Thanks To U.S. Interference, Libya Is Now A ‘High-Threat’ Nation
In a recently released report on terrorism, the State Department concludes that Libya is now a high-threat, fractured nation where “violent extremists” run rampant and export terrorism, weapons are on the loose and porous borders are partially controlled by Islamic brigades.
The document serves as a major departure from the reported trends of 2011, when Libya was hailed by the Obama administration as the lynchpin of the so-called “Arab Spring,” a country ripe for democratization and the Western-style rule of law.
On April 30, the State Department submitted its “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013” to the U.S. Congress as required by law, an annual assessment of “trends and events in international terrorism” that occurred from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2013.
A summary states: “In Libya, lack of countrywide security coverage contributed to a high threat environment. Libya’s weak security institutions, coupled with ready access to loose weapons and porous borders, provided violent extremists significant opportunities to act and plan operations.”
The full document warns that Libya is proving a “permissive environment for terrorists,” listing several factors that caused the dangerous state of affairs, including:
- “A central government with weak institutions and only tenuous control over its expansive territory”;
- “The ubiquity of uncontrolled weapons and ammunition; porous and inaccessible borders”;
- “Heavily armed militias and tribes with varying loyalties and agendas.”
Unmentioned in the document is the State Department’s direct role in the weapons proliferation in Libya.
Working with NATO, the U.S. reportedly supplied vast quantities of weapons to the rebels fighting to depose Muammar Khaddafi’s regime.
Since the fall of Khaddafi, there have been numerous reports of U.S.-coordinated arms shipments from Libya to the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
This journalist was first to report that the attacked U.S. special mission in Benghazi served as a headquarters for meetings that helped to coordinate aid, including weapons transfers, to the Mideast rebels, with murdered Ambassador Christopher Stevens playing a central role.