Free Republic

For one Iraqi general, the key to building a united, non-sectarian army lies in fostering a mindset of religious and cultural tolerance among soldiers. "I will never forget the American and coalition men and women … who provided the first stepping stones for us to make our country better." Iraqi Brig. Gen. Fadhil Jameel Jameel Barwari Such a mindset is precisely what the Iraqi Operator Training Course tries to develop through a 90-day curriculum modeled after the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Course. During the course, noncommissioned officers and officers alike take advanced combat training to mitigate and stop terrorism. The...

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him. In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing...

Army Secretary Peter Geren is expected to recommend that a retired three-star general be demoted for his role in providing misleading information about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, military officials say, in what would be a stinging and rare rebuke. Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who headed Army special operations, is one of six high-ranking Army officers expected to get official reprimands for making critical errors in reporting the circumstances of Tillman's purported friendly-fire shooting in Afghanistan in April 2004. The officials requested anonymity because the punishments under consideration by Geren have not been made public. The Army said...

Kiwi wins medal in Iraq The Nelson Mail | Wednesday, 25 July 2007 A Kiwi soldier who returned to Iraq on a second tour of duty has been awarded one of Britain's highest military awards for bravery under fire. Corporal Terry Knights - a former territorial solder in New Zealand - has been honoured with the Military Cross for bravery and leadership. The recognition is bitter-sweet for the soldier, who serves with the British Royal Marines. He returned home this month for his mother's funeral. His father John Knights, of Motueka, said he was very proud of his son. "When...

The U.S. military command in charge of protecting the homeland asked the Pentagon earlier this year for a contingent of special operations officers to help with domestic anti-terrorism missions. Military sources told The Examiner that U.S. Northern Command, established at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado in 2002, requested its own special operations command similar to ones assigned to overseas war-fighting commands, such as U.S. Central Command. A spokeswoman for NorthCom this week issued a statement to The Examiner saying, "This capability resides in every other geographical combatant command and would allow the commander of U.S. Northern Command to deploy...

For over 40 years, Army Special Forces trainees have roamed the pine forests of central North Carolina in an elaborate and unusual military exercise known as Robin Sage. This final two-week test in a yearlong journey to receiving the trademark green beret requires the soldiers to recruit and train a guerrilla force.

Frogmen, mini-subs to operate from nuke motherships Reports have emerged that the US Navy is upgrading its submarine base at the isolated tropical atoll Diego Garcia, which is formally British territory. The base improvements will allow its new class of SSGN nuclear submarines to operate from Diego Garcia, which is potentially noteworthy. The tiny island group is situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean, giving the US and its allies access to various strategic maritime choke points such as the Straits of Hormuz – the entrance to the Gulf – and the pirate-plagued waters of the Bab-el-Mandeb at the...

Elite Terrorist Hunters in Iraq U.S. "black" special operations forces in Iraq have conducted as many as 300 "takedown" operations, an activity that an influential retired general calls "simply magic." McCaffrey's report is covered today in The Washington Post. "The US Tier One special operations capability is simply magic. They are deadly in getting their target--with normally zero collateral damage--and with minimal friendly losses or injuries. Some of these assault elements have done 200-300 takedown operations at platoon level. The comprehensive intelligence system is phenomenal. We need to re-think how we view these forces. They are a national strategic system...

Army adds 50 names to Special Operations memorial FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The Army Special Operations Command added 49 names of soldiers killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan to its memorial wall, as well as the one who was killed last year but not added to the wall then. Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) Staff Sgt. Leroy E. Alexander, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg. Sgt. 1st Class Victor H. Cervantes, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg. Capt. Jeremy A. Chandler, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg. Staff Sgt. Edwin H. DazaChacon, 3rd Battalion,...

Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence By THOM SHANKER and SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON, March 7 — The military is placing small teams of Special Operations troops in a growing number of American embassies to gather intelligence on terrorists in unstable parts of the world and to prepare for potential missions to disrupt, capture or kill them. Senior Pentagon officials and military officers say the effort is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's two-year drive to give the military a more active intelligence role in the campaign against terrorism. But it has drawn opposition from traditional intelligence agencies like...

How the Able Danger method bagged Saddam November 2nd, 2005 "We believed rightly that Saddam was in our AO (area of operations) from summer '03 on, and also believed that if he were caught, he would likely be caught in our area as in any.  We publicly stated so from June '03 onward."These words are from an e-mail Lt. Col. Steven D. Russell wrote to me recently.  He commanded Task Force 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, which was based in Tikrit, Saddam's tribal homeground, about 100 miles north of Baghdad.  It was the unit most responsible for capturing Saddam Hussein, though...

Special operations forces eye terrorists By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES August 12, 2005 U.S. Special Operations Command has drafted a war plan that sets up procedures for how its commandos will work with other regional commands across the globe to hunt for senior Islamic terrorists. The complex plan from SoCom in Tampa, Fla., has been in the works since summer 2002, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a secret directive authorizing it. His memo directed SoCom to come up with a plan for dispatching special operations forces on quick notice to virtually any spot in the world to...

SAF CALLS FOR ‘WAITING PERIODS’ ON PRESS FOLLOWING FATAL NEWSWEEK DEBACLE For Immediate Release: 5/16/2005 BELLEVUE, WA – More than 115 dead or injured, and now a lame “apology” from Newsweek; maybe it is time for the press to accept waiting periods before exercising its First Amendment rights in the same way the press has backed waiting periods on law-abiding Americans before exercising their Second Amendment rights. That’s the observation from the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) now that Newsweek has acknowledged its report about the desecration of the Koran by soldiers at Guantanamo Bay was bogus. “I wonder if Newsweek,...

SAN DIEGO — Six Navy SEALs and two wives of the commandos filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Associated Press of invasion of privacy and endangering lives by distributing pictures of them with Iraqi prisoners. The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, alleges that an Associated Press reporter obtained the photographs from a private website that the wife of one of the SEALs thought was open only to individuals with a password. The wire service issued a statement supporting the reporter, Seth Hettena, assigned to the San Diego bureau, and his use of the photos in a Dec. 4...

Masters of Chaos, by U.S. News Senior Writer Linda Robinson, published by PublicAffairs Books, tells the stories of the men who fight the nation's murky wars in the world's far corners. In Iraq, the Pentagon's special operations forces were critical to the capture of most of the top leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime, and they led two of three major battlefronts in the war to liberate Iraq. In one of them, in northern Iraq, Army Special Forces soldiers faced down 13 Iraqi divisions and attacked a camp believed to be harboring al Qaeda terrorists and other foreign jihadists, as well...

September 2004 Special Operations Forces Pursue Technologies for the Urban Fight by Roxana Tiron The U.S. Special Operations Command is charging ahead with the development of advanced sensors, ammunition and weapons tailored for urban combat. Confined spaces, hardened targets and night vision limitations are among the more critical factors driving this effort, said Army Col. Thomas Spellissy, formerly in charge of special programs at the command.The command is evaluating existing technologies from domestic and foreign producers, and commissioning separate developments for more specific requirements. Regardless of the sources, all these technologies first have to pass muster with war fighters,...

Luke expands forward air-control programby Maj. Mark Jennings 310th Fighter Squadron 3/22/2004 - LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFPN) -- Unconventional warfare can be defined as the absence of a clearly defined enemy and lacking classic lines of battle. Combining this definition with the rugged terrain of Afghanistan and Iraq, it is easy to see why commanders throughout the combat air forces are clamoring for forward air control (airborne)-capable pilots. These pilots are known as FAC-As. The airborne controller supports a ground commander by solving tactical problems using airpower. The FAC-A acts as the quarterback of a multifaceted team, which strives to destroy or...

Armament summit examines joint weapons communication by Sarah Anne Carter Air Armament Center Public Affairs 3/22/2004 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- A global grid where information can be passed from weapons to aircraft to command and control facilities highlighted discussions at the sixth annual air armament summit here March 16 to 17. The theme of the summit that brought leaders from government, industry and academia together was, "Joining the Swords." Panel discussions were presented by groups who have spent the past 10 months researching specific topics, such as test and training, assessing the global threat environment, networking weapons and integrated planning....

THIS IS A REPOST SINCE 9/11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has repeatedly declared that the United States is in a new kind of war, one requiring new military forces to hunt down and capture or kill terrorists. In fact, for some years, the Department of Defense has gone to the trouble of selecting and training an array of Special Operations Forces, whose forte is precisely this. One president after another has invested resources to hone lethal "special mission units" for offensive--that is, preemptive--counterterrorism strikes, with the result that these units are the best of their kind in the world....

Nine reasons why we never sent our Special Operations Forces after al Qaeda before 9/11. Since 9/11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has repeatedly declared that the United States is in a new kind of war, one requiring new military forces to hunt down and capture or kill terrorists. In fact, for some years, the Department of Defense has gone to the trouble of selecting and training an array of Special Operations Forces, whose forte is precisely this. One president after another has invested resources to hone lethal "special mission units" for offensive — that is, preemptive — counterterrorism strikes,...