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DU Home » Latest Threads » Forums & Groups » Main » Latest Breaking News (Forum) » Exclusive: Obama authoriz...

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 06:58 PM

Poll_Blind (23,233 posts)

Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels

Source: REUTERS

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.

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

--snip--

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.

The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120801


Quite a bit more at the link!

PB

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Arrow 45 replies Author Time Post
Reply Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels (Original post)
 Poll_Blind Aug 2012 OP
LineReply If the CIA is given the nod, drone strikes are probably on the way.
 morningfog Aug 2012 #1
LineLineReply This message was hidden by jury decision.
 may3rd Aug 2012 #5
LineLineLineReply True. How do you think the uprising really began? nt
 nanabugg Aug 2012 #24
LineReply He might want to rethink that. Reports today about those 'rebels' killing each other
 sabrina 1 Aug 2012 #2
LineReply Guess it's not a secret any more.
 liberal N proud Aug 2012 #3
LineLineReply Bingo!
 xxqqqzme Aug 2012 #9
LineLineReply Exactly
 XemaSab Aug 2012 #13
LineReply Proxy wars everywhere
 agent46 Aug 2012 #4
LineLineReply "black water" private army moves on its stomach, snake like
 may3rd Aug 2012 #6
LineLineLineReply And if the 14th century is any basis for prediction,
 JDPriestly Aug 2012 #27
LineLineLineLineReply All we need is another Black Death (Global Climate Change?) to kill off 1/3
 coalition_unwilling Aug 2012 #35
LineLineLineLineLineNew Reply Many of our densely populated cities are very dependent on a complex
 JDPriestly Aug 2012 #42
LineLineLineLineLineLineNew Reply I read somewhere here on DU that most American cities have about a 7-day food
 coalition_unwilling Aug 2012 #43
LineLineLineLineLineLineLineNew Reply Thanks. Good points.
 JDPriestly Aug 2012 #44
LineReply Recced for visibility. Why am I not surprised we were lied to again about this.
 leveymg Aug 2012 #7
LineReply what could possibly go wrong?
 frylock Aug 2012 #8
LineReply Wonderful. Another clusterfuck... eom
 Purveyor Aug 2012 #10
LineReply Secret support
 billky Aug 2012 #11
LineReply Some 'secret!'
 elleng Aug 2012 #12
LineReply Looks kinda iffy ...
 dtom67 Aug 2012 #14
LineReply 4 More Wars!
 inwiththenew Aug 2012 #15
LineReply Machiavellian techniques in action
 Jessy169 Aug 2012 #16
LineLineReply That was well stated...eom
 Kolesar Aug 2012 #17
LineLineLineReply Agreed. (nt)
 Posteritatis Aug 2012 #18
LineLineReply Assumptions.
 Igel Aug 2012 #32
LineReply These "Rebels" are the same Al Queida fighters who fought in Lybia.
 lib2DaBone Aug 2012 #19
LineLineReply lol (nt)
 Posteritatis Aug 2012 #20
LineReply What the hell is the Obama administration thinking?
 cqo_000 Aug 2012 #21
LineReply Great. Now watch us get sucked into a mess that's going to make Iraq look pleasant.
 Comrade Grumpy Aug 2012 #22
LineReply Lmao at the pro-Assad talking points some are offering up in this thread
 geek tragedy Aug 2012 #23
LineLineReply These people are anti-war not pro-Assad. Why are you attempting to smear other users?
 Poll_Blind Aug 2012 #25
LineLineLineNew Reply When the rebels started in Libya
 treestar Aug 2012 #39
LineLineLineLineNew Reply I'm glad DU wasn't around during WWII...
 Drunken Irishman Dec 2012 #45
LineLineNew Reply Humans rights, anyone?
 AlphaCentauri Aug 2012 #36
LineReply how many countries has the administration directly killed people in?
 Moltisanti Aug 2012 #26
LineReply That will be four states that the US has created, by overt invasion or covert interferance
 Monk06 Aug 2012 #28
LineLineReply We truly live in a multipolar world.
 Igel Aug 2012 #33
LineLineLineNew Reply Eventually the US foreign policy crazy train will set the world on fire from Morocco across North
 Monk06 Aug 2012 #40
LineLineNew Reply Note here:
 woo me with science Aug 2012 #41
LineReply how do we know this report is true?
 grasswire Aug 2012 #29
LineLineReply Let's hope.
 Igel Aug 2012 #34
LineReply I sincerely hope this is disinformation.
 David__77 Aug 2012 #30
LineLineReply There were a total of 3 different reporters and two editors who worked on this story for...
 Poll_Blind Aug 2012 #31
LineNew Reply Of course he does.
 woo me with science Aug 2012 #37
LineNew Reply So by publishing it it's till "secret"?
 truebrit71 Aug 2012 #38

Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 06:59 PM

Star Member morningfog (4,176 posts)

1. If the CIA is given the nod, drone strikes are probably on the way.

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Response to morningfog (Reply #1)

may3rd This message was hidden by Jury decision.

Response to may3rd (Reply #5)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:50 AM

nanabugg (2,198 posts)

24. True. How do you think the uprising really began? nt

 

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:04 PM

Star Member sabrina 1 (34,089 posts)

2. He might want to rethink that. Reports today about those 'rebels' killing each other

executing members of the 'rebel' forces. But then, this is how we fight wars now, according to Clinton. It is so clever. We don't need to send in a regular army. They use proxy armies, posing as 'rebels' who then beg for help from the West, which is when they get NATO to give them 'air cover' to protect 'civilians' etc. etc. How many wars are we engaged in now? I'm losing count and whatever happened to the anti-war movement?

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:08 PM

Star Member liberal N proud (43,746 posts)

3. Guess it's not a secret any more.

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Response to liberal N proud (Reply #3)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:42 PM

xxqqqzme (13,434 posts)

9. Bingo!

How, exactly does reporting this event, qualify as 'secret'?

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Response to liberal N proud (Reply #3)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:09 PM

Star Member XemaSab (57,411 posts)

13. Exactly

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:11 PM

agent46 (859 posts)

4. Proxy wars everywhere

...and the American public doesn't have to know a thing. One of these days we'll wake up in the middle of WWIII and no one will have even bothered to mention it to "us people."

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Response to agent46 (Reply #4)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:21 PM

may3rd (593 posts)

6. "black water" private army moves on its stomach, snake like

 

while the major US cuts defense spending get triggered in January, causing hundreds of thousands to lose jobs due to the trickle down effect,
private for profit armies will fill the void.

How many weeks til the endgame ?

I'm sure the righteous will rise and win the day

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Response to may3rd (Reply #6)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 01:36 AM

Star Member JDPriestly (37,760 posts)

27. And if the 14th century is any basis for prediction,

we will eventually be the victims of the mercenary armies we now employ to pillage and kill in other countries.

Read A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchmann. It was published in 1979, but more than ever the 14th century is a Distant Mirror.

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Response to JDPriestly (Reply #27)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:52 AM

coalition_unwilling (14,180 posts)

35. All we need is another Black Death (Global Climate Change?) to kill off 1/3

 

of the world's population.

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Response to coalition_unwilling (Reply #35)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 10:29 PM

Star Member JDPriestly (37,760 posts)

42. Many of our densely populated cities are very dependent on a complex

system of water and waste disposal. If you have widespread poverty, that all becomes too expensive for many people.

We are a long way from that, but it is never as far away as you would hope. I don't think we will have a plague, but it is very important that we maintain our urban sanitary facilities.

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Response to JDPriestly (Reply #42)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 10:57 PM

coalition_unwilling (14,180 posts)

43. I read somewhere here on DU that most American cities have about a 7-day food

 

supply. Any serious disruption and you'll be seeing cities go feral. (Think Katrina writ large.) I did not think to bookmark the thread where that post appeared and it may have been back in DU2 (at the time of Katrina).

As far as public health is concerned, I think a far more threatening prospect than plague is antibiotic-resistant bacteria like TB and other such 19th-Century scourges, especially when the public health sector is so ad hoc.

But I never tire of re-reading A Distant Mirror. One of Tuchmann's finest works, imho.

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Response to coalition_unwilling (Reply #43)

Fri Aug 3, 2012, 07:11 PM

Star Member JDPriestly (37,760 posts)

44. Thanks. Good points.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:27 PM

Star Member leveymg (26,355 posts)

7. Recced for visibility. Why am I not surprised we were lied to again about this.

Obama's foreign policy is nothing but a series of secret findings (not to be found out).

Just another form of getting into a war by deception. As if that worked out well for America, the last couple of times.

Same people running the show with less scrutiny these days.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:30 PM

Star Member frylock (19,050 posts)

8. what could possibly go wrong?

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 07:45 PM

Star Member Purveyor (13,214 posts)

10. Wonderful. Another clusterfuck... eom

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:00 PM

billky (159 posts)

11. Secret support

 

Doesn't seem so secret to me.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:01 PM

Star Member elleng (40,546 posts)

12. Some 'secret!'

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:16 PM

dtom67 (416 posts)

14. Looks kinda iffy ...

Syria is kinda important to Iran...

Iran is kinda important to China and Russia....

We can't afford to take care of our own citizens ( that's bullshit, but that is what they tell us )...


We can't afford a war with Iran.


we have to finish the 1% War first...

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 08:30 PM

inwiththenew (166 posts)

15. 4 More Wars!

How could we possibly cut the defense budget now in a time of expanding war???

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 09:10 PM

Jessy169 (412 posts)

16. Machiavellian techniques in action

Keep in mind that the Syrian regime is a dictatorship, and a very brutal one at that. If Assad was my dictator, I'd be joining the resistance and looking for weapons to fight him with too. That would not be because I like war or want war, it would be because my sense of right and wrong compels me to fight extreme and brutal injustice. If Assad is going to go, and he is, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to get in good with the side that his fighting him -- the side that yearns for democracy and a say in their own government. Yeah, it's more war, more death. But I don't fault Obama and the CIA for covertly helping the Syrian resistance. Flame me if you want, but there are times when you have to pick sides and times when you have to fight.

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Response to Jessy169 (Reply #16)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 10:02 PM

Star Member Kolesar (29,330 posts)

17. That was well stated...eom

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Response to Kolesar (Reply #17)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 10:07 PM

Posteritatis (17,299 posts)

18. Agreed. (nt)

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Response to Jessy169 (Reply #16)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:46 AM

Igel (17,557 posts)

32. Assumptions.

That there's just one side fighting him.

That that one side yearns for democracy and to allow (all) others a say in their own government.

Syria wasn't deemed so brutal back in 2007 and 2008 when Assad was a "partner for peace" and a "reformer." When the protests went to sedition he cracked down. That's a no-no, but the alternative is the same with pretty much any protest movement: if 1-5% protest and overthrow the government, is that really a democratic revolution? Hard to know. Most go with who's in power. Even in Syria, most aren't rebelling.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 10:12 PM

lib2DaBone (8,124 posts)

19. These "Rebels" are the same Al Queida fighters who fought in Lybia.

 

NATO just transported the same Al Queida fighters and now calls them "Syrian" Rebels.

So we are spending Billions to fight Al Queida in Afghanistan .. yet we are now going to arm and give $25 MILLION to Al Queida in Syria? WTF? Why is Mr. Obama silent on this.. where is the MSM?

--------------------------------------------
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/syria-rebels-us-aid/index.html


During the war in Libya, Obama signed a similar directive authorizing covert assistance for rebels in the battle against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The State Department said Wednesday the United States has set aside $25 million for "nonlethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition

The Obama administration has resisted arming the opposition, in part, because U.S. officials don't know enough about the rebels.

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Response to lib2DaBone (Reply #19)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 11:04 PM

Posteritatis (17,299 posts)

20. lol (nt)

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Wed Aug 1, 2012, 11:41 PM

cqo_000 (207 posts)

21. What the hell is the Obama administration thinking?

There are rebel groups all over Syria slaughtering innocent civilians. The group that claimed responsibility for killing the Syrian defense minister have also been murdering whole families of defenseless Christians.

http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=31978&lan=eng

No one in their right mind would consider supporting Assad's opponents.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:18 AM

Comrade Grumpy (3,389 posts)

22. Great. Now watch us get sucked into a mess that's going to make Iraq look pleasant.

And we find ourselves on the same side as the jihadis.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:21 AM

Star Member geek tragedy (25,679 posts)

23. Lmao at the pro-Assad talking points some are offering up in this thread

Some real winners.

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Response to geek tragedy (Reply #23)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 01:02 AM

Poll_Blind (23,233 posts)

25. These people are anti-war not pro-Assad. Why are you attempting to smear other users?

You sound exactly like the same people who called us all "Saddam-Lovers" because we were against the war in Iraq.

Why would you choose to denigrate other DUers like that?

If you really think people are supporting Assad in this thread, by all means actually alert on their posts. I have little doubt the MIRT or the Administrators would ban them in a heartbeat, just like they ban the pro-North Korean loons.

But I don't think you've alerted on jack shit and I don't think you're going to. I think you're pleased and happy to disrupt this thread with a nasty smear.

PB

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Response to Poll_Blind (Reply #25)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:41 PM

treestar (40,494 posts)

39. When the rebels started in Libya

the President was said not to be helping the freedom fighters enough. Egypt, too. Then when he does, he's guilty there too. If we are involved, aren't we supposed to be on the not-dictator side? If these people aren't "pro-Assad" they are at least against us helping the rebels.

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Response to treestar (Reply #39)

Wed Dec 12, 2012, 05:32 AM

Drunken Irishman (24,587 posts)

45. I'm glad DU wasn't around during WWII...

Because I know there would be a lot of DUers here saying what was going on in Germany was none of our business and the idea of war should be completely off the table. Isolationism is good ... unless the alternative is absolutely brutal and a complete massacre.

It's easy to sit in your living room and dismiss the thousands of lives of Syrians when your position amounts to nothing - but there are people dying for freedom ... there are people being brutalized by a government. This isn't Iraq, this isn't even Egypt - we're seeing a full fledged extermination of a people.

To sit back and let that happen, to do nothing, would be positively morally bankrupt.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 01:33 AM

Moltisanti (33 posts)

26. how many countries has the administration directly killed people in?

 

Can a Nobel Prize be rescinded?

Afghanistan
Iraq
Yemen
Somalia
Pakistan
Libya
Ethiopia (rumored-have a predator base)
Others?


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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 01:38 AM

Monk06 (5,606 posts)

28. That will be four states that the US has created, by overt invasion or covert interferance

since the second invasion of Iraq. Syria is right next to Israel so the danger of the whole region blowing up, from Egypt to Afghanistan has just come closer to fruition.

The neocons are still controlling things, with a Democratic president yet.

This will not end well. Lebanon will go up in flames again after Syria falls to the 'rebels'.

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Response to Monk06 (Reply #28)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:50 AM

Igel (17,557 posts)

33. We truly live in a multipolar world.

We're jabbing Afghanistan with one pole, Syria with another, Iran with a third, Iraq with a fourth ...

Lots and lots of poles there to jab other countries with.


Well, at least we're making history. As though we wouldn't be in any case. (Ooh, there goes another minute. More history!)

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Response to Igel (Reply #33)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 05:50 PM

Monk06 (5,606 posts)

40. Eventually the US foreign policy crazy train will set the world on fire from Morocco across North


Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia all the way to the Indian border. As far as I can tell for no useful reason other than an obsession to manipulate the internal affairs of islamic countries.

Islam, the new cold war enemy. But no fear Romney is keeping Russia hate alive just in case peace breaks out.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 01:44 AM

grasswire (36,703 posts)

29. how do we know this report is true?

maybe it isn't so.

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Response to grasswire (Reply #29)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:50 AM

Igel (17,557 posts)

34. Let's hope.

Probably is true, though. If not in fact, then in a tacit allowing of the CIA to be there. Who needs written records when they can be unearthed later?

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:19 AM

Star Member David__77 (14,120 posts)

30. I sincerely hope this is disinformation.

It would be shameful to be, behind the backs of the people, funneling resources to terrorists. Leave that to the Republicans.

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Response to David__77 (Reply #30)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 02:45 AM

Poll_Blind (23,233 posts)

31. There were a total of 3 different reporters and two editors who worked on this story for...

...Reuters. Based on the "Exclusive" tag, which I hardly ever see a place like Reuters use, I have a feeling they're pretty confident in their information. Not to mention that a couple of the folks who worked on the story have well-established reputations on the line.

My 2 cents.

PB

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:17 PM

woo me with science (19,623 posts)

37. Of course he does.

Economic, war, and police state policies are shared by Republicans and the Third Way. That is why they don't change from administration to administration.

Wake up, America. Stop the blood for profit. Get the damned corporate money out of both parties.

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Response to Poll_Blind (Original post)

Thu Aug 2, 2012, 12:18 PM

Star Member truebrit71 (16,911 posts)

38. So by publishing it it's till "secret"?

How, exactly??

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