The Sunday Telegraph interviewed a number of experts on Libya this weekend, with many warning that the Western plans to launch a war against ISIS in Libya are based largely on “faulty intelligence” from US officials.
“The estimates of the number of jihadists is grossly exaggerated,” noted Atlantic Council’s Libya expert Karim Mezran, referencing recent US intelligence assessments which have claimed between 5,000 and 6,500 ISIS fighters in Libya.
Those who talked to refugees from Sirte, the main ISIS-held city in Libya, said the number of ISIS fighters was “in the hundreds, not in the thousands,” and privately US officials say they too are skeptical of the assessment’s large number.
At the same time, the US has been eager to expand the ISIS war, and Libya is a convenient place to do that, so for many policymakers, the assessment fits the narrative, and whether the assessment is true or not is very much beside the point.
SSDD… Any hope that the US media will bring this up?
“Faulty Intelligence” is better known by a shorter term, Stupidity.
Suggested campaign slogan for the Clinton effort: Hillary-Arrogance and Ignorance-A Winning Combination
Not so long ago, the same people were telling us that ISIS had only 3,000 member in the whole world. Now they have twice that just in Libya?
We have a counting problem, which may just be a lying problem.
Libyans in the west of the country could very much eliminate the so called ISIS in Libya if just the so called “international community” support them instead of wasting their time supporting Hafter and his ragtag militia and the so called “internationally recognized “invective thieving unpopular government in
Tobruk.Let the Libyans deal with it.Do not create and manufacture pretexts .