Why PC-Progressives Love Covert Action

Obama, Osama, and Moammar

By Kent Clizbe

Originally appeared in BigPeace; May 16, 2011

Congratulations to Barack Obama and John Brennan. They evidently used the resources available to them to implement George W. Bush’s policies in the Global War on Terror. A quick and lethal covert action followed a decade-long intelligence operation, that began with harsh CIA interrogations, and surely included massive use of all types of intelligence resources available—collection and analysis.

The Osama hit provides a glimpse into an unsettling reality. PC-Progressives like Obama always are loudly vocal in declaring their humaneness, and love for mankind. And they are loudly vocal in chastising evil conservatives for war-mongering and immoral use of covert action. Yet, when the PC-Progressives actually gain power, they become addicted to covert action.

Obama and his clique love covert operations. They’ve demonstrated that in the Global War on Terror (or “overseas contingency operations building bridges to Islamic extremists”). Instead of actually pursuing the war in Afghanistan with the tools in place—soldiers and Marines—they prefer Predator strikes in the hinterlands of Pakistan. The number of these covert action killings has soared from 2009 to 2011—with estimates of 5 dead in 2009 under Bush growing to several hundred dead in 2010 under Obama.

Because these are covert attacks, Obama and his clique don’t have to acknowledge the facts. They can bluster and bloviate, and deny, appearing all things to all people. Their political base, the PC-Progressives, pretend they don’t notice the carnage. The anti-terrorism side notices and tacitly approves. This having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too technique is pure PC-Progressivism. Their whole political philosophy is built on a foundation of lies.

Loving humanity while hating individual humans is the fundamental core of PC-Progressivism—which is a pure lie. Hating capitalism while reveling in the benefits of the American economy is living a lie. Babbling about “saving the earth” from carbon, all the while globe-trotting in a private jet is a lie. Standing up for “labor” while destroying entire industries with union goon-squads is a lie. Pick any PC-Progressive position, and you’ll see that it is built on a lie.

So, the Obama clique’s love of covert action is not surprising. However, those who care about the truth, the future of our country, and the health of our vital national security organizations should pay careful attention to the mendacious actions carried out in our name in Libya.

With a straight face, Obama declared that there were no “boots on the ground” in Libya. The next day his clique leaked the fact that CIA covert operators were on the ground. With a straight face, the Obama clique declared that our goal was not regime change, but rather humanitarian relief.

Within hours of that declaration, covert humanitarian action was unleashed on the Libyans. Humanitarian cruise missiles delivered humanitarian relief to Khadafy’s residential compound.

The CIA leadership now is more political than ever. Never in its history has a pure political hack been in charge, before now. Never has an administration been so enamored of lying and hiding its true foreign policies behind covert action.

The Libyan operation has all the makings of a disaster for the CIA. In the Bay of Pigs operation, the Kennedy brothers inherited a plan already in motion, with covert teams in the process of training upon the Kennedys’ arrival at the White House. Careful planning for a covert invasion was already in motion. The Kennedys gave their approval to continue.  

The Kennedys, much like Obama, were concerned about their image. Unlike Obama, at least the President had served in the military, and had some idea about combat operations. Even so, after approving the covert invasion, while denying there were boots on the ground to the public, the Kennedys ultimately lost their nerve. As communist Cubans massacred the CIA’s invasion force on the ground in the Bay of Pigs, the indigenous commanders begged their CIA masters for air support.

The Kennedys pondered the emergency requests from Agency management, dithered, and finally denied the request. The invasion was crushed by overwhelming Cuban ground and air attacks. 1200 Cuban exiles of the invasion brigade were captured, scores died. The Kennedys’ response was to demand more covert actions—assassination plans against Castro, spiraling into lunacy and tarnishing the CIA’s reputation when revealed later.

The disaster inflicted on the Agency by the Kennedys began a cycle of degeneration that endured until 9/11.  Successive administrations, with the exception of Ronald Reagan’s, misused and abused the CIA, or at best neglected it. Only on September 12, 2001 did the Agency regain a mission. The CIA’s refurbished reputation, as a result of GWOT successes, is now in jeopardy in Libya.

Of course, the CIA will not refuse orders from Obama’s office to carry out covert action in Libya. But for anyone who understands the Bay of Pigs debacle, the political fallout, and the damage inflicted on the CIA, it is only right that we should fear the same damage and downward spiral from the upcoming Obama/Hillary Libyan covert action.

Kent Clizbe, a former covert CIA operations officer, is an expert in counter-terrorism, covert action, Libya and Islamic extremism.  His book Willing Accomplices is due out in May.