U.S. Special Forces take the fight to ISIS in Libya. Fuck.

[cali]

Misrata, Libya (CNN)It is a tiny, remote aircraft hangar, carved in the Sicilian rock decades ago, but now home to a new and vital front for the United States against ISIS.

U.S. Special Forces and surveillance flights are operating on the ground and over Libya as the West moves to boost security operations in the country to bolster Libya's increasingly desperate fight against ISIS.

Surveillance flights over the country's 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) coast have been in operation from the remote Sicilian island of Pantelleria for over a year, and Special Forces have recently increased their presence on the ground. Witnesses and Libyan officials told CNN they are in evidence near the city of Misrata, with an estimated dozen soldiers operating out of a base near the city.

The U.S. presence in Libya was acknowledged by Pentagon officials in the past few days, who admitted groups of Special Forces were "meeting a variety of Libyans." The teams are said to be in action around the capital Tripoli, as well as Misrata and the east of the country.



The U.S. publicly only supports the latest of the three groups who claim the right to govern the country -- the Government of National Accord, led by Fayez al-Sarraj and recently installed by the United Nations. But the presence of these Special Forces teams in the strongholds of the other two groups claiming to be the country's legitimate government shows that America retains wider private contacts.

It is unclear what precisely the U.S. Special Forces' scope of operations is in Libya, as airstrikes and other attacks have been limited. But they join an increasingly fraught Libyan battle against ISIS, who are now estimated to control about a tenth of the coastline.

<snip>
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/middleeast/libya-isis-us-special-forces/

[cali]

1. Friend or Foe? Doubts Plague US Military in Libya Training

The U.S. military is "prepared to support" a train-and-equip mission to fight the thousands of Islamic State militants in Libya when the Libyan government is ready for it, the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Tuesday.

AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez added that Libya's internal politics have made it unclear which armed groups are fighting alongside the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), leaving the U.S. "really dependent" on the Libyan interim government to determine "who is with them and who is moving over to them."

<snip>
http://m.voanews.com/a/us-military-prepared-to-support-train-and-equip-mission-in-libya/3335188.html

[cali]

2. kick

[octoberlib]

3. Another clusterfuck. They don't even know who they're supposed to be fighting!

[cali]

5. Horrific and maddening.

[Katashi_itto]

4. Woot! This is good! With Hillary we will make sure the MIC is fed well.

With Hillary at the helm or Trump, this will grow nicely!

[Odin2005]

6. We are going to be stuck cleaning up Hillary's mistakes for a long time.

[cali]

7. And the "clean up" will just create a bigger clusterfuck

[philosslayer]

11. President Obama is the CIC

NOT Secretary Clinton.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

17. She did Libya, she admits it...

[philosslayer]

19. I'm not sure as to your point

President Obama was and is the CIC. Anything that was "done" in Libya, or IS being done, he signed off on.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

20. You are either the most naive person here or you're purposely being obtuse. Good bye. nt

[philosslayer]

21. Thats the best you can do?

Enlighten me. Hillary Clinton hasn't been the SOS for 3 1/2 years, and yet now you're blaming an action being taken RIGHT NOW on her? Your implied suggestion that President Obama is too weak or incompetent to stop what is going on is patently offensive. The President knows what he is doing.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

22. You can be offended by something I never said all day and all night if you want to. And...

...you completely disregard the events that led to ISIS being in Libya to begin with.

I'm done with you. You have proven that you are incapable of discussing this honestly.

BTW, thanks for kicking the OP over and over. It needs to be seen far and wide.

[philosslayer]

23. The implication is clear

We all know who the CIC is RIGHT NOW.

[cali]

8. Kick

[ChisolmTrailDem]

12. Don't expect Hillarites to kick this. They are under a coodinated effort not to kick any...

...post that shows the flaws of their neo-liberal candidate.

[actslikeacarrot]

9. Not a very popular topic, is it?

Now for my two cents: It's going to take a very principled and strong president to set us on a new course. It has got to be someone who doesn't care about a second term but instead cares about doing the right thing.

[philosslayer]

13. So its your contention President Obama doesn't care about doing the right thing??

President Obama doesn't "care about a second term." He's already got it. Are you saying he's not principled and strong?

[actslikeacarrot]

14. I'm saying I was extremely dissapointed in his decision...

...to approve the "surge" in 2009 to Afghanistan. I was in Marjah in 2010. Six years later and the Taliban have reclaimed it, and all the blood (troop/civilian) and money was for nothing. Absolutely nothing.

on edit: because I know your next move is to accuse me of not voting for Obama in 12, let me head you off at the pass and tell you I did vote for him, I just want to be able to vote for someone who will do the right thing every time, not most or part of the time.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

10. Fucking thanks, Hillary! nt

[philosslayer]

15. You DO realize who the CIC is...

right?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

16. You do realize Hillary was in that Libya thing up to her ears as the CIC's SoS, right? nt

[philosslayer]

18. yes, and hasn't been the CIC for 3 1/2 years

It is the Presidents decision to take this action. No one elses.

[cali]

25. Hillary was the one who persuaded Obama on libya

[philosslayer]

26. And who is the President now???

Anything to push this off on Secretary Clinton. I cannot WAIT until the Skinner calls it.

[JEB]

24. K&R for exposure.

[ViseGrip]

27. They put 200 in Yemen last Thursday!!!!! That was a NEVAH!

[redstateblues]

28. Bernies plan for the Middle East ?

Break up the big banks!

[cali]

29. Jaysus. It is pitiful that that's where your mind goes

I notice that hilly fans are incapable of- oh never mind

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Erect scary bogeymen, wave flag, cheer the troops, call it "defense", sell yellow ribbons.

Works every time.

[CJCRANE]

31. Fifteen years of the war on terror and spreading freedom

and all we got was more war, more terror and less freedom.

[cali]

32. In a nutshell.

[CJCRANE]

33. Eventually people are going to figure out...

It isn't a war against terror, it's a war against us.

But many on DU will be the last to do so.

[cali]

35. I don't hold out much hope for that. Americans are easy prey to ginned up fear.

[Blue_Tires]

34. Well, everyone keeps saying Libya is a failed state

so we might as well start some corrective action...

[cali]

36. It is a failed state and you appear to know nothing about it