White House widening covert war in North Africa

AP ^ | 10/3/2012 | Kimberly Dozier

[mojito]

Small teams of special operations forces arrived at American embassies throughout North Africa in the months before militants launched the fiery attack that killed the U.S. ambassador in Libya. The soldiers' mission: Set up a network that could quickly strike a terrorist target or rescue a hostage.

But the teams had yet to do much counterterrorism work in Libya, though the White House signed off a year ago on the plan to build the new military task force in the region and the advance teams had been there for six months, according to three U.S. counterterror officials and a former intelligence official. All spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the strategy publicly.

[....]

As of early September, the special operations teams still consisted only of liaison officers who were assigned to establish relationships with local governments and U.S. officials in the region.

[mojito]

So, the Zero WH knew there were AQ problems in North Africa more than a year ago, but hadn't quite gotten around to getting thing together in Libya. Or anywhere else, it seems.

[RexBeach]

Nothing like spending a lot of time in north African s-holes.

Tough duty.

[skeeter]

They were wanred that AQ was active in Libya yet still denied repeated requests for increased security at their consulate in Benghazi.

Criminal incompetence.

[TurboZamboni]

Embassies Facing Security Cuts Waste Money on Chevy Volts

http://nlpc.org/cached/embassies-facing-security-cuts-waste-money-chevy-volts.html?q=stories/2012/10/02/embassies-facing-security-cuts-waste-money-chevy-volts

priorities, man.

GM’s alive & 5 Americans are dead.

[himno hero]

.. on jihad for the muslim in chief at America’s expense.

Gotta build that unified caliphate somehow!

[aimhigh]

They were wanred that AQ was active in Libya yet still denied repeated requests for increased security at their consulate in Benghazi.

The article talks about the unit responding to kidnappings. Perhaps Obama was intending to 'allow' the Ambassador to be kidnapped, and then take credit for a rescue.

[Lady Heron]

White House widening covert war in North Africa

So lets tell everybody!

What past administration has treated covert operations the way this one has??? Just wow!

[piasa]

There's still hope for Obama if he wants to rescue someone. Iran has one of our Marine vets, and has a retired FBI agent. Somali terrorists are holding over 200 people last time I heard, some probably American. The Taliban have a US soldier. The Pakistanis still have the Pakistani doctor who helped us get bin Laden.

[Sarajevo]

The go-slow approach being taken by the Army's top clandestine counterterrorist unit - known as Delta Force

Garbage reporting. There hasn't been a unit known as "Delta Force" since the 90's. Much like the unit formerly known as "SEAL Team Six", the unit's designation was changed. The "Delta Force" moniker brings memories of silly Chuck Norris movies.

On a different note, we don't want to be embroiled in a conflict in Africa. If we think the Mid East was bad, or fighting the yellow man on the Asian continent sucked, we haven't seen anything yet.

[SunkenCiv]

Michael Weaver posted this on Facebook:

• Obama: "I want to make sure we end before the call to prayer"
• Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea [2008]

[SunkenCiv]

A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks mojito.