AQIM likely has SA-7's

[url=http://news.yahoo.com/mali-manual-suggests-al-qaida-feared-weapon-145958976.html;_ylt=AmZaM3MHO8fJTHzZfFNj8foSscB_;_ylu=X3oDMTB0YWZpMjQyBG1pdAMEcG9zAzIyBHNlYwNsbl9BZnJpY2FfZ2Fs;_ylg=X3oDMTBhYWM1a2sxBGxhbmcDZW4tVVM-;_ylv=3]TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) The photocopies of the manual lay in heaps on the floor, in stacks that scaled one wall, like Xeroxed, stapled handouts for a class. Except that the students in this case were al-Qaida fighters in Mali. And the manual was a detailed guide, with diagrams and photographs, on how to use a weapon that particularly concerns the United States: A surface-to-air missile capable of taking down a commercial airplane. The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by The Associated Press in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests the group now possesses the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, known to the Pentagon as the Grail, according to terrorism specialists. And it confirms that the al-Qaida cell is actively training its fighters to use these weapons, also called man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which likely came from the arms depots of ex-Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.[/url] It is worthy of pointing out that they are not the first al-Qaeda cell to obtain such weapons, but being that AQIM is one of the largest terrorist organizations in Africa (and the largest in Northern Africa and possibly even the Sahel) it is really worrying. While it certainly isn't as much of a threat to military assets, it is a severe threat to commercial airlines; however, the French have allegedly switched up some of their tactics in Mali to combat this new threat. What are your thoughts on this news? How do you think countries will react to this? What about airline corporations?