About Libya

[Annie]

NYT has an interesting take on the change of heart of Libya's Qaddafi:

yesterday's announcement also demonstrates the value of diplomacy and United Nations sanctions as a tool against weapons proliferation. Combatting current proliferation dangers in North Korea and Iran, and future threats elsewhere, will require a deft combination of approaches. Ideally, as in the case of Libya, solutions will be reached well short of war.

That's in the concluding paragraph of an editorial regarding US/UK role, where they concede that:

Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair are entitled to claim a large share of the credit for Libya's surprising announcement. To an extent that cannot be precisely measured, the fate of Saddam Hussein, who was ousted from power by the American military with British backing after endless prevaricating about Iraqi weapons programs, must have been an important consideration in Libya's decision.

The NYT's attempts to twist what has been going on, just illuminates the 'cascading effect', put forward by Austin Bay here, http://www.strategypage.com/onpoint/articles/20031218.asp and also covered on NPR radio yesterday.

It just makes on figure, it must suk to be a liberal/democrat/internationist right now. In the past month the US economy appears to be ready to explode. In spite of the 'amateurist' handling of DOD and State, France and Germany have both agreed to a restructuring/forgiveness of some debt, regarding Iraq. Saddam is caught. Unemployment is down and the markets are up and rising. The UN is appearing ever more irrelevant via their pullout in Iraq and threatened pull out in the multi-lateralist sanctioned Afghanist-and it's their own fault.

 

[nbdysfu]

**Excerpt From**
General Plans Changes in Afghan Strategy
38 minutes ago
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/ap/20031220/ap_on_re_as/afghan_us_commander
By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
...
Attacks have forced the United Nations (news - web sites) and other aid groups to withdraw from some regions, undermining aid delivery and confidence in the reconstruction efforts of the U.S.-backed government ahead of elections slated for June.


The United Nations has even accused the U.S. military of playing into the hands of Taliban agitators in its hunt for terror suspects, with two botched raids that killed 15 Afghan children earlier this month.


In a bid to deliver more aid to impoverished civilians, the United States and allies including Britain and New Zealand have set up nine joint civilian-military units charged with creating islands of stability across the country.


So far, most of the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams are in relatively secure regions. Now, the U.S. military is deploying teams across a broad swath of the country dominated by Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group from which the hardline Islamic Taliban draw their main support.


Barno, who took command of the 11,000-strong U.S. force here on Nov. 27, said there will be at least 12 such reconstruction teams by March and more later, including dangerous missions in the capitals of Zabul and Uruzgan provinces that were shunned by aid groups because Taliban militants reportedly roam freely.


"We are looking at a significant alteration of our strategy in the south and east," Barno said at his office in the fortified U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul.


The military teams will help distribute reconstruction aid bolstered by an extra $1.2 billion recently released by the U.S. Congress.


That aid, combined with the opening of the south and east by a string of new military operations, will cause "a dramatic change in the amount of involvement of the people in that area in support of the central government and the future of Afghanistan," Barno said.


Aid groups worry that their attempts to remain independent in the eyes of Afghans, including Taliban sympathizers, has been compromised by U.S. involvement in delivering assistance.


But Barno suggested it was time for relief groups to accept that they could not be neutral after a stream of deliberate attacks on de-miners and well-diggers, and said he hoped aid workers would return to Pashtun areas.


"They probably have to, and they are, realizing that they are now operating in a different world," he said.
...
At least 11 aid workers have been killed in attacks this year, including a French U.N. refugee worker who was gunned down at short range by suspected Taliban in the eastern city of Ghazni in November.

The top U.N. official in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, warned last week that the world body may have to abandon its two-year effort to help reconstruct the war-battered country unless security improves.

Barno said insurgents were reduced to "very small and very focused" attacks. "As this future continues to unfold, the terrorist organizations are challenged to show that they exist at all."

 

[waltky]

Might be why gas has gone up here...

Libyan militias seize control of major oil terminals
Mar 3,`17 -- Libyan militias occupied major oil terminals on Friday after clashes with armed forces based in the east and commanded by army chief Gen. Khalifa Hifter, military officials said, amid fears the facilitates could sustain serious damage if the clashes escalate. At least nine soldiers were killed.

Faisal al-Zwei, the spokesman for the 101 Brigade, based at the so-called oil crescent region, told The Associated Press that some 1,000 militiamen in 200 vehicles clashed with the eastern armed forces over the oil terminals of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf on Friday, forcing the army units to retreat. He said the militias were joined by fighters loyal to eastern militia commander Ibrahim Jedran, the secessionist fighter who took over and oversaw the terminals until Hifter's forces seized them last year. Mohammed al-Basit, the brigade's commander, confirmed the report. The militias, known as Benghazi Defense Brigades, are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels who were recently defeated by Hifter's forces in Benghazi, Libya' second largest city. They were joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata.

Al-Zwei said that the militias advanced on four fronts, despite airstrikes waged by Hifter's air forces. Hifter's army is allied to the internationally-recognized parliament based in eastern Libya. The internationally-recognized government based in the capital Tripoli- which is opposed to Hifter- condemned the fighting and said it has no role in it, according to a statement released by the so-called Presidency Council - the United Nations-brokered body tasked to form the government and which enjoys presidential powers. Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari said that the forces' decision to retreat was taken to avoid destruction of the oil facilities.

The commander of the oil guards Mufah al-Megarif said that a total of nine soldiers were killed in the fighting. Al-Mosmari said one of the wounded soldiers was shot to death by the militias. Libya has descended into chaos since the 2011 civil war, which ended with the killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country has been split into two competing parliaments and governments, each backed by a set of militias, tribes and political factions. This is not the first time the oil terminals have changed hands in the past three years, heavily impacting the oil production that was finally increasing as it reached 700,000 barrels a day in February.

News from The Associated Press

 

[Marion Morrison]

Might be why gas has gone up here...

Libyan militias seize control of major oil terminals
Mar 3,`17 -- Libyan militias occupied major oil terminals on Friday after clashes with armed forces based in the east and commanded by army chief Gen. Khalifa Hifter, military officials said, amid fears the facilitates could sustain serious damage if the clashes escalate. At least nine soldiers were killed.

Faisal al-Zwei, the spokesman for the 101 Brigade, based at the so-called oil crescent region, told The Associated Press that some 1,000 militiamen in 200 vehicles clashed with the eastern armed forces over the oil terminals of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf on Friday, forcing the army units to retreat. He said the militias were joined by fighters loyal to eastern militia commander Ibrahim Jedran, the secessionist fighter who took over and oversaw the terminals until Hifter's forces seized them last year. Mohammed al-Basit, the brigade's commander, confirmed the report. The militias, known as Benghazi Defense Brigades, are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels who were recently defeated by Hifter's forces in Benghazi, Libya' second largest city. They were joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata.

Al-Zwei said that the militias advanced on four fronts, despite airstrikes waged by Hifter's air forces. Hifter's army is allied to the internationally-recognized parliament based in eastern Libya. The internationally-recognized government based in the capital Tripoli- which is opposed to Hifter- condemned the fighting and said it has no role in it, according to a statement released by the so-called Presidency Council - the United Nations-brokered body tasked to form the government and which enjoys presidential powers. Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari said that the forces' decision to retreat was taken to avoid destruction of the oil facilities.

The commander of the oil guards Mufah al-Megarif said that a total of nine soldiers were killed in the fighting. Al-Mosmari said one of the wounded soldiers was shot to death by the militias. Libya has descended into chaos since the 2011 civil war, which ended with the killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country has been split into two competing parliaments and governments, each backed by a set of militias, tribes and political factions. This is not the first time the oil terminals have changed hands in the past three years, heavily impacting the oil production that was finally increasing as it reached 700,000 barrels a day in February.

News from The Associated Press

Grab some of those good Libya links from the other place and post them here, please.

I do miss that stuff. Not enough to go back on my word.