The Golden Age of Black Ops--Special Ops Missions Already in 105 Countries in 2015

[KoKo]

By Nick Turse---Tom Dispatch

In the dead of night, they swept in aboard V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Landing in a remote region of one of the most volatile countries on the planet, they raided a village and soon found themselves in a life-or-death firefight. It was the second time in two weeks that elite U.S. Navy SEALs had attempted to rescue American photojournalist Luke Somers. And it was the second time they failed.

On December 6, 2014, approximately 36 of America’s top commandos, heavily armed, operating with intelligence from satellites, drones, and high-tech eavesdropping, outfitted with night vision goggles, and backed up by elite Yemeni troops, went toe-to-toe with about six militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it was over, Somers was dead, along with Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher due to be set free the next day. Eight civilians were also killed by the commandos, according to local reports. Most of the militants escaped.

That blood-soaked episode was, depending on your vantage point, an ignominious end to a year that saw U.S. Special Operations forces deployed at near record levels, or an inauspicious beginning to a new year already on track to reach similar heights, if not exceed them.

During the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2014, U.S. Special Operations forces (SOF) deployed to 133 countries -- roughly 70% of the nations on the planet -- according to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bockholt, a public affairs officer with U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). This capped a three-year span in which the country’s most elite forces were active in more than 150 different countries around the world, conducting missions ranging from kill/capture night raids to training exercises. And this year could be a record-breaker. Only a day before the failed raid that ended Luke Somers life -- just 66 days into fiscal 2015 -- America’s most elite troops had already set foot in 105 nations, approximately 80% of 2014’s total.

Despite its massive scale and scope, this secret global war across much of the planet is unknown to most Americans. Unlike the December debacle in Yemen, the vast majority of special ops missions remain completely in the shadows, hidden from external oversight or press scrutiny. In fact, aside from modest amounts of information disclosed through highly-selective coverage by military media, official White House leaks, SEALs with something to sell, and a few cherry-picked journalists reporting on cherry-picked opportunities, much of what America’s special operators do is never subjected to meaningful examination, which only increases the chances of unforeseen blowback and catastrophic consequences.

Continued at.....
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175945/

[Luminous Animal]

1. Assassinating people around the world.

[Octafish]

2. What Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.) said.

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War (I) a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few -- the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

CONTINUED...

''War is a Racket."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Ah, c'mon. They're promoting democracy and killing people for their own good.

No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people. Albert Camus

[Vattel]

6. Who wants the foundation of their security to be the graves of innocent children?

Most Americans do, apparently. I am glad that you clearly don't. By the way is your name a reference to Zapata?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Zapata and the F.A.I.

I'm an Anarchist but, unlike Zapata and the FAI, I'm also a pacifist like Gandhi and Tolstoy. The ends are the same but the methods differ.

[Vattel]

10. I'm not a pacifist, but I seem to have much

greater reservations about killing the innocent than the vast majority of Americans (including Democrats). Nice FAI poster.

[Ex Lurker]

4. FWIW, it was probably Delta, not SEALS

They've been most often operating in the Middle East/North Africa lately, while SEALS operate in Afghanistan. And I don't have a problem with trying to rescue hostages, especially when their lives are in imminent danger. It's hazardous, to the hostage and the rescuers. But so is letting the hostage remain in the hands of his captors.

BTW, most of those 105 countries are training missions where we've been invited. It's not like we're conducting raids in all those places. We wouldn't have the resources for it even if we wanted to.

I completely agree our military has been used like a bull in a China shop and often does more harm than good. But not every overseas mission is wrong or ill-advised.

[braddy]

5. People don't realize that Army Special Forces is about trying to avoid wars.

[Octafish]

8. Absolutely and what President Kennedy said.

It was in the "Other Part" of the "Moon Speech" of May 25, 1961...

Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs

EXCERPT...

SHIELD

In line with these developments, I have directed a further reinforcement of our own capacity to deter or resist non-nuclear aggression. In the conventional field, with one exception, I find no present need for large new levies of men. What is needed is rather a change of position to give us still further increases in flexibility.

Therefore, I am directing the Secretary of Defense to undertake a reorganization and modernization of the Army's divisional structure, to increase its non-nuclear firepower, to improve its tactical mobility in any environment, to insure its flexibility to meet any direct or indirect threat, to facilitate its coordination with our major allies, and to provide more modern mechanized divisions in Europe and bring their equipment up to date, and new airborne brigades in both the Pacific and Europe.

And secondly, I am asking the Congress for an additional 100 million dollars to begin the procurement task necessary to re-equip this new Army structure with the most modern material. New helicopters, new armored personnel carriers, and new howitzers, for example, must be obtained now.

Third, I am directing the Secretary of Defense to expand rapidly and substantially, in cooperation with our Allies, the orientation of existing forces for the conduct of nonnuclear war, para-military operations and sub-limited or unconventional wars.

In addition, our special forces and unconventional warfare units will be increased and reoriented. Throughout the services new emphasis must be placed on the special skills and languages which are required to work with local populations.

Fourth, the Army is developing plans to make possible a much more rapid deployment of a major portion of its highly trained reserve forces. When these plans are completed and the reserve is strengthened, two combat-equipped divisions, plus their supporting forces, a total of 89,000 men, could be ready in an emergency for operations with but 3 weeks' notice--2 more divisions with but 5 weeks' notice--and six additional divisions and their supporting forces, making a total of 10 divisions, could be deployable with less than 8 weeks' notice. In short, these new plans will allow us to almost double the combat power of the Army in less than two months, compared to the nearly nine months heretofore required.

Fifth, to enhance the already formidable ability of the Marine Corps to respond to limited war emergencies, I am asking the Congress for 60 million dollars to increase the Marine Corps strength to 190,000 men. This will increase the initial impact and staying power of our three Marine divisions and three air wings, and provide a trained nucleus for further expansion, if necessary for self-defense.

Finally, to cite one other area of activities that are both legitimate and necessary as a means of self-defense in an age of hidden perils, our whole intelligence effort must be reviewed, and its coordination with other elements of policy assured. The Congress and the American people are entitled to know that we will institute whatever new organization, policies, and control are necessary.

CONTINUED...

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8151

Unfortunately, since Nov. 22, 1963, a wronger type of people have taken upon themselves the duty of calling the shots cough Carlyle Group.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. All of our armed forces is about trying to avoid wars.

It should be a good deterrent. But some people just won't be deterred that easily.

Special Forces is not the Peace Corps, though there are some similarities. Special Forces, in theory, is trained to work with local populations, to help them become more effective fighters. But it's not that clear-cut in reality.

[MinM]

11. Ike: beware the military-industrial complex

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942244/ikes-warning-of-military-expansion-50-years-later