Well again. I have great respect for your service and expertise. I must ask you;however, are you saying that Qadaffi had “thousands” of Russian SA-7 shoulder fired MANPADS? I was not aware of that and find your explanation that they didn’t work fully believable because I don’t recall any “shoot downs” of foreign aircraft by Qadaffi — ever. I don’t recall any MAN PADS until the affiliate started shooting down his jets and helicopters at the end of the war. I just don’t recall Qaddafi firing ManPads but you must be right. If we were buying back SA-7s would they not be publicly touting that? Even if they didn’t work?
I speculate that we supplied American made stinger missles to the AlQaeda affiliates to shoot down Qadaffi air superiority because the French blocked repeatedly the “ no fly zone” Its my view that that would be treasonous after 9/11 but I sure respect where you are coming from.
Now that seems over looked to me? That article seems to give cover to the idea that Qaddafi had Man Pads but it is unclear how the Al Qaeda affiliates got them until after the war. I think that is what it is saying and yet we know that Libyan aircraft were dropping like flies during the war. Here is an actual Qaddafi jet being shot down over Benghazi. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/libya-militia-leader-heat-seeking-missiles-other-weapons-stolen-during-firefight/2012/09/24/8ab6f992-0675-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html
Now this occurred way back before the end of the overthrow of Qaddafi by the Wahhabi sect Sunnis. How did that happen if the SA-7 MAN PADS were not found by the terrorists that we supported until months later when Qaddafi fell after warning us that the Al Qaeda was the element he was fighting? Where did they get those missiles? I think we were buying back our own missiles.