Quote:SAS troopers help co-ordinate rebel attacks in Libya

The serving soldiers have joined British special forces and have been acting as forward air controllers and advising on tactics

Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 August 2011 18.25 BST

The Guardian has learned that a number of serving British special forces soldiers, as well as former SAS troopers, are advising and training rebel forces, although their presence is officially denied.

The Guardian has previously reported the presence of former British special forces troops, now employed by private security companies and funded by a number of sources, including Qatar. They have been joined by a number of serving SAS soldiers.

They have been acting as forward air controllers directing pilots to targets and communicating with Nato operational commanders. They have also been advising rebels on tactics, a task they have not found easy.

For the SAS it is a return to old stamping grounds. In one of their first successful missions in the second world war, they attacked airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft. SAS battle honours include Tobruk in 1941 and a raid on Benghazi in 1942.

They returned to Libya in February this year, even before the UN mandate urging states to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces. Shortly afterwards, a group of SAS soldiers were seized, though quickly released, by nervous rebels south of Benghazi when their Chinook helicopter landed two MI6 officers with communications equipment.

SAS soldiers later advised Misrata-based rebel forces who secured the port city and helped to pass on details of the locations of Gaddafi's forces to British commanders in the UK and the Naples headquarters of Canadian commander of Nato forces, Lt Gen Charles Bouchard.

In what is hoped to be the endgame in the Libyan conflict and the fight to oust Gaddafi, a number of SAS soldiers are now advising the rebels as they storm the capital, Tripoli.

France is understood to have deployed special forces in Libya and Qatari and Jordanian special forces are believed to have also played a role.

Quote:WikiLeaks: McCain promised Gaddafi military help two years ago

Posted Aug 24, 2011, 2:41 pm

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

U.S. Sen. John McCain told Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi two years ago that he would help the dictator obtain American military hardware, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable posted Wednesday by WikiLeaks.

On Sunday, McCain said Gaddafi's ouster was "so long in coming" because the U.S. did not use the "full weight of our airpower."

The Arizona Republican, who traveled to Libya in 2009 with Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Liebermann, "pledged to see what he could do to move things forward in Congress," the cable said.

Also in the U.S. delegation, which spoke with Gaddafi and his son, Libyan National Security Advisor Muatassim Gaddafi, were Republican Sens. Lindsay Graham and Susan Collins.

"Muatassim requested the 'highest level of help possible' to obtain military supplies, including mobile hospitals and uniforms. He also requested assistance with upgrading Libya's equipment, including helicopters," the cable said.

On Sunday, McCain and Graham assailed the summer's U.S. policy of assistance for Libyan rebels, saying "Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower."

Magda Hassan Wrote:You couldn't even make this sort of stuff up. :danceing:

Quote:WikiLeaks: McCain promised Gaddafi military help two years ago

Posted Aug 24, 2011, 2:41 pm

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

U.S. Sen. John McCain told Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi two years ago that he would help the dictator obtain American military hardware, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable posted Wednesday by WikiLeaks.

On Sunday, McCain said Gaddafi's ouster was "so long in coming" because the U.S. did not use the "full weight of our airpower."

The Arizona Republican, who traveled to Libya in 2009 with Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Liebermann, "pledged to see what he could do to move things forward in Congress," the cable said.

Also in the U.S. delegation, which spoke with Gaddafi and his son, Libyan National Security Advisor Muatassim Gaddafi, were Republican Sens. Lindsay Graham and Susan Collins.

"Muatassim requested the 'highest level of help possible' to obtain military supplies, including mobile hospitals and uniforms. He also requested assistance with upgrading Libya's equipment, including helicopters," the cable said.

On Sunday, McCain and Graham assailed the summer's U.S. policy of assistance for Libyan rebels, saying "Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower."

Source

Remember "Wag The Dog?" This is FLAG The Dog!
At about 50 seconds into the above video, you see the supposed Libyan National Transitional Council celebrating in the Green Square, and waving flags!

Here is a single frame from the above. Note the flag they are waving, with the light colored center? That is the flag of INDIA! (And the people in the crowd look Indian!

THIS is the flag of the National Transitional Council, recognized by the US as the "legitimate" government of Libya (even though they are not elected).

It looks like BBC couldn't find any celebrating Libyans, so they used an old shot of celebrating Indians and bet that we were too stupid to notice, just like they bet we were too stupid to notice when BBC reported the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 before it actually happened!

Peter Lemkin Wrote:Word has it, and it seems confirmed, that after much negotiation with the guards left to protect and enprison them, all have been released unharmed, if a bit shaky........:phone: