A top adviser to Libya’s prime minister warned Tuesday that the Obama administration and the U.S. intelligence community have dramatically underestimated the Islamic State’s expansion into his nation — a development that could have been avoided had Washington led a more aggressive counterterrorism strategy after Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster in 2011.
Expanding ties in recent months between Libyan extremist groups and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s Syria- and Iraq-based Islamic State movement have attracted more international attention during recent weeks. But U.S. officials have resisted playing up the association — even after an outfit claiming allegiance to al-Baghdadi killed a U.S. citizen in an assault on Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel last week.
Source: www.washingtontimes.com