Posted on 12/17/2011 11:07:22 AM PST by Hunton Peck
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Pentagon chief Leon Panetta made history Saturday as the first American defense secretary to set foot on Libyan soil and said he hoped the post-Moammar Gadhafi government could assemble the country’s militias into “one Libya.”
Panetta has indicated that the U.S. will give the Libyans some time to gain control of the militias that overthrew Gadhafi during an eight-month civil war before determining how to help the fledgling government.
At a news conference in the capital with Prime Minister Abdal-Raheem al-Keeb, Panetta said that he was confident that the new Libyan government is reaching out to all groups and would bring them together as part of “one Libya.”
Panetta, who was joined by Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said the United States would provide whatever assistance the Libyans needed.
The prime minister told reporters that he was optimistic that the new government in Tripoli could deal the militias.
Panetta’s route into the city took him past lush orange groves, carcasses of bombed buildings and the charred and graffiti-covered compound once occupied by Gadhafi.
Flying from rooftops were the green, black and red flags, adorned with a star and a crescent, belonging to the new government. Amid the Arabic graffiti splashed across the walls of the compound was a short comment in English: “Thanx US/UK.”
Panetta also made an emotional visit to what historians believe is the gravesite of 13 U.S. sailors killed in 1804. Those deaths were caused by the explosion of the U.S.S, Intrepid, which was destroyed while slipping into the Tripoli harbor to attack pirate ships that had captured an American frigate.
Panetta walked into the small walled cemetery with more than two dozen gravestones and made his way to a corner where five large but simple white gravestones mark...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
What’s “historic” about it? That’s a word that’s lost its meaning, so abused has it been in modern times.
“Unexpected” and “historic”.
Panetta has indicated that the U.S. will give the Libyans some time to gain control of the militias that overthrew Gadhafi during an eight-month civil war before determining how to help the fledgling government.Cool. That'll mean that the militias which don't want the US help will refuse to enter or support the regime.
That would apply if the new People's Liberation Government of Libya would hold SecDef Panetta hostage and demand a ransom. I'll donate a gallon of gas and a match.
How do you know it wouldn't be the Libyan People's Liberation Government......Splitters!
Unbeknownst to most Americans, we are not the America we were for 230 years. We have been fundamentally changed to supporting the Communists and the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that gave the world AlQada.
LOL!
Actually, I don’t care. I’d just hope they grab him, keep him, torture him, and render Islamic “justice” to this Donkey lib Infidel. It would make Barry’s pride soar over what his Muslim brothers accomplished. Tough luck for Leon, though.
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