Not surprising, Qadaffy's primary opponents are al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood.who are also leading the Arab "Spring" in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen. Good going, Obama.
B http://news.yahoo.com/spain-al-qaida-possibly-buying-libyan-war-weapons-1357 38437.html Spain: al-Qaida possibly buying Libyan war weapons <http://www.ap.org/> APBy CIARAN GILES - Associated Press | AP - 41 mins ago MADRID (AP) - Sophisticated Libyan army weapons are being trafficked and possibly sold to al-Qaida's affiliate in North Africa, giving the group the potential to increase instability in a key part of the continent, Spain's interior minister said Thursday. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQMI, is a growing menace that could conceivably spread outside its natural homeground of the Sahel region of Africa unless Western countries step up efforts to counter it. The West considers North Africa, which is just across the Mediterranean from Europe, as vital in the fight against terrorism. Algeria, where an Islamist insurgency erupted in 1992 with sporadic attacks continuing, has become a key U.S. ally in the anti-terrorism battle. Rubalcaba briefed reporters during a break in a meeting with colleagues from five other EU countries and U.S. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano. The countries agreed among other things to set up a permanent coordination mechanism for their countries' liaison people in the Sahel region - the vast, bone-dry stretch of land just below sub-Saharan Africa that includes countries such as Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Chad. They also agreed to reach out to the African Union to step up joint counterterrorism efforts, Perez Rubalcaba said. Perez Rubalcaba said fairly sophisticated weapons from Libyan army forces fighting to keep Moammar Gadhafi in power as rebel forces try to oust him are being sold by traffickers at Libya's southern border and possibly ending up in the hands of AQMI. "The Libyan crisis is having an influence on AQMI," he said. "One that we find particularly negative is the possible appearance of arms from the Libyan army, or what remains of it, in the hands of terrorists." The Libyan civil war is giving AQMI potential to increase its influence in the Sahel region, where it is active after having first surfaced in Algeria. "Organized crime would probably grow because it is clear they are linked, and risks for Europe and the United States would grow," Perez Rubalcaba said. Besides Rubalcaba and Napolitano, the meeting was attended by representatives of Italy, Germany, France, Britain and Poland. Napolitano stressed the need to step up security against terrorists targeting the transport of goods across the world. "The global supply chain security issue is one of our priorities," Napolitano told The AP in an interview. "We had been working on this before last October but when AQAP - al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula - had hidden bombs in two toner cartridges that were put in air cargo it illustrated that they were willing to try to blow up a plane, be it a passenger plane or a cargo plane. So we accelerated our efforts in this regard." Napolitano said material confiscated at the compound where Osama bin Laden had been living in Pakistan - and killed in a U.S. raid in early May - confirmed Washington was on the right track, adding that the material mentioned surface transportation as a target for attack. She said the U.S. government was in contact with domestic and international air, land and sea transport institutions to see how best to minimize this threat. "There's much that can be done," she said. "The movement of cargo around the world supplies the international economy and you have got to make sure that there is security in that movement because jobs depend on it, manufacturing depends on it." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** 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: osint-dig...@yahoogroups.com osint-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
