Ed Morrissey:
The government in Libya has called the US ambassador on the carpet over the seizure of Abu Anas al-Libi, the suspected mastermind behind the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, but the Libyan government is hardly our biggest worry. Early this morning, the US repositioned an emergency task force of 200 Marines to our naval base in Italy, on alert in case the embassy in Tripoli comes under attack from some of al-Libi’s allies:
Two hundred heavily armed Marines have been moved to the U.S. naval base at Sigonella, Italy, from their base in Spain to respond to any potential security crisis for the U.S. Embassy diplomatic mission in Libya, a U.S. military official told CNN. The move happened on Monday the official said. The move, made in coordination with the State Department, was made “as a prudent measure” in the wake of the US military raid to capture Abu Anas al Libi, the 49-year-old alleged al Qaeda operative.
Looks like the White House has learned from experience. Not to put too fine a point on this, but it’s the kind of move that should have been made to protect our consulate and other assets in Benghazi on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, especially given the environment in eastern Libya.
Those Marines might well be needed in Tripoli, too. The Russian embassy came under attack last week by radical Islamist extremists, and they have more reason now to go after the American embassy after al-Libi’s capture. The Libyan government promised to work harder to secure foreign embassies in the capital, but that’s a pretty weak promise, considering that their military couldn’t clear the street in front of its own Defense Ministry headquarters in May. By June, they couldn’t stop the fighting in the streets of Tripoli between various militias and terrorist groups. “The shores of Tripoli” reference in the Marine Corps Hymn may become a modern reality.
Meanwhile, what about al-Libi? As noted yesterday, the US is wisely treating him as a captured intelligence asset rather than a suspect in a crime, at least until they can extract all of the information they can from him. Normally this kind of work would be done at a “black site” abroad or at Guantanamo Bay, but Barack Obama refuses to use either one. Instead, the Associated Press reports, he’s decided to have the Navy provide floating Gitmos:
