FWIW, here is the apparent state of play of the official NYT account regarding shipment of weapons to the rebels: [...] The first concrete report of weapons from foreign donors reaching the rebels came Tuesday, but significantly, that shipment, 400 AK-47 rifles, did not go through either of the two generals claiming to be the leader of the rebels. Instead, they went directly to a civilian, Fawzi Bukatef, a petroleum engineer who has been training other civilians.
Mr. Bukatef said he had just sent 400 freshly armed volunteers to the front with the new weapons he had received from the unnamed donor - widely believed to be Qatar, which has freely acknowledged its intention to send weapons to the rebels. He knows both generals, he said, and feels let down by both. [...] - As British Help Libyan Rebels, Aid Goes To A Divided Force Rod Nordland, New York Times, April 19, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/world/africa/20benghazi.html Earlier, there was a WSJ report of Egypt "secretly" supplying weapons to the rebels. On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 5:36 PM, ken hanly <[email protected]> wrote: > For some time there have been arms coming in from Egypt with the approval of > the U.S. I saw an actual video clip of humanitarian aid being offloaded in > Misrate. Along with the aid they showed crates with weapons! Qatar has already > made an oil deal which will see a shipment of oil traded for money to buy > weapons. > > Interestingly enough of the two main rebel leaders one had served Gadaffi for > many years but the other is probably a CIA operative. He led an earlier > rebellion and led an incursion into Chad for Gadaffi and then changed sides > and > had his own militia in Chad. He went to the US and lived in Virginia and > worked > for the opposition probably tied in with the CIA then. Now he is suddenly > jettisoned into a leadership role. > See: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUFH362cQuU&feature=player_detailpage > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html > http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8630903-khalifa-hifter-new-rebel-military-commander-may-have-ties-to-cia > > > Cheers, ken > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Paul Cockshott <[email protected]> > To: Progressive Economics <[email protected]> > Sent: Wed, April 20, 2011 4:25:57 PM > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] When did nato start supplying arms to the rebels > > I know Libyans who are strong supporters of the rebellion, and in their > situation that is understandable. However, having memories of the propaganda > campaigns that preceded previous British interventions in the middle east, I > am > suspicious of the whole thing. The rebel movement looks to me like Northern > Alliance Mk II. > > On the FN rifles I see the Wikepedia page on the FN lists both Libya and the > Libyan rebels as users of the rifle. It is possible that they were supplied by > the British prior to 1973. I will ask a Libyan friend what firearm they were > trained on the days of their army service. > The video however did not rest the case just on the FN rifles but on a variety > of other western weapons and the apparent presence of trainers who did not > look > Libyan. > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Louis Proyect [[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 4:49 PM > To: Progressive Economics > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] When did nato start supplying arms to the rebels > > On 4/20/11 11:21 AM, Carrol Cox wrote: >> The U.S. and EU have never once given support to an actual democratic >> movement in any of the world's weaker nations. The question posed idn >> teh subject line is redundant since it is a given that a movement >> supported in any way by the EU or US is not a democratic movement. The >> very existence of a debate among leftists on this topic is immenselly >> sdaddening. > > The debate has never been about intervention. It has been about the > character of the Qaddafi government. By analogy, I had debates with > Michael Karadjis of the Australian DSP over Milosevic, whether he was > trying to preserve Titoism in some fashion or not, etc. But neither > Karadjis or I supported NATO's war. > > The problem we are facing in the current debate is that some elements of > the pro-Qaddafi left are reluctant to come out and say that he is "one > of us" so their emphasis is more on how rotten his enemies are. I regard > this approach as cheap demagogy. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
