GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: DEBKA Report: America's exit from Libya ends coalition no-fly zone, military campaign

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

04April2011 2:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The United States has quietly withdrawn its air and sea assets from Libya and virtually ended its military intervention against Muammar Qaddafi's armed forces. This action over the weekend exposed NATO and its leading powers Britain and France as badly short of the air and sea capabilities necessary for halting Muammar Qaddafi's military advances, enforcing a no fly zone over the territory he controls or maintaining a sea blockade on Libyan ports.

Debkafile's military sources report that US Air Force AC-10 Thunderbolt and AC-130, which are designed for attacking tanks and other ground targets, disappeared from Libyan skies Saturday, April 2. They were followed Sunday by the departure of all 100 American fighter-bombers from the Libyan war arena. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Eyeless in Libya -- and a Swiftian border security solution

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Homeland Security NewsWire

02April2011 1:30pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Everyone knows what the Libyan rebels are against -- Gaddafi -- but there is no way tell what they are for; this lack of information is not good; first, the United States and its allies may be pushing for the replacement of the devil we know with the devil we do not know; this is akin to giving Michael Phelps a three body length advantage at a swim meet: not a good idea; second, the lack of knowledge about the rebels is like a Rorschach test: outsiders look at them and see what they want to see; Jonathan Swift suggests that impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies; should we consider a Swiftian solution to problem of securing the U.S.-Mexico border? (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: INTERPOL issues global alert following threat identified in UN sanctions resolution targeting Libya's Colonel Al-Qadhafi and others

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Interpol

07March2011 3:52pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: LYON, France - INTERPOL has issued a global alert known as an Orange Notice against Colonel Al-Qadhafi and 15 other Libyan nationals, including members of his family and close associates, in a bid to warn member states of the danger posed by the movement of these individuals and their assets, to assist member states in their efforts to enforce sanctions under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011), and to support INTERPOL's assistance to the International Criminal Court investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Libya.

With identifying information on each of the subjects on the UN travel ban and asset freeze list added to INTERPOL's databases and circulated to frontline law enforcement officers at key areas such as border control points, INTERPOL's alert will help ensure that law enforcement in each of the world police body's 188 member countries will be able to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and to enforce travel bans against all 16 Libyan nationals, as well as the assets freeze targeting six of them. The individuals subject to the Orange Notice have been identified as being involved in or complicit in planning attacks, including aerial bombardments, on civilian populations.

INTERPOL's alert will see its Command and Co-ordination Centre at its General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon liaise with its National Central Bureaus to pool and update all relevant intelligence to ensure that the Libyan nationals are not able to circumvent the travel ban or the assets freeze.

With the UN Security Council referring recent events in Libya to the International Criminal Court and calling on all states and concerned international organizations to co-operate fully with the Prosecutor and the Court in this matter, INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said: "INTERPOL's constitution provides a clear mandate for the widest co-operation among law enforcement authorities in its member countries, within the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the prevention of serious human rights abuses." 

"As a first priority, we must work to protect the civilian populations of Libya and of any country into which these Libyan individuals may travel or attempt to move their assets,” said Secretary General Noble. (read full report)

Download the PDF

of INTERPOL's

Orange Notice

 

 

 

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Libya: What should CIA be doing?

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: The Washington Post

05March2011 8:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: With the future of Libya still in the balance, some CIA operations veterans think it’s well past time the spy agency went past just trying to keep tabs on what’s going on and arm the rebels.

“This guy, Gaddafi, has been an enemy of ours for decades,” says Charles Faddis, who led a secret CIA mission into northern Iraq before the 2003 invasion.

“Now his people have risen up against him and are attempting to do what we never could, depose him. We should have been in there a week ago, arming the opposition and providing whatever other assistance we can.”

The agency’s success in Afghanistan in 2001, leading troops and directing air strikes that routed the Taliban in matter of weeks show that “both CIA and Special Forces have broad capabilities, as displayed in Afghanistan in 2001, to work with indigenous forces in fast moving, fluid situations like this,” Faddis added.

President Obama said today that he had "instructed...all those who are involved in international affairs to examine is a full range of options," which resumably includes the CIA and other special operations assets.

The administration should definitely not send troops when CIA and special operations units are suited for the situation, said a former top military intelligence official in Afghanistan who asked for anonymity because he still works on international issues. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: DEBKA Report: The US, UK, Libyan opposition lack military strength to take on Qaddafi

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

03March2011 9:15amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Barring changes in the military situation, Muammar Qaddafi looked Wednesday, March 2, as though he had averted his regime's immediate danger of collapse by dint of a successful counter-offensive against rebel forces. His prospects had strikingly improved since Saturday, Feb. 26, when President Barack Obama told him to leave and the UN Security Council clamped down sanctions on his regime.

During the day, the regime's armored forces and commandos supported by the Libyan Air Force recaptured parts of Brega, Libya's refinery city and supplier of the country's benzene, and sections of the Bay of Sirte town of Ajdabiya. DEBKAfile's military sources say the loss of Brega will cause severe fuel and refined oil shortages in rebel-held Cyrenaica in the east.

Saif al-Islam, who has been running his father Muammar Qaddafi's propaganda campaign since the uprising began more than two weeks ago (Feb. 17), told the French Le Figaro confidently on Wednesday:  "It's true that it's a bit messy in the east, a few hundred people died there, but within two days everything will be back in order."

As his counter-offensive went forward, Qaddafi himself addressed a public event in Tripoli covered by state television, looking relaxed and self-confident.

The reverses suffered by the rebels were implicit in their appeal to the West Tuesday night, March 1 for military intervention, when a few hours earlier they rejected foreign troops coming to their aid. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Debka Report: US weighs hit-and-run raids to disable Qaddafi's air capability

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

28February2011 6:25pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The US is repositioning its naval and air forces around Libya, Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan stated Monday, Feb. 28, indicating possible military steps to break the standoff between Muammar Qaddafi's army and rebel forces in the fighting for control of the towns commanding the roads to the capital Tripoli where Qaddafi is barricaded.

The reported rebel capture of the key towns of Misrata and Zawiya is technically correct. In fact, they are both surrounded by Libyan troops who control their road links with Tripoli. In Misrata, the army has a valuable edge over opposition forces in its control of the local airfield.

The Pentagon spokesman's indeed remarked that there are "various contingency plans" for the North African country where Muammar Qaddafi's forces and rebels in the east "remain locked in a tense standoff."

Most military observers interpreted his remark as referring to potential US military intervention in Libya to break the stalemate. It was strengthened by the imminent redeployment off the Libyan coast of USS Enterprise from the Red Sea and the amphibious USS Kearsarge, which has a fleet of helicopters and about 1,800 Marines aboard. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Qaddafi's air force is up again and ferrying fresh troops to defend Tripoli

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

28February2011 6:00amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Hours after the UN Security Council unanimously imposed sanctions on Col. Muammar Qaddafi and his regime, his reactivated air force was flying army and tribal reinforcements from the south and landing them at the military airfields of Tripoli, Misrata and Sirte. DEBKAfile's military sources report.  Sunday night, Feb. 27, men were immediately deployed at the main road intersections leading to the capital.

This move at the current stage of Libya's civil war lessens the military significance of the rebels' reported takeover of towns around Tripoli, including Al Zawiya to the west, from which Qaddafi's forces pulled back to guard the main road to Tripoli.

For now, the rebels face four main difficulties:

1. They lack organized military strength to stand up to Qaddafi's professionally-trained and equipped soldiers. This imbalance can only be offset by a mutiny in the army's ranks or assassination.
2. Instead of digging in and consolidating their control of the eastern part of the country after its capture, the rebels went after Tripoli in order to topple Qaddafi. Sunday night, this goal looked unattainable.
3. They have rejected US and European offers of military assistance in the strongest terms warning that if foreign troops intervened they would redirect their guns from Qaddafi on the interlopers.
4. The rebels are fighting without air cover, while Qaddafi's forces command enough air power and air fields in the south to keep up a steady flow of fresh fighting men in his support.

Early Sunday, Feb. 27, US President Barack Obama called on Libyan ruler Col. Muammar Qaddafi to leave now, having lost the legitimacy to rule since "his only means of staying in power is to use violence against his own people," and the UN Security Council's 15 members unanimously slapped down wide-reaching sanctions on members of his family and regime commanders, calling for an immediate International Criminal Court probe of Qaddafi, his seven sons and daughter and military commanders, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: U.S. freezes Libyan assets, closes embassy

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Air Force Times

26February2011 7:00pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration froze assets of the Libyan government, leader Moammar Gadhafi and four of his children Friday, just hours after it closed the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and evacuated its remaining staff. U.S. officials said announcements of the steps were withheld until Americans wishing to leave the country had departed as they feared Gadhafi might retaliate amid worsening violence in the North African country.

The measures announced Friday ended days of cautious U.S. condemnation of Gadhafi that had been driven by concerns for the safety of U.S. citizens in Libya. They struck directly at his family, which is believed to have amassed great wealth over his four decades in power.

President Obama accused the Gadhafi regime of violating “human rights, brutalization of its people and outrageous threats.” In a statement issued by the White House, the president said “Gadhafi, his government and close associates have taken extreme measures against the people of Libya, including by using weapons of war, mercenaries and wanton violence against unarmed civilians.”

“I further find that there is a serious risk that Libyan state assets will be misappropriated by Gadhafi, members of his government, members of his family, or his close associates if those assets are not protected,” Obama said.

“By any measure, Moammar Gadhafi’s government has violated international norms and common decency and must be held accountable,” the statement said. He added that the instability in Libya constituted an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: My family will live and die in Libya: Chilling pledge from Gaddafi's son as battle for Tripoli begins

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Daily Mail

26February2011 1:00pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The battle for Colonel Gaddafi’s last stronghold of Tripoli appeared to be under way last night, with claims that some suburbs in the Libyan capital had fallen to rebels.

Triumphant but terrified residents said anti-Gaddafi protesters were in control of up to three areas in the sprawling city, despite another bloody crackdown by mercenaries and troops which left at least nine dead and dozens wounded.

As night fell on Tripoli, Gaddafi appeared in the central Green Square to make an impassioned speech of defiance, telling 1,000 of his supporters waving pictures of him to fight back and ‘defend the nation’.

Pumping his fist in the air, Gaddafi, wearing a fur cap and sunglasses, spoke from the ramparts of the historic Red Castle to demand his supporters ‘retaliate against them’ and ‘prepare to defend the nation and defend the oil’.

He went on: ‘We are ready to triumph over the enemy . . . I am in the middle of the crowds . . . We will defeat any foreign attempt, as we have defeated Italian colonialism and American raids.’

Gaddafi’s favourite son, Saif, vowed that his family will ‘live and die in Libya’ and will not allow ‘a bunch of terrorists’ to take control of the country.

In an interview aired on Turkish TV, he was asked if his family has a ‘plan B’ in the face of the growing unrest and would leave the country.

He replied: ‘We have Plan A, Plan  B and Plan C. Plan A is to live and  die in Libya, Plan B is to live and die in Libya, Plan C is to live and die in Libya.’ (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: U.S. Fears Tripoli May Deploy Gas As Chaos Mounts

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal

25February2011 4:30pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: WASHINGTON—The government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi hasn't destroyed significant stockpiles of mustard gas and other chemical-weapons agents, raising fears in Washington about what could happen to them—and whether they may be used—as Libya slides further into chaos.

Tripoli also maintains control of aging Scud B missiles, U.S. officials said, as well as 1,000 metric tons of uranium yellowcake and vast amounts of conventional weapons that Col. Gadhafi has channeled in the past to milit cade have scored gains, in particular the dismantling of Tripoli's nascent nuclear-weapons program and its Scud C missile stockpiles. But the level of instability in Libya, and Col. Gadhafi's history of brutality, continues to make the U.S. focus on the arms and chemical agents that remain, they said.

"When you have a guy who's as irrational as Gadhafi with some serious weapons at his disposal, it's always a concern," said a U.S. official. "But we haven't yet seen him move to use any kind of mustard gas or chemical weapon" during the unrest. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: DEBKAfile: US military advisers in Cyrenaica. Qaddafi's loses his air force

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DEBKAfile

25February2011 1:15pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Hundreds of US, British and French military advisers have arrived in Cyrenaica, Libya's eastern breakaway province, DEBKAfile's military sources report exclusively.

This is the first time America and Europe have intervened militarily in any of the popular upheavals rolling through the Middle East since Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution in early January.  The advisers, including intelligence officers, were dropped from warships and missile boats at the coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk Thursday Feb. 24, for a threefold mission:

1. To help the revolutionary committees controlling eastern Libyan establish government frameworks for supplying two million inhabitants with basic services and commodities;
2. To organize them into paramilitary units, teach them how to use the weapons they captured from Libyan army facilities, help them restore law and order on the streets and train them to fight Muammar Qaddafi's combat units coming to retake Cyrenaica.
3. The prepare infrastructure for the intake of additional foreign troops. Egyptian units are among those under consideration.

Qaddafi was shaken up badly Friday, Feb. 25, when many of his air force commanders decided to no longer obey his orders or those of his commanders, DEBKAfile's exclusive military sources report. 

This loss deprived him at one stroke of one of the key pillars sustaining his fight for survival against the opposition since Sunday, Feb. 20. It means he is short of an essential resource for recapturing the eastern half of the country where half of Libya's oil wealth and its main oil export terminals are situated.

Friday, NATO Council and the UN Security Council meet in separate emergency sessions to consider ways to halt the bloodletting in Libya and punish its ruler Qaddafi for his violent crackdown of protesters. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Qaddafi blames protests on drug-laced milk

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Arab News

24February2011 5:00pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: BENGHAZI, Libya: Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi launched a fierce counter-attack on Thursday, fighting gun battles with rebels who have threatened the Libyan leader by seizing important towns close to the capital.

The opposition were already in control of major centers in the east, including the regional capital Benghazi, and reports that the towns of Misrata and Zuara in the west had also fallen brought the tide of rebellion closer to Qaddafi’s power base.

Gun battles in Zawiyah, an oil terminal 0 km (30 miles) from the capital, left 10 people dead, a Libyan newspaper said.

France’s top human rights official said up to 2,000 people might have died so far in the uprising.

In a rambling appeal for calm, Qaddafi blamed the revolt on Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and said the protesters were fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs,

Qaddafi, who just two days ago vowed in a televised address to crush the revolt and fight to the last, showed none of the fist-thumping rage of that speech.

This time, he spoke to state television by telephone without appearing in person, and his tone seemed more conciliatory.

“Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe,” Qaddafi said. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.