C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels - MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

While President Obama has insisted that no American military ground troops participate in the Libyan campaign, small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help bleed Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said.

A former British government official who is briefed on current operations confirmed media reports that dozens of British Special Forces soldiers, from the elite Special Air Service and Special Boat Service units, are on the ground across Libya. The British soldiers have been particularly focused on finding the locations of Colonel Qaddafi’s Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.