Thompson reports President Obama has approved it:
Tellingly, Gates didn’t mention their deployment in his opening statement to reporters, but waited to reveal it in response to the first question he got, which ended with: “Is the Libyan regime using cluster bombs?”
Plainly questions like that are generating political pressure for Washington to do more as civilians continue to be pounded by Gaddafi’s forces. Consequently, Gates announced the U.S. is doing marginally more, as of Thursday. “The President has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those,” Gates said. “And in fact he has approved the use of armed Predators, and I think that today may in fact have been their first mission.” Obama has approved flying a pair of the drones in Libyan skies at any one time, giving allied air forces a “modest contribution” in firepower, Gates said.