May 9, 2012

Libya Missiles a Threat to Air Travel

David Ignatius, Washington Post

AP Photo

For the past few months, I've been hearing private warnings about another threat to commercial planes -- namely, the spread of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles from Libya after the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi's regime. A State Department official said in February that Gaddafi had acquired 20,000 of these weapons, and that only 5,000 of them had been secured through a $40 million U.S. program to buy up loose missiles.

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TAGGED: Africa, Nigeria, Libya, Chad, Muammar Gaddafi, Niger, Boko Haram, MANPADS, Planes, missiles

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