STUTTGART, Germany — The Pentagon said on
Monday it is drawing up plans to train up to
8,000 Libyan troops as that country’s
government struggles to deal with rising violence
by heavily armed militia units.
Spokesman Col. Steven Warren told reporters at
the Pentagon that details of the training were still
being worked out, including which U.S. Army
conventional forces units would conduct it and
what Libyan units would receive it.
“We’re in discussions with Libyans on the exact
number [of troops], but we’re prepared to
provide training for 5,000 to 8,000 personnel,”
Warren said. “This is essentially basic training.”
Dates have not yet been set, Warren said.
Since the NATO-led bombardment of Libya in
2011, which resulted in the ouster of strongman
Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has been in a state of
virtual chaos as a security vacuum has created a
safe haven for groups such as Ansar Al Sharia and
other militias.
The precarious security situation was underscored
last week, when militiamen opened fire on
peaceful demonstrators in the capital, Tripoli,
killing more than 40 civilians. In October, Prime
Minister Ali Zeidan was briefly taken captive by
gunmen, a few days after a raid by U.S. special
operations snatched a high level al-Qaida
operative from the streets of the capital.
A year earlier, on Sept. 11, 2012, militants also
were responsible for the strike on the U.S.
diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which left four
dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher
Stevens.
Reacting to the continuing bloodshed, which
prompted warnings of a possible civil war unless
the armed groups are reined in, Libya’s weak
central government has appealed for help from
the international community.
“At the request of the Government of Libya to the
U.S. and other partners, we are coordinating with
Libya and other partner nations how we can best
help strengthen the region’s security,” U.S. Africa
Command spokesman Benjamin Benson said in a
statement. AFRICOM is to coordinate the training.
“The planning and coordination is ongoing and I
cannot provide further details at this time,”
Benson said.
The U.S. and its allies in NATO have been
examining potential training initiatives for
months.
In October, NATO, in response to a request for
support from Libya, said it would help the country
build up its military.
Adm. William McRaven, head of U.S. Special
Operations Command, said over the weekend that
the project will involve conventional and special
operations forces.
However, the initiative also runs the risk that the
U.S. will be forced to deal with recruits with
checkered personal histories, McRaven said,
according to several media accounts of his
remarks during a panel discussion on the war on
terrorism at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
“We are going to have to assume some risks,”
McRaven was quoted as saying by the
Washington Free Beacon website. “Right now we
have the authorities to do that training, and I
think as a country we have to say there is
probably some risk that some of the people we
will be training with do not have the most clean
records. But at the end of the day it is the best
solution we can find to train them to deal with
their own problems.”
McRaven, according to several media accounts
from the Saturday event in California, said the
military would conduct a “thorough review” of
Libyan troops as part of the vetting process.
“And we have a complementary effort on the
special operations side to train a certain number
of their forces to do counterterrorism,” McRaven
said. Bulgaria has been cited as one possible
location for the mission.

Source: www.mepi.state.gov/mobile//where-we-work2/libya.html

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