The U.S. has at least two or three military forces: uniformed, CIA, and contracted. The uniformed is the visible, on-budget, classic military (army, air force, navy, marines). The CIA is the invisible or less visible, off-budget, non-uniformed, covert arm. It’s any president’s “private” military. The other “private” military is the contractors, also associated with the CIA and uniformed military like Blackhawk and others. In addition to these, there are secret or elite forces that are part of the uniformed military. Thus when Obama, at least for now, says he isn’t introducing military forces on the ground, he still has at his disposal his “private” military, the CIA and contractor forces and secret forces. Thus a spokesperson like Robert Gates can testify before Congress and make a headline “No US Boots on Ground in Libya” while his boss, Obama, can issue orders for CIA and contractor forces to be on the ground in Libya. We live in such an utterly cynical age that has become accustomed to lies and hypocrisy at the highest levels that most everyone then winks at this, accepts it, and goes right ahead as if nothing untoward was occurring.

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