No - it is not "
true" - as evidenced by the following statement from a USG official:
"Though Libya had an estimated 20,000 man-portable surface-to-air missiles before the popular uprising began in February, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro told ABC News today the government does not have a clear picture of how many missiles they're trying to track down.
"We're making great progress and we expect in the coming days and weeks we will have a much greater picture of how many are missing," Shapiro said."
Apparently, you are thoroughly unfamiliar with correct meaning of the word
"estimated" .....
An estimate is simply a reasoned guess based on limited information - which may, or
may not, in the end, be accurate.
An accurate statement would on your part would have been:
"yep it is true. there may be as many as 20,000 heat-seaking missiles missing in libya."
The fact is, no one really knows at this point - as apparently all the stockpile locations have not been checked, if they are even all known (which it appears they aren't)
For anyone who would like a little more details - beyond the American MSM's typical (and often vague) hysteria (
which is largely designed to keep the public in a perpetual state of fear) - check with the Indians .... apparently they are a little more professionally capable and have a little better handle on what constitutes factual, in-depth reporting:
The Hindu: Missiles missing from Libyan stockpile
yep did you not see the top of the hindu link.If these really were facts as you protray them why then are they in the op-ed section??????You know the OPION SECTION.Also if they INDIANS AS YOU CALL THEM are so much more CAPABLE OF HAVING A LITTLE BETTER HANDLE ON WHAT CONSTITUTES FACTUAL IN DEPTH REPORTING Then why did they get their info from the NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE???????
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/world/africa/08missile.html?_r=1&ref=cjchivers
WOW almost word for word.YEP THOSE INDIANS SURE DO KNOW HOW TO FIND AND REPORT THE FACTS TYPICAL AMERICAN MSM's I BELIVE YOU CALLED IT
Several things to note:
Count 1: Fox seemingly perverts the truth of the matter:
In the original ABC story's
headline, the missiles are referred to as being
unaccounted for - not
missing. There is potentially a huge difference - with "missing" missiles being ones that were actually known to be somewhere - say, a specific location ... and when that location was inspected, the missiles are actually missing (not there)
"Unaccounted for" missiles might be missiles which are known to have been delivered to Libya at some point, but the specific locations where they were kept are not known - therefore they cannot be accounted for (yet)
Perhaps most interesting of all is what is no longer there, but until recent days apparently was: shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles of the type that could be used by terrorists to shoot down civilian airliners. U.S. authorities have long been concerned that Libyan missiles could easily find their way onto the black market.And thats from your link
Given that the previous regime in Libya has collapsed, and many officials from that regime have either been killed or have fled .......
and given the likely fact that Muammar Qaddafi hiss bad self didn't leave a full accounting and specific instructions on where to find said missiles as part of his goodbye note, it ain't real surprising.These missiles, mostly SA-7b Grails, as NATO refers to them, have been spotted in Libya before and are well known to have been sold to the government of Muammar Qadhafi by former Eastern bloc countries. The evidence at the schoolbook warehouse confirms just how large those quantities were. It also raises questions about how many of them may have been purloined by rebels, criminals or smugglers.
Western governments and nongovernment organisations have repeatedly asked and prodded the rebel government, the National Transitional Council, to secure the vast stockpiles of arms that it has inherited, apparently to little avail.This also is from your link.IT seems a great many know where and how many stock piles there are.
What is surprising is that you would come on here and post:
".... yep it is true ....." ........ as though you actually have a clue or really know ......
...... no, wait ..... I take that back ...... that really ain't surprising at all .....
No what is not surprising is how you pick and chose what parts of this article to write about and what you leave out.Then you call them facts.
Count 2: Fox seemingly perverts the truth of the matter:
Fox's headline appears to claim that the 20,000 missiles were missing from one warehouse (singular) In the ABC News report
multiple warehouses are mentioned, and of course, the missiles are described as unaccounted for in the headline.
Interesting factoid: Apparently the person to raise this issue to public knowledge was
Peter Bouckaert, a representative of that notoriously
leftwing-pinko-commie organization,
Human Rights Watch ..... which has been derided by some on here previously ...
Why is it so important to you who reported this when even the white house says this is a problem.In Washington, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism official, John O. Brennan, said that the spread of shoulder-fired missiles and other weapons from Libya's arsenal posed “a lot of concerns,” and that the United States had pressed the rebel government to secure weapons stockpiles.That also is from your link.
(Hint: if it were up to your government, you probably wouldn't be allowed any awareness of the specifics of this situation - as it undoubtedly related to "national security". IOW, they would withhold it from citizens, the flying public, etc. ..... after having failed to address having commercial airliners outfitted with countermeasures which could stop such missles ..... while instead ****ing trillions down the toilet for such things as having Grandma groped at the airport and overseas wars of aggression in the name of "national security", which, in fact, deliver the
exact opposite)
Hint thats your government to there buddy.I sure did not vote for any of the powers that be got us into a third war.
Another interesting factoid: The only source I can find in the ABC News article for the figure of 20,000 missiles is a comment from Peter Bouckaert:
Estimates of the true total run as high as 20,000 such missiles.WOW this is from your own link you posted as facts.
"In Libya we're talking about something on the order of 20,000 surface-to-air missiles," said Bouckaert. "This is one of the greatest stockpiles of these weapons that has ever gone on the loose."
While Mr. Bouckaert is a probably a great guy, I'm not sure how he would be privy to how many missiles Libya possesses and no other additional evidence is offered to support his statement (which may be based on reliable info that isn't otherwise mentioned)
Count 3: ABC News appears to portray that all of 20,000 "estimated" missiles were shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles or "manpads" That may, or may not, be the case.
The Hindu article linked above - which does offer some numbers on the models and types of missiles involved and mentions that one type, the SA-24, is a dual-use weapon: either shoulder-fired, or from a vehicle-mounted launcher.
The Hindu also reports that the Russian manufacturer who makes the SA-24 has stated that no grip stock devices (which are required for the missile to be shoulder-fired) were ever sold to Libya. It also reports that none have been found in the country.
Here is what it really says.No grip stocks for SA-24s have yet been found in Libya, and the Russian manufacturer of the SA-24 has previously said that it did not sell any grip stocks to Qadhafi's military. The SA-24s, it said, were sold only with vehicle-mounted launchers. The SA-7, however, is a shoulder-fired missile. A Soviet-era weapon dating to the 1960s that remains in wide use and circulation, it has been implicated in several attacks on airliners over the years, including a failed attack on an Israeli charter plane
Also I did not relize that russia was the only country that made up the former eastern bloc nations.
Nevertheless, the Hindu reports that it has been documented that at least 7,592 SA-7b shoulder-fired missiles were shipped to Libya. It does also mention the 20,000 figure although I'm not entirely certain that it is in reference to the SA-7b's onlyWhile it certainly a bad situation, it does not serve the public interest to be inaccurate with details.
