This is classic. This 80’s TV show actually predicted the year that Gaddafi was killed. lol Check it out. –Matt
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Funny Stuff: Life Imitates Art–80’s TV Show Predicts Gaddafi’s Death
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Saturday, October 15, 2011
Libya: US Sending More Contractors To Secure Libya’s Weapons Stockpile
Now the thing with this is that recently it was reported that weapons from Libya have been flooding markets in places like Egypt. And no telling where those weapons will end up at. I am sure Israel is not happy? Either way I am glad they are sending more folks and giving this some urgency. –Matt
U.S. Sending More Contractors to Secure Libya’s Weapons Stockpile
By ERIC SCHMITT and KAREEM FAHIM
October 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — The State Department is sending dozens of American contractors to Libya to help that country’s fledgling efforts to track down and destroy heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles looted from government stockpiles that could be used against civilian airliners.
The contractors, weapons and explosives specialists, are part of a growing $30 million American program to secure Libya’s conventional weapons arsenal, which was ransacked during the fall of the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
American and other Western officials are especially concerned that as weapons slip from state custody, they can be easily sold through black markets to other countries, fueling regional wars or arming terrorist groups. Analysts are particularly worried about the dispersal of the SA-7, an early-generation, shoulder-fired missile in the same family as the more widely known Stinger.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Libya: Five Contractors For Locating And Securing 20,000 MANPADS?
The more I read about this particular aspect of the Libyan conflict, the more I just shake my head. If there are 20,000 MANPADS in this country, and it has been torn apart by a civil war that we are assisting in, then why are we not putting more of an effort into locating and securing every MANPAD there is? How is assigning ‘5 contractors’ to the problem an effective solution? lol I mean contractors are good, but are five guys going to be able to physically accomplish the task of actually securing these things?
Or are these five contractors there to just train Libyans with the hopes that they ‘might’ locate and turn them in to a secure location? I say might, because if you look at the economics of the situation, either they could locate and turn them in for free, or they could sell them on the black market and make a good little profit.
The other reason why I mention the economics of this type of deal, is that who is the command and control of all of the field units of such a rag tag army of rebels? Are we seriously saying that there is any kind of control at all with this motley crew? And especially in the beginning stages of the war when these weapons depots were first getting ransacked? Ha! I will say this, I guarantee that these things have found their way out into the black market.
But probably the most concerning aspect of this story, is that Al Qaeda has a presence in Libya. And they would certainly have an interest in these rocket launchers. Oh, and did I mention that many of the suicide bombers in Iraq that killed our troops were from Libya? So to me, how could anyone assume that Al Qaeda ‘has not’ put their grubby little hands all over these things? pfffft.
So what does this all mean? Well, if we start seeing helicopters being shot out of the sky in Afghanistan, that might be a sign. Or I imagine some key airline passenger jets will be shot down using these things. I mean there are all sorts of uses for this kind of weapon, and it was incredibly irresponsible of us to not instantly recognize this issue very early on and effectively deal with it.
Didn’t we learn anything from Iraq? The insurgents there ransacked the arms depots right after the invasion, and the scene was akin to what happened with the looters in Walmart during hurricane Katrina. All because we did not make it a priority to secure those depots. The result? Lots and lots of IEDs made from artillery rounds captured from those depots. –Matt
Hey Alli, how much do you think these things go for on the black market?
U.S. ramps up weapons search in Libya
September 16, 2011
The United States is taking an increasingly active role to secure thousands of rocket launchers, mines and small arms from Muammar Qaddafi’s once vast arsenal in Libya and prevent them from fueling an insurgency or falling into the hands of al Qaeda or other extremist militants operating across North Africa, government officials said Friday.
As an urgent measure, the Obama administration is sending several additional weapons experts to Libya to help train local units to locate and destroy weapons, the officials told The Associated Press. The top focus is on the estimated 20,000 shoulder-launched missiles called MANPADs which Qaddafi assembled during his four-decade rule. The weapon can be used to shoot down helicopters or civil jetliners.
“My team has no higher priority than addressing this threat,” said Andrew Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. “We are utilizing every possible tool to reduce the availability of loose missiles from Libya.”
The decision to increase weapons-related aid comes after U.S. officials received a request Friday from Libya’s National Transitional Council for greater assistance in securing Qaddafi’s former stocks of conventional weapons. The deposed Libyan dictator, who is still at large, halted his weapons of mass destruction programs in 2004. U.S. and international officials believe his leftover stocks of chemical and nuclear material are safe — and in a form that cannot be quickly be weaponized.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Libya: The Largest Private Security Company In The World–GardaWorld, Makes An Entry Into Libya
Now there is a story. The largest security company in the world….wait for it…..GardaWorld, is now in Libya. lol What’s next, an expeditionary task force from Walmart?
Seriously though, this is a cool little story about the beginning stages of reconstruction in Libya. Of course security for all of these business ventures is a top priority. What I liked about this article though, is you can just picture the frustration, the wheeling and dealing, the planning, and the dreams of making huge amounts of cash as soon as the National Transitional Council (NTC) gets it’s act together.
By cash, I mean oil companies will be paying top dollar to get the oil flowing again and secure those operations. That, and the NTC is sitting on billions of dollars of Libyan frozen assets. Some estimates put that figure at around 160 billion dollars! So yes, there is some money out there, and the NTC is going to be investing into rebuilding their country and setting up the government, but also into things that will bring in revenue–like oil contracts. And to make the oil companies and all the folks that come with that happy, you need infrastructure and security to support that.
On a side note, I kind of get a chuckle when I read these stories, because I can totally tell what is going on. They interviewed these British contractors, and I noticed how these guys emphasized how ‘uniquely qualified they are’ for the job, compared to their ‘Guns R Us’ competitors? lol And it should also be noted that guys like this, love to tell journalists what they want to hear, just so they are written up in the story to be the best, most obvious choice for the job. That is my hunch on why guys like this would talk to journalists like that, and actually go on the record with their names and everything. That, and this story is in Bloomburg, a business journal and website.
Still, I give them credit for getting in there and making their moves. It is not easy, and just like what Secopex learned, doing business in war zones has all sorts of pitfalls and complexities. –Matt
As Libya War Winds Down, Security Consultants Tout Iraq, Afghan Experience
By Sarah A. Topol
Sep 22, 2011
Want to do a deal in post-Qaddafi Libya?
Head to the Cafe Oya in the back of Tripoli’s Radisson Blu Al Mahary, where visitors without proper ID must check their AK- 47s at the hotel door.
Diplomats, reporters, businessmen, and representatives of the National Transitional Council, the rebel government set up in February, sit at a dozen small tables discussing the country’s volatile future through a haze of cigarette smoke. Conversation over strong coffee flits between the fighting around Sirte, who will hold positions in the soon-to-be-created interim government — delayed by bickering between Islamists and secular Libyans — and who gets the billions of dollars of still-frozen Qaddafi assets.
Never far from view are the hulking frames of security details, mostly British ex-military men, transparent wires corkscrewing out of their ears. Their taciturn shadows tail the diplomats and visiting members from the transitional government they protect.
Other security consultants are staked out at the hotel in search of the business that inevitably accompanies Mideast turmoil. One rebel council insider compares the consultants to flies buzzing around. Contractors are trying to gather as much information as possible about anybody willing to pay–security companies, oil companies, business ventures who are already here or want to start here.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Mexico: Nuevo Leon To Implement A Citizen-defense Program To Counter The Cartels
The training for people with weapons permits in Garcia is part of a phase of Rodriguez’s security program aimed at “involving the citizens in defense of the region.”
“Many of them want the training and knowledge … to defend their families and their heritage,” he said.
In addition to the weapons course, the project also includes broader training in its “urban defense” goals.
“Imagine if there is someone wounded and no one in the neighborhood knows what to do. It’s happened to us that in the street there is someone who’s been shot and the (paramedics) don’t come,” Rodriguez said.
So far, about 3,000 people from Garcia and nearby cities have signed up for the course, including engineers, teachers, housewives and retired military.
Ok, this is awesome. This is what I have been hoping and praying for in Mexico. The citizenry there needs to realize that they cannot entirely depend upon the police or military to protect them. And the government needs to realize that the citizenry can certainly be an effective tool to counter the cartels. So programs like this are a great start, but they also need to do this right in order to increase their odds of success.
It is also important to note that if you look at the rebels of Libya, that they were once civilians, yet were able to transform into a force that defeated a standing army. With a little motivation and some training/experience, a citizen force can certainly do some damage. The war against the cartels is a righteous war that must be fought and won, and I really think the citizens of Mexico can rally around defeating these scumbags. The people interested in such a program just needs to be empowered by the approval of it’s leaders, and given a little training to be effective.
It would really be cool to take this a step further and send some SF teams down to Mexico and help train these 3,000 folks that have signed up for this program. Or for this town to receive the funding necessary to get a training company down there to help out. If any contractors are looking for a way to contribute to the fight down there, you could probably get in your car and drive to this town and offer your services pro bono?
One thing though that needs to be mentioned about such a program. This is a declaration of war against the cartels. So this program needs to be conducted in an intelligent and secure manner. Training sites or gun ranges will be targets of the cartels. Folks who participate will be targets as well. The cartels will also do their best to infiltrate the program and subvert it, much like what they have done with government or police. So it will be up to the participants of this program to ‘cleanse’ itself of all cartel scum.
It also reminds me a lot of the Soviet Partisan warfare against the Nazis during WW 2. The Soviet’s at the time realized that if citizens are going to fight, that they need a basic ‘how to’ manual to fight and survive in their occupied homeland. These manuals also discussed how to defeat the Nazi anti-partisan forces intending on destroying this civilian threat. But the partisans kicked ass and certainly helped in the overall war effort. The point of all of this is that these partisan forces certainly did a number on the Nazis, and civilians can certainly play an effective role in a war.
Another example of the power of partisan guerrillas is the story of Wendell Fertig in the Philippines during WW 2. This guy was a stud, but he was also just a regular guy and engineer who was caught behind enemy lines when we pulled out of the Philippines. Wendell decided to lead a guerrilla war against the Japanese as a result of his predicament, and he was able to organize and build an effective force with very little. He was highly motivated and a smart problem solver, and his force was able to do some serious damage upon the Japanese.
Mexico needs the same type of innovative and dedicated leaders in their towns and cities to lead a guerrilla war against the cartels. So bravo to Jaime Rodriguez Calderon for taking the initiative and ‘doing something’ about the problem. Hopefully Mexico and the US will support this town in it’s efforts, and identify and help other ‘real’ leaders with similar goals. –Matt
Edit: 08/13/2011- It looks like another town is taking up arms in Chihuahua. Very cool and I hope this spreads! Quote:
“One small northern Mexico community, surrounded by Cartel thugs, is taking matters into their own hands.
The people of Uruachi, Chihuahua have begun to arm themselves in a last attempt to protect themselves against a group of 12 armed men surrounding the community, Mayor Aldo Campos said.”
Mexican city plans to train citizens to fire guns
Javier Estrada
September 7, 2011
Officials in a northern Mexican city plagued by violence say a new course will take a fresh approach toward protecting citizens: Training people to handle and shoot guns.
The aim of the approach, says Garcia Mayor Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, is putting a stop to crime in the 40,000-person city in Nuevo Leon state.
“Many people call me because their son or their husband has been kidnapped, or some family member’s car has been stolen. I said to myself, ‘Wow, how can we, the citizens, defend ourselves,’ ” Rodriguez told CNNMexico.com.
Twice this year, gunmen have tried to assassinate Rodriguez, who has earned the nickname of Bronco for his strong personality.
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