Here's some heartening news:
The top American military commander for the Middle East has created a covert commando force to hunt Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and key terrorists throughout the region, according to Pentagon and military officials.
The new Special Operations organization is designed to act with greater speed on intelligence tips about "high-value targets" and not be contained within the borders where American conventional forces are operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My first reaction was, "What the hell took them so long?" My second thought was, "If they're admitting it now, then it's probably been around longer." My third thought was, "Why wasn't this set up on September 12, 2001?"
My fourth thought was that it probably was.
Stephen,
See what you find out about "Grey Fox", an interesting bunch to say the least.
the problem is that they weren't operating before...
damn 70s!
Well my first thought is, If it's so damn covert why am I reading about it in the NYT? I've had this reaction a lot in the last 26 months.
JPS.
Couldn't agree with you more. I had the exact same reaction (and ranted about it over on Citizen Smash's site) about the intelligence gathering methods published in the WaPo a couple of days ago.
This should not be public information.
TO: Stephen Green
RE: Ain't Logic Great?
And yes....
...the fifth thought is...
...the team was organized loooooong ago. In the form of Special Forces as a whole. They've been doing exercises along these lines all the time.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Jesus had a 12-man A-team....You'll have one too, oh Lordie. -- Special Forces 'spiritual']
My mother always said, "Always go with your fourth instinct!"
Not only do I think it was organized and chartered 9/12/01 or thereabouts, I also suspect that they have succeeded in some very significant operations that we won't know about for many years if ever. It has been a mystery to me why in the last two years organized terror groups have been in such disarray. I don't mean to downplay Bali or other terror strikes, but there has been no consistent operational format in what has been happening. Just a few targets of opportunity. Assuming the existance of a shadow warrior group specifically tasked with neutralizing high-value targets (which would also serve to keep them on the run) goes a long way towards explaining that disarray.
I don't think the NYT is revealing much here.
I would suspect that there have been smaller teams operating all along. This multiservice big outfit is preumably fairly new, if only because of the limited number of the Sneaky Pete types and operational requirements. During the major combat phase of the war the spec op types were busy, recon, lasing targets, looking for mobile scud launchers, just general snoopin' and poopin'.
Because of the unique nature of spec op warfare the Sneaky Petes require a somewhat longer rest,retrain and refit period after those ops than does the run of the mill leg infantryman or track toad.
Then it takes a bit longer to integrate the guys in the Girl Scout Hats into a cohesive unit with the SEALs, the Air Commandos and the Marine Force Recon.
Pesonally I'm not sure they wouldn't be put to better use ambushing the infiltration routes, taking out the incoming Jihadis and splodeydopes.
i agree with all your thoughts on this one, first, second and third.
