to-US-airline-passengers/(page)/2
ILC Technology used to make a flash lamp IR spoofer. IIRC Air Force One has the system, as does every El Al aircraft.
Too bad they only have the one MANPAD, eh?
I mean, Good thing they only have the one MANPAD unit, eh?
(The coffe hasn’t quite kicked in.
Coffee. *sigh*
Yes! Someone on the ground, or several someones on the ground shot down an airplane or multiple airplanes in the sky.
Therefore we need to restrict and massively control who can get onto any aircraft in the future, because that will fix the problem.
I can see congress following that line of reasoning and passing hundreds of "appropriate" laws...
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don’t add you to the list...
“What does it matter?!” -Hillary Clinton
“Hey, I’m on a plane here!” -Zero
Who is to say we have not? If Benghazi had not gone south, think we would have ever heard of it? (or for that matter even known about missiles at this point)
Just kuhrayzee.
Our government will let any civilian joe jihad have weapons of war but they want to deny United States the right to possess the same.
What about due process? /s (if you didn’t read the article I’m referencing you won’t get the joke)
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