http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2011/05_25/2.asp
U.S. intelligence confirms Al Qaida moving missiles out of Libya WASHINGTON - The United States has been tracking the flow of missiles from Libya amid the revolt against Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Officials said the U.S. intelligence community has confirmed reports that Al Qaida and other insurgents were procuring and transferring surface-to-air and other missiles from Libya to destinations throughout North Africa. They said the most dangerous of these missiles were called man-portable air defense systems, known as MANPADS. "The [State] department should be in contact with neighboring countries to exercise vigilance in locating and securing any missiles that may be transiting out of Libya," Rep. Edward Royce wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, called on the administration of President Barack Obama to press the Libyan rebels to tighten their control over captured Libyan military arsenals. The California Republican also urged the administration to launch what he called an "missile destruction and recovery program" in any post-Gadhafi Libya. Officials said the United States has estimated that Libya held more than 20,000 short-range surface-to-air missiles. They said many of these SAMs, identified as the Russian-origin SA-7, SA-14 and SA-16, have been captured by rebel forces and could threaten regional and Western aircraft. "Many of those [SAMs] we know are now not accounted for, and that's going to be a concern for some period of time," Gen. Carter Ham, head of the U.S. Africa Command, said. The administration has formed a task force to monitor the SAM threat from Libya. Officials said the panel was directed by the State Department and contained arms control and other officers. Officials said a key concern was that Al Qaida would acquire longer-range SAMs recently supplied by Russia. They cited the SA-24, said to contain an interception range of 3.3 kilometers and deemed a threat to fixed-wing aircraft. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
