Posted By lex, on March 8th, 2011
Former George W. Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley has what might be the worst idea I’ve seen in a long time. And I’ve seen a lot of bad ideas *:
Stephen Hadley, national security adviser to Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, said Washington should look at the potential for funneling arms to Gadhafi’s opponents.
“Obviously, if there is a way to get weapons into the hands of the rebels, if we can get anti-aircraft systems so that they can enforce a no-fly zone over their own territory, that would be helpful,” Hadley told CNN.
I can’t imagine he’s talking AAA pieces, not in the kind of density required to make a difference over all of eastern Libya. Nor do I suspect he’s talking Patriot batteries – far too much training time involved.. That pretty much leave man-portable air defense systems like the Stinger.
We gave a grunch of these to the mujaheddin in Afghanistan back when the Soviets were playing the Great Game. I’m a little surprised that they ever forgave us, it went that badly for the Hinds and Hips. Slaughter of the innocents ain’t in it, and there must have been much weeping on the home front.
After the Russians went home, we spent $55 million trying to get them back again. We never did get every one, and it was four or five years until commercial airliners could breathe a sigh of relief – by then the shelf life of the system had expired.
Last thing we need to do is arm god-knows-who in Libya with MANPADS.
Some jobs you just don’t outsource.
03-01-21 Original URL gone; replacement found – Ed.
The Lexicans 