Posted on 05/27/2014 6:18:56 PM PDT by mandaladon
The US is sending 1,000 Marines in an amphibious assault ship to Libya's coast as a “precautionary” move should the US embassy require evacuation, a US official said. Security concerns also led the US to suggest Americans in Libya "depart immediately."
Adding to tensions, gunmen attacked the Tripoli home of Libya’s new prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeq, on Tuesday. Businessman Maiteeq, 42, and his family escaped harm, according to AFP.
An aide to Maiteeq said "there was an attack with rockets and small arms on the prime minister's house" in Tripoli at 3:00 a.m. (0100 GMT). Maiteeq’s guards opened fire on the attackers, wounding and arresting two of them, the official added.
In reaction to the heightened strife in Libya, the USS Bataan, stocked with several helicopters in addition to the Marines, is to be in the nation’s coastal area “in a matter of days,” an anonymous US defense official said, according to AFP.
The preemptive move is a reaction to increasingly violent militia battles, which could threaten the American embassy’s security, the official said. Based on escalating security concerns, the US State Department recommended Tuesday that Americans in Libya "depart immediately."
"Due to security concerns, the Department of State has limited staffing at Embassy Tripoli and is only able to offer very limited emergency services to US citizens in Libya," the travel warning said.
The US also has 250 available Marines, seven Osprey combat aircraft, and three refueling aircraft in Sigonella, Italy, AFP reported.
The State Department said last week that its embassy in Tripoli was operating as usual despite offensives launched by a dissident general, Khalifa Haftar, against the Libyan parliament and Islamist factions.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Zahawi, the head of Libya’s Ansar Al-Sharia militant group in Benghazi, warned against any US interference in the nation’s ongoing tumult.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Just another beautiful Arab Spring day.
The citizens of Libya were far better off before Obama helped overthrow their government on behalf of the muslim brotherhood.
Foreign policy as conceived and implemented by a bunch of high school stoners.
What are we doing with any embassy personnel still in Libya anyway?
More of our guys to another friggin’ Muzzie country???
Obama-the-Undocumented will not rest until
the Blind Sheik is free and Iran and al Qaeda have nukes.
+1
Obama is a fool and everyone knows it.
Another broken promise no soldiers in Libya... Oh well what does it matter all those broken promises to Obama...you can’t touch me anyway.
Gee you’d think we’d have an LHA on station on 911 in the vicinity of Middle East Hot Spots.
Nailed it. Queerdaffy had been disciplined by Reagan actions and other strong US policies and was content to mind his business, which was to be dictator of Lybya. US interests were being served by the status quo. As it turned out, so would have been Lybyan interests. There were no Lybyan George Washingtons waiting in the wings but plenty of terrorists.
Another rousing foreign policy success for the Administration of Captain Midnight
another feather in Hillary’s foreign policy cap
Oh, so NOW they send help...
A year and a half late.
Russia Today huh.
What went wrong dumbo?
Yup, a nation run by a bunch of high school stoners, faggots, muzzies and power moguls.
We are really in the $hit aren’t we?
After the first Gulf War, Libya opened up for weapons inspections to prove they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Quadafi was cooperating. There was absolutely no need for us to overthrow Libya.
obama bombed Libya to help his muslim brotherhood overthrow the government. They are much much worse off than they were before obama terrorized them.
Is there a new YouTube video out?
Susan Rice and Samantha Power are the 2 geniuses responsible for this mess.
He listens to Rice because she was a good basketball player and Power because she went to Harvard and runs around screaming “Genocide” every 2 minutes.
Libyan civil war
As the 2011 Libyan civil war progressed, Rice made clear that the United States and the international community saw only one choice for Gaddafi and his aides: step down from power or face significant consequences. Rice offered some of the toughest rhetoric toward Gaddafi, blasting his denials of atrocities against his own citizens as “frankly, delusional”.
Several UN diplomats said that in a closed door meeting on April 28, Rice’s claims of Gaddafi’s atrocities included the issuance of Viagra to loyalists in order to further terrorize the population with sexual violence.[41][42] Together with National Security Council figure Samantha Power, who already supported military intervention, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who came to support it, the three overcame internal opposition from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, security adviser Thomas Donilon, and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, to have the administration advance a UN proposal to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and authorize other military actions as necessary.[19][43]
On March 17, 2011, the UK, France and Lebanon joined Rice to vote for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 while Brazil, Germany, and India joined permanent Security Council members China and Russia in abstaining. Rice and Clinton played major roles in gaining approval for the resolution.[19][44] Clinton said that same day that establishing a no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of air defenses. Rice said that “we are interested in a broad range of actions that will effectively protect civilians and increase the pressure on the Gaddafi regime to halt the killing and to allow the Libyan people to express themselves in their aspirations for the future freely and peacefully”.[45]
In January 2012 after the Russian and Chinese veto of another Security Council resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, Rice strongly condemned both countries, saying, “They put a stake in the heart of efforts to resolve this conflict peacefully”, adding that “we the United States are standing with the people of Syria. Russia and China are obviously with Assad.”[46] In her words, “the United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose”.[47]
Some Security Council diplomats took issue with Rice’s negotiating style, calling it “rude” and overly blunt. According to David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy magazine, Rice is known for her “abrasiveness” but has the asset of a close relationship with the U.S. president. Human rights activists took issue with Rice and U.S. foreign policy generally in 2012 for working against U.N. statements that criticized Rwanda for supporting a rebel group in Congo known for committing atrocities.[
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