Can anyone recall where you were when you heard the news of the death of Osama? And then the idolizing of the SEAL Team that brought the number one terrorist down, SEAL Team 6.
Then recently there was a story by Sy Hersch about the team and its glorified story……some say it is not at all true……and others seem to think that it makes a lot of sense……
But as they always say….it is only the tip of the iceberg…….
The killing of Osama bin Laden made SEAL Team 6 the stuff of legends, but a New York Times report says the special-ops unit has “transformed … into a global manhunting machine,” with troubling claims that the once-elite team is now being overused for day-to-day death missions, carries out unnecessary civilian killings, and is almost impossible to keep tabs on, given its uber-secret status; the US government doesn’t even publicly recognize its Team 6 name (it is officially the Naval Special Warfare Development Group). Oversight by the Joint Special Operations Command also appears lax, at best. “JSOC investigates JSOC, and that’s part of the problem,” an ex-military officer experienced in special ops says. Notes a Syracuse University expert on national security law: “If you’re unacknowledged on the battlefield, you’re not accountable.”
The report is gruesome at times, citing stories of troops sneaking into militants’ homes and killing them as they sleep, making sure they “slice and dice every major artery” to ensure death, and taking out civilians during undercover missions with the CIA. Critics say Team 6, trained to carry out the riskiest operations, shouldn’t even be involved in some of these smaller-scale missions. “The most highly trained force in the world, chasing after street thugs,” one ex-unit member scoffs. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey notes “they have become sort of a 1-800 number anytime somebody wants something done.” And the Times notes more unit members have died over the past 14 years than in all years prior. “War is not this pretty thing that the United States has come to believe,” a retired senior member of SEAL Team 6 tells the Times. “It’s … one human being killing another human being for extended periods of time.” (Read the entire Times piece.)
Back in the day, the 1970’s, the CIA was ass deep into regime change in other countries to include assassination…….Pres. Ford came to office and wanted to change things……..
Gerald Ford’s 1976 executive order on foreign intelligence activities (issued after the disclosure that the CIA had plans to do in Fidel Castro) explicitly prohibits government employees from engaging in “political assassination.” This certainly rules out killing heads of state through covert means……..
This EO proved to be a pain in the butt for Reagan and his desire to rid the world of “Mad Dog Qaddafi”……..and like everything dealing with lawyers….legal-ese makes anything possible…….
Then in 2001 GW made it a little more murky……..
The 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, a congressional resolution that grants the president the right to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against those who helped commit the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, arguably licenses the CIA to go after terrorists with impunity.
Now the argument is whether terrorism is a war or not……after all it is called “WAR ON TERROR”…..that should answer the question….in a commonsense way.
Now the question still remains……Is the Federal government sanctioning assassination?
My answer is YES….it never stopped!
Voice your opinion…….
