Arming Libyan rebels: Should U.S. do it?

Libyan rebels wave the flag of the rebellion as they gather near Brega March 31

By Ed Hornick, CNN

Washington (CNN) -- The United States has seen what happens when it arms rebel forces against brutal regimes -- and how it can backfire.

Libya could end up in that same category.

Here are some frequently asked questions on the situation in Libya, what the options are and the debate over arming the rebels.

What's at stake?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which the United States is a member, is working to take down Col. Moammar Gadhafi's brutal regime, which has reportedly killed thousands of Libyans since a revolt broke out over the past month.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that Gadhafi still wants to take back the city of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold, and that the dictator "will kill as many (people) as he must to crush the rebellion."

France was the first nation to step in to enforce the no-fly zone directive. French fighter jets struck military targets in eastern Libya on March 19.

Britain also stepped into the conflict by providing logistical support. Shortly after, U.S. fighter jets used air strikes to take out targets while warships launched missiles into the northern African nation.

The United States has since handed over the brunt of the mission to NATO, but it is still the major force behind the effort.

But administration officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, insist that "there will be no boots on the ground," or sending in U.S. troops to support the rebels.

By taking down Gadhafi, the country stands a chance at developing a democracy. In essence, Gadhafi needs to go and prevent a humanitarian and refugee crisis that could help destabilize the entire region.

It's a point that has been made clear from President Barack Obama, his administration and leaders around the world.

Who are the opposition and what do they want?

Simply put, Libyans who are outraged at the atrocities that the Gadhafi regime has inflicted on its people including massive human rights violations.

But if the rebels are successful, there are concerns that such a fractured group could form an actual government -- or work with the U.S.

And perhaps that is why Central Intelligence Agency operatives are inside Libya, a U.S. intelligence source said, to get firsthand knowledge of who the coalition is working with.

In addition, a former counterterrorism official with knowledge of the U.S. policy in Libya told CNN there is a presidential finding authorizing the CIA to conduct operations in support of U.S. policy there, including assessing and meeting with the opposition and determining their needs.

Why it's a bad idea

Training Libyan rebels against Gadhafi's forces comes down to education. Can the rogue group learn to use sophisticated machinery and the tactics to employ it in time -- and with a clear directive?

"This is a nightmare trying to train the Libyans. I tried to do it many years ago, said Robert Baer, a former CIA operative. "These people are very difficult to manage."

Baer added that the type of discipline needed "takes a very, very long time, especially when you're dealing with a foreign force and you have to have Arabic speakers on the ground. It's tough."

So is it practical to arm the rebels fast enough?

"Well, the notion of the gang that couldn't shoot straight might be lived out," Retired Army Brigadier Gen. James Marks said. "Absolutely, there must be some degree of training that is associated with arming this force. However, some weapons systems clearly they can get a handle on and they can use immediately."

Another problem?

"We simply don't have control over the rebels. They don't have to follow our orders," Baer said. "They take our money and weapons and go shoot who they want."

Why it's a good idea

Paul Wolfowitz, a deputy secretary of defense under former President George W. Bush, said it's vital the U.S. supports arming the rebels.

"I think we should be doing everything we can to support the opposition," he said. "It's true, we don't know what the opposition would be like when they take over, but there are actually some promising signs."

Another Bush official said that arming rebels is vital to the overall mission.

"Somebody has got to be on the ground doing the hard work of taking the territory," said former National Security adviser Stephen Hadley. "And if it's not going to be U.S. troops -- and nobody really wants that -- then we're going to have to deal with the Libyan people and try to empower them to fight and win their own freedom. And giving them weapons has to be part of that."

Will history come back to haunt us?

The Soviet Union fought a brutal war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The U.S., strictly opposed to the move by the "evil empire," as former President Ronald Reagan called it, tried to tilt the balance by arming the Afghan mujahadeen against the Soviets.

Though in the short term it helped the mujahadeen drive the Soviets out, some of those same weapons were used years later against the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan -- the longest war in the country's history.

Republican Chairman

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said in a statement that he has deep concerns over such past efforts.

"We don't have to look very far back in history to find examples of the unintended consequences of passing out advanced weapons to a group of fighters we didn't know as well as we should have," said Rogers, , who is chairman of of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "We need to be very careful before rushing into a decision that could come back to haunt us."

But former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that sometimes arming opposition forces can work.

"We did a good job in Afghanistan (arming) the Northern Alliance and some of their militias in the south and they were very successful in driving al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and of changing the regime from the Taliban to the Afghan government," Rumsfield said.

Ties to terrorist groups?

According to Adm. James Stavrides, the U.S. NATO commander, U.S. intelligence has detected evidence of "flickers" of al Qaeda and Hezbollah elements among the rebels -- though the influence appears to be minimal.

Senior officials and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney seemed to downplay that notion, saying that the values being expressed by the rebels are "antithetical to the purposes and ideals set forth by terrorist organizations."

Rumsfeld, one of the key figure in taking the U.S. to war in Iraq, said there are concerns about terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah influencing the rebels.

He said that there are still a great deal of questions as to who is involved in the rebel group and therefore "you have to be careful about arming rebels."

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, asked Thursday: "How many of these citizen-soldiers fighting against Gadhafi -- how many are people who are tied into terrorist organizations in Iraq and Afghanistan and do we know who they are? Do we have any idea?"

He added that it's "a heck of a situation when we go into a conflict and we don't know who we are supporting."

What's it going to cost?

While NATO has taken over the military operations in Libya, the U.S. still has committed itself to support, which could result in billions of dollars in aid going forward.

Meanwhile in Washington, the battle in Congress is over cutting spending, reducing the deficit and passing a 2011 budget.

There is no doubt that critics on both sides of the aisle will grill administration officials on why the U.S. should add money the country doesn't have -- and whether the operation could stretch the already overstretched U.S. military.

CNN's Reza Sayah, Alan Silverleib, Tom Cohen, Arwa Damon, Nic Robertson, Amir Ahmed, Pam Benson, Paula Newton and Yousuf Basil contributed to this report.

NATO takes over air operations as CIA works the ground in Libya

U.S. officials, opposition warn Libya could get bloodier

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 1, 2011

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- From the halls of Congress to the shell-pocked streets of Libyan cities, intertwined themes rang clear Thursday: Leader Moammar Gadhafi is determined to prevail, and the opposition needs more training and allied air strikes to have a chance.

"Gadhafi will "kill as many (people) as he must to crush the rebellion," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee.

The rebels, who were regrouping after several setbacks, pinned their hopes on more coalition air power, which will likely increase as weather improves.

"We want more to bring a speedy end to this," Col. Ahmed Omar Bani, an opposition spokesman, told CNN. "A strike is not a strike unless it kills," he said.

CIA operatives have been in Libya working with rebel leaders to try to reverse gains by loyalist forces, a U.S. intelligence source said.

The United States, insisting it is now fulfilling more of a support role in the coalition, shifted in that direction as NATO took sole command of air operations in Libya.

The ferocity of this month's fighting and Gadhafi's advantage in firepower was clearly evident in Misrata, which has seen snipers, significant casualties and destruction.

A witness told CNN Thursday there "is utter madness" and Gadhafi's men are going door-to-door evicting and terrorizing people.

"I am afraid it will be one big massacre here in Misrata" if the international forces "do not do more," he said. CNN did not identify the witness for security reasons.

Saddoun El-Misurati, a spokesman for the Libyan opposition in Misrata, described intense fighting and casualties in the city.

"We managed to get two shipments, so far, of badly needed medical supplies to the hospitals. But obviously we still need more supplies in dealing with the day-to-day casualties and the situation on the ground," he said.

Gadhafi's military capabilities had been steadily eroded since the onset of U.N.-sanctioned air strikes, U.S. officials have said.

But the dictator's forces outnumber the rebels by about 10-to-1 in terms of armor and other ground forces, Mullen noted.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also speaking before the House committee, warned that the Libyan rebels still need significant training and assistance.

"It's pretty much a pickup ballgame" right now, he said.

U.S. and British officials say no decision has been made about whether to arm the opposition.

Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN's "The Situation Room" she opposes doing that. The Democratic senator cited failures of such a move in other conflicts.

Bani -- asked whether he is open to the idea of ground forces from outside Libya joining the rebels' effort -- responded that "all options are open to us."

"It has been very hard the past few days because the freedom forces have been facing heavy tanks and artillery weapons with very light weapons," the spokesman said.

While some members of the Libyan military reportedly defected to join the opposition, the rebels include many volunteers who have not been trained.

Over the weekend, CNN reported that rebels had taken al-Brega, Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, and reached a town just east of Sirte. But in the past three days, opposition fighters have been pushed back eastward.

CNN's Ben Wedeman, reporting Thursday from near al-Brega, said the rebels, armed with light mortars and machine guns, have displayed no strategy in their running battles with loyalist troops.

Gates reiterated the Obama administration's promise that no U.S. ground forces will be used in Libya, telling committee members that the rebels had indicated they didn't want such an intervention.

But the United States does have CIA personnel on the ground.

A U.S. intelligence source said the CIA is operating in the country to help increase U.S. "military and political understanding" of the situation.

A former counterterrorism official with knowledge of U.S. Libya policy said there is a presidential finding authorizing the CIA to conduct operations in support of U.S. policy in Libya, including assessing the opposition and determining their needs.

Specific activities by CIA officers will be determined by conditions on the ground and would need further approval from the White House, the source said.

A former senior intelligence official said officers "might be advising [rebels] on how to target the adversary, how to use the weapons they have, reconnaissance and counter-surveillance."

Presidential findings are a type of secret order authorizing some covert intelligence operations.

The CIA has had a presence in Libya for some time, a U.S. official told CNN earlier this month. "The intelligence community is aggressively pursuing information on the ground," the official said. The CIA sent additional personnel to Libya to augment officers on the ground after the anti-government protests erupted, the official said, without giving details.

CIA officers assisted with the rescue of one of two U.S. airmen whose fighter jet crashed in Libya on March 21, a knowledgeable U.S. source said.

NATO emphasized Thursday that the U.N. resolution authorizing action in Libya precludes "occupation forces."

NATO Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, indicated that the presence of foreign intelligence personnel does not violate U.N. Security Council 1973, which authorized action in Libya.

Rebel forces have been demanding an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42 years of rule in Libya. They have faced sustained attacks by a regime fighting to stay in power and portraying the opposition as terrorists backed by al Qaeda.

Rebel forces have lost Bin Jawad and the key oil town of Ras Lanuf and are backed up to the al-Brega area, Bani said Wednesday.

Ajdabiya, which is east of al-Brega, will be prepared as a "defense point" if the withdrawal continues farther east, he said.

Amid the setbacks faced by rebels, a significant crack in Gadhafi's armor surfaced when Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa fled to London on Wednesday and told the government there that he has resigned, the British Foreign Office said.

Koussa -- a former head of Libyan intelligence -- was a stalwart defender of the government as recently as a month ago. But in recent weeks his demeanor had visibly changed. At one recent media briefing, he kept his head down as he read a statement and left early.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Koussa had not been offered any immunity.

Koussa's defection provides evidence "that Gadhafi's regime ... is fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within," said Hague, adding that Koussa is voluntarily speaking with officials in the United Kingdom.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Thursday that Koussa did not tell the government he planned to resign before he flew to Britain. Ibrahim said Koussa asked for sick leave and the government gave him permission to leave the country and receive intensive medical care.

The government had another setback Thursday, with news that an official who was picked as Libyan ambassador to the United Nations has defected.

A relative and an opposition leader said Thursday that former Foreign Minister Ali Abdussalam Treki was in Cairo.

CNN's Nic Robertson, Ben Wedeman, Reza Sayah, Dana Bash, Pam Benson, Tim Lister and Zain Verjee contributed to this report.

Lu Zhihao, world's heaviest 4-year-old

Lu Zhihao, 4, eats a roast chicken wing at a market in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.
Photograph by: Joe Tan, Reuters

Lu Zhihao, who is 3 feet 7 inches (1.127cm) tall and weighs 136 lbs (61kg), put on weight dramatically since his appetite grew when he was 3 months old. His worried parents took him to several hospitals, but the reason for his obesity remains unknown, though it is possibly due to his dietary habit, according to local media.

Lu Zhihao, 4, takes a nap at a kindergarten in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011. Lu, who is 3 feet 7 inches (1.127cm) tall and weighs 136 lbs (61kg), put on weight dramatically since his appetite grew when he was 3 months old. His worried parents took him to several hospitals, but the reason for his obesity remains unknown, though it is possibly due to his dietary habit, according to local media.


Lu Zhihao (C), 4, plays with other children at a kindergarten in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.


Lu Zhihao, 4, takes a shower with the help of his mother at his house in Foshan, Guangdong province
March 28, 2011.


Lu Zhihao (C), 4, walks with his parents on a street in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.


Lu Zhihao, 4, shows his empty rice bowl to his teacher during lunch time at a kindergarten in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.


Lu Zhihao, 4, stands up from his mother's lap outside his house in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.


Lu Zhihao, 4, kicks a ball at a basketball court in Foshan, Guangdong province March 28, 2011.


Lu Zhihao (R), 4, sleeps during a noon break at a kindergarten in Foshan, Guangdong province March 29, 2011.

Obama authorizes secret help for Libya rebels

By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON | Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:16pm EDT

(Reuters) - 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.

SPECIFIC OPERATIONS

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."

In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S. counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally confirm such orders have been issued.

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.

"The whole issue on (providing rebels with) training and equipment requires knowing who the rebels are," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA Middle East expert who has advised the Obama White House.

Riedel said that helping the rebels to organize themselves and training them how use weapons effectively would be more urgent then shipping them arms.

ARMS EMBARGO

AP – In a March 29, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry launches …

Sending in weapons would arguably violate an arms embargo on Libya by the U.N. Security Council imposed on February 26, although British, U.S. and French officials have suggested there may be a loophole.

Getting a waiver would require the agreement of all 15 council members, which is unlikely at this stage. Diplomats say any countries that decided to arm the rebels would be unlikely to seek formal council approval.

An article in early March on the website of the Voice of America, the U.S. government's broadcasting service, speculated on possible secret operations in Libya and defined a covert action as "any U.S. government effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a hidden way."

The article, by VOA intelligence correspondent Gary Thomas, said covert action "can encompass many things, including propaganda, covert funding, electoral manipulation, arming and training insurgents, and even encouraging a coup."

U.S. officials also have said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose leaders despise Gaddafi, have indicated a willingness to supply Libyan rebels with weapons.

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.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by David Storey and Christopher Wilson)