Report: U.S.-Backed Weapons for Libyan Rebels Ended Up With Islamic Militants

File this under least shocking news ever. According to some U.S. officials and foreign diplomats, arms shipments, that were backed by the U.S., and meant for Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi’s forces ended up in the hands of militant Islamics. From The New York Times:

The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.

The report goes on to say that, while no evidence exists that any of these weapons were used in the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americas, the Obama Administration was clearly concerned that Qatar was turning them over to the militants:

 The Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government.

Giving even more credence to that is this little nugget from the same story:

The United States, which had only small numbers of C.I.A. officers in Libya during the tumult of the rebellion, provided little oversight of the arms shipments. Within weeks of endorsing Qatar’s plan to send weapons there in spring 2011, the White House began receiving reports that they were going to Islamic militant groups.

I have long suspected the weapons used to murder Americans in Benghazi actually originated from the United States and it now looks more and more like that was indeed the case. I mean, they provided laughable control over who these weapons were being handed and new very quickly they were going to militants and did nothing? What did they think would be the end result? A blind man could have seen where this was headed.

Given this administrations incompetent response to the attacks, a horribly compromised scene, and their constant deflection in the aftermath, I doubt we’ll ever be able to determine with 100% certainty whether or not that was the case. Then again, I think that is exactly what this administration wanted from the beginning.