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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
'Obama signs secret order to support Syrian rebels'
2012-08-02
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government, US sources familiar with the matter said.
Brilliant. Why are we reading about this now, other than the dog has a tail to be wagged?
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the UN Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
Thus we demonstrate again, as we did under Bush, Clinton and Reagan, that UNSC support is nice to have but not essential when we feel we have to get something done. In this one way at least Obama is acting just like an American.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some US allies do just that.
The Emirates and the Saudis can pass the guns and ammo. If we provide intel, comm gear, etc that will be just as valuable. Then we need the Turks to provide, ahem, 'direction', so as to squash the rebels that aren't particularly inclined to us...
But US and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
Nor should we be told now...
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
Nor do we need to know...
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
He should have declined to decline comment...
Posted by:tipper

#10  OK, secretly HALO the One in with 5 days rations and let him secretly sort it out.
Posted by: Tarzan Spairt4671   2012-08-02 21:44  

#9  That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials...

So a couple weeks back the O-Team's big commitment to the effort was "Assessment of Opposition". And lookie here...a super secret order is leaked 'bout unity of Vision. Damn...it's if The One himself is on the ground.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2012-08-02 20:03  

#8  Could be bandwagon leadership, like with Libya, its already happening so don't want to be left out.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-08-02 17:19  

#7  Am I willing to commit troops to protect the oil ticks in Saudi? No, I am not.

They got lots of money, let 'em do their own dirty work.
Posted by: mojo   2012-08-02 13:11  

#6  I heard it on the D.C. radio this morning as -- 1. "non-leathal aid" and 2. no big deal, so certainly not secret
Posted by: Bobby   2012-08-02 12:20  

#5  This is just typical big power pretense.

The admin has concluded that the rebels will win and thinks this 'support' policy will help diplomacy in the post Assad era.

Romney would 0probably have done the same.
McCain would have already bombed Assad's palace by now.
Posted by: lord garth   2012-08-02 08:34  

#4  Obama has stood idly by for 16 months, offering excuses for doing nothing, now if something happens, he needs to pretend he has done something. So now we are presented with a deniable *secret* order.

Obama has stood idly by for 16 months, offering excuses for doing nothing, now if something happens, he needs to pretend he has done something. So now we are presented with a deniable *secret* order.

Posted by: BernardZ   2012-08-02 07:43  

#3  Helped poor indigenous farmers evict the Russians from Afghanistan as well. Boy, did we show those Russians a thing or two.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-08-02 02:09  

#2  Robert Gates said it best.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-08-02 01:56  

#1  "Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad."

The Daily Telegraph
By Peter Foster in Washington
9:58PM BST 16 Jul 2012


Barack ObamaÂ’s US government has warned its western allies and SyriaÂ’s opposition groups that it can do nothing to intervene in the countryÂ’s crisis until after NovemberÂ’s presidential election, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
...
The Obama administration has also made clear to its allies that it will not intervene, a message that was carried to London last week by Tom Donilon, the White House National Security Adviser, who made a low-profile stop en route to Israel.

Is Obama a man of his word/promises or what.
Posted by: Spike Shatch7290   2012-08-02 00:32  

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