U.S. officials had once thought there was little chance that terrorists could get their hands on many of the portable surface-to-air missiles that can bring down a commercial jet liner.

But now that calculation is out the window, with officials at a recent secret White House meeting reporting that thousands of them have gone missing in Libya.

“Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that’s our worst nightmare,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate’s Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.

The nightmare has been made real with the discovery in Libya that an estimated 20,000 portable, heat-seeking missiles have gone missing from unguarded Army weapons warehouses.

The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant’s shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.


“Once these missiles walk away from these facilities, they’re very difficult to get back, as the CIA realized in Afghanistan,” said Bouckaert. When the Afghan mujahideen were fighting the Soviets more than two decades ago, the CIA supplied the Afghans with 1,000 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, which had a devastating effect on Soviet military aircraft. After the Soviets had retreated, however, the CIA spent millions of dollars trying to buy back the remaining missiles from the Afghan fighters. According to Bouckaert, the CIA spent up to $100,000 a piece to reacquire the Stingers.

“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.”


http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/up-to-20000-missiles-reported-missing-from-libya/

And in this case, the fear is that the weapons will end up in the hands of al Qaeda, or of pro-Gaddafi forces not at all reticent about they who target now that central authority in the country has collapsed.

American officials are apparently now working with the NTC to secure the remaining stockpiles, which helps, but if this estimate of the missing missiles is even close to accurate and we’re unable to track them down, then the world could have a serious problem on its hands.

Yet another screw up of the Obama Administration.

its no screw up

its the plan

and its working

you see the terrorists

dont have any weapons

so we have to supply them

or they coundnt fight

You can bet that a bunch of them will end up on the open market.