Reports: Obama secretly authorized CIA action in Libya, Al Qaeda may be looking to join rebels
posted at 5:12 pm on March 30, 2011 by Allahpundit
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The authorization isn’t very recent, either. According to sources, it was
“within the last two or three weeks.” Which is interesting for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that coalition operations are only 12 days old. Was the CIA working on regime change before we’d even committed to the UN effort? Did Sarkozy and Cameron know about the CIA’s role when they signed onto the coalition or will they be blindsided by this?
And what happens now to the political dynamics in Libya and abroad when Qaddafi starts screeching that he was right all along about the rebellion being a secret mission by the satanic crusader American government to blah blah blah blah?
Here’s a better question, actually. Why, oh why, is this being leaked? Reuters has no fewer than four U.S. officials confirming that the order was signed. Did they leak because they’re alarmed that the mission is quietly being escalated below the radar or are they coming clean about it as cover for Obama, so that he doesn’t look underhanded later if/when the fact of CIA involvement is discovered by the press? Better to get this info out when the mission is still young and people are still forming opinions about it than to surprise them later.
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.”…
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.
If I understand the article correctly, no “Mother may I” finding has been filed yet. He’s given the CIA the green light to conduct
some sort of action, be it propaganda, funding, training, or beyond, but they’re still busy sizing up the rebels before jumping in. Which brings us to
this bitter pill that’s just breaking at the Daily Beast. The fact that this story is coming out literally within an hour of Reuters’s story about the CIA order is making me woozy:
As the battle for the future of Libya continues, the excitement is almost palpable among Libyan-born al Qaeda fighters and other Arabs hunkered down in Pakistan’s remote and lawless tribal area. According to Afghan Taliban sources close to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist group, some of the 200 or so Libyans operating near the Afghan border may be on their way home to steer the anti-Gaddafi revolution in a more Islamist direction.
Now, as the White House and NATO continue to debate the possible ramifications of arming the Libyan opposition, the Haqqani network-linked Afghan commander says Libyan al Qaeda affiliates seem to be more “enthusiastic” about the war against Gaddafi every day. And from what the Afghan Taliban commander has seen, there appears to be more than “flickers” of al Qaeda’s presence in Libya, the description given by NATO commander Admiral James Stavridis. According to the Afghan commander, al Qaeda fighters can’t believe their good luck that U.S. and NATO aircraft—the same forces that have dropped bombs on their heads in Afghanistan and Pakistan—are now raining down ordnance against Gaddafi.
Eli Lake of the Washington Times reported last night that up to
1,000 “freelance” jihadis may already be among the Libyan rebels’ rank and file.
If the movement’s hospitable to them, AQ might figure there’s a place for them too. Or maybe the AQ story is propaganda drummed up by the Taliban to embarrass the U.S. and inflate Al Qaeda’s role in this year’s Middle East turmoil. Supposedly, even most-wanted Libyan-born Al Qaeda kingpin Abu Yahya al-Libi might eventually head home to spearhead the new Islamist movement inside the country, although I tend to doubt it now that everyone knows that the CIA’s operating in the area.
If that’s not enough good news for you for one day, let’s try one more piece. This time it’s the AP’s turn to
ring the alarm bell:
Fresh battlefield setbacks by rebels seeking to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are hardening a U.S. view that the poorly equipped opposition is probably incapable of prevailing without decisive Western intervention — either an all-out U.S.-led military assault on regime forces or a decision to arm the rebels.
Gadhafi is reaching deeper into his military ranks to send reinforcements onto the battlefield, has adopted new, unconventional tactics to counter the effects of coalition airstrikes, and apparently is convinced he can retain power by gradually retaking a degree of control of eastern Libya, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence on the condition and capabilities of regime and rebel forces…
Helping propel the Gadhafi forces eastward was a change in battlefield tactics, the senior U.S. intelligence official said. Having seen much of their armor pounded by Western airstrikes earlier, Gadhafi commanders left many tanks and other armor in hiding places in Sirte and advanced eastward instead with small convoys of sedans, minivans, SUVs and other civilian vehicles that the official called “battle wagons” armed with small rockets and other weaponry.
In other words, knowing that his heavy weaponry was a target for NATO and also knowing that he could beat the rebels without it, Qaddafi decided to … beat them without it. Your move, coalition.
Needless to say, there’s precisely zero chance of Obama putting U.S. troops on the ground to oust Qaddafi, especially with fears growing about jihadist elements on the rebel side. It would mean the end of his presidency; even his, ahem, “anti-war” base, most of which has duly defended him for staging this intervention thus far, would desert him if American soldiers end up dying on the streets of Tripoli.
So clearly, per O’s secret order, we’re going to start arming the rebels in earnest and doing what we can to force them to vet their own side for jihadis. In fact, maybe we’ll end up making a little trade with them: For each wanted terrorist they hand over, they get a few extra RPGs. It’ll be like a promotional giveaway.
I’ve got a few updates coming, but let’s stop here for the moment. My head is spinning.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/3...o-join-rebels/