SPECIAL OPS NOW DOMINATE THE PENTAGON'S EXPANDING WARS
By Danny Schechter, Author, The Crime Of Our Time
New York, New York: William H
McRaven is an admiral in Obama's Navy. He was a member of Seal Team 3, and
oversaw the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
He's the consummate Special Ops warrior and wants more special ops forces, more drones and, most significantly, more "autonomy" (read, power) to position "his" troops in more places. He is now lobbying to expand his "freedom" by building a bigger personal arsenal of undercover operatives under his command.
Just what we need, another rogue Rambo cowboy!
The NY Times refers to "his" guys somewhat vaguely as "elite units" that "have traditionally operated in "the dark corners of American foreign policy."
That shines light on it, doesn't it? What it says is: forget transparency and accountability. The hidden government is always hiding
These units like Special Forces |Delta Force | SEALs | Rangers often operate outside the chain of command and, as they become institutionally stronger, tend to dominate military decisionmaking.
McRaven's ambition represents a takeover of the military by more and more clandestine killer units. They are deceptive, secretive, and are growing in influence. There are no cuts planned in this realm.
Under military governments,
these are the units who support the secret police, often engaging in torture
and murder with impunity.
They are give a sense of being our supermen, the real chosen people; ordinary rules don't apply to them.
Democracy is not their "thing."
At the same time, they operate in a climate of high stress, prone to mistakes, as the military newspaper Stars And Stripes points out:
"The families of all troop operations live with fear, craving every crumb of information they can find about their deployed servicemembers, whether through military channels, Facebook, email or other outlets. Special operations families get less information.
For
special operations forces, ranging from Army Special Forces and Rangers to
Marine Force Recon to Air Force Pararescue to Navy SEALs, there are no public
welcome home ceremonies, no crowds to sing their praises. Even if their
missions, such as the raid in which bin Laden was killed, become public, the
troops and their families remain anonymous.
Since most of
those in special operations forces are recruited from within the services, the
average member is older and has a larger family unit than those in other
military occupations, according to Special Operations Command Europe commander
Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass."
