AP Exclusive: US General Sees End to Libya Mission..... [Archive]

MMC

10-02-2011, 02:05 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-us-general-sees-end-libya-mission-164050017.html
AP – 10 hrs ago.....

WASHINGTON (AP) — The military mission in Libya is largely complete and NATO's involvement could begin to wrap up as soon as this coming week after allied leaders meet in Brussels, according to the top U.S. commander for Africa.

Army Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command, told The Associated Press that American military leaders are expected to give NATO ministers their assessment of the situation during meetings late in the week.

When NATO makes its decision, Ham said he believes there would be a seamless transition of control over the air and maritime operations to U.S. Africa Command. And, at least initially, some of the military surveillance coverage would remain in place.

"We don't want to go from what's there now to zero overnight," Ham said. "There will be some missions that will need to be sustained for some period of time, if for no other reason than to offer assurances to the interim government for things like border security, until such time that they are ready to do all that themselves."

U.S. intelligence and surveillance assets, such as drones, will likely stay in the region also to keep watch over weapons caches, to prevent the proliferation of weapons from Libya into neighboring countries.....snip~

AP Exclusive..... ??? Read it and weep boys and girls. Notice the wording and terminology. Who was it that stated this would go on even after NATO pulled up? Hand off to who? Hrmmmpf. >:( There goes all that talk about no interests.....huh? >:D

waltky

10-22-2012, 10:49 PM

And here dey had us fightin' fer democracy...
:shocked:
Libya Grand Mufti: Remove References to Democracy and Religious Freedom From School Textbooks
October 19, 2012 – The Libya Herald reported on Thursday that the “Fatwa Office” has asked the Ministry of Education in Libya to remove passages related to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks.

“Libya’s Dar Al-Ifta’ (the Fatwa office), presided by Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani, has called on the Ministry of Education to remove passages relating to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks,” the article states. The article also reports that the religious official asked for “clarification” as to why extracts of the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah had been deleted. The Sunnah is the second book for Islam jurisprudence after the Quran, according to scholars.

The article cited reporting from LANA, the state-approved news outlet. “According to official news agency LANA, the Fatwa office issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Grand Mufti had published an article entitled The Curriculum and the Instilling of Values in which he highlighted a number of criticisms of the new school syllabus textbooks for the current academic year,” the report states.

“The first was about the deletion of some of the Prophet’s Sunnah within the Islamic education syllabus, and the second addressed the two paragraphs included in the basic education textbooks about religious freedom and democracy,” stated the Libya Herald. “The statement said, according to LANA, that the Ministry of Education had responded positively to the remarks made by the Grand Mufti and had promised to investigate the reasons behind the absence of the Sunnah texts from the Islamic education curriculum,” said the newspaper.

MORE (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/libya-grand-mufti-remove-references-democracy-and-religious-freedom-school-textbooks)

See also:

Analysis: Five weeks on, confusion and contradictions on Benghazi suspects
October 19th, 2012 - Five weeks after terrorists stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, confusion over the nature of the attack, the extent to which it was planned and the identity of the perpetrators seems as pervasive as ever.

The latest in the conflicting reports coming out of the country: the naming of Ahmed Abu Khattala as a suspect in the assault that left four Americans dead. Abu Khattala was identified in published reports this week as the leader of Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist group widely suspected to be involved in the consulate attack.

Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported Wednesday that Abu Khattala was at the consulate while the attack was unfolding. "Witnesses ... have said they saw Mr. Abu Khattala leading the assault," The New York Times reported.

But some sources in Benghazi say they doubt Abu Khattala had such a role, telling CNN that he is neither the leader of Ansar al-Sharia nor currently connected with other jihadist groups. Two sources in Benghazi contacted by CNN describe Abu Khattala as conservative but not a jihadist. They say they had previously heard nothing about his being a suspect in the attack.

That view was echoed by Hamad Bugrain, a spokesman for the February 17 Brigade, who denied that Abu Khattala led the attack and said he "is no longer active in any military service or in any brigades." February 17th is considered one of the more effective units in Benghazi and intervened to help Americans trapped at the consulate's annex building on the night of the attack. Bugrain added that Abu Khattala had been connected to Ansar al-Sharia at some point but he now has a "normal lifestyle".

MORE (http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/19/confusion-and-contradictions-on-benghazi-suspects/)