Qaddafi’s Arms Bazaar, Slowly Exposed

[tabatha]

Of the heads of state closely associated with the underground arms trade, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has long been a veritable case study. His deep pockets of oil revenue, combined with his ambitions to be a regional power broker, spiced with his on-and-off role as supporter of nationalist movements elsewhere, has made him a prominent and persistent figure in an often shadowy game.

Take a look at the photograph at the top of this post. It shows crates bearing the stenciled markings “Parts of Tractor.” Guess what is not inside. Tractor parts, unless you consider 107-millimeter Chinese high-explosive Katyusha rockets to be tractor parts. Notice as well the other stenciled print: “GSPLAJ.” That stands for Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the official name of Libya under Colonel Qaddafi. These munitions were confiscated in Congo in 2007, found in the possession of a rebel group whose leader is on trial for war crimes.

....

The eruption of fighting in recent weeks, and the looting of many government arsenals, has provided fresh peeks at Libyan accumulations and the perils they can pose. The New York Times and the At War blog looked last week at the potential threats from the SA-7 man-portable air-defense systems now loose in Libya. . Today, we present two interesting items about other sightings of Libyan arms in recent years, from sources and researchers who cover the arms trade, which provide insight into how Colonel Qaddafi has acquired his arsenal and used it, and with whom he has been engaged. The picture, if only partial, is not pretty.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/qaddafis-arms-bazaar-slowly-exposed/?partner=rss&emc=rss

[Alamuti Lotus]

1. a clandestine Libyan arms shipment to a Congo rebel warlord...all in English?

that was very nice of them, and made it easy for the NYT to blog about.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. There is a reason for that

a lot of the shipping done is done in english...

Notice that grammatically it has a few issues.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Very interesting article. Thanks for posting the link. n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Looks like CIA supplied information to me.