What was US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, doing in
Benghazi without adequate security that led to his murder? What was so
important that caused him travel from Tripoli to insecure Benghazi on 9/11?
There is speculation that he was in Benghazi to arrange
the transportation of weapons from post-Gaddafi, crisis-stricken, and unruly,
Libya to war-torn Syria. The altruistic reasoning behind the transfer of
weapons is to make Libya more stable by denuding it of its weapon stockpile while
helping the Syrian rebels overturn the Assad regime.
Catherine Herridge of Fox News, researching shipping records,
confirmed that a Libyan ship, the ‘Al Entisar,’ sailed from Libya and
entered the Turkish port of Iskenderun, thirty five miles from the Syrian
border, on September 6. This was just five days before Stevens was killed.
On 9/11, Stevens’ last official duty was a meeting with
Ali Sait Akin, the Turkish Consul-General, at the US Consulate. This was the
main reason for the Ambassador’s visit to Benghazi.
At the end of his meeting, he escorted his Turkish guest
to the gates of the compound. This was one hour before the start of the terror
attack that left him and three other Americans dead.
Retired Admiral and former head of the Pacific Fleet,
James Lyons, claims that “one of Stevens’ main missions in Libya was to
facilitate the transfer of much of Gaddafi’s military equipment, including the
deadly SA7 portable SAMS (hand-held anti-aircraft missiles) to Islamists and
other Al-Qaeda affiliated groups fighting the Assad regime in Syria.”
Former CIA Director, Porter Goss, told Fox News that
there was no question that some of the weapons that flooded Libya during the
uprising are making their way to Syria and that the CIA knows about it.
A former CIA officer and now Senior fellow at the center
of Security Policy, Clare Lopez, claims that two large warehouse-type buildings
linked to the US Consulate in Benghazi were raided during the 9/11 terror
attack and they may have contained weapons.
All this was confirmed by the New York Times who reported
on October 14 that “most of the arms shipped to supply Syrian rebel groups
fighting the government of Basher Assad are going to hardline Islamist
jihadists and not to the more secular opposition groups that the West want to
bolster.”
Is the Obama Administration engaged in gun-running
between Libya and Syria? Somehow, America’s and Israel’s enemies are being
strengthened with a huge arsenal that may be used against us in the future.
With this is mind, is it not time to question and
investigate a dangerous covert policy that puts us in jeopardy?
Although the State Department denies that Stevens was
involved in weapon transfers we are reminded that Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton, announced in November 2011, in Tripoli, that the US was committing $40
million “to help Libya secure and recover its weapons stockpiles.”
Surely it is time to ask for a progress report and the
official records of this mission to date? What weapons have been recovered, and
where are they now? Are they securely in American hands? Or have they been
shipped to dangerous extremists in Syria?
A shady character by the name of Abdelhakim Belhadj, a
tribal war-lord, is the leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan Islamic
Fighting Group. He has been linked to weapons shipments. What was his
involvement in the Al Entisar shipment? Who does he know in the Obama
Administration? What are his connections with those fighting the Assad regime
in Syria? Qatar is the prime funders of this weapon transfer. Some of that
money goes to Belhadj.
Relating to the September 5 ‘Al Entisar’ shipment,
the Times of London reported that the ship carried 400 tons of cargo that
included the largest consignment of weapons to Syrian rebels. The inventory
included surface to air anti-aircraft missiles.
Apparently there was an angry exchange between the Free
Syrian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood over who got the weapons. It is evident
that anti-Assad fighters now possess anti-aircraft missiles. The question is,
who has them? A Syrian helicopter was shown on TV worldwide being shot down by
such a missile on October 17.
The supply of weapons from Libya to Syria via Turkey
links neatly into the new geo-political map. The close relationship between
America and Turkey, forged in the last four years has done no favors for
Israel.
An Israeli warship was prevented from participating in a NATO
joint naval exercise due to Turkey’s insistence. Israel was disinvited to a
NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012. Erdogan objected to Israel participating in
an international counter-terror conference. As ‘The Algemeiner’ reported
on July 15, 2012, “The US was so concerned about offending Turkey that
Under-Secretary of State, Maria Otero, did not invite Israel to be among the
countries that have been victims to terror attacks.”. Obama has done little
to stop Turkey pursuing provocative legal steps against Israel about the Mavi
Marmara incident in which people linked to the Turkish terror group IHH
attacked Israeli soldiers with clubs and knives leading to an on-board battle
that left nine dead. Istanbul has now opened a show trial against leading IDF
officers in abstentia.
It is unlikely that America did not know about the weapon
shipment on the ‘Al Entisar’. Was Stevens killed while coordinating yet another
shipment with his Turkish counterpart in Benghazi? And was he killed by Libyan
terrorists because he was depriving them of their weapon supplies?
A covert understanding between America and Turkey to
facilitate the transport of sophisticated military hardware to Syrian rebels,
that include Islamist jihadi terrorists, opens a Pandora’s box of dangers and
implications for Israel and for America. How does Israel cope with lethal
weapons and terrorist insurgents over our eastern border, armed with military
hardware shipped from Libya? What power and freedom of action will these
dangerous characters enjoy if Assad is overthrown and yet another Islamic
regime takes over Syria? The idea of our
planes and helicopters coming into the sights of a jihadi terrorist with an SA7
is frightening.
Even worse, what if one or more of these deadly weapons
were smuggled into the West Bank overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport in central
Israel? Which airline would fly to Israel tomorrow if a terrorist downs a
British Airways flight over Israel’s international airport today?
Then came the news that the most lethal and effective
anti-Assad fighting force in Syria is the Nusra Front, which is a direct
offshoot of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Qaeda,
its affiliates, Islamic terror groups, and jihadists are proven enemies of
Israel and America. Providing them, directly or indirectly, with deadly weapons
that may be used to kill Israelis and Americans is surely a dangerous ploy.
However much the international community wants to see the end of the brutal
Assad regime in Syria, it would be foolhardy to allow trained anti-West Islamic
terrorists to be the recipients of sophisticated weapons. The cause may be just,
but the execution could be fatal later.
We see Libya disintegrated into lawlessness with no
central government and with heavily armed gangs controlling large parts of that
country. The Syrian war will surely fracture any cohesiveness in that country
as power goes to those with the heaviest military capability.
If the outcome of the laughingly named “Arab Spring” has
proven anything it is that a secular Syria will be replaced with a radical
Islamic faction, and this will add to the instability of the region leaving
Israel prone to attack from the east.
The American disposition for arming dubious groups is
nothing new. President Reagan supplied arms to Iran. The altruistic reasoning
behind that wrong move was an attempt to obtain the release of fifty two
Americans held hostage in Tehran in November 1979. This was a covert operation.
Reagan denied his arms dealing with the Ayatollahs, but was forced to admit it
when the evidence became overwhelming.
A plane crash in Nicaragua revealed America’s covert
arming and training of the Contras in that country. This brutal group conducted
grotesque terror and massacre against civilians.
These two covert activities cut Reagan’s image to shreds.
After Oliver North became the fall guy, Reagan was forced to apologize for what
became known as the Irangate Affair.
Rumors swirled about the CIA covert links to Osama Bin
Laden in order to push Russia out of Afghanistan. A simple search on Wikipedia
reveals US involvement with Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Mujahedeen.
Seymour Hersh exposed in the New York Times of January
26, 1992, that “The Reagan Administration
secretly decided to provide highly classified intelligence to Iraq in the
spring of 1982 -- more than two years earlier than previously disclosed --
while also permitting the sale of American-made arms to Baghdad in a successful
effort to help President Saddam Hussein avert imminent defeat in the war with
Iran, former intelligence and State Department officials say.”
More recent exposure was
given by Daily Mail journalist, William Lowther, who in his November 6, 2012
article headlined “Rumsfeld ‘helped Iraq get chemical weapons.’” In his
article he tells how US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as envoy for
President Reagan, made it possible for Sadaam Hussein to buy supplies,
including anthrax and bubonic plague, from American firms. The extraordinary details have
come to light because thousands of State Department documents dealing with the
1980-88 Iran-Iraq war have just been declassified and released under the
Freedom of Information Act. It has long
been suspected that the reason Jonathan Pollard is languishing in isolation in
an American jail is because he provided Israel with sensitive information
relating to the covert WMD deal with Iraq.
It remains to be seen who supplied weapons to the
terrorists that killed the four Americans in Benghazi. One thing is for sure.
Throwing weapons at unlawful people in the chaotic background of civil war, or
regime change, is a risky form of altruism. It is naïve give your enemy weapons
because you want to remove a tyrant. In the hostile Middle East the motto is “the
enemy of my enemy is my enemy” and not the mistaken version so prevalent
elsewhere. When you have a brawl between the Boston Strangler and Jack the Ripper
it’s best not to take sides. The weapon you provide to one of the violent
actors may be used against you one day.
Lessons, it seems, have not been learned. Those involved
in the weapons trade between Libya and Syria needs to give full disclosure. Its
control must be strictly enforced. The risks are simply too great to let the
chips fall where they may. They may have fallen on America in Benghazi. They
may yet fall on Israel.
He is also the Special Consultant on Delegitimization
Issues to The Strategic Dialogue Center at the Netanya Academic College.
