The U.S. Had No Idea Egypt and U.A.E. Were Going to Bomb Libya

Adam Chandler
The U.S. Had No Idea Egypt and U.A.E. Were Going to Bomb Libya

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates secretly teamed up to launch two airstrikes against Islamist forces in Libya.

This development comes as little surprise, after all, both countries are waging their own internal and regional battles to stem the rise of political Islam in the Middle East and North Africa. Libya itself is an unsurprising target, an oil rich country beset by chaos since a NATO intervention helped depose Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It also happens to be right next door to Egypt.

As the Times reported, there is just one little surprise in all of this:

The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington or seeking its consent, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied the operation to American diplomats, the officials said.

Wait, what?

There are a number of ways to look at this development. Here's one:

Okay, there may only be one way to look at this development.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/the-us-had-no-idea-egypt-and-uae-were-going-to-bomb-libya/379088/

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