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Special forces: there are real reasons we havent been attacked again.
by Peter Kirsanow, National ReviewThe United States hasnt been hit by a terrorist attack in five years about five months longer than most had predicted immediately after 9/11. Vice President Cheney often reminds that this record isnt an accident. There are a number of reasons why we havent been hit. Some of the reasons we know about: the efforts of the military in Afghanistan and Iraq; the Patriot Act; generally heightened security; the SWIFT program; NSA surveillance; intelligence coordination with allies, etc. Other reasons are less discernable. President Bush indicated that many of the victories against terrorists would be hidden from view; they will never be recorded in history. Many of these victories have been won by the militarys elite units special-forces/counterterrorism units and others that the media knows little, if anything about. Indeed, Kiefer Sutherland got more coverage in five minutes at the Emmys than all of the Rangers, Green Berets, Marine Force Recon, SEALs / DevGru, and Delta operators combined. And thats as it should be. Very little public information is available about elite warriors so that terrorists are kept in the dark until its too late. Most of what the general public knows or suspects about elite forces comes from fictional accounts in movies, television shows or novels. Sure, lots of people know or have met Green Berets or SEALs, particularly people living near the southern Virginia and southern California coasts or in central North Carolina (its fairly certain, however, that every woman in the U.S. whos ever set foot in a local watering hole has met a SEAL, whos usually using the ingenious cover of a slightly overweight sales rep from Cleveland). Videos about SEAL and Green Beret physical training are a cottage industry. And there are several books by former Special Forces operators. But none of these accounts provides more than a non-classified peek into the training, techniques, and operations of elite warriors. Yet what the peeks reveal is astonishing nonetheless. . . . Go read it all. Posted by: Mike 2006-09-11 |
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