The Soviet occupation in Afghanistan was a long and stalwart war to install a generational subset of communist footprint in the region where defeat was predictable as the CIA aided in the quest against the Soviets. Part of the Clinton objective was to arm key factions to fend off the Soviets and it was successful. As the full retreat by the Soviets was underway, al Qaeda and the Taliban were soon in full possession of weapons that the United States had provided over the years to the opposition and this would soon become a major threat to the West. The cure was to dial up big dollars and go on a buy back mission to get the weapons out of the hands of militants. As the Soviets left Afghanistan, behind in their wake were the huge caches of aging weapons and ammunition coupled with what the American intelligence community provided. Everyone was armed with immunity. Failure
Looking over to Libya, Qaddafi during his reign, set on a quest to obtain his own arsenal that included not only millions of weapons from small arms and rocket propelled grenades, Russian shoulder fired SA-24 missiles but included a nuclear ambition as well. Foreign leaders pressed Qaddafi only on the nuclear ambition and he capitulated but all other weapons including the MANPADS and surface to air missiles arsenal was left out of the process deal.
Last year, as the mission was underway to remove Qaddafi from power, definite confusion set in and all armories were raided by unique militias across Libya. All weapons were stolen and taken to destinations unknown. Qaddafi spent an estimated $30 billion in the span of twenty five years on conventional weapons from the USSR, China via Algeria and even Belarus. Included in this stout purchasing campaign were planes and communications equipment.
In the world of arms trafficking, black markets and jihad, members of these groups know full well the movement of weapons and maintain a keen eye for the vulnerability to steal or purchase them at discounted prices and such was the case during the regime change objective to remove Qaddafi from power. Libya experienced huge infiltration of underworld terror groups such as al Qaeda, Boko Harem, pirates from Somalia and militias sneaking into Qaddafi’s inventory. Weapons did leave Libya, but it is unknown just what remained in country. Of particular importance are the 20,000 MANPADS of which today, only 5000 have been recovered. Enter the United States with a large purse of allocated $40 million to search for weapons and to buy back large numbers while tracing and tracking the sources and associations of the groups. To be sure, a few other countries did in fact donate much smaller dollars to support the mission.
Transitional fighters and jihadist across the region have no loyalty to a country or flag but only to a cause that includes that of AQIM, al Shabaab, AQAP and Ansar al Sharia to list only a few. The groups transit borders from North Africa to Syria with some number and variations of these weapons from Libya. Since the removal of Qaddafi, Libya has no cohesive government in place and Benghazi is a perfect product of lawlessness and confusion.
It should also be known and understood that communications between and among the leadership of terror networks is performed on the internet with the less sophistication occurring on dynamic chat rooms and websites. However the most clandestine communications are found on gaming sites where open chatter, instructions and planning takes place under the guise and cover of video games and such is the case in the matter of weapons and terror attacks we are witnessing in the Middle East.
One of the four murdered in Benghazi was Sean Smith, who was known for his online gaming and social media skills. He and Ambassador Stevens as well as the two other special operators from Wind Zero were executing a CIA and State Department mission to track now only Qaddafi weapons but to trace any and all weapons trafficking in the regions. Smith was the information officer at the Benghazi mission and likely was too close to having uncovered intelligence that pinpointed key players both in and outside of Libya. Intelligence was shared with the CIA who does enforce the drone program where the U.S. had and still does have a function drone operation that began during the mission to remove Qaddafi.
The single Obama method of processing the ‘kill list’ is to use drone strikes and having proven intelligence as provided by Sean Smith and the two retired SEALS via Wind Zero connecting the dots of weapons, money and names led to the violent event and their deaths in Benghazi. It was never about a video that was concocted by the State Department and provided as an excuse to be accepted for all radical Muslims and terror factions.
Notes of Reference:
http://www.eurasiareview.com/09062012-an-arms-buyback-for-libya-analysis/
