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| Home Front: WoT |
| Frustrated Special Forces: Finding Bin Ladin |
| 2008-07-10 |
| H/T Drudge Policy dispute by Bill Gertz Defense officials are criticizing what they say is the failure to capture or kill top al Qaeda leaders because of timidity on the part of policy officials in the Pentagon, diplomats at the State Department and risk-averse bureaucrats within the intelligence community. Military special operations forces (SOF) commandos are frustrated by the lack of aggressiveness on the part of several policy and intelligence leaders in pursuing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top henchmen, who are thought to have hidden inside the tribal areas of Pakistan for the past 6Å“ years. The focus of the commandos' ire, the officials say, is the failure to set up bases inside Pakistan's tribal region, where al Qaeda has regrouped in recent months, setting up training camps where among those being trained are Western-looking terrorists who can pass more easily through security systems. The lawless border region inside Pakistan along the Afghan border remains off-limits to U.S. troops. The officials say that was not always the case. For a short time, U.S. special operations forces went into the area in 2002 and 2003, when secret Army Delta Force and Navy SEALs worked with Pakistani security forces. That effort was halted under Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, who recently blamed Pakistan for opposing the joint operations. Mr. Armitage just keeps popping up like a bad penny, and McCain has him onboard. Mr. Armitage, however, also disclosed his diplomatic opposition to the commando operations. Mr. Armitage, an adviser to Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, told the New York Times last month that the United States feared pressuring Pakistani leaders for commando access and that the Delta Force and SEALs in the tribal region were "pushing them almost to the breaking point." However, the officials said that without the training and expertise of the U.S. commandos, Pakistani forces took heavy casualties in the region, with about 1,000 troops killed by terrorists and their supporters. Another major setback for aggressive special operations activities occurred recently with a decision to downgrade the U.S. Special Operations Command. Under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the command in 2004 began to shift its focus from support and training to becoming a front-line command in the covert war to capture and kill terrorists. In May, SOCOM, as the command is called, reverted to its previous coordination and training role, a change that also frustrated many SOF commandos. Critics in the Pentagon of the failure to more aggressively use the 50,000-strong SOF force say it also is the result of a bias by intelligence officials against special forces, including Pentagon policy-makers such as former CIA officer Michael Vickers, currently assistant defense secretary for special operations; former CIA officer Mary Beth Long, assistant defense secretary for international security affairs; and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, a former CIA director. The officials said the bias among intelligence officials against aggressive military special operations is long-standing. As evidence, they note that one of the very few recommendations of the 9/11 commission ignored by President Bush was the panel's call for giving the Pentagon the lead role in paramilitary operations. The commission report stated that "lead responsibility for directing and executing paramilitary operations, whether clandestine or covert, should shift to the Defense Department." That has not occurred, and the officials said one result is that bin Laden and his deputies remain at large. Said one Pentagon official: "The reason some Pentagon leaders appear to be so indecisive about President Bush's order to catch Osama bin Laden dead or alive is that they have not unleashed the dogs of war. Too many bureaucrats have blocked ideas from the aggressive U.S. commandos in Afghanistan and at SOCOM headquarters who just want to carry out the president's orders to stop al Qaeda from rebuilding." Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell declined to address any specifics of special operations policies but said he thinks senior commanders do not share the critics' views. On the hunt for bin Laden, Mr. Morrell said: "No one should question our commitment to bringing Osama bin Laden and the rest of his cowardly lieutenants to justice, one way or another. It will happen. it's just a question of when." |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #11 IOW, the Devil is in the Politics??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-07-10 23:17 |
| #10 Critics in the Pentagon of the failure to more aggressively use the 50,000-strong SOF force say it also is the result of a bias by intelligence officials against special forces, including Pentagon policy-makers such as former CIA officer Michael Vickers, currently assistant defense secretary for special operations; Please say it isn't so. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-07-10 20:30 |
| #9 Armitage is bad news. He definitely gets his power from the dark side of the force. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-10 16:01 |
| #8 I think they'd have better luck if they looked for Osama's DNA in worm turds in the caves of Tora Bora because I'm sure he's at least a sixth generation worm turd by now. |
| Posted by: Bob 2008-07-10 15:55 |
| #7 First Juan Hernandez. now Armitrage. I'm having SERIOUS issues about McCain's judgment being no better than Obama's in terms of advisers. Choice seems to be between dumb and dumber, and every time I think McCain has moved up, I find something else that puts hem back. |
| Posted by: Glealing Wittlesbach8220 2008-07-10 15:05 |
| #6 God forbid we capture him alive to only bring him back for all to see on Court TV. I would only hope that the guys that catch him would have an accident with the gun going off, similar to Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction... |
| Posted by: Jan 2008-07-10 14:57 |
| #5 I suspect that if they let them. They would bust a lot of heads, and still come home. Look at Great Britain, that's our future if we don't start acting like grownups and give this soft power thingy a rest. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-07-10 14:25 |
| #4 Look, guys, you are worth over a million bucks each, on top of which, we like you. We want you to do your job, but at the same time, we'd like you to come back home okay. I know it's frustrating now, but later you can thank us. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-10 14:10 |
| #3 It looks like my amazing powers to determine the Headline of the Day are back. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-07-10 14:06 |
| #2 Unless, of course, President Obama orders it... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-07-10 14:03 |
| #1 And if they did slip the leash off SOCOM, the media would have a freaking field day criticizing the USA for violating Pakistan's sovereignty. To heck with any results they might get, the idea is to damage the USA. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-07-10 14:01 |