Hmmmmmmmm....there is fire on the mountain ooo

Here’s the scary part: Two former CIA counterterrorism officers told me last week that technicians recently refurbished 800 of these man-portable air-defense systems (known as MANPADS) — some for an African jihadist group called Boko Haram that is often seen as an ally of al-Qaeda — for possible use against commercial jets flying into Niger, Chad and perhaps Nigeria.

The former CIA officers have been trying for eight months to alert U.S. intelligence, without success. Here’s a summary of the messages I’ve seen.

On Sept. 9, 2011, as Gaddafi’s regime was collapsing, one of the former CIA officers warned an FBI contact that Libyan missiles were moving south into the Agadez region of Niger inhabited by Tuareg tribesmen, who are believed to have links with al-Qaeda. He explained to the FBI contact that an Arab source “said there are SA-7s and SA-24s (two Russian-made weapons) already on the ground in Agadez from Libya in the hands of Tuareg AQ affiliated groups.” He heard nothing back.

In a Sept. 12 e-mail, the former CIA officer wrote his FBI friend that the Niger contacts “have determined locally that the [United States government] doesn’t want to help them” chase down the missiles. “I suspect [the Near East division of CIA] squashed this by their normal bureaucratic warfare,” he speculated.

The CIA veteran still hoped that U.S. intelligence would get involved, so he provided the name and telephone number of a relative of a former Libyan intelligence officer who allegedly had helped move the missiles out of the country. On Sept. 15, he also sent the FBI contact phone numbers for the Arab source in Niger who was closely monitoring the missile movements.

On Sept. 28, the frustrated ex-CIA officer wrote a U.S. military contact: “The missiles are in the hands of al-Qaeda and being distributed. I would really like to know who in the agency was the roadblock and why.”

Still, the former CIA officer heard nothing back. In December, he wrote another FBI contact that a “speed bump” at the agency apparently was blocking communication.

Finally, in late April, the two former CIA officers received information so urgent they felt they had to get it out, somehow. They sent to a law enforcement contact a picture of a rebel fighter aiming one of the Libyan missiles, and this explanation: “The missiles and munitions that have been streaming out of Libya since the fall of 2011 have made their way to Agadez in Niger and points west. .?.?. Boko Haram has taken possession of some of the refurbished missiles. They have brought Egyptian army ordnance technicians to refurbish and test the SA-7B missiles pictured below. .?.?. The source claims that some 800 missiles are available in the area.”

Last weekend, the CIA veterans finally heard from someone claiming to represent their former employer. The agency official was interested in talking to their Arab source.

When I asked senior U.S. officials for comment, they said they hadn’t heard about the specifics of this case, or the e-mail exchanges. But they agreed the Libyan missiles are a serious problem. “It’s probably true that a small number of Libyan MANPADS have been sold on the black market, and that al-Qaeda in the Maghreb is trying to acquire them,” said a senior U.S. official.

there is fire on the mountain ooo

For their dream?
Abi?

[b] I quite agree with what you said but thinking that the Airbus was shot down with MANPAD is far-fetched. In a statement made by Cairo - the plane took off at 5:15 a.m Cairo time (0351GMT) and later disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes later and the Egypty's civil aviation recorded that the plane was at the altitude of 31,000ft (9,800mi) before it vanished from radar.
Now with these figures- assuming the altitudinal range of the radar is below 9,800mi downward, then it must be able to read the altitude of the plane and if the altitudinal range of the same radar is not up to 9,800mi, then anything above the range of 9,800mi would make the plane off the screen. Now, no Man-portable surface to air missile is capable of attaining the target of 31,000ft, Never!! MANPAD can only pose a threat to low-flying objects especially helicopters, the heighest MANPAD range I have seen is 10km (6mi) so any object flying at 6,100m/20,000ft are relatively safe. Even American FIM-92 stinger-RMP's range is 8km and Russian 9k38-igla- SA-24's range is 5.2 km. With this, it has ruled out every possibility of Manpad target even if the Manpad is hit-to-kill. No Manpad can attain the altitude of 31,000ft .So in my own view, I would say that it's the plane developed technical fault or it was blown up[/b]