And yes, the United States has “Special Operations Forces” on the ground in Libya, including CIA agents, a fact which was reported by the New York Times. Again, this aspect of the ‘secret war’ is not so secret. Similar coverage was given of US involvement in Pakistan, Yemen, and in 2008 US Special Operations Forces conducted a raid on Syria. Similar information can be found on other campaigns which extend into South America, including Columbia, Paraguay, and Peru, and on into Eastern Europe, South East Asia, and so on. So I think a fair question to ask is, ‘If so much is known about US ‘secret wars’, why exactly are they so often referred to as secret?’ (One reason might be that the use of ‘secret’ here might be quite cynical or might be meant to imply duplicitousness). I believe Dr. Challand’s article gives an important reason: ‘sanitized’ media coverage. The US White House, State Department, and Pentagon reveal to the public no more than they deem necessary, thus setting up an international theater, replete with backstage and front stage. (I believe this mechanism has elsewhere been too referred to as ‘perception management.’) In this case, it seems aimed at creating the perception that the victory is primarily belongs to the Libyan rebels– it is they who won Libya. We know the situation is much more complex than that, however, not by watching CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.

If however, we turn to sources such as the Washington Post or NY Times, we learn a little more about US involvement in Libya, and elsewhere (indeed the very fact that they are involved in the first instance), and the nature of this involvement. And if we move beyond these sources, and there are many credible sources we can turn to, such as Alternet, Common Dreams, or, sometimes, The Nation, just to name a few (I would also include foreign sources such as Al Jazeera), we might learn more. If this is indeed an accurate pattern, it suggests to me that the further away a news source is from the epicenters of power, the more of the backstage they will be willing to reveal and strive to reveal. (However their relative lack of resources may hinder their ability to do this.) In any event, if we look beyond the ‘usual’ sources, we will more easily discover that ‘secret wars’ aren’t really so secret at all. But unlike more authoritarian countries, their does not seem to be much effort to muzzle the messengers. It is as if the US government is saying, “Yeah. So what. What are you going to do about it?”