Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Nine reasons why we never sent our Special Operations Forces after al Qaeda before 9/11.
The Weekly Standard ^ | From the Jan. 26, 2004 issue | Richard H. Shultz Jr.

Posted on 01/19/2004 7:26:04 AM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 last
To: Ragtime Cowgirl
a senior policy official blurted out: "Are you out of your mind? You're telling me that our Middle East policy is not important and that it's more important to go clean out terrorists? Don't you understand what's going on in terms of our Middle East policy? You're talking about going after terrorists backed by Iran? You just don't understand." And that was that.

Most likely either a Clintonista or someone from Foggy Bottom, even more likely both.

61 posted on 01/19/2004 4:09:43 PM PST by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Nine reasons why we never sent our Special Ops forces against Al Queda before 9/11:

Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton

62 posted on 01/19/2004 4:12:07 PM PST by Wolfstar (George W. Bush — the 1st truly great world leader of the 21st Century)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
The War College is the Ivoriest Tower of industrial age conventional warfare.

Straight lines, square corners, yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full. That's what I'd been taught. That's what I knew. I was a captain in the United States Army. Straight lines. Square corners. Yes, sir! No, sir! Three bags full!

I walked into Three Troop's wooden barracks. The long room was a mess. It was worn and dirty. Rucksacks (called Bergens) were strewn everywhere. Beds were unkemt, uniforms scruffy. It reminded me more of a football locker room than an army barracks. Two of the troopers -- I never learned if it was done for my benefit or not -- were brewing tea on the floor in the middle of the room.

I commented on the state of the room and on the men. I added, "What we need to do is get this area mopped down, the equipment cleaned, straightened, and stored, and the tea brewed outside." Two troopers, Scott and Larson, spoke up at once. "No, sir. that's not what we want to do. Otherwise, we might as well go back to our regular regiments. One of the reasons we volunteered for the SAS was so we wouldn't have to worry about unimportant things." I didn't understand that. I thought I'd been given a group of roughnecks to command. Also, I suspected the troops were not comfortable with me. Who was this bloody Yank who didn't understand at all about freebooting behavior in a special opeations unit? But I felt I had to bring the troop into line. My job, as I saw it, was to get them dressed smartly and to make parade soldiers out of them. Yes, sir! That was my job. I went home that night and told Katherine I felt I might not be able to handle this.

Peter Walter, my squadron commander, would normally have an officer's call at the end of each day. I found that whenever one of the officers addressed Major Walter he'd use his first name, and Major Walter, at his turn, would use the troop commander's first name. When I asked a question, I would address my commanding officer as Major Walter. This went on for several days and finally Major Walter called me in. "Let me explain the form." In a very precise and penetrating voice he told me that in the SAS system when an officer was in the midst of troopers or standing in a formation with what the Brits call ORs (Other Ranks), noncommissioned officers and enlisted men, they addressed each other using their ranks. "But, when we're in a room like this and there are just officers present it's always on a first-name basis. And that's the way I want it to be. Do you understand?" And I said, "Yes, sir!" "There you go again," he replied. That really made me uncomfortable.

I couldn't make heads or tails of this situation. The officers were so professional, so well read, so articulate, so experienced. Why were they serving with this organization of non-regimented and apparently poorly disciplined troops? The troops resembled no military organization I had ever known. I'm sure if I had been put in with a unit of the Coldstream Guards or the Household Cavalry I would have known what to expect. But the 22 Special Air Service Regiment! Well, this was too different, and for me th eimpact was too soon. I was adrift in a world that I thought I knew. I couldn't predict what would happen next in any given situation. Everything I'd been taught about soldiering, been trained to believe, was turned upside down. -- Charlie Beckwith

From Delta Force

63 posted on 01/19/2004 4:50:22 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


64 posted on 01/19/2004 4:59:14 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

Lions Led By Donkeys
65 posted on 01/19/2004 5:26:36 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

Integrating Conventional and Special Operations Forces

Remember McHale's Navy? Remember how Captain Binghamton was always trying to burn McHale? Control freaks hate pirates.

66 posted on 01/19/2004 5:52:19 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Cannoneer No. 4; harpseal
Beckwith was coming from a US Army perspective. An officer coming from SEAL Teams in that era would have felt right at home with the SAS. Things have changed greatly since that era, with the SEALs answering to the Army, but in those days... It really was Terry and the Pirates in SEAL Teams.
67 posted on 01/19/2004 9:33:16 PM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
68 posted on 01/20/2004 2:01:35 AM PST by windchime (Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mark502inf; Prodigal Son; Squantos; Criminal Number 18F; TADSLOS; RANGERAIRBORNE
"I'd like to have two armies: one for display with lovely guns, tanks, little soldiers, staffs, distinguished and doddering generals, and dear little regimental officers who would be deeply concerned over their general's bowel movements or their colonel's piles, an army that would be shown for a modest fee on every fairground in the country.

"The other would be the real one, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, who would not be put on display, but from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight."

--Jean Larteguy

69 posted on 01/20/2004 1:33:42 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Time to get the LAWYERS out of the Pentagon .......... I too go crazy when I hear 'bring to justice' in the same sentence as UBL. Once again the founding fathers' wisdom is proven correct. This WAR should be DECLARED BY CONGRESS......all this legal rangling would be decreased by 99%.
70 posted on 01/20/2004 2:04:50 PM PST by PISANO (God Bless our Troops........They will not TIRE - They will not FALTER - They will not FAIL!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cannoneer No. 4; Interesting Times
This is a great thread!

TS

71 posted on 01/31/2004 11:50:18 PM PST by The Shrew (Radio FreeRepublic - The New NPR)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump for later Sunday reading.
72 posted on 01/31/2004 11:52:47 PM PST by SuziQ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Am I the only one who interpreted this article as a cover for the CIA and Clinton Administration, especially Clarke? It's somewhat schizophrenic. It first appears to say that the Clintonoids were afraid of military action then later implies that the Clintonoids wanted action but were turned down by the Joint Chiefs.

What is particularly disturbing to me is the quote about Iran: "Don't you understand what's going on in terms of our Middle East policy? You're talking about going after terrorists backed by Iran? You just don't understand". Why is/was our government so afraid of Iran??? It wasn't just the Clintons that were afraid of them. Even today, with an ongoing rebellion in Iran we're using kid gloves.

73 posted on 02/01/2004 12:50:09 AM PST by mikegi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Archangelsk; Criminal Number 18F; Ragtime Cowgirl; centurion316; mark502inf; Grampa Dave; xzins; ...
Subject Matter Expert Weighs In
74 posted on 02/03/2004 1:18:50 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Cannoneer No. 4; Criminal Number 18F
Thanks to both of you.

Now we know the reality of the story.

Only on Free Republic does this interaction happen.
75 posted on 02/03/2004 2:06:15 PM PST by Grampa Dave (George $oreA$$, the Evil Daddy Warbucks, has owned the Demonic Rats for decades!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson