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Africa North
Libya conflict leaves both sides running short of Sky Killing Ammo
2011-03-31
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#12  Too many weddings with the AK-47 for celebratory effect?

No. They didn't have much to begin with, and the rebels have wasted a lot of ammo in "celebratory effect" every time they get rumor of a victory, not to mention poor fire discipline. a.k.a. 'spray and pray'.
Posted by: Pappy   2011-03-31 20:40  

#11  Egypt's government may soon become Hamas's principle arms supplier. From Rubin Reports:

Just read this article and compare it to what we were told during the revolution:

"Egypt's relations with Israel and the U.S. are likely to become more difficult in the months ahead with an infusion of Arab nationalism and skepticism about Egypt's landmark peace treaty with Israel. Many of those who helped oust President Mubarak, including secular democracy activists and Muslim Brotherhood leaders, say the 32-year-old treaty should be respected for now. But they add that when stability is restored, the pact should be submitted to the Egyptian people for approval, through a new parliament scheduled to be elected in September and then perhaps in a public referendum."

In other words, all the commitments made by the military government are not valid after September and Egypt is quite likely to abrogate or simply stop paying any attention to its treaty commitments. And what is the U.S. government, the Obama Administration, going to do at that point since it is the guarantor of the treaty? Absolutely nothing.

The article continues:

"'There was no real end to the war with Israel, just a truce,'" said Shadi Mohammed, 26, a leader of the movement that helped promote the Tahrir Square demonstrations. Mohammed Maher, a Muslim Brotherhood activist, said that if his group gains influence through the elections, Egypt is likely to pursue closer ties with Gaza, opening border crossings and promoting trade as a way to undermine the Israeli blockade."

Did you notice that? He's a Muslim Brotherhood activist and a leader in the Tahrir Square movement. Only yesterday I received a letter from a New York Times employee--full of curse words and insults, by the way--saying that he spoke to many people in Tahrir Square and none of them said they were Brotherhood supporters. So obviously there weren't any Brotherhood supporters.

Yes, honestly this is the kind of reasoning that often shapes mass media coverage of the Middle East. Sort of like the president's advisor on counterterrorism explaining that Hizballah can't be a terrorist group because it has lawyers among its members.

Yet the facts about the movement's alliance with the Brotherhood and anti-American leftists was already on the public record before the revolution even began.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2011-03-31 17:42  

#10  At least the Muslim Brotherhood is efficent in piecemeal islamic aggression

An Ikhwan state is a Hamas state. But we'll see soon enough. Egypt will show the way.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2011-03-31 17:37  

#9  that's a great idea, but who was going to ID the nationalist?
Posted by: bman   2011-03-31 17:35  

#8  Al-Qaeda in Libya allied with al-Qaeda in Iraq, because doing so oriented large numbers of Libyans to regional jihad-terror. At least the Muslim Brotherhood is efficent in piecemeal islamic aggression; the Libyan islamonazis are closer to Wahabi terrorists. Hussein Obama should have been supporting Libyan nationalists in the military, to the end of toppling Gaddafi and assisting a broad based government without an aggressive foreign policy. He went with the terrorists, as usual.
Posted by: Snomble Poodle4499   2011-03-31 16:27  

#7  Turns out 85% of the Libyans were suicide bombers. This is what is called a self correcting problem.

AKA Islam's Useful Idiots™
Posted by: Frank G   2011-03-31 15:47  

#6  Did some more reading of the study:

Turns out 85% of the Libyans were suicide bombers. This is what is called a self correcting problem.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2011-03-31 15:39  

#5  Zhang,
The problem with this study is that it is wildly at odds with other studies of foreign fighters in Iraq. This is addressed in Appendix 1 of the same study.

It is likely that the national origin of foreign fighters changed over time. It is also possible different networks recruited in different countries.

What IS clear is that most of the Libyan recruits came from eastern Libya, and well over 100 Libyans fought in Iraq (and hopefully died there).
Posted by: Frozen Al   2011-03-31 15:28  

#4  Too many weddings with the AK-47 for celebratory effect?
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-03-31 14:27  

#3  It's Al Guardian, Zhang Fei.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2011-03-31 13:28  

#2  Al-Qaida has a negligible presence in Libya and is not considered a factor at all in the current fighting.

From a West Point study of jihadists in Iraq:


A breakout of the hometowns of Libyan jihadists who showed up in Iraq:

Note that the 84% of the jihadists came from Darnah and Benghazi, both rebel strongholds that were (as pointed out in the West Point study) previously the scene of Islamist uprisings in the mid-1990's.

Posted by: Zhang Fei   2011-03-31 13:18  

#1  Last guy with a full mag wins!
Posted by: retired LEO   2011-03-31 13:09  

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