Posted on 03/30/2011 4:53:24 PM PDT by kristinn
The CIA has sent more than a dozen covert operatives to Libya as part of an escalating U.S. effort to vet the rebels working to oust Libyan strongman Muammar el-Qaddafi and lay the groundwork for funneling American aid to the insurgents, according to a person with direct knowledge of the CIA operations there.
The CIA’s deployment to Libya, which is virtually certain to expand in the coming days, comes amid word that President Obama has authorized U.S. intelligence agencies to provide direct assistance to the Libyan rebels. There are no U.S. military personnel on the ground in Libya yet, though the United Kingdom, America’s closest battlefield ally, has several dozen Special Air Service commandoes and M16 agents already operating there. News of the CIA deployments to Libya was first reported by The New York Times and then independently confirmed by National Journal.
The CIA operations inside Libya highlight the delicate balancing act that the Obama administration is facing when it comes to the U.S.-led military intervention there. Obama has been adamant that there will be no U.S. military "boots on the ground" inside Libya, and U.S. Special Operations personnel in nearby countries have been placed on high-alert but not yet deployed, according to military officials familiar with the matter.
But with the administration openly considering direct assistance to Libya's rebels, the administration appears to have decided that it needed to get CIA operatives into position there to make contact with Libya's disparate insurgents and begin orchestrating the logistics of providing weaponry, money, and other forms of aid to the fighters.
The small teams of CIA operatives are currently clustered primarily in Benghazi, the de-facto rebel capital, according to the person with knowledge of their activities. Beyond the outreach efforts to Libya's rebels, the U.S. personnel are also meant to gather frontline intelligence about possible targets for future coalition airstrikes, this person said.
The CIA declined to comment.
SNIP
The CIA is operating in Libya to help the United States increase its "military and political understanding" of the situation, a U.S. intelligence source said Wednesday.
"Yes, we are gathering intel firsthand and we are in contact with some opposition entities," the source told CNN.
SNIP
The same CIA that never saw Egypt coming even though it was all over Face Book and Twitter?
Send in the new Gay Amazon Brigade. They can take out his Hot Female Palace Guard.
This would be a good test for our new Gay Combat Troops. Send them in an assault.
My bet is even sooner - as a ploy to get the Republicans in congress to give up their fight to cut the budget before the government shutdown. It's all a political game with zero.
I am not for my country aiding AlQaeda.
LOL! Uh CIA has been there the entire time.. Don’t think for a second they were not there.
I question whether there are any.
What a friggin' mess. We're going to end up supporting and enabling AQ in Northern Africa...or is it the Muslim Brotherhood?...or is there a difference?
Doubtless this will work every bit as well for us as did arming the mujahaddin....
It's the analysis in VA that's weak...and by the time the message gets to the political decision makers...it's pure cartoon land.
The head of it would make a good undercover Arab. He looks like a slimey one.
Boots? Mitch Rapp don't need no steekin' boots.
Callme madcap but isn’t this supposed to be a SECRET????!?! wtf?
That’s how Vietnam started.
Seriously, WTF is going on?
More like allahu FUBAR.
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