Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Hifter Failed

No, that is not a typo and it's all relative, isn't it?

"Newly elected Libyan lawmakers meet amid chaos

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — More than three-quarters of Libya's newly elected parliament met for the first time Saturday in a city chosen by a prominent anti-Islamist politician, likely signaling a swing against Islamists and extremist militias amid violence unseen since the 2011 civil war that toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The 152 lawmakers met in Tobrouk as rival militias battled for control over the international airport in the capital, Tripoli, with their fire setting more oil depots ablaze. Meanwhile in Libya's second-largest city of Benghazi, forces loyal to a renegade general were dealt heavy blow after the Islamist militias overran several army bases and took control of the city."

the greatest challenge for a country still largely at war with itself.

"Police building in Benghazi nearly flattened" Associated Press   August 02, 2014

BENGHAZI, Libya — A strong explosion ripped through the main police building in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi early on Friday, nearly flattening it, days after Islamic militias overran army barracks and claimed control of the city.

The police headquarters has been empty for several days after militias pounded it with shelling.

Friday’s blast appeared to be from explosives planted inside the building, said witnesses at the site. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety....

A coalition of Islamic militias over the past week captured a number of army bases in Benghazi, driving out troops and police and seizing large weapons stores. The fighting takes place at a time that rival militias in Tripoli have been battling for weeks over control of its airport.

The spiral of violence in the country’s two main cities could be sparking a popular backlash, with calls for large rallies on Friday to protest against militias and demand the return of the police and military.

‘‘It’s time for a popular uprising to rescue Libya,’’ said Abdel-Moneim al-Yassir, a lawmaker in the outgoing Parliament and head of its National Security Committee.

That is what is happening.

--more--"

Related:

Oil depot fire rages amid clashes in Libyan capital

Meanwhile, Egyptian ambassador to Libya Mohammed Abu Bakr, who runs the embassy’s affairs from the Foreign Ministry in Cairo, denied on Monday that there were some Egyptian nationals among the 23 people killed when a rocket slammed into a house in Tripoli on Saturday.

Related: Egyptian president decries attack that killed 22 soldiers on Libyan border

It was at the border post in el-Wadi el-Gadid, Egypt’s largest province bordering Libya and Sudan and it seems that "the chaos has unnerved Libya’s neighbors, including Egypt, which has expressed alarm about militant groups operating on Libyan soil."

The fighting in Tripoli is partly inspired by the campaign of Libyan troops loyal to former General Khalifa Hifter, who vowed in May to rid the country of Islamist militias. Hifter and his self-proclaimed national army have focused their fight in Benghazi, where daily battles with the militias have become stalemated. Hifter has won support from Libyans who fear the influence of extremists, especially in eastern Libya. But his campaign has also stirred new divisions and violence, across the country.

He's the renegade general and ‘‘American agent’’ who more than two months ago started his offensive to crush Islamist militias and their political backers. Hifter once served as dictator Moammar Khadafy’s top military official but later defected and spent years in the United States, though American officials say they have not been in recent contact with him

And if you believe that I have some of Saddam's nuclear bombs to sell you.

Also see:

Militia gunfire in Libya capital as inferno rages
UN mission evacuates from Libya
Battle for Libyan airport kills 3
Clashes between rival militias in Libya kill 47
22 die as militias vie for Libyan airport
Libya’s militias lay claim to Benghazi

Tripoli residents said fuel and gasoline shortages were worsening, and food prices had leaped.

Also see: Libya U.S.'s Latest Coup 

Not going to well, either.


Must be Libya:

New testimony suggests 2 groups attacked in Benghazi
Military leaders cite lack of data in Benghazi response

Looks like a stand-down order to me.

What happened there rises to the level of impeachment, and I don't care what patsy they claim to have caught, especially when he is being tortured at sea. It's obvious that it is one more attempt at public relations diversion.

"Captured Benghazi attack suspect pleads not guilty" by Eric Schmitt and Michael S. Schmidt | New York Times   June 29, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Libyan militia leader suspected of playing a central role in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador, entered a plea of not guilty through his lawyer Saturday.

The suspect, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was flown to Washington by helicopter shortly after sunrise from a Navy warship where he had been held since his capture two weeks ago in Libya by US Special Operations forces. Abu Khattala appeared for arraignment before a magistrate in the federal courthouse in Washington.

The plea of not guilty was in response to a single charge of conspiracy.

That's it?

Abu Khattala wore a black hooded shirt and dark pants during the arraignment, which lasted about 10 minutes. He is next scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a detention hearing, followed by a July 8 status hearing.

The Justice Department has charged Abu Khattala with three counts in connection with the attacks on the US mission in Benghazi and a nearby CIA facility on Sept. 11, 2012. The attacks resulted in the death of the US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.

Moving Abu Khattala to Washington to face charges was a significant step forward for the Obama administration. It had been criticized for moving too slowly to apprehend suspects, with Democrats and Republicans injecting partisan statements into the debate about embassy security and accurate assessments of militant threats.

Some also criticized the administration’s decision to prosecute Abu Khattala in civilian court rather than through the military tribunal system at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Related: The Real Motive For The Obama Administration’s Recent Arrest 

It's never what the paper tells you!

Current and former senior US law enforcement officials briefed on the government’s investigation of Abu Khattala said the next phase of the case — proving the charges against him in federal court — would be particularly challenging because the attacks occurred in a country that is not friendly to the United States.

FBI investigators were not able to visit the crime scenes in Benghazi to collect evidence until several weeks after the attacks because of concerns about security there. The case also relies on testimony from Libyan witnesses who will most likely have to be flown to the United States to testify and who might not hold up well to being cross-examined.

Yet law enforcement officials have confidence in the work.

“We have plenty of evidence to convict this guy,” one senior official said. “Now it’s just a matter of getting him to the courthouse.”

“Abu Khattala’s public defender, Michelle Peterson, did not contest the motion to hold her client without bond, given his status as a foreign national and the terrorism-related charge against him. She also protested that prosecutors have offered her almost no information about their case. “There’s an utter lack of evidence of Mr. Khattala’s involvement in what happened in Benghazi,’’ she said. “It’s incredibly difficult for us to defend Mr. Khattala against the charges against him.”

Why would anyone ever believe a "senior US official?"

The hostile environment in Libya and the difficulty of tracking down and interviewing all the witnesses were among the reasons the investigation took so long, even amid reports that Abu Khattala was meeting with reporters for drinks to discuss the attacks after they occurred.

But the U.S government couldn't find them.

“We were dealing with one of the most nonpermissive environments at the time, and our guys were able to put together a case,” the senior official said.

While US intelligence agencies were able to intercept electronic conversations that could help the investigation, their classified nature makes them problematic to use in a public criminal trial, officials said.

This is such crap! 


It was OVER in LIBYA, fer chrissake!

The case is expected to be presented mainly on eyewitness accounts and video from the scene. Hundreds of hours of video from security cameras and other sources were analyzed to produce a narrative of the time leading up to the attacks, the siege of the mission and the CIA annex, and the aftermath, one of the officials said.

“The Department of Justice bats nearly 1,000 percent with these types of extraterritorial cases, but that’s because they put in so much diligence on the front end of the investigations,” said Neil H. MacBride, who was the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2009 to 2013.

“You don’t go to the other side of the world to grab someone without knowing that there is a high probability of a conviction,” MacBride said.

The Justice Department “rarely asks the Department of Defense to grab someone,” he said. “And the Department of Defense isn’t going to put its Special Operations forces on the ground without a high degree of certainty about a case.”

Yeah, anyone they grab is guilty anyway.

--more--"

Don't you guys ever get tired of shoveling shovelfuls of government shit?

Also see:

Libyan political activist kidnapped
Noted female activist killed in Libya
Amid turmoil, Libya holds Parliament elections

That's the answer to everything.