What do you want first?… The bad news or the bad news?
Rebels guard the front line on the road between Ajdabiyah and Brega as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi threatened to push them further away from strategic oil refineries in eastern Libya March 31, 2011. (REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly)
CNN’s Jon Lee Anderson gave Eliot Spitzer some bad news yesterday. According to Anderson there are only 1,000 rebels fighting Gaddafi forces in Libya.
During “In the Arena,” Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer for The New Yorker reporting from Benghazi, Libya, tells Eliot Spitzer that the number of opposition fighters on the front lines are fewer than anyone would think and that they are poorly armed and badly trained. Anderson says, “Effective number of fighting men, well under 1,000. Actual soldiers, who are now in the fight, possibly in the very low hundreds on the opposition side.”
Earlier it was reported that there were 1,000 Al-Qaeda members in the rebel ranks.
Former jihadist Noman Benotman, who renounced his al Qaeda affiliation in 2000, said in an interview that he estimates 1,000 jihadists are in Libya…
…Outside observers generally estimate the number of trained Libyan fighters to be about 1,000.
Hmm.
That’s weird. So if there are only 1,000 rebel fighters in Libya and there are 1,000 members of Al-Qaeda fighting with the rebels in Libya, then wouldn’t that mean that the rebels are 100% jihadists?
And, the Obama Administration wants to arm them?
Now does that sound like smart power to you?
Not to worry… There are at least 200 more Al-Qaeda fighters on their way to Libya from Afghanistan.