CIA sends spooks to Libya
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and make contacts with rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials.I think most of them are former special ops guys who have moved over to the clandestine services of the CIA. They are probably similar to the types of CIA agents who were sent to Afghanistan initially to help the Northern Alliance oust the Taliban.
While President Obama has insisted that no American ground troops join in the Libyan campaign, small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks and are part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help set back Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said.
The C.I.A. presence comprises an unknown number of American officers who had worked at the spy agency’s station in Tripoli and those who arrived more recently. In addition, current and former British officials said, dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are working inside Libya. The British operatives have been directing airstrikes from British Tornado jets and gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of Libyan government tank columns, artillery pieces, and missile installations, the officials said.
By meeting with rebel groups, the Americans hope to fill in gaps in understanding who the leaders are of the groups opposed Colonel Qaddafi, and what their allegiances are, according to United States government officials speaking only on condition of anonymity because the actions of C.I.A. operatives are classified. The C.I.A. has declined to comment.
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I suspect they have been calling in strikes on Qadaffi's forces as well as working with the opposition. Hopefully they are getting a fuller picture of those in charge of the opposition. My sense is that most of the leaders are lawyers and other professionals who stepped up when Qaddafi forces were chased from Benghazi. Some of the fighters may be associated with anti American elements who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, bit most of those guys made one way trips to act as human bombs.
The real question is who will be able to take charge once it is clear that Qaddafi is gone. Judged by the current state of the war, it may take awhile to sort that out.
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