Men on a Mission: U.S. Special Forces are retooling for the war on terror.

US News & World Report - ^ | September 3, 2006 | Linda Robinson

[RDTF]

When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld turned to special operations forces to take the lead in the hunt for Osama bin Laden five years ago, he no doubt had in mind the kind of kill-or-capture operation mounted to go after Pancho Villa, or, more recently, the Balkans' war criminals. The problem was that those manhunts came up empty. Finding a single individual intent on hiding, it turns out, is a very tall order, even for a superpower. In a rare interview, Lt. Gen. Dell Dailey, who has helped lead the hunt for al Qaeda's founder, explained why. "Our manhunting skills are dramatically better than ever before, and the envy of other nations," Dailey said, but they cannot always penetrate safe havens that are politically, geographically, or culturally protected.

Nobody understands this better than the Pentagon's special operations community. As director of the Center for Special Operations in Tampa, Dailey is the architect of the military's global counterterrorism plan, known as OPLAN 7500. The plan is classified, but the thinking behind it is not. The strategy relies increasingly on allies like NATO and has broadened from that of a basic manhunt to a mission that includes training partner nations in counterterrorism, intelligence, and civil affairs, eliminating safe havens, and attacking the ideological underpinnings of radical Islamism. "We will take away bin Laden's base," Dailey said. "We will take away his popular support [and] his regional support through all those indirect methods. And once that's happened, we will kill him."

[RDTF]

ping

[TexasTransplant]

The Pentagon (as a whole)is no friend of Special Forces or the Military as a whole.

Most of them are brown nosing, wannabe, climbers and posers left over from Clinton or picked and placed by Colin Powell.

It will take time to clean that place out.

TT

[SandRat]

PING!!!

[RDTF]

Iraqi Counter Terrorism Force soldiers practice house-clearing drills in a shoot house at their Baghdad base. The ICTF are Iraq's most highly trained soldiers taught by US Army Special Forces and Navy Seals. The unit is used to take down high level insurgent targets, hostage rescue, sniper operations and other operations requiring specialized skills. The soldiers wear ski masks over their faces to cover their identity. More than a dozen Iraqi Special Operations soldiers were killed by insurgent groups this year.

[BOBTHENAILER]

And once that's happened, we will kill him."

I LOVE THAT QUOTE