Huffington Post: Anti-American Extremists Among Libyan Rebels U.S. Has Vowed to Protect

[Madison Redskin]

WASHINGTON -- In 2007, when American combat casualties were spiking in the bloodbath of the Iraq War, an 18-year-old laborer traveled from his home in eastern Libya through Egypt and Syria to join an al Qaeda terrorist cell in Iraq. He gave his name to al Qaeda operatives as Ashraf Ahmad Abu-Bakr al-Hasri. Occupation, he wrote: “Martyr.’’

Abu-Bakr was one of hundreds of foreign fighters who flocked into the killing zones of Iraq to wage war against the “infidels." They came from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Oman, Algeria and other Islamic states. But on a per capita basis, no country sent more young fighters into Iraq to kill Americans than Libya -- and almost all of them came from eastern Libya, the center of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion that the United States and others now have vowed to protect, according to internal al Qaeda documents uncovered by U.S. intelligence.

Read the rest of the story here.

[jnhay]

This is absolutely shocking!

[fullnelson9999]

To be expected.

[Bang]

We always knew Al Qaida had recruited from around the entire region and that by and large their fighters in Iraq and elsewhere came from other places. The odds that some may return home to fighti n their own revolutions are pretty solid.

~Bang

[Darth Tater]

I am shocked!

[twa]

[Thiebear]

So we let 700k people get slaughtered because 125 - 1250 of them are misguided by lies?

[Bang]

So we let 700k people get slaughtered because 125 - 1250 of them are misguided by lies?

That's what some will turn this into, you can bet.

Anything for a story, regardless of it's outcome.

~Bang

[Burgold]

I think that the fact that we do this for the right reasons despite reasons to have bad blood and rage is just one more sign that we are the good guys. As hard as it is to turn the other cheek, we are willing to do so to protect the innocent.

(Okay, a bit sappy, but I think there's truth in there too)

[Madison Redskin]

So we let 700k people get slaughtered because 125 - 1250 of them are misguided by lies?

I didn't start this thread to support the argument that we are "on the wrong side." As I have said in other threads, I'm conflicted about what we should do in Libya. However, I think it's a noteworthy story. Make of it what you will.

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

I think that the fact that we do this for the right reasons despite reasons to have bad blood and rage is just one more sign that we are the good guys. As hard as it is to turn the other cheek, we are willing to do so to protect the innocent.

(Okay, a bit sappy, but I think there's truth in there too)

well yes, and a part of me wants to believe the Yemeni's who say they wont forget the help we've given them. I'd like to think their actions have already shown this if you are reading the updates by visionary (ie, a man volunteering to sew the stars and stripes to hang from the courthouse or the young men driving to the city with an American flag to show thanks)

[visionary]

well yes, and a part of me wants to believe the Yemeni's who say they wont forget the help we've given them. I'd like to think their actions have already shown this if you are reading the updates by visionary (ie, a man volunteering to sew the stars and stripes to hang from the courthouse or the young men driving to the city with an American flag to show thanks)

Er...Yemeni's? Not sure how much help we're giving them.