This article from the London Guardian is noteworthy in several ways. For one thing, it says that Israeli specialists in assassination are training Americans troops in Fort Bragg NC on their craft, which is then expected to be applied against guerrilla leaders in Iraq. Not necessarily bad news in and of itself. But assassination campaigns in the absence of solid intelligence would be.
Guardian (UK) 12/09/03
It also mentions the role of our best known Christian Soldier in this particular twist:
<< The new counter-insurgency unit made up of elite troops being put together in the Pentagon is called Task Force 121, New Yorker magazine reported in yesterday's edition.
<< One of the planners behind the offensive is a highly controversial figure, whose role is likely to inflame Muslim opinion: Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin.
<< In October, there were calls for his resignation after he told a church congregation in Oregon that the US was at war with Satan, who "wants to destroy us as a Christian army". >>
But this is the paragraph that most caught my attention (my emphasis):
<< US special forces teams are already behind the lines inside Syria attempting to kill foreign jihadists before they cross the border, and a group focused on the "neutralisation" of guerrilla leaders is being set up, according to sources familiar with the operations. >>
American troops are conducting combat operations in Syria, according to the Guardian. I certainly hope Congress does a better job of monitoring this situation than they have done so far on the Iraq War. The article doesn't indicate whether these operations have the approval of the Syrian government.
Notice also that the justification seems to be to prevent outside support to the guerrillas. The Army's conventional-war viewpoint apparently always assumes that there are "safe havens" for guerillas outside the country. See my Counterinsurgency in the Iraq War post (09/07/03).
4 comments:
I'm guessing Syria's president has some fears about the power the terrorists in his country have and is clandestinly supporting supporting efforts to limit their power.
I hope your guess is right. Syria has been cooperating with the US in various ways against anti-American terrorists. Even to a fault, as in the Canadian-syrian citizens who the US deported to Syria to be tortured. The Canadian government is rightly upset about it. But this year, Bush and Rummy haven't given Syria much incentive to cooperate. - Bruce
Following up on that point, since Syria has been the target of public criticism from some of the most hawkish members of the Administration, they could well perceive that the worse things go for the US in Iraq, the harder it will be for the US to threaten them militarily. So they may well decide (or have already decided) to encourage the violent opposition in Iraq as much as possible. - Bruce
One other thing: My real point is that it's time for Americans to go back to being concerned when we hear that American troops are conducting military operations in a sovereign country with which we are not at war. If the Syrians support the action, then there's a good argument that the public's need to know, and Congress' need to formally approve it, outweigh any diplomatic sensitivity on Syria's part. - Bruce
Post a Comment