"Female snipers are generally good -- they are much more patient then men"
As a result of having entered into an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks, I was recently ables to gain access to certain emails obtain by WikiLeaks from the Stratford Global Intelligence Files that purport to be the report of a debriefing by a Stratford operative of a British mercenary of long experience who had just completed a 4 week training course for Libyan opposition fighters in the Western Mountains.
The period involved would have been late July through August 2011, so much nearer to the end than the beginning of the Libyan Revolution.
This military contractor with 25+ military experience was putting a group of opposition fighters through a special one month training course. He didn't think much of the opposition fighters and he didn't think much of Qaddafi's people either. Frank I think his whole testimony reeks of racism, but that is pretty much what I would expect from a British mercenary working in Africa.
But those looking for proof that Western intelligence or imperialists were running the opposition in Libya won't find it here. On the ground, at least, this military struggle was conducted by the Libyan revolutionaries on their own and this report is the exception that proves that rule.
I say this because this mercenary claims "his employer is the only known contractor in Libya" and while he does not give numbers, it is clear that they were only training a handful of would-be special forces rebels. When asked "How prevalent was Western intelligence and special operators -- particularly French, Italian, UK and US?", he reported that he didn't see any.
So here we have the report of a single month-long foreign backed training effort for the Libyan opposition. It doesn't sound like it did much good, either because the trainees were incompetent or because the trainer thought they were. It also doesn't sound like there was much else around in terms of western boots on the ground.
When asked about foreign fighters, source reported that there were many fighters from Chad and Somalia, as well as snipers from Serbia and female snipers from Colombia. Like him, they were all mercenaries, but they were fighting for Mummar Qaddafi.
We are given no clue who was behind this training effort but since it sounds like the kind of thing that could be bought for a few hundred thousand dollars, it could have been anyone from a wealthy Qatari businessman to a group of Libyan ex-pats in the UK. Or it could have been the C.I.A.
One question posed by the Stratfor agent, doesn't get answered:
Who was the sugar daddy funding the source's training efforts?
The email is dated 29 August 2011. by this time Tripoli had been liberated 10 days and the Libyan Revolution was well on it's way to final victory. It has the subject line:
Subject: Re: [alpha] INSIGHT - LIBYA/MIL/CT - Trainer of Libya rebels on the conflict - LY1000The source is described as:
British national who is a military contractor with 25+ years of military / contractor experience / multiple combat experiences that trained rebels in Libya in small arms handling and basic infantry tactics for a private company based out of Britain; was training rebels and listening to colleagues who were in / near the front talk about how things were going.With this added note:
SOURCE RELIABILITY: New source
ITEM CREDIBILITY: New source
SPECIAL HANDLING: Not for publication / cannot mention contractor, contractors or location of training facilities as his employer is the only known contractor in Libya (as far as he knows)
SOURCE HANDLER: Primo
Where were you training the rebels?
Western mountains for 5 weeks (source just got back this past Friday). The rebels received a 1 month training package from us.
How would you rate the rebels overall?
Completely lacking discipline - worse than the Afghanis. And these are the special forces operators that we were training. The emigre returnees were somewhat better at learning basics of infantry tactics however they were lazy just like the guys who didn't leave Libya for another country. For instance, they didn't want to fight because it was Ramadan. They didn't like training because it was demanding -- weak and low motivation to learn. Very undisciplined and unorganized. As a fighting force they had very limited command and control, lots of friendly fire KIAs. A big gaggle. When we were asking them to decide leaders among themselves, they picked a big lad who was intimidating -- but an idiot. They don't understand that you need a thinker to lead you in battle.
Do you think that some just joined the rebels cause it seemed they would beat Gaddafi?
No. They wanted to get rid of him. They were willing to get rid of Gaddafi -- the lot of them wanted to get rid of them. They would have had no chance in hell to defeat Gaddafi without NATO support. Apparently they tried in Bengazi a few years ago and were slaughtered.
How did they move about on the battlefield and in staging for the next battle?
Gaggle. Depended on how much oil they had for their vehicles. Very disorganized no tactical awareness or thought out planning.
What was the vetting process for the rebels -- how did you know they were not Islamists?
There was no vetting process.
What was the primary weapon of choice?
AK47. Libyan Specials had FAL's (*7.62 cartridge as well) but they didn't like them because they were "too heavy." AK47 was the weapon of choice for both sides.
How would you rate the government forces?
Shit as well. A former government soldier, who served a 4 or 5 year contract with the Libyan Army, showed up and wanted to be special forces. He couldn't fire worth shit and didn't know how to assemble and disassemble his weapon even after that many years in the Libyan Army. The government forces were worthless but had heavier fire power.
What was the presence of foreign fighters?
They were there. You would hear stories about them all the time. Many fighters from Chad and Somalia. There were apparently Colombian female snipers and 13 Serb snipers were captured in or on the border with Tunisia apparently. Female snipers are generally good -- they are much more patient then men -- just look at the Russians in WWII.
How prevalent was Western intelligence and special operators -- particularly French, Italian, UK and US?
Didn't see any intelligence operatives or troops from the west -- l was in the mountains with my company training these guys so I wasn't going around to the front lines. They were presumably working with rebels in Tripoli and painting targets and helping plan attacks.
Is there looting?
Yes -- but mostly of government officials homes and properties and government buildings.
Are there shortages of basic essentials?
Yes of everything -- food, water, electricity. Lots of food coming through from Tunisia but conditions aren't good (source lost over 10 kilos there).
How secure is the border with Tunisia?
Very secure. They were professional when we passed through and checked everything.
Do you think that MANPADS and other hardware is moving out of Libya?
The border with Tunisia seemed secure / border guards were checking things thoroughly. I don't know really.
What do you think the post-war will bring?
If Gaddafi isn't found there can be an insurgency because he does still have loyal people. They have a very poor infrastructure. I don't know how true, but apparently there are massive, natural underground water resources. Some Libyan emigre returnee from Dubai said that Libya could be the breadbasket of north Africa. I don't know what awaits.
What are Gaddafi's resupply options right now?
I don't know. Probably not much as the rebels have taken just about everything.
Are convoys moving towards Sirte?
I don't know.
WikiLeaks Donations Now Tax Deductible EU Wide
Wau-Holland-Stiftung (WHS), named in memory of the German philosopher and net activist Wau Holland, has been collecting donations for WikiLeaks since 2009. In the immediate aftermath of WikiLeaks publication of the US diplomatic cables in 2010, not only did PayPal arbitrarily shut down the WHS donations account, but the tax-exempt status of the Foundation was challenged as well.
It took almost two years of negotiations with German tax authorities to strike a deal: Tax exemption (charitable status) will be granted again going forward and going back to 2011, but not for 2010. (See: "Taxing Transparency", Der Spiegel, 13 Nov 2012).
Therefore, citizens of EU member states will be able to donate to WikiLeaks operations through WHS and in addition, write the donation off from their income tax. This is because of a ruling of the European Court in 2009 (Decision C-318_07), which mandates that every member state must honour the tax exemption decision of any other member state.
And this is how you make a money transfer to support WikiLeaks:
Recipient: Wau Holland Stiftung
Bank: Commerzbank Kassel, Königsplatz 32-34, 34117 Kassel, Germany
IBAN: DE46 5204 0021 0277 2812 04
BIC/SWIFT: COBADEFF520
Reference: WikiLeaks or Project 04 if you prefer
add your e-mail or postal address to receive a tax-deductible donation receipt.
Hamburg, 26. Nov 2012 Wau-Holland-Stiftung http://www.wauland.de
Other methods of donation:
https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate
No comments:
Post a Comment