The Covert Origins of World War III – US Special Operations Forces To Be Deployed In 120 Countries

[Donnachaidh]

http://ampedstatus.org/the-covert-origins-of-world-war-iii-us-special-operations-forces-to-be-deployed-in-120-countries/

Somewhere on this planet an American commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done… for the day. Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret force within the U.S. military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world’s countries. This new Pentagon power elite is waging a global war whose size and scope has never been revealed, until now.

After a U.S. Navy SEAL put a bullet in Osama bin Laden’s chest and another in his head, one of the most secretive black-ops units in the American military suddenly found its mission in the public spotlight. It was atypical. While it’s well known that U.S. Special Operations forces are deployed in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s increasingly apparent that such units operate in murkier conflict zones like Yemen and Somalia, the full extent of their worldwide war has remained deeply in the shadows.

Last year, Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post reported that U.S. Special Operations forces were deployed in 75 countries, up from 60 at the end of the Bush presidency. By the end of this year, U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told me, that number will likely reach 120. “We do a lot of traveling — a lot more than Afghanistan or Iraq,” he said recently. This global presence — in about 60% of the world’s nations and far larger than previously acknowledged — provides striking new evidence of a rising clandestine Pentagon power elite waging a secret war in all corners of the world.

:snip:

Born of a failed 1980 raid to rescue American hostages in Iran, in which eight U.S. service members died, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) was established in 1987. Having spent the post-Vietnam years distrusted and starved for money by the regular military, special operations forces suddenly had a single home, a stable budget, and a four-star commander as their advocate. Since then, SOCOM has grown into a combined force of startling proportions. Made up of units from all the service branches, including the Army’s “Green Berets” and Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Commandos, and Marine Corps Special Operations teams, in addition to specialized helicopter crews, boat teams, civil affairs personnel, para-rescuemen, and even battlefield air-traffic controllers and special operations weathermen, SOCOM carries out the United States’ most specialized and secret missions. These include assassinations, counterterrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation operations.

More at the link --

[MadHound]

1. Can you say blowback?

This is how we get involved in stupid shit, and why large parts of the rest of the world hate us. There are times in which these kinds of missions are needed, but most of the time they cause more harm than good.

[loudsue]

2. True. But Israel and Great Britain also have this going on.

Those are the only 2 countries I know for sure, but it seems like we're not the only badasses on the block.

Hell. James Bond isn't just a Brit anymore, ya know?

[kenny blankenship]

3. And as they expand the list, the next country in which they begin carrying out assassinations

may well be the United States. Once you decide to deal with all your problems by putting bullets in heads, it gets hard to stop. After all, who's going to make you? You may even find yourself giving the employees busy work to keep them from getting bored and soft.

Enjoy your descent into total depravity America.

[Hydra]

7. It's been happening for decades in the US

The big push in the last decade with Bush and now Obama is to "legitimize" the practice and bring it out of the shadows into everyday life, and eventually into public acceptance.

The scary part is that it's happening. It's being seen by even the anti-war democrats as "a necessary evil."

...Since when is evil "necessary???"

[An_Opened_Hand]

4. Drone attacks are so effective against insurgents, I wonder....

when they will start showing up in other parts of the world. Even here in the Europe and the USA. I'm just waiting for a rash of house gas explosions of prominent politicians and political activist being reported on the news.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. That would explain why the Pentagon cannot expain its budget.

Do you get the idea this has Rumsfeld/Cheney prints all over it?

[MilesColtrane]

6. "World War III"

Unrec for needless hyperbole.

[indepat]

8. Sure hope our Special Ops forces, reportedly soon to be in 120 countries, operate within

the framework of all international protocols, else the danger of renegade actions might be present. I surely doubly want foreign special ops forces deployed within the United State to be particularly observant of all international protocols and to observe all the other usual niceties expected when one is in a foreign country. :patriot:

[Remember Me]

9. Well, no wonder we can't possibly trim the Defense Budget

a single penny. Good grief.

Need I even say I disapprove? Or that I don't want MY tax money spent this way (nor the illegal drug war profits, either).