Obama’s Dilemma: Intelligence Services Instead of the Armed Forces

The U.S. president is relieved about NATO’s decision. CIA agents are going to provide clarity on the Libyan front. Ground troops are not covered by the U.N. mandate, but if the operation is only carried out from the air, it will have to remain imprecise.

Early on Thursday, the handover deal was announced. It was announced prematurely and toughly negotiated. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, confirmed that the military alliance had the command to implement the no-fly zone over Libya and protect the civilian population. By doing so, the U.S., which in fact led the mission with Operation Odyssey Dawn, has now distributed the responsibility. Barack Obama had already announced this in his speech regarding the nation’s position. “Real leadership,” said the president in Washington, “creates the conditions and coalitions,” so that allies and partners “bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs.”

Moammar Gadhafi is very high on the list of hated heads of state in the U.S. He was vilified by Ronald Reagan in 1986 as the “mad dog of the Middle East” and was the manipulator of deadly terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens, such as the Lockerbie bombings in 1988. However, the military operation is not popular. In the days leading up to Obama’s speech on Monday, an opinion poll showed that 50 percent of those asked supported him; 48 percent did not. The expensive and bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the economic crisis, dampen the mood. Thus, Obama ruled out the use of ground troops because he thought it was not covered by Resolution 1973 of the U.N. Security Council.

It was clear to military experts that such a military mission would not only be carried out from the air and the safe distance of war ships and submarines off the coast. Thus, on the fourth day of the operation, the two pilots of a fighter aircraft F-15 E that crashed to the south west of Benghazi had to be rescued. Several helicopters were in action. In doing so, soldiers operated — at least for a short while — on Libyan soil. Although a spokesperson for the military task force denied it at first, it gave rise to an exchange of fire with Libyans.

According to information from the television channel CNN, CIA agents were also involved in rescuing the two soldiers. Obama had already indicated in his speech that U.S. intelligence services were joining in Libya. In his speech, Obama also described the future role of the U.S. as “supporting” and listed key words such as “intelligence, logistical support, … and capabilities to jam regime communications.” The New York Times described precisely what that means. The newspaper wrote that CIA agents send information and coordinates for the air strikes from Libya. In addition, they are in contact with the rebels, who had already spoken of cooperation with the U.S. in Benghazi, shortly after the start of the military mission.

Agents from the British foreign intelligence service MI-6 are also said to be active in Libya, as well as British Special Forces units. There is also speculation about the question of which other intelligence services, not just from the West, are currently roaming in the North African country. There were members of the CIA in Libya active in Tripoli during peacetime and there were also agents who trickled in later. However, the CIA does not have a large presence in Libya, and it was said that Libya was not the focus of the CIA’s intelligence. The agents are now obviously striving hard to get a reliable picture of the rebels and their aims. The question of possible connections to al-Qaida and the structure of the opposition need to be clarified: Are freedom fighters fighting here against a dictator; or are the armed men of competing tribes fighting against the clan that is currently in power?

Obama has allegedly authorized the CIA to supply the rebels, who after a few successes have been forced back on the defensive, with weapons; but Washington ensures us that no such deliveries have yet been made. NATO also does not want to send the rebels weapons.

The military operation has been limited by simultaneously focusing on hidden operations, which has allowed for the dilemma that Obama is now confronted with. He does not want his voters to expect a long-term commitment on a third Islamic theater of war; but he has defined Gadhafi’s fall as his personal aim, which surpasses the executive of the U.N. Security Council. In any case, in the year before the presidential elections, Obama’s political opponents have heckled him using intrinsic knowledge. On the one hand, Republicans criticize U.S. participation in the military mission; on the other hand they demand that the president finally hunt Gadhafi down.