Obama
authorizes covert US support for Syrian rebels – reports
US
President Barack Obama has signed a secret order allowing the CIA and
other American agencies to support rebels seeking to overthrow the
Assad regime, a US government source told Reuters.
RT,
2
August, 2012
Obama
reportedly gave the order, known as an intelligence “finding”,
earlier this year. The presidential finding also provides for US
collaboration with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its
allies.
The
full extent of the assistance the “finding” allows the CIA to
give the Syrian rebels is unclear. It is also unknown precisely when
Obama signed the order.
The
Obama administration has been open about providing non-military
support to the Syrian opposition. On Wednesday, the State Department
said it had allotted a total of $25 million for “non-lethal”
assistance to the Free Syrian Army. Some of that money may be used to
buy communications devices such as encrypted radios, a US official
said. The State Department also said the United States has set aside
$64 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian people.
Last
year, Obama also signed an initial “finding” authorizing US
support for Libyan rebels seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.
Also
on Wednesday, the US Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization
for Washington’s representative of the Free Syrian Army to conduct
financial transactions on behalf of the rebel group. Reports that the
Syrian Support Group had been allowed to do so first appeared last
week.
The
report of Obama’s authorization for covert rebel support comes
amidst continued fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels
over control of Aleppo, the country’s economic capital. Thousands
of people have fled the city, while the government and rebels
continue to release conflicting reports on the extent of their
control over the city.
Meanwhile,
there have been reports that the Free Syrian Army managed to obtain
nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles. While a Free Syrian Army
representative denied those reports, he also said the rebels were
preparing another surprise for Assad’s forces.
Senior
US officials have also been ratcheting up their rhetoric against
Assad. On Monday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggested that Assad
“get the hell out” if he wants to protect himself and his family.
A draft UN resolution calling for Assad to relinquish power in favor
of a transitional government is also set to be voted on by the
General Assembly on Friday. The document would deplore the Security
Council for failing to act; a not-so-covert swipe at Russia’s and
China’s continued panning of Security Council resolutions deemed to
be one-sided.
Brian
Becker, director of the ANSWER anti-war coalition, believes the
revelation of Obama’s order doesn’t represent any shift in terms
of US strategy towards Syria.
“All
that does is reveal that the so-called diplomacy, the so-called
looking for a negotiated settlement is a fraud – that the diplomacy
is, in fact, a form of perjury,” he told RT. “The reality is that
the US government – the Obama administration with the Pentagon and
the CIA – has been neck-deep coordinating military operations to
overthrow a sovereign government in Syria.”
He
noted that there would have been no civil war going on in Syria if
not for foreign intervention.
“The
decisive factor in the equation for civil war is US intervention,”
he said. “And would say, frankly, the Obama administration is
guilty of war crimes against the Syrian people having cynically
manipulated the situation. They have the blood of the Syrian people
on their hands.”
‘Secret-order
leak a smokescreen’
Asia
Times Online correspondent Pepe Escobar told RT that the leak's
timing was intended to distort the true nature of Washington's covert
operations on the ground in Syria.
“This
intelligence finding signed by Obama – that’s the code for a
secret order – this was signed six months ago. So the fact that
Reuters has only been allowed now to report about it proves that
there have been high deliberations in Washington: ‘should we let
people know about what they already know?’"
"In
fact, the Washington Post two weeks ago had already reported about
it, and when the CIA wants to leak something in the US, they usually
go to the Washington Post. The CIA and Mossad, on the ground [in
Syria], side by side working with the Qataris, the Turks, the Saudis
and a swarm of jihadis coming from everywhere, but especially from
across the border in Iraq,” he argues.
Escobar
says the leak was intended to make it look as though Washington was
leading the Syrian campaign from behind the scenes, when in fact the
US is “leading from the front lines alongside al-Qaeda-style
Jihadists, Qatari intelligence, and Turkish logistics.”
He
says the Western drive against Syria follows the breakdown in the
international order caused by the 2011 Libyan intervention.
“There’s
no semblance of international law since what was decided in Libya
last year. The maneuvering and the wording of UN resolution 1973,
authorizing war – a no-fly zone was actually war – against Libya.
That was the end of international law as we know it. Nation-states
don’t matter anymore. If you are a neo-colonial power, like Britain
or France, or an empire like the US, you can trample on nations’
sovereignty anywhere, anyhow, anyplace, and this is exactly what’s
happening. That’s why Russia has been opposed to it from the start,
because Moscow sees that as the end of the sovereignty of
nation-states,” he says.
He
added that Syria's disintegration into a weak – or failed – state
is part of Israel’s long-term designs on Iran.
“The
battle of Aleppo could become an extended [rerun of] Lebanon in the
1970s. This is the ‘Lebanonization ‘of whole tracts of Northern
Syria, in fact. And this, by the way, is the Israeli strategy. Israel
wants a ‘Lebanonized’ and ‘Somalized’ [Syria], like the new
Somalia in Libya; a very weak country with sectarian strife… an
overextended army, and of course, innocuous against Israel. So this
means opening the way for an Israeli attack against Iran in the next
few months or perhaps in 2013.”
Watch
the full interview with Pepe Escobar on RT
If
you want 'official' confirmation.....
Obama
signs order to 'support Syrian rebels'
US
President Barack Obama has signed a covert order authorising support
for Syrian rebels, US media report.
BBC,
2
August, 2012
Approved
earlier this year, the directive permits the CIA and other US
agencies to provide assistance to help oust Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad.
The
US appears to be stopping short of directly arming the Free Syrian
Army.
The
Obama administration has said publicly it is offering support to the
rebels, including $25m (£16m) of "non-lethal" assistance.
The
state department aid mostly funds the supply of communications
equipment such as encrypted radios.
But
it is not clear what type of support is authorised by the secret
order, known as an intelligence finding, which was reported by
Reuters news agency.
A
US Senate panel on Wednesday heard foreign policy experts urge the
Obama administration to consider arming Syrian rebels.
Some
US lawmakers, such as Republican Senator John McCain, have criticised
Mr Obama, arguing the US should become directly involved in arming Mr
Assad's opponents.
Reuters
also reports that the US is collaborating with a secret command
centre operating near the Syrian border, set up by Turkey and its
allies.
And
the US Department of the Treasury approved a licence last week
allowing the Washington Syrian Support Group, a non-profit
organisation, to provide direct financial assistance.
Mr
Obama previously signed a document to authorise covert assistance to
rebels fighting against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
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