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| Special forces: there are real reasons we havenÂ’t been attacked again. |
| 2006-09-11 |
| by Peter Kirsanow, National Review The United States hasn’t 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 isn’t an accident. There are a number of reasons why we haven’t 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 military’s 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 that’s as it should be. Very little public information is available about elite warriors so that terrorists are kept in the dark until it’s 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 (it’s fairly certain, however, that every woman in the U.S. who’s ever set foot in a local watering hole has met a SEAL, who’s 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 |
| #16 Thank you for those heartfelt words, JosephM. You've made it clear long since that you stand with those who fight for what is right -- even if we may be a bit unclear on the details. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-09-11 23:10 |
| #15 To paraphrase ABE LINCOLN > iff someone wanted to kill him, there is very little or anything he can do to prevent it. Undoubtedly, the chances are America will get hit again wid an attack(s) of similar or greater magnitude than 9-11 - Iff ABE is any measure, what matters is that the Amer nation be resilient, persevere against those whom would corrupt or destroy it, and ultimately becomes better than what is used to be, and does so in truth, honor, God and the will of the people. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-09-11 22:59 |
| #14 You bring tears to my eyes with such gallantry, mcsegeek1, although it could be that I'm a bit hypersensitive today for some reason... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-09-11 22:44 |
| #13 My gratitude as well, O You Who Toil in the Blogosphere to Promote that Demise. U2, TW...;-) |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-11 22:04 |
| #12 The more there is for me not to know, the happier I would be if I knew it. Thanks for all you do in the shadows, O You Who Work in the Shadows for the Demise of the Enemies of Freedom. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-09-11 19:37 |
| #11 "You do not know these men. You may have looked at them but you did not see them. They are the wind that blows newspapers down a gutter on a rainy night...and sweeps the gutter clean." |
| Posted by: bruce 2006-09-11 17:44 |
| #10 Kirsanow left out the PJs and the SOAR guys. Same goes for a bunch of allied units--SAS, GROM, JTF2, etc. But hey, the sentiment is good. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2006-09-11 17:37 |
| #9 I just want to say to 'Spook--and anyone else lurking out there who has anything to do with SOCOM--that we are grateful for your service. Good luck, continued good hunting, and get home safe (if only so you can spend your retirement picking up girls, using the ingenious cover of a slightly overweight sales rep from Cleveland!) |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-09-11 17:11 |
| #8 It will be a decade or two before some of the tales of the SOCOM Shadow War leak out. Then, they will be the recollections of old warriors, tales permitted to be told with only minor censorship. Fortunately, many will be told, because they are tales of success and victory, the actions of gentlemen not dragged down to the level of their enemy, a circumstance that has cursed many battles before this, and doomed them to obscurity. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-09-11 17:02 |
| #7 Deja Vu |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-11 16:23 |
| #6 Deja Vu |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-11 16:23 |
| #5 You don't know the half of it. |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2006-09-11 15:35 |
| #4 You don't know the half of it. |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2006-09-11 15:34 |
| #3 Good read. Tagline: Peter Kirsanow is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He also is a member of the National Labor Relations Board. These comments do not necessarily reflect the positions of either organization. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-09-11 14:03 |
| #2 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. As it bloody well should be. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-09-11 13:52 |
| #1 And this is the war that will be fought for decades, even when the line units leave the middle east. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-09-11 13:48 |