Libya: Obama authorized covert support for rebels

Reuters reports that President Barack Obama signed a no-longer "secret order" authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces attempting to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The approval came weeks ago, but news "leaks" today as the administration considers sending arms and military support directly to the opposition forces.

• [Mister44]

  Some day you were hear a loud ZIIIIIPPP, and Bush is going to pop out of his Obama suit, chuckling “Gotcha again! Giggity! Giggity!”

  • [Wally Ballou]

    It seems so recently that I was flamed here for referring to the President as “George W. Obama”. But then, it was one whole war ago I suppose.

• [Anonymous]

  NO, you CANNOT have a shiny new war. You already have TWO perfectly good ones with plenty of wear left in them, and we haven’t even finished paying for them!

• [travtastic]

  I really hope someone thinks of something useful before we start tossing free guns around. Gaddafi needs to go, now, but I’d rather we not escalate the violence any more than necessary.

• [Gilbert Wham]

  This is going to turn out to be just as good an idea as arming & training the Mujahadeen turned out to be.

  • [emmdeeaych]

    I don’t think that is a mistake that will be made right now, and I think the association you imply is –quite– a stretch.

• [hassenpfeffer]

  I never LOL, but I must give Mister44 the exclusive Made Hassenpfeffer LOL badge.

  • [Mister44]

    A privilege and an honor to serve you.

    @Wally Ballou – either Obama’s election rhetoric was nothing but snake oil, or after looking at all the options he has come to similar conclusions as Bush in dealing with Gitmo, Afghanistan, etc.

• [igpajo]

  Covert operations to train and equip rebel forces fighting to overthrow a dictator; that’s almost a text book definition of one of the main missions of the Special Forces. Their motto is “De Oppresso Liber”, meaning to “Free the Oppressed”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Special_Forces)

  Obama is saying over and over again that we will not be putting boots on the ground, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out that we’ve got Special Forces teams in country. In fact I’d almost put money down. We know for a fact that the British SAS are in country since one of their teams made the mistake of getting caught.
  (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/06/3156387.htm)
  It would actually surprise me more to find out we don’t have some covert operatives inside Libya, than to find out we do.

  I’m with emmdeeaych on this one. Obama’s damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. Gaddafi’s a thuggish egomaniacal dictator who needs to go. It’s too bad the Rebels there can’t pull it off without foreign assistance like the Egyptians did. I’m glad to see us making some attempt to assist them in their efforts. Unfortunately in this case, the rebels seem to be losing their momentum and Gaddafi’s forces are a lot more motivated than anyone seem to expect, so this is turning ugly fast.
  With that said, I do see the hypocrisy in the fact that most of the nations involved in the efforts to topple Gaddafi, have at one time or another in the past been in bed with the bastard.

  • [Anonymous]

    You get a bigger boner if you spell it SPECOPS. Try it sometime.

• [Anonymous]

  I got a buddy in special forces. You wouldnt believe where we operate or the the technology we have. Btw, having covert operations involved in a situation like this is standard procedure….
  Good on Obama for stepping up to the plate.

• [Anonymous]

  Michele Bachmann would not approve of such reckless covert behavior:
  http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2011/03/today-show-michele-bachmann-embraces.html

• [Brainspore]

  Presidents have been pulling this crap and worse for 60 years now. If anything positive comes out of the Republicans’ knee-jerk opposition to anything Obama does maybe it will be that Congress finally reasserts its authority in bringing the country to war.

  • [Cowicide]

    If anything positive comes out of the Republicans’ knee-jerk opposition to anything Obama does maybe it will be that Congress finally reasserts its authority in bringing the country to war.

    The very profitable military-industrial complex has all that authority. No one can stand in their way and why would any good brainwashed person do that anyway?

• [emmdeeaych]

  Do you suppose Quaddafi will going to help the democracy-based revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, etc? Or work to subvert them?

  This is another example of my government trying to solve a problem I wish didn’;t exist. But does. There is no right answer, but there is a right direction, and i think this is in the right direction, at least.