Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels

Hmmm. Haven't we learned about giving out our own arms to other countries?

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter.

Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment.

News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces.

The United States is part of a coalition, with NATO members and some Arab states, which is conducting air strikes on Libyan government forces under a U.N. mandate aimed at protecting civilians opposing Gaddafi.

In interviews with American TV networks on Tuesday, Obama said the objective was for Gaddafi to "ultimately step down" from power. He spoke of applying "steady pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means" to force Gaddafi out.

Obama said the U.S. had not ruled out providing military hardware to rebels. "It's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. We're looking at all our options at this point," the President told ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

U.S. officials monitoring events in Libya say that at present, neither Gaddafi's forces nor the rebels, who have asked the West for heavy weapons, appear able to make decisive gains.

While U.S. and allied airstrikes have seriously damaged Gaddafi's military forces and disrupted his chain of command, officials say, rebel forces remain disorganized and unable to take full advantage of western military support.

SPECIFIC OPERATIONS

People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert objective.

In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional "permission" allowing such activities to proceed.

Former officials say these follow-up authorizations are known in the intelligence world as "'Mother may I' findings."

In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S. counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally confirm such orders have been issued.

Because U.S. and allied intelligence agencies still have many questions about the identities and leadership of anti-Gaddafi forces, any covert U.S. activities are likely to proceed cautiously until more information about the rebels can be collected and analyzed, officials said.

"The whole issue on (providing rebels with) training and equipment requires knowing who the rebels are," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA Middle East expert who has advised the Obama White House.

Riedel said that helping the rebels to organize themselves and training them how use weapons effectively would be more urgent then shipping them arms.

According to an article speculating on possible U.S. covert actions in Libya published early in March on the website of the Voice of America, the U.S. government's broadcasting service, a covert action is "any U.S. government effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a hidden way."

ARMS SUPPLIES

The article, by VOA intelligence correspondent Gary Thomas, said covert action "can encompass many things, including propaganda, covert funding, electoral manipulation, arming and training insurgents, and even encouraging a coup."

U.S. officials also have said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose leaders despise Gaddafi, have indicated a willingness to supply Libyan rebels with weapons.

Members of Congress have expressed anxiety about U.S. government activities in Libya. Some have recalled that weapons provided by the U.S. and Saudis to mujahedeen fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s later ended up in the hands of anti-American militants.

There are fears that the same thing could happen in Libya unless the U.S. is sure who it is dealing with. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, said on Wednesday he opposed supplying arms to the Libyan rebels fighting Gaddafi "at this time."

"We need to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing out guns and advanced weapons to them," Rogers said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Storey)

Not much of a secret then, is it?

whaduya mean "haven't we learned"

Remember the good old days when this was just some no-fly zone thingy that we were only going to be involved in for a couple of days?

It this fantasy? How trustworthy is this news... I believe it is true, but will retain my skepticism.

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

Not much of a secret then, is it?

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hahahahahahahaha So then Chumpdumper goes..."Not much of a secret then, is it?" :lmao

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

Not much of a secret then, is it?

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barry loves war

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Originally Posted by ChumpDumper

Not much of a secret then, is it?

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Originally Posted by coyotes_geek

Remember the good old days when this was just some no-fly zone thingy that we were only going to be involved in for a couple of days?

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Not a war, we were told. What a difference a day makes.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

Not a war, we were told. What a difference a day makes.

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How do you know if it's secret?

Some of you posters here in this forum break the threshold of stupidity.

If we give weapons to the rebels in Labia, will they promise (in writing! of course) to not use those weapons on us once they overthrow Gaddhafi? We couldn't give them rocket launchers, those get lost too easily, but I don't see why a few AK47's here and there are a big deal. Maybe some car bomb technique classes wouldn't hurt either?

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Originally Posted by triggeredexcellence

Some of you posters here in this forum break the threshold of stupidity.

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Taking sides in a civil war that has nothing to do with us breaks the threshold of stupidity too.

my lips are sealed

If CIA operations constitute war, the US has been in 100000 wars and is currently fighting 1000 wars

So much for secrets.

http://undpwatch.blogspot.com/2011/0...s-no-arms.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 28 -- On the Libya arms embargo, things get more and more strange. On Monday Chairman Cabral of the UN Libya Sanctions Committee stated on camera that there is a full embargo on arms to Libya, including to the rebels.

When he was told, as Inner City Press and other have been, that the UK is seeking a legal opinion, Cabral said this was just talk, and reiterated his reading of the resolution: a full arms embargo. This position has been echoed to Inner City Press by other Security Council members.

How then can not only Obama administration spokesman Jay Carney on March 25, but also Defense Secretary Robert Gates on March 27, say that the UN resolutions have the flexibility to allow for arms transfers to the rebels?

Skeptics at the UN say that if the George W. Bush administration was making such comments, there would howling about their contempt for international law and multi-lateralism. But now very little is being said. Would this silence continue if the US did in fact more to arm the rebels?

The US did not even raise the issue to debate it in the Sanctions Committee's first meeting on March 25, Inner City Press is reliably informed.

more at link

Kinetic military action is hell.

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Originally Posted by cheguevara

If CIA operations constitute war, the US has been in 100000 wars and is currently fighting 1000 wars

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But Obama said "no boots on the ground!" What do CIA operatives wear, tennis shoes and sneakers? LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIREEEEE! :ihit

are you guys just figuring out the CIA can arm the rebels all the while making it look like someone else is doing it?

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Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro

are you guys just figuring out the CIA can arm the rebels all the while making it look like someone else is doing it?

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Did you even bother reading the OP?

LOL arms embargo. These guys are making a killing. on both sides

http://www.maximummovies.net/wp-cont...ord-of-war.jpg

President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan...He then sent the Navy in to shoot at pirates in the Indian Ocean... Now he's attacking Libya... It's like he took the Nobel Peace Prize as an insult...

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Originally Posted by CavsSuperFan

President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan...He then sent the Navy in to shoot at pirates in the Indian Ocean... Now he's attacking Libya... It's like he took the Nobel Peace Prize as an insult...

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so continuing a war, shooting at bad guys, and protecting civilians makes his Nobel prize an insult?.....

ohhhkk

What do trees have to do with this?

Wheres Ollie North when you need him?

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Originally Posted by CavsSuperFan

President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan...He then sent the Navy in to shoot at pirates in the Indian Ocean... Now he's attacking Libya... It's like he took the Nobel Peace Prize as an insult...

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Obama stepped up the game in a country that Bush practically left in the dark while he focused on Iraq (talk about digging our military out of a hole). Obama took a stand against pirates attacking civilian and industrial liners in oceans (talk about preserving the rule of law in the world's oceans). Now Obama is getting rid of an international terrorist that ordered the Lockerbie bombings, yet was still named to the UN Human Rights council. I'm waiting for Obama to send a kill team for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - that would be epic.

Of course the arms dealers are making big bucks, lots more innocents are dying now as a result of the chaos we're prolonging, but you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs. Mmmmmm Middle Eastern curry omellete!

So Obama wanted to update the American people on Libya? I could be wrong but unless Snooki is going to Libya most Americans really don't care...

Regarding Libya, Obama says we’re staying for a short time and then leaving…Riiiiiiight…That’s what my relatives always say…

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Originally Posted by CavsSuperFan

Regarding Libya, Obama says we’re staying for a short time and then leaving…Riiiiiiight…That’s what my relatives always say…

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Well, unlike your house, Libya does not have the spare rooms or couches to accomodate overnight stays. Egypt lives to the East, and it's looking pretty dreadful there too tbh