"President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing

covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told

Reuters." How can it be a 'secret order' and how can U. S.

government support for rebel forces be 'covert' when

government officials are telling Reuters and Reuters is

telling the whole world?  One might think this is an

encrypted message which, when decrypted, says: "Osama

 bin Laden is dead and the U. S. government is accepting

 applications for his replacement."