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| Africa North |
| Al-Qaida plants its flag — literally — in Libya |
| 2011-10-29 |
| If there were questions about al-Qaida’s role in post-Gadhafi Libya, VICE reporter Sherif Elhelwa provides some answers in a new story with eyewitness descriptions. Al-Qaida flags, Elhelwa reports, are popping up around Benghazi. At the city courthouse, which played a prominent role in the Libyan revolution, residents are flying the late terrorist’s Osama bin Laden’s colors. Similarly, Elhelwa recounts a regular evening sight: “Islamists driving brand-new SUVs and waving the black al Qaeda flag drive the city’s streets at night.” Armed guards walk the streets, he reports, inspiring fear. Friendly civilians hurriedly warn Elhelwa that he is being watched by the Islamists. “I recommend that you leave now,” he is told. Confirming his suspicion that Islamist extremists may have a larger foothold in the recovering region, one partisan near the courthouse threatens Elhelwa, warning him that if he disparages the al-Qaida flag, “we will cut off [your] tongue. I recommend that you don’t publish these [images]. You will bring trouble to yourself.” “The war to rid the country of the Gadhafi dictatorship might have ended,” Elhelwa says, “but the battle for control of post-revolutionary Libya has only just begun.” |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 Because the alternative is that some other country supports their bastards, who go on to win In this instance, Qatar. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-10-29 15:54 |
| #2 Unfortunately, this wasnÂ’t a Lone Ranger deal. McCain, Graham and a bunch of misguided GOP politicians supported Obama, and, in fact, practically forced his hand. All of the usual big thinkers (more and more, IÂ’m inclined to call them group thinkers) at the National Review and the Weekly Standard were egging Obama on, calling him insufficiently motivated. What the heck were they thinking? The issue is that if we intervene in a situation like this, we canÂ’t be for a generic democracy - we have to support our bastards. Because the alternative is that some other country supports their bastards, who go on to win, and the country being fought over ends up being our enemy. HavenÂ’t we learned anything from the Cold War? (Not the leftÂ’s BS lessons, but the fact that we must finance and train our guys, because our enemies are financing and training their guys, and the guys with the most financing and training will win). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-10-29 15:08 |
| #1 Smart diplomacy. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-10-29 13:50 |