Libyan rebels receiving anti-tank weapons from Qatar - Is it true or another attempt to divide musli

[shamsheer]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/14/libya-rebels-weapons-qatar

Libyan rebels receiving anti-tank weapons from Qatar

Officials in Doha confirm Qatar has been secretly supplying French-made missiles to Libyan rebel stronghold of BenghazLibya's deputy foreign minister Khalid Kaim alleges rebels are receiving help from Islamists while claiming to be fighting for democracy Link to this video

Qatar is secretly supplying anti-tank weapons to the Libyan rebels as part of its strategy of working to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, it has emerged. Officials in Doha confirmed that the Gulf state's military had been shipping French-made Milan missiles to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem, made clear on Wednesday that UN resolutions on Libya permitted the supply of "defensive weapons" to opposition forces struggling to fight Libyan armour.
Qatari government officials were tight-lipped about the deliveries, which are being organised by the joint chiefs of staff and probably made by sea. "We need to send the Libyans equipment so they can defend themselves and get on with their lives," one senior source said. "These are civilians who have had to become fighters because of the situation."
Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, and colleagues from the 21-nation Libya contact group endorsed Qatar's position. Hague insisted the UK would supply only non-lethal equipment. France's view is similar but both countries which are leading Nato air strikes in Libya accept that arming the rebels is legal.
Gaddafi's government has repeatedly complained that the Qataris are supplying the rebels. Khaled Kayim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, claimed on Wednesday that about 20 Qatari specialists were already in Benghazi. Rebel spokesmen have said they are in talks with "friendly" countries, including Qatar and France, to obtain weapons.
Arms deliveries are consistent with Qatar's overall policy. The emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is the only Arab leader to recognise the interim national council in Benghazi. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the only Arab states to participate in Nato-led military operations in Libya, although the Arab League supports the no-fly zone.
Sheikh Hamad was in Washington on Thursday for talks with Barack Obama that were expected to include the Libyan situation.
Mustafa Alani, of the Gulf Institute of Strategic Studies in Dubai, said the shoulder-launched weapons were a significant addition to the rebel arsenal because Nato aircraft could not target Libyan armour in built-up areas without risking collateral damage. Helicopters could do so but there is evident reluctance to deploy them.
"These missiles need minimum training. It's aim and shoot," Alani said. "They are effective especially against the old generation of Soviet-made T72 tanks." Journalists in eastern Libya last week reported seeing rebels armed with Milan missiles for the first time.
Qatar's armed forces are themselves equipped with the Milan but Alani said the weapon could have been bought by the Qataris directly from France for delivery to the Libyans.
Qatar is tiny but immensely wealthy thanks to its vast oil and gas reserves, and pursues a famously independent foreign policy that allows it to maintain good relations with Iran while hosting key US military bases, as well as discreet links with Israel and its Palestinian Islamist enemy Hamas. Al-Jazeera satellite TV, based in Doha, is hugely influential.
It is also assisting a rebel satellite TV operation broadcasting from Doha and providing other support for Libyan opposition groups. It has agreed to market crude oil produced from eastern Libyan fields no longer under Gaddafi's control. This week Qatar's state-owned marketing company delivered four shipments of oil products to Benghazi.

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Personally do not want to trust this but muslims today are not priceless.

 

[QaiserMirza]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

Qatar is the only country in the region who has diplomatic relation with Israel.

 

[hans]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

Obamas Dilemma Over Saudi Arabia

Theres a crisis in U.S. policy in the Middle East and its not about Libya. For weeks the Obama administration has been preoccupied with averting a humanitarian catastrophe in North Africa. But on the other side of the region, in the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula, a matter of vital, strategic importance awaits the urgent attention of policymakers.

Over there, the ailing 87-year-old king of Saudi Arabia probably isnt getting much sleep. Abdullah, this Sunni monarch of monarchs, custodian of the holy mosques of Mecca and Medina, can see the flames of instability and turmoil licking at all his borders. In the south, Yemen is imploding, to the advantage of his al-Qaeda enemies. In the east, Bahrains Shiite majority has been in such a state of revolt that Abdullah has already sent armed forces to prevent Iran from establishing a cats paw on the Sunni Arab side of the Persian Gulf. In the north, Abdullah sees Iraqs Shiite-dominated government as nothing more than a front for the hated Persians. In the west, a Palestinian majority is demanding that the Hashemite king of Jordan become a constitutional monarch. Meanwhile, Egypts Hosni Mubarak, that other Sunni pillar of regional stability, has already been overthrown.

Historically, in times of trouble, Saudi kings have depended on American presidents to guarantee their external security. But at this moment of crisis, Abdullah views President Obama as a threat to his internal security. He fears that in the event of a widespread revolt, Obama will demand that he leave office, just as he did to Mubarak, that other longtime friend of the United States.

Consequently, Abdullah is reportedly making arrangements for Pakistani troops to enter his kingdom should the need to suppress popular demonstrations arise.
This presents the Obama administration with a particularly thorny dilemma. Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest oil producer and the only one with sufficient excess production capacity to moderate rises in the price of oil. Instability in Saudi Arabia could produce panic in the oil markets and an oil shock that could put an end to Americas economic recovery (and the presidents hopes for reelection). This would argue for granting an exception to Saudi Arabia from the Obama administrations trumpeting of universal rights. Indeed, the soft criticism of Bahrains Saudi-dictated suppression of its people suggests that this has already become U.S. policy.

Yet helping the Saudi king effectively erect a wall against the political tsunami sweeping across the Arab world is not a long-term solution. If theres one thing that we can now predict with some confidence, its that no Arab authoritarian regime can remain immune from the demands of its people for political freedom and accountable government. To be sure, $100 billion in subventions from the palace and the promise of 60,000 jobs can help postpone, for a time, the demands of unemployed Saudi youths. But political freedom, transmitted across borders via cable TV and the Internet, has proved to be a seductive idea. In the end, it will not be assuaged by economic bribes or police-state suppression.
And the Saudi system is fragile. Power is concentrated in the hands of the king and his brothers, who are old and ailing. The Saud familys legitimacy depends in significant part on its pact with a fundamentalist Wahhabi clergy that is deeply opposed to basic political reforms, such as equal rights for women. The deep structural tensions generated by a 21st-century Westernized elite existing within a 15th-century Saudi social structure have been papered over for decades by oil wealth. If this strange social contract begins to fray, it might tear completely. And over in the eastern quarter, adjacent to Bahrain, where most of Saudi Arabias oil reserves are located, sits a restive Shiite minority who have been treated as second-class citizens for decades.

Even if the Obama administration were understandably inclined to leave well enough alone, it cannot afford to do so for other reasons. The Saudis are attempting to erect the wall beyond their borders not only by suppressing the revolt in Bahrain but also by insisting that Jordans king not pursue the reform agenda he has promised his people. In effect, Abdullah intends to carve out an exception for all the kings and sheiks Sunni to a man in Saudi Arabias neighborhood. It might work for a time. But should this dam break, it could generate a sectarian Sunni-Shiite, Arab-Iranian conflict on one side and an Arab-Israeli conflict on the other. It could spell the end of Pax Americana in the Middle East.

For all of these reasons, President Obama urgently needs to negotiate a new compact with King Abdullah. He has to find a way to convince him that defining a road map that leads to constitutional monarchies in his neighborhood, and eventually in Saudi Arabia, is the only effective way to secure his kingdom and the interests of his subjects. Abdullah has been willing to undertake important reforms in the past. But if the king is to be persuaded to embark on this road again, he will need to know that the president will provide a secure safety net of support, rather than undermine him. And he will need to know that the United States will not make a deal with his Iranian enemies at Saudi expense.

Such a compact would be difficult to negotiate in the best of times. It cannot even be broached in current circumstances unless the basic trust between the president and the king can be reestablished. With a budget crisis at home and turmoil in the Middle East, its understandable that Obama has had little time for the personal engagement with potentates that does not come naturally to him. But its not just Abdullahs survival that is at stake. A revolt in Saudi Arabia could sink his presidency.

By Martin Indyk is vice president and director of the Brookings Institutions foreign policy program and convener of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, which meets in Washington next week.

Source:http://arabia2day.com/featured/obama’s-dilemma-over-saudi-arabia/

 

[pak2010]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

No one can divide us because .....Muslims are already divided/. there is nothing more left, dont worry

 

[Imranpak]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

Arab's have always been divided amongst themselves!. Saudi's don't like Egyptians who despise the Palestinians!. Kuwaitis think poorly of the Jordanians and Iraqis, the Syrians seem to be disliked by neighbouring nations too where as no one cares about the Yemenese!

This being the case as Pakistanis we shouldn't expect any favours either.The USA invades them then steals their oil only to sell it back to them ten times the orginal price as Israel laughs on!!. I am fully aware of Pakistan's problems too but thankfully we have no oil wealth to fight over also by and large we are a more united people.

Muslim unity only looks good in books, i don't blame the USA for our ignorance!

 

[only_truths]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/14/libya-rebels-weapons-qatar

Libyan rebels receiving anti-tank weapons from Qatar

Officials in Doha confirm Qatar has been secretly supplying French-made missiles to Libyan rebel stronghold of BenghazLibya's deputy foreign minister Khalid Kaim alleges rebels are receiving help from Islamists while claiming to be fighting for democracy Link to this video

Qatar is secretly supplying anti-tank weapons to the Libyan rebels as part of its strategy of working to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, it has emerged. Officials in Doha confirmed that the Gulf state's military had been shipping French-made Milan missiles to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem, made clear on Wednesday that UN resolutions on Libya permitted the supply of "defensive weapons" to opposition forces struggling to fight Libyan armour.
Qatari government officials were tight-lipped about the deliveries, which are being organised by the joint chiefs of staff and probably made by sea. "We need to send the Libyans equipment so they can defend themselves and get on with their lives," one senior source said. "These are civilians who have had to become fighters because of the situation."
Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, and colleagues from the 21-nation Libya contact group endorsed Qatar's position. Hague insisted the UK would supply only non-lethal equipment. France's view is similar but both countries which are leading Nato air strikes in Libya accept that arming the rebels is legal.
Gaddafi's government has repeatedly complained that the Qataris are supplying the rebels. Khaled Kayim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, claimed on Wednesday that about 20 Qatari specialists were already in Benghazi. Rebel spokesmen have said they are in talks with "friendly" countries, including Qatar and France, to obtain weapons.
Arms deliveries are consistent with Qatar's overall policy. The emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is the only Arab leader to recognise the interim national council in Benghazi. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the only Arab states to participate in Nato-led military operations in Libya, although the Arab League supports the no-fly zone.
Sheikh Hamad was in Washington on Thursday for talks with Barack Obama that were expected to include the Libyan situation.
Mustafa Alani, of the Gulf Institute of Strategic Studies in Dubai, said the shoulder-launched weapons were a significant addition to the rebel arsenal because Nato aircraft could not target Libyan armour in built-up areas without risking collateral damage. Helicopters could do so but there is evident reluctance to deploy them.
"These missiles need minimum training. It's aim and shoot," Alani said. "They are effective especially against the old generation of Soviet-made T72 tanks." Journalists in eastern Libya last week reported seeing rebels armed with Milan missiles for the first time.
Qatar's armed forces are themselves equipped with the Milan but Alani said the weapon could have been bought by the Qataris directly from France for delivery to the Libyans.
Qatar is tiny but immensely wealthy thanks to its vast oil and gas reserves, and pursues a famously independent foreign policy that allows it to maintain good relations with Iran while hosting key US military bases, as well as discreet links with Israel and its Palestinian Islamist enemy Hamas. Al-Jazeera satellite TV, based in Doha, is hugely influential.
It is also assisting a rebel satellite TV operation broadcasting from Doha and providing other support for Libyan opposition groups. It has agreed to market crude oil produced from eastern Libyan fields no longer under Gaddafi's control. This week Qatar's state-owned marketing company delivered four shipments of oil products to Benghazi.

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Personally do not want to trust this but muslims today are not priceless.

There is division in every religion. The truth is how do we overcome such differences. India in the past few years have overcome this differences though economic growth and secular path.
ps: if you really want to know the divisions in religions , here is the link: http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html

 

[gazoomartian]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/14/libya-rebels-weapons-qatar

Libyan rebels receiving anti-tank weapons from Qatar

Officials in Doha confirm Qatar has been secretly supplying French-made missiles to Libyan rebel stronghold of BenghazLibya's deputy foreign minister Khalid Kaim alleges rebels are receiving help from Islamists while claiming to be fighting for democracy Link to this video
.

I highly doubt that Qatar is officially involved in arms supplying to the rebel of Lybia.

Most likely the US military base in Qatar has been sending arms in the name of Qatar and Qataris didnt even know

 

[gazoomartian]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

Obamas Dilemma Over Saudi Arabia


Theres a crisis in U.S. policy in the Middle East and its not about Libya. For weeks the Obama administration has been preoccupied with averting a humanitarian catastrophe in North Africa. But on the other side of the region, in the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula, a matter of vital, strategic importance awaits the urgent attention of policymakers.

Over there, the ailing 87-year-old king of Saudi Arabia probably isnt getting much sleep. Abdullah, this Sunni monarch of monarchs, custodian of the holy mosques of Mecca and Medina, can see the flames of instability and turmoil licking at all his borders. In the south, Yemen is imploding, to the advantage of his al-Qaeda enemies. In the east, Bahrains Shiite majority has been in such a state of revolt that Abdullah has already sent armed forces to prevent Iran from establishing a cats paw on the Sunni Arab side of the Persian Gulf. In the north, Abdullah sees Iraqs Shiite-dominated government as nothing more than a front for the hated Persians. In the west, a Palestinian majority is demanding that the Hashemite king of Jordan become a constitutional monarch. Meanwhile, Egypts Hosni Mubarak, that other Sunni pillar of regional stability, has already been overthrown.

Moral of the story: Its a 'damned if I do , damned if I don't' situation for Uncle Sam, the champion of the human rights, except of course when it comes to Palestine and Kashmir, they close eyes.


Like I have been saying, any unrest, revolt, failed or successful, will create a nightmare for Americans whose life line of the economy is the oil field of Saudia. US must do and will do everything within its power to keep ARAMCO safe from potential terrorist targets. We can not predict the magnitude of disaster if, Allah forbid, terrorist attack ARAMCO or even as much just make a threat. The price of oil will skyrocket to perhaps over $200/barrel and will keep climbing. The most affected countries will be the smaller countries tho US and Europe's economy will be destroyed too.

Now what would really be funny if the Pakistani police/troops, in the number of say 10,000, invited to quell uprising, make a turn and take over oil fields.:lol:

But its not gonna happen. We don't go and take over, that's Americans' habit. No wonder they have bases all over the world.

Tough times are ahead for the world, specially Americans

 

[Muhammad Tauseef A. Bajwa]

Re: Is it true or another attempt to divide muslims

Qatar is the only country in the region who has diplomatic relation with Israel.

......................................................
Ignoring 1st? Egypt "Camp David" Accord!

 

[Young]

Qatar was the first country which is recognizing the rebels fighter from Libya as a real/country representer from Libya.