US Covert Special Forces Murders across the World

The London Times reports a few of the covert operations which have been
authorised by the Obama regime. How many are illegal I have no idea but I
reckon that if your family was killed by US drone action or directly by
bullets, you might be less than gruntled. Then US will store up a mountain
of hatred in the Muslim world if it is not more careful and respectful of
human life. Thomas Paine and the Rights of Man are some distance away from
the practice of US government policy.

Secret wars always lead to murderous abuses. How is this activity monitored
and by whom. What is the role of the United Nations here. How many US
special forces operations are in Europe? Is the US military monitored by
anyone other than GCHQ in Cheltenham? The British are involved in
clandestine operations themselves so will not expose US misdeeds. Is this a
matter for the European Parliament? I believe that it is.

London Times Report

June 5, 2010
Obama secretly deploys US special forces to 75 countries across world
Tim Reid and Michael Evans, Washington

President Obama has secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US
special forces carrying out search-and-destroy missions against al-Qaeda
around the world, with American troops now operating in 75 countries.

The dramatic expansion in the use of special forces, which in their global
span go far beyond the covert missions authorised by George W. Bush,
reflects how aggressively the President is pursuing al-Qaeda behind his
public rhetoric of global engagement and diplomacy.

When Mr Obama took office US special forces were operating in fewer than 60
countries. In the past 18 months he has ordered a big expansion in Yemen
and the Horn of Africa — known areas of strong al-Qaeda activity — and
elsewhere in the Middle East, central Asia and Africa.

According to The Washington Post, Mr Obama has also approved pre-emptive
special forces strikes to disrupt terror plots, and has given the units
powers and authority that was not granted by Mr Bush when he occupied the
White House.

It also emerged yesterday that Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has
ordered the Pentagon to find savings of more than $100 billion (£68
billion) over the next five years to redistribute more funds for combat
forces — including special operations units. Mr Gates has called on all
departments to come up with proposals by July 31, and is initially
demanding $7 billion in cuts and efficiencies for the 2012 fiscal year, and
further cuts each year up to 2016.

The effort to provide more money for combat forces in Afghanistan and Iraq
— including special operations units — is likely to lead to a clash with
Congress, and also with the defence industry if favoured equipment
programmes are scrapped.

The aggressive secret war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups has
coincided with a surge in the number of US drone attacks in the lawless
border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, an al-Qaeda and Taleban
haven, since Mr Obama took office.

Just weeks after he entered the White House, the number of missile strikes
from the CIA-operated unmanned drones significantly increased, and the
pattern has remained. In Iraq, US forces have killed 34 out of the top 42
al-Qaeda operatives in the past 90 days alone.

General Ray Odierno, the US commander in Baghdad, disclosed yesterday that
special forces had penetrated the al-Qaeda headquarters in Mosul in
northern Iraq, which had helped them to target key figures involved in
financing and recruiting .

Mr Obama has asked for a 5.7 per cent increase in the Special Operations
budget for the 2011 fiscal year — a total of $6.3 billion — on top of an
additional $3.5 billion he requested this year.

Of about 13,000 US special forces deployed overseas, about 9,000 are evenly
divided between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their use, and the increase in
drone attacks, is a strategy that has been strongly advocated by Joe Biden,
the Vice-President, but criticised by the governments of Pakistan and
Afghanistan. Hundreds of civilians have died in special operations A report
last week revealed that the top US commander in the Middle East had signed
an order last September authorising a big expansion of clandestine military
missions in the region, and also in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

General David Petraeus signed the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force
Executive Order on September 30. In the three months that followed there
was a surge of special operations troops into Yemen, where US operatives
are now training local forces.

Since then, US military specialists working with Yemeni armed forces are
said to have killed six out of 15 leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula. The raids followed reports linking the group to the murder of 13
Americans at Fort Hood, Texas, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a
Northwest Airlines jet.

The order also allowed for US special forces to enter Iran to gather
intelligence for a possible future military strike if tensions over its
alleged nuclear weapons programme escalate dramatically.

The seven-page document states that the surge is designed to build networks
that could “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” al-Qaeda and other
militant groups, and to “prepare the environment” for future military
strikes by US and local forces.

• President Obama is reported to have chosen a US intelligence veteran,
retired General James Clapper, as his new Director of National
Intelligence. General Clapper, whose nomination comes at a time of mounting
domestic terror threats, would replace Dennis Blair, who stepped down last
month amid heavy criticism over a string of security lapses.

Under the radar

Nov 2002 Hellfire missile fired from a drone at a car in northwest Yemen
kills six al-Qaeda fighters, including Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, aide to
Osama bin Laden and the planner of the bomb attack on USS Cole

Jan 2006 Missile attack on village of Damadola, Pakistan, kills 18
Pakistani villagers — but not the target, al-Qaeda’s No2, Ayman al-Zawahiri

June 2006 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s top man in Iraq, killed along
with 18 others when a house near Baghdad is bombed by US jets

Dec 2008 Six members of the Afghan police force killed in exchange of
friendly fire with US special forces near the city of Qalat

Sep 2009 Four helicopter gunships open fire on a convoy in Barawe, Somalia,
killing four Islamic insurgents, including Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, linked
to al-Qaeda