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March 31, 2011
Exclusive: Obama Authorizes Secret Help For Libya Rebels
Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret help for Libya rebels
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 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. This is a necessary legal step before such action can take place but does not mean that it will.
As is common practice for this and all administrations, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "I will reiterate what the president said yesterday -- no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya."
The CIA declined 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.
Interviews by U.S. 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," he told ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted to reporters that no decision had yet been taken.
U.S. officials monitoring events in Libya say neither Gaddafi's forces nor the rebels, who have asked the West for heavy weapons, now 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.
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.
~ snipet ~
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.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Why are “secret” orders being revealed? And it is all over the place. Obama can't even do covert right.
There are 2200 Marines on the Kearsarge offshore. Another 2200 on the way.(Should be at Gibralta by now). And 2-3000 Paratroopers in Vincenza Italy.
This was a post I did last Sundaty:
Energized Muslim Brotherhood In Libya Eyes A Prize
Muslim Brotherhood is siding with the rebellion. In February, as protests in Libya began, Yusuf al Qaradawi -- an Egyptian preacher in Qatar widely viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood's chief spiritual guide -- issued a fatwa or religious ruling obliging any Libyan soldier who had the opportunity to do so to assassinate the leader. Al-Amin Bilhaj, a leading figure in the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and the President of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) recently traveled to Benghazi, the headquarters of the rebel movement, according to Hresha.
Notice too how Obama is attacking only those regimes that keep the Arab world from destroying Israel!!! The head of the UN recently stated that Israel needs to be persuaded to get out of what he calls 'occupied' territory and for Jerusalem to be divided...And as we can see, Obama has given up any and all US sovereignty for the rule of the UN.
Obama the jihadi sympathizer in the WH........
US Constitution
Article III, Section 3.
"Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Posted by Wild Thing at March 31, 2011 06:55 AM
Comments
He's been stalling for time- A treacherously lethal pretender to the White House, he is and always was a Muzz and a communist- We must remove him immediately, along with all his cronies, before he declares martial law and we're trapped- By all and any means, REMOVE OBAMA!
Posted by: dobus at March 31, 2011 07:34 AM
Obamao.... Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels!
So much comrades for WE THE PEOPLE?
Imagine if W had done this?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at March 31, 2011 10:21 AM
It all sounds good. Remove obama. But we need a backbone in congress and there aint enough of them to make a spine.
Posted by: Mark at March 31, 2011 10:36 AM
Yeah, so much for covert. I figure which ever side we take is the wrong one. Actually both sides are anti American. We need to stay out of it and let them kill each other.
Posted by: TomR,armed in Texas at March 31, 2011 11:14 AM
I'm wondering the same thing? If covert operations have been approved, why has it been revealed and being reported? Wouldn't this put the lives of the operatives in danger? Wouldn't this put the operation itself in danger and increase the will of those against us?
Posted by: BobF at March 31, 2011 12:21 PM
Thanks WT and thanks guys for the comments. Here is a tidbit you might be interested in and spreading further.
While Obama is contemplating arming these Libyan rebels they have sold millions of dollars of captured Libyan chemical weapons and anti aircraft missles through Iranian government middlemen to Hamas and Hizbollah.
http://boudicabpi.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/obama-arming-and-training-the-libyan-rebels-is-idiocy-unless/
Feel free to re-post or otherwise share any content on my site.
Posted by: Bob A at March 31, 2011 08:03 PM
Thank you so much everyone.
BobA, thanks for the information and your post about this at your awesome blog.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 1, 2011 03:22 AM
