E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Ismail Zitouni / Reuters
A MANPAD (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) missile is detonated along the shore, east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, on Dec. 11. A top U.S. official said that a team of U.S. and Libyan bomb-disposal specialists has secured about 5,000 surface-to-air missiles.
Mahmud Turkia / AFP - Getty Images
Andrew Shapiro, U.S. assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs, second from right, and his delegation gather around MANPAD missiles in the village of Sidi Bin Nur, Libya, Dec. 11.
According to AP:
On Sunday, a team of U.S. weapons experts disposed of some 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) of ordnance deep in the sand just outside Tripoli.
"Our goal is to help the Libyan people to secure these loose arms," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, who was on hand to watch along with the U.S. ambassador.
He said that since September, American experts have disabled around 5,000 shoulder-fired missile launchers — weapons that Western and Libyan officials have expressed concerns about because they pose a threat to civil aviation.
Read the full story about today's happenings in Libya here.
Related content:
Leave a Comment:
I've always wanted one for self protection just in case. To go along with my MP4 safe arm.
Libyans need a new leader in charge. I vote they can have Obama, he's going to need a new country to f*+#k up,I mean take over
oldken69
I just got a great idea why don't you build a really big statue to your hero George Bush. After all, old "W" had absolutly nothing to do with,..... as you put it, f*+#k up the country. I sure hope for your sake you wake up one day and see what's going on in the real world.
@oldken69
Yeah! Totally! Because Dick Cheney would have been a much better choice! He would've ranked right along Georg W Bush, James Buchanan, and Warren G. Harding.
Not like Obama who's currently ranked 15th in some sort of silly Presidential ranking...
Yeah, BigAl, we know what is really going on. You and the rest of them that don't know what is cooking. Dumbama and his Dumbamanites more than f.cked up the country and he has help from these idiots Reid and Pelosi. Yeah big guy, you sure know what is going on, ha, ha.
Don't need a statue for President Bush. He does not have Dumbama's ego problem! And he does not bow to every jerk in the world either.
See you around in Vegas after the Democrat induced housing melt down is over (20 years or so).
for somone with a science icon
for people who talks about ego
i expect a better arguement
stop worshipping bush
it takes some dumb man to start it before its passed to another person to fix it
OFC conservatives are gonna protect bush, hes a white evangelican texan
for somone who says "dumbama"
you sure do have a low sense of intelligence...
i pity you...
if this country is so @!$%#ed up, go out there n protest
O WAIT, ur just gonna sit on ur lil asses complaining bout the world
have u people no shame?!
OH btw, the 1st comment was article related
then some republican conservative douchy came along n blame obama
assss uuuuussssuuuuaaallll
who arnt u willing to blame? your rich multi billion dollar house hold?
OH WAIT, u guys are actually quite poor
wanna be much?
Problem is, if they found 5000 there, there are that many more if not more loose.
So? If Obama thinks its a problem he'll just send in another barrage of cruise missles and bombs - Congressional approval be damned.
W
Kilo is just mad because we resolved a conflict without killing our own troops for once.
It wasn't our conflict to begin with. And what have we resolved? There's a good chance the new Libyan regime will be more oppressive than the old one.
But hey, I guess its ok for a presdident to be a warmonger if he has a D in front of his name. What a bunch of hypocrites.
There are a lot of weapons that went missing during the Libyan civil war and many of them are already out of the country. Many of the weapons that were stolen have found their way to terrorists in the Middle East. There is now a huge threat looming from all of those weapons and it will not be long before they surface in a not so nice way as arms for fanatics throughout the region.
Kilo, it's NOT OK to go around attacking the wrong country like W did on a pretense of WMD just b/c he wanted to finish daddy's war on Saddam.
.
Kilo, a brutal totalitarian regime has fallen apart with relatively little cost to us - contrast with Iraq. I'd say its a DAMN good deal. Best of all, there wasn't a false pretense involved.
And its spelled "president".
If you were President, look me in the eye and tell me you'd let a chance like that go by. I dare ya.
The difference is, the Libyan affair was a UN sanctioned and operated action. Obama simple lived up to U.N. commitments. It wasnt Obama's war, it was the U.N.'s
Like it or not, the U.S. is a member and has responsibilities and agreements.
You're just trying to twist anything you can to turn around the criticism against Bush. Sooner you republicans own up to all you are responsible for, instead of the tit for tat game, the better. You never hear liberals defend wrong doing, when it's actually deserved. They are not going to apologize for twisted facts though.
Kilobutt is a great example of a right wing nut attempt to blame Obama for doing a good job. Helping the Libyan people throw off dictatorial oppression is more like the America descent people know than knowingly scam us into a corrupt war to eliminate non-existent WMD's led by his hero Dubbie. LOL, what a bunch of losers in the right wing.
You guys are for real wantin Islamic counties to become Islamic Paradises under Sharia? So it's good to kill religious/tribal minorities under democracy? LOL!
Jakta
No fly zone and bombing tanks is false pretense.
Kilobutt, you probably think GWB got Bin Laden, right? Sorry to break your bubble, but Obama got him. Hahahahah. You just can't handle the fact a black person is the President of our country, can you? And the reason I asked that question is real simple, according to you, he can't do anything right? That's just my observation....
It's my understanding that's just a small fraction of the total weapons currently unaccounted for -- that should be mentioned somewhere in the article.
Going on the mandate of "protecting civilians" and doing a 180 to "regime change killing any Libyans who are our Gaddafi's side" sounds like bait and switch to me, and yes, lying. It was especially obvious when we were going after Gaddafi's home town and the rebels were using indirect artillery fire -- known to be a top cause of civilians casualties -- and we continued to support them.
We spent 1 Billion of the taxpayers Money to provide Oil to the European Economic Community. How about 1 billion for Jobs in America
Andre,
I think you got "false pretense" mixed up with some other term.
The no-fly zone was made because Libya really was bombing its own people. We didn't make that up.
Bombing the tanks was done for the same reason. We didn't make that up.
Where are you getting your info? The Onion?
The number I remember reading was 20,000 because nobody believed me. I wonder where the other 15k are? I can guess...
Carl Hubert
We spent 1 Billion of the taxpayers Money to provide Oil to the European Economic Community. How about 1 billion for Jobs in America
Ask the gopers about that, after all, that's what they campaigned for when they took the majority in Congress.
When did I say I supported the Iraq war? I'm just pointing out what hypocrites the democrats are by supporting war after voting in a president who was supposed to lead us to peace.
Doing a good job? By helping a bunch of extremists rise to power in a country which posed no threat to American interests in the first place? Typical leftist moonbat, you're no better than the people who bought into the WMD lies.
Carl Hubert
We spent 1 Billion of the taxpayers Money to provide Oil to the European Economic Community. How about 1 billion for Jobs in America
^ We tried that remember.. but some d bags in the house of congress called Republicans wanted to block it because they are still butthurt over 2008
You sure you conservatives are religious ;/
judging from some of the comment i can only luagh at it
i mean....wow...
its ok, so long as libyans die, so long as we get our troops get killed
it OK! to not do anything and be negative, and then blame somone and then go hahehaha
SO LONG AS YOU DONT PAY TAXES!( i mean you pay bout 3$ per missle! ZONGS!!!!)
pray to god u conservatives arnt burning that deep in hell...
Conservatives-
Blames obama for calling in air strikes under NATO
-few months later-
Blames obama for mishandling Nuclear issues (During debate)
-Few days later
Blames obama for doing nothing in foriegn countries
-Few seconds later-
"We should go to war!!!, nuke thier asses!!!"
bunch of trolls
You sure you liberals want peace?
Its clear we didn't learn any lessons from the Bush years. We simply cannot afford to be the world's police. What about Northa Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe, Congo, Sudan, etc? You're fooling yourself if you think sending a few billion dollars worth of weaponty into Libya, a relativy stable and prosperous country, is going to make a dent it world suffering.
Also, you're talking about neocons, not real conservatives. Real conservatives want to focus on issues at home rather than halfway around the world.
lets not 4get the libyans wanted this, remeber the revolution?
we arnt bombing some random country n we arnt that stupid to bomb north korea etc...
i though conservatives were anti communism and anti dictorship o.o lOl
see that i did?
BUT FUC THAT!
aint none of u wanna pay extra taxes for military uses
-either way i agree, get ur asses out of there, the revolution is done n over with. we did our job. nothing left to do is to scavange some loose missles n take them home
No, Kilobutt, for helping a people who wanted freedom from an oppressive dictator kept in power with weapons made in the good old USA. Your attempt to make Obama look bad in the face of success belies your political strategy to make up anything that might help the corrupt thieves get back into the White House.
You need to get a grip on what the world is like out there. We cannot dictate what everyone in the world thinks so you can be comfortable. I hate to break it to you, but some folks out there are not Christians! We will not make our lives safer with a foreign policy based on violence. Our role in the liberation of Libya was minor, France and England led the support for the Libyan people. But it was the right thing to do.
If morals still had a place in your world view, you would agree!
OBAMA DID NOT GET BINLADEN...SEAL TEAM 6 DID!!!!!
LEARN YOUR INFO BEFORE YOU SPEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama is the Commander in Chief of all US military operations anywhere including Seal Team 6. You negative morons would have blamed Obama if the mission had gone wrong, right? He gets the credit, get it? Dubbie sure does not deserve any credit for the success! Idiot!
OBAMA DID NOT RISK HIS LIFE TO TAKE DOWN AMERICAS MOST WANTED MAN. obama sat behind his desk while seal team 6 took down binladen. don't call people morons if you yourself are an uneducated moron... OBAMA DIDN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT WHINE AND CRY....I'm done with you now GOODBYE YOU UNEDUCATED IDIOT!!!!!!!!
IDIOT!!!!!!
Gee, Buddah, you kinda got wound up there a little.
Ike did not ever shoot a gun in WWII either. Neither did MacArthur, what is the point? Are you suggesting that the leader of the world should have been standing there to fire the shot that killed bin Laden? Being an idiot shows a little clearer in your whining about Obama whining. LOL
BTW, exactly where did you see Obama whine and cry? Do we need to add liar to your list of attributes? How about traitor or loser?
go f**k yourself
Why would they destroy them instead of stockpile them for future use? kind of stupid
The article conveniently didn't mention the tons of missiles and chemical weapons which during the civil war in Libya were sold or given to Islamic terrorist groups around the Middle East. I'm glad that we're getting rid of some of the missiles that were found. But why not mention all the storehouses of weapons that have gone missing.
Why not mention all the storehouses of missing weapons? Because that wouldn't look good for Obama and NATO.
And your proof of the existence of these storehouses comes from ... Oh, that would be the same sources that knowingly lied to us about the WMD's right? LOL
Why dont you dupes start a new political party, DARWIN (Dumb Ass Right Wing Ignorant Nuts), you will quickly disappear into the oblivion of all species that cannot adjust to the reality around them.
Uh, lets see here, there have been many articles on the missing weaponry, some of them actually appearing here on MSNBC. Then there have been stories on same in the broadcast news. Ditto Al Jazeera. So, do you not read or watch tv? Perhaps you should educate yourself a tiny bit. Far better to have some ammo in your arsenal of insults otherwise you simply appear ignorant and arrogant.
links that dont exist sure are hard to believe in
kinda like gawd O.O"
-uses google, googles fox, searchs articles-
Girli,
But we heard all that stuff about WMD's from the same sources, remember? Your ignorance and arrogance is not predicated on your "ammo" just your pathetic "anti-Obama for whatever reason that can be made up" stance. Fact is: you dont know s*** about the weapons that do or do not exist in the world, you just want to punch at the President, right?
Sigh...are you that lazy?Can't do any research on your own? The WMD's from the Bush administration are different from the Libyan situation, the Libyan weapons were stockpiles which the rebels were credited with seizing. CBS, NBC, CNN all did stories, with video and everything showing the emptied arsenals of Quadaffi's stockpiles, mostly they were shoulder-mounted missiles which, as stated in the article, were rather abundant.
Again, reading the article, the amount blown up is a small amount of what was there and there is no real way of accounting for what-all there was. As to Obama, let's see here, didn't he go around congress and join with NATO to blow up Libya? Under the guise of humanitarian aid (remember Bush also wanted to protect and offer some of the same 'humanitarian aid' to Iraq?) seems your Obama worship and lack of a knowledge of history remain a hindrance to facts. Obama was saving the oil companies, same as Bush was saving the oil companies. It was and is about oil...
Girlie, you seem to have an awfully bloated ego to think that you know all that stuff. It is not an issue of laziness, it is an issue of competence and obvious motivation. Get a grip and get a job in an area where you are proficient. All the best!
Child, it is a matter of doing some research, checking different sources and not relying only on one belief system. WMD's of the Bush kind...please explain how that is relevant to this situation?
All they need to do now is find the rest !
"Our goal is to help the Libyan people to secure these loose arms," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, who was on hand to watch along with the U.S. ambassador, what a joke. Their only goal is to make sure they are not used against THe United States. The United States trying to be humanatarian what a joke. If their isn't a profit to be made f'it.
its crazy how no matter what the topic, Someone throws in a negative comment about Obama. Doesnt matter how much of a stretch it is, someone will find a way.
My furnace is on the fritz, that damn Obama must have been out there messing with it, probably a liberal plot to take my money.
the neocons are just mad that a brutal dictator/murderer was removed without the lost of one US soldier while it took Bush trillions of $ and thousands of lives of US soldiers to look for his WMD. Oh don't forget we got rid of Bin Laden too by using 26 seals and 2 helicoptersm (one crashed) while Bush couldn't do that in 7 years and more lives lost. The differences in intelligence is as plan as the nose on their faces but the neocon rather keep their heads in the sand.
Actually Robert, it was a republican repair man that worked on your furnace. It has been reset so you burn more fuel, which increases the oil companies profits so they can claim a bigger tax break that the gopers gave them.
"Fireworks show with Libyan weapons" That was the headline... I was expecting a bunch of guys in vests blowing themselves up.. Darn wishful thinking..
US1776 wake up please. W did NOT attack Iraq on any pretense! Dems and Repubs and almost every country you can name all agreed that there were wpmd's somewhere in Iraq. In fact everyone knew there was because so dam insane had used them on his own people so get your facts straight before you spew your leftist crap anywhere. It's so hard to imagine that there are such ignorant hate filled people roaming this country.
They knew there were because the US helped them during the war with Iran. But funny they never found any of them and this was the "sole" reason for invading. No where in Iraq did they ever find any WMD's. Since we are on this subject you profess to know so much about tell me what about the story on Jessica Lynch? Nothing more than war propaganda to drum up public support. How many children were maimed or killed in that war? But Neo-cons like you some how manage to say even the deaths of innocent children are justified. It was an immoral war fought by Jr because he had a hardon for the attempt on his daddy, one more thing how about Pat Tilman and his death you do know why he was killed right? But again you believe we are right all the time because we could never provoke a war on our own and are always justified. Gulf of Tonkin, Gladio, Operation Northwoods, Tuskegee, sterilization of our own citizens oh yes we are so perfect and never do wrong. And no I am not a leftist, I just know what the truth is and you are too afraid to look at the truth.
Amazing how people read into other's comments all sorts of stuff that is obvioulsy not even suggested therein. I cannot see anywhere in my post that I profess to know much about the subject. I was simply pointing out the ridiculous attempts by hate filled lefties to spout forth their knowledge when they have none. Wars are sometimes necessary so get over yourself because all wars result in nasty consequences for soldiers and civilians alike. So try to see what others are writing and leave it at that rather than spewing your name calling and assumptions simply because you don't agree. We are each entitled to our opinion. It's just that most lefty's opinions are nothing but hate filled crap.
Wrong. It's the neocons who are filled with hate and bigotry but bible and gun-toting happy. We liberals just shake our heads and laugh.
Gee Colin, your posts are sure full of the stuff you criticize. You seem oblivious to the content of your own posts. Did you serve in the Marines or did something else cause your problem?
Why are we still pointing fingers? Would think if we all worked as one, things would be much better. We'll never change anyones mind by trying to brow beat them. They taught me that a long time ago. Just use a little common sense, if any is left. For the sake of the American people hope everthing works out.
I'm with ya, but as Voltaire said "common sense isn't that common". Here is to the hope that we can become a United States again.
what if n korea came to u.s start blowing up are weapons? they only invaded libya becuase there independent outside the NWO @!$%# the UN! AND ISRAEL AND THE UK AND THE VATICAN!
is that phosphorous, they are id10ts, where are the adults? OMG and it is going to go into the fricken water!
I FOUND THE ANTICHRIST -->
David Mayer de Rothschild
Destroy them now and build more for them later, The American investment into war warehouses..And how many billions did this cost the American tax payer after this government gets their share. We are all idiots on a destruction ride.. got to love it
Wow!!! They certainly "scared" us out. But wait, are we still going to give them FOREIGN AID??? I Googled, and it said we gave them $3 BILLION last year, and another $4 BILLION to Afghanistan. Why are we there??? What am I missing as to why we are in such hell-holes and been there for the past 10 years??? Time to save our dollars and bring the troops home.
the real question where is the thousand or more that are missing an unaccounted for ? are they in the hands of those who don't care about Innocent life or none combatants I just wounder. good day
Is it me or does it look like a big goldfish????
I hope the US remembers the goodwill of the libyan people.
Maybe those arms funded with taxpayer money . Good business.
This is a good sign. The Libyan people are working with us to control dangerous weapons and prevent them from falling into terrorist hands. The Libyan government is demonstrating concern for others and their will to protect people in general from terrorist attack. If there are U.S. forces involved it is because they requested the help and being intelligent enough to request assistance shows the previous problems were not with the people but with the leadership. It is good to see this cooperation and I can think of no reason for it not to continue. Working together is always better than fighting an endless war with no positive outcome.
great news! knowing here won't be another lockerbie coming from the libyans made it all worth it!
@oldken69
And the last 420 or so years some of the other leaders did such stellar jobs with pre and post slavery (especially post), burning witches alive in Salem, Native American genocide, the KKK (still), U.S.A. sitting on the sidelines watching the Jewish Holocaust take place during WW 2, the Viet Nam War, Watergate, G. W. Bush's war, the Tuskegee Experiment, Japanese-American Concentration Camps (now that's a really good one), Dick Cheny's Halliburton contracts. I believe this country was very f*cked years before Mr. President Obama was even thinking about running for office. Dude, think through your words a little bit more before you type your ignorant sh#t for people to read.
Why blow them up? Take them for payment for out expenses in their war.
Too bad they destroyed 5000 missiles. Those were worth a lot of money. They should have been sold to a frienlier country, the money the used to better living conditions in Libya. Bad as Gadhaffi was, after the US gets ivolved i overthrows the conditions get eve worse. Like in Iraq, it was reported tha 1.5 million Jews have been exterminated since the overthrow of Saddam. Look at Egypt too. Long ally of the US with their previous government. With the help of the US to overthrow him, it is a Fundamentalist Islamic government about to step in. Instead of Democracy like the Us has claimed we are helping establish Islaamic Republics much like Iran. Great work George W, Bush and Barak Obama. Well we do have to have enemies to justify the hundreds of billios of dolars to constantly upgrade our military weapons. Losing the Soviet union, we need many many new enemies to replace them. Think I'm off here, just read the book "War Is A Racket" by the most decorated Marine in history, General Smedley Butler. He saw this coming well over a half century ago. Been going on since at least the Spanish-American War.
I agree with you, Ron, on most points here, just disagree on the best way to dispose of these weapons. We should not be looking at ways to make more money off the weapons, we should shut the system down that is producing them. Weapons makers do not look at who might be using them in the future, only that they develop new weapons technologies that take care of the last generation. It is a racket of evil. Put the international arms dealer in prison, that would include some really "respectable" US business men involved with the weapons industry.
The Arab Spring issue was not Obama's fault. Obama has not started any wars, his administration's policy to get out of Iraq and put the efforts into Afghanistan (where the terrorists actually are) is of some debate, but the Egyptians and the Libyans are fully responsible for the events that have taken place there, we were minor players in making sure the populace of those countries did not suffer genocide using American weapons sold to these despots over the last few decades. If America wants to regain the lead in responsible world leadership, we should be looking at Syria next!
Why don't 'we' sell the missiles you ask?
No. 1. Whoever the buyer, eventually the missiles we be used again the US or its allies if there are any...(Israel)