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Failed Navy SEALs raid on Somali target could bolster Al Shabab (Today)
Christian Science Monitor ^ | October 6, 2013 | Mike Pflanz

Posted on 10/06/2013 11:50:29 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Past US strikes on Al Shabab leaders, even successful ones, have not diminished the group.

A commando unit from the US Navy’s Seal Team Six launched an amphibious raid on a Somali town, but failed to confirm a capture or kill of their Al Shabab target, suspected to be linked to Nairobi’s Westgate mall terror attack.

The operation could have opposite its intended result of discouraging further attacks. Analysts warn that even earlier successful targeted strikes against Al Shabab, a Somalia-based Islamist militant group, failed to curb the group's capacity to carry out international terror attacks, and that failed missions could in fact bolster its support and recruitment.

The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.

Although the target was not named and officially described only as “high-value,” US officials suggested the raid was “prompted by Westgate”.

Saturday’s mission took place in Baraawe, an Al Shabab stronghold 110 miles south of Mogadishu, where US Special Forces carried out a daytime raid in 2009 to kill Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted in connection with earlier terrorist strikes in East Africa.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alshabaab; alshabab; counterterrorism; ikrima; kenya; nairobi; navyseals; seals; sealteamsix; somalia; specialforces; specialops; usnavy
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1 posted on 10/06/2013 11:50:29 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

The stronghold should be turned into a parking lot, and any follow-on sanctuaries. Yes, civilian casualties, but small SpecOps unit not the answer in this case.


2 posted on 10/06/2013 11:56:52 AM PDT by twister881
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To: twister881

The objective, of this act of war, was to wag the dog.


3 posted on 10/06/2013 11:59:15 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: nickcarraway

Ya, who put up the barricades and who told them to put them up? who has the power to instruct government agencies where to inflict the greatest amount of pain?


4 posted on 10/06/2013 12:00:17 PM PDT by dps.inspect (rage against the Obama machine...)
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To: dps.inspect

Sorry wrong post... pardon


5 posted on 10/06/2013 12:01:24 PM PDT by dps.inspect (rage against the Obama machine...)
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To: nickcarraway

So who told of the Seal’s raid? HMMM?


6 posted on 10/06/2013 12:25:45 PM PDT by tillacum
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To: twister881
So somebody in the administration spilled the beans that of was ST6. Wonder if it was Slo Joe again.

These commie adolescents shouldn't have access to anything more dangerous than a nerf gun.

7 posted on 10/06/2013 12:26:02 PM PDT by Eagles6 (Valley Forge Redux)
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To: nickcarraway

The seals were probably under orders to only make arrests and read the captors their rights.


8 posted on 10/06/2013 12:29:51 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Sure looks like it. Tooty-Fruity gave the green light for both operations just before the phony govt. “shutdown.”


9 posted on 10/06/2013 12:39:37 PM PDT by twister881
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To: nickcarraway

Hi, we’re SEAL Team 6, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at #SpecDevGru. /s.

Something stinks about this raid.Did Barry (the bitch) set them up?


10 posted on 10/06/2013 12:48:55 PM PDT by csvset
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To: nickcarraway

Why are US Special Forces doing this? Why not Kenyans? Oh wait . . .


11 posted on 10/06/2013 12:50:41 PM PDT by petitfour
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To: nickcarraway

I doubt anyone in the public knows who the Special Ops guys were. I like it that way, and so do they. Loose lips sink ships.

TC


12 posted on 10/06/2013 1:02:07 PM PDT by Pentagon Leatherneck
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To: petitfour

Special Forces is the Army unit that wears the green beret hat, special operations is the generic catch all phrase that includes SEALs.


13 posted on 10/06/2013 1:10:19 PM PDT by ansel12 ( 'I'm on That New Obama Diet... Every Day I Let Vladimir Putin Eat My Lunch' .)
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To: petitfour
Why are US Special Forces doing this?

Because we've been so succesful in the middle east and in north Africa that it was time to get involved in another part of the world.

14 posted on 10/06/2013 1:13:14 PM PDT by grania
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To: ansel12

Oops. I read the “special forces” part in the story, but it was talking about a raid in 2009.


15 posted on 10/06/2013 1:19:19 PM PDT by petitfour
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To: nickcarraway

Obama has been so quick to use drones in the past, but needed another Bin Laden type raid to bolster his sagging polls. Instead of wasting US troops in this hell hole, just carpet bomb the area with a couple of B-52 strikes to be sure and let Allah sort them out.


16 posted on 10/06/2013 1:26:45 PM PDT by The Great RJ
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks nickcarraway.
Saturday’s mission took place in Baraawe, an Al Shabab stronghold 110 miles south of Mogadishu...
What the world needs now is a couple of signs -- "former site of Baraawe" and "former site of Mogadishu".


17 posted on 10/06/2013 1:26:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: nickcarraway

“the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire”

Hmm... like the kind you get when they already know you’re coming? Perhaps?


18 posted on 10/06/2013 1:49:02 PM PDT by Noamie
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To: nickcarraway

nuke the skinnies and call it good


19 posted on 10/06/2013 2:09:24 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse
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To: nickcarraway

What purpose did this raid serve in the first place?


20 posted on 10/06/2013 2:11:17 PM PDT by dfwgator
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