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A Quiz: US Special Forces - Hidden Warriors?
By maudeaster on 2015-07-02 11:04:13
I’ve been reading recently about the remarkable recent expansion of S Special Forces and
have been amazed at what I didn’t know before. Here’s a little quiz to see what 5 you know! 1. In how many countries does
the US have Special Forces waging secret warfare? — Answer: 134 countries! Nearly 70% of the world’s nations -- and
increased from about 60 under President Bush according to an eye-opening account by historian Nick Turse. 2. What are
these Green Berets, Rangers, Navy Seals and Army’s Delta Force up to across the world? — Answer: We’ ve all
probably heard about the Afghan government protesting Special Forces’ terrorizing night raids into people’s homes, with
resulting civilian casualties (link). But Mark Mazetti’s recent excellent New York Times report on Navy Seal Team 6 greatly
expands the story: “They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia...In Afghanistan,...on
clandestine raids in the dead of night, their weapons of choice have ranged from customized carbines to primeval
tomahawks..... Around the world they have run spying stations disguised as commercial boats, posed as civilian employees
of front companies and operated undercover at embassies as male-female pairs, tracking those the Unites States wants to
3. Why is this expanding, hidden war-making a very dangerous direction
for US foreign policy? — 3 Answers: ¢ Highly aggressive warfare is making enemies for the US around the world. Nick
Turse calls it “134 chances for blowback”. How would you feel about a country if its Special Forces killed people, intended
targets and innocent bystanders, in our community? * Lack of accountability: Retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich
explains how Congress is left out of the approval loop for special forces’ behavior, giving the president unprecedented
powers of military intervention, and has warned, “...handing the war to the special operators severs
an already too tenuous link between war and politics... War waged in a special-operations-first world might just become
truly global—and never ending.” * Huge resources are being spent on the wrong responses to conflicts around the
world. US taxpayers paid for an astounding $6.9 billion supporting Special Forces in 2013! These resources could instead
empower much greater, much needed US diplomatic and development support for negotiated solutions - from Yemen to
Mali, from Libya to Afghanistan. The administration and Congress tell us there are not actually military solutions in conflict
zones around the world — and the eventual answer is always the need for serious regional negotiations to stop the fighting.
So why should the US wade in first with aggressive Special Forces and their drone partners, making enemies and increasing
tensions? Why not start with greatly expanded diplomacy instead? 4. Final question: How would the US react if any one
of the 134 countries on whom we inflict Special Forces inflicted them on us? You know the answer — it would be a
national crisis — and “international terrorism” if Special Forces from another country invaded homes here and assassinated
Americans.
