With the entrance of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) into the race for president, one thing is for certain: We can expect to hear a lot of rhetoric, accusations, and heated exchanges between the candidates.
Before he officially announced his candidacy, Paul was already painting a picture of the trouble and damage a Democratic administration has caused during the last six years.
At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., Paul laid the blame for events in Libya at the feet of Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Several polls have put Clinton at the top of the list of Democratic candidates for President, although she has not yet officially declared her candidacy.
At CPAC, Paul had this to say about Libya, the U.S., and Hillary Clinton:
"Hillary's war in Libya is a perfect example. Hillary's war made us less safe. Libya's less stable, and radical jihadists run amok. They swim in our swimming pool! Hillary's war in Libya allowed thousands of surface-to-air missiles to fall into the hands of radical Islamists. As Hillary was declaring victory in Libya, Ambassador Stevens was pleading for more security."
PolitiFact was curious about the claim surrounding surface-to-air missiles and whether or not radical Islamists have them because of us. Reporter Joshua Gillin says that Paul's claim rates MOSTLY FALSEr. Gillin says weapons looting had been going on well before the Libyan uprising in 2011.
"When the Arab Spring was happening and rebels in Libya were rising up against Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, weapons stores were already fair game," Gillin said. "People were already looting weapons, including the shoulder-mounted missile launchers that could indeed pose a threat to airliners miliary jets."
Gillin points out that those looting trends actually started to reverse in March 2011.
"When NATO and the U.S. military got involved in 2011, that curbed the number of these rocket launchers that are stil out there," he said. "Reports had said there were about 20,000 of these in stockpiles of varying degrees of workability. Some were too old to function and some were in pieces. That was greatly reduced after we got involved. In fact, one U.S.-led operation actually netted five thousand pieces in just one operation."
Gillin notes that it's possible some missile launchers made it into the hands of terrorist groups.
"We know that these groups may have acquired some, but there's no proof that it's in the thousands," he said. "Military operations and bombing campaigns have greatly reduced the number of missile launchers known to exist."
It's possible some weapons have slipped through the cracks and fallen into the hands of radicals and terrorists, but PolitiFact says it's not because the United States got involved in the Libyan uprising back in 2011. Paul's claim is rated MOSTLY FALSE.
SOURCES: MISSILES IN THE HANDS OF ISLAMISTS
- PolitiFact ruling
- CQ, Rand Paul CPAC transcript, Feb. 26, 2015
- United Nations, "Final report of the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 1973 (2011) concerning Libya," Feb. 19, 2014
- ABC News, "Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For," Sept. 27, 2011
- State Department, MANPADS: Combating the Threat to Global Aviation from Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, Jan. 27, 2011
- State Department, "Addressing the Challenge of MANPADS Proliferation," Feb. 2, 2012
- White House, Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, Oct. 20, 2011
- White House, "Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney," Sept. 28, 2011
- Los Angeles Times, "U.S. intervention in Libya now seen as cautionary tale," June 27, 2014
- New York Times, "In Tripoli, Clinton Pledges U.S. Help to a ‘Free Libya,’" Oct. 18, 2011
- New York Times, "Counting Qaddafi’s Heat-Seeking Missiles, and Tracking Them Back to their Sources," July 26, 2011
- Jane’s Defense Weekly, "Grail quest: MANPADS proliferation in the wake of Libya," June 12, 2014
- Stratfor, "The Continuing Threat of Libyan Missiles," May 3, 2012
- Federation of American Scientists, "The MANPADS threat and International Efforts to Address It," August 2013
- Reuters, "NATO hits Libyan arms depot as West faces dilemma," May 9, 2011
- Email interview, Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa editor for Jane’s Defense Weekly, March 4, 2015
- Phone and email interview, William Lawrence, professor at George Washington University's Elliott School, March 4, 2015
- Phone and email interview, Karim Mezran, senior fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, March 4, 2015
- Email interview, State Department spokesperson Alec Gerlach, March 4, 2015
- Email interview Paul spokesperson Eleanor May, March 4, 2015