U.S. Sending More Contractors to Secure Libya’s Weapons Stockpile

[alp227]

Source: NYT

WASHINGTON — The State Department is sending dozens of American contractors to Libya to help that country’s fledgling efforts to track down and destroy heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles looted from government stockpiles that could be used against civilian airliners.

The contractors, weapons and explosives specialists, are part of a growing $30 million American program to secure Libya’s conventional weapons arsenal, which was ransacked during the fall of the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

American and other Western officials are especially concerned that as weapons slip from state custody, they can be easily sold through black markets to other countries, fueling regional wars or arming terrorist groups. Analysts are particularly worried about the dispersal of the SA-7, an early-generation, shoulder-fired missile in the same family as the more widely known Stinger.

“We are very concerned about the threat that’s posed,” Andrew Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told reporters on Friday after meetings in Brussels.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/world/africa/us-sending-contractors-to-secure-libyas-weapons.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. More "contractors", eh?

Wonder if this has to do with the 200 "armed" military personnell going into four other African countries. Nah, perish the thought.


Unintended consequences?

[ChandlerJr]

2. I suppose if they're only wearing flip-flops it will at least

fulfill the spirit of the intent.

[bluesbassman]

3. In light of historical events, "contractors" and "secure" don't belong in the same sentence. n/t

[zalinda]

4. How much is this costing us?

The regular army could have done this for 1/10 the cost, but now Obama can say our army isn't officially there. Yeah, but we pay them just the same, and they aren't accountable like our army would be.

I'm sick of this shit.

zalinda

[Mimosa]

5. CIA budget isn't open to scrutiny

And the mercs are hired through the CIA and NSA.

A friend of mine had connections. Over the past few years he showed me the highly paid job opportunities offered through websites which hire all sorts of 'specialists' to work these overseas missions. The range of jobs was fairly wide. Earlier this year on 2 Brit and American sites there were about 90,000 job opportunities available. For most applicants would need basic security clearances and be willing to travel. Countries mentioned were Iraq, Afghanistan and certain areas in Africa. This has been brewing for a while.

A Brit friend told me if the US and UK do not secure the supplies of natural resources necessary for our future the Chinses certainly will, and then we'll be in worse economic straits than we are now.

My ex-military friends don't ever buy the 'humanitarian' sugar coating explanations. They say everybody in the military knows 'we' are fighting for 'our way of life' materially and we civilians ought to face up to the fact there's nothing wrong with fighting for what our nations require. 'It's the way of the world, always has been.' Well, at least if the politicians put it like that we could decide our opsitions based on truthful information.