Posted on 08/04/2012 9:09:10 AM PDT by robowombat
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.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Secret????
Yeah, amazing secret. This gets out to warn our enemies, but his college transcripts are more secret?
War Powers Act????
Get McConnell out of the old folks home and Boehner off the golf course and make them do SOMETHING!!!!
Not a secret anymore!
That's my guess as we have an un-president named Hussein.
IMO the rebels have been from under control of radical Islamist leaders from the beginning. Both sides are butchers.
This is a civil war in which neither side is a plus for the US, and both sides are hell bent to kill Americans in any theater of operations.
The further the US can stay away from it the better - there is no upside!
Lets hope Bashir Assad doesn’t read Newsmax.
So now American allies are the Taliban?
Any chance we can grab the WMDs if we are going to be involved?
Any chance we can grab the WMDs if we are going to be involved?
It is really sad that the Feds are helping out these Islamo-Nazi idiots.
If it was an actual “secret,” ‘we the people’ would never know about this till AFTER Assad was deposed. Some “secret,” huh? Perhaps the AnointedIdiot wants another HollywoodIdiot movie made...... =.=
Big secret, he’s put it all over the internet.
(Note that he DOES know how to hide things when he wants to...)
LOL!!!! Typical for Obama.......big secret......yet they tell the whole world.........can’t wait to toss these bums out in November.
Boy, I hope nobody finds out...
What’s going to happen if Syria falls is the stuff will be stolen and smuggled into other places.
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