http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp? ... mid=123560
Long Beach-built Boeing C-17 Globemaster jets owned by the United States, Canada and Qatar are playing an increasing role in operations across war-scarred Libya, including the recent airlift of wounded rebel fighters....
.....A Qatari Air Force C-17 was used in early April to ferry 15 seriously injured fighters from outside the eastern harbour town of Brega, where revolutionaries have been clashing with fighters loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.....
......The C-17 is likely one of the only heavy-lift jets capable of operating in that country right now, largely because of its ability to land and takeoff on unpaved runways as short as 3,500 feet............
.......The main airport in the capital, Tripoli, remains under the control of Gaddafi, and the tiny one-runway airport in the area of Brega, where the Qatari rescue mission occurred, has been the scene of fierce fighting and is believed damaged......
......However, the mostly flat desert around the small town would be ideal for the C-17, which has operated successfully under similar geographical conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan for years.......
Brega, of course has a 7,200 foot asphalt runway, that can handle many large jets, so in order to make this article plausible, the airport "is believed damaged". And no C-17 has ever landed in "mostly flat desert" areas anywhere in the world, let alone in Iraq and Afghanistan (unless you call landing on the desert runway of Edwards Air Force base where the space shuttle lands, a desert area)