Special Forces

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Police Bust 'Child Retrieval' Commando Squad

One former Olympic sailing champion among those arrested

(Newser) - Most child-smuggling operations don't advertise their services online. But Italian police have busted a group that appears to have done just that. Police say they've taken down a group of ex-special forces operatives who charged "tens of thousands of euros" to kidnap children involved in cross-border custody...

Karzai Boots US Special Forces From Restive Wardak

Gives special forces 2 weeks to get out

(Newser) - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai says all US special forces must leave eastern Wardak province within two weeks because of allegations that Afghans working with them are torturing and abusing other Afghans. Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi says today's decision was taken during a meeting of the National Security Council because...

New Book: Mark Owen Had 'Bad Blood' With SEALs

No Easy Op criticizes leaks about bin Laden raid, especially from SEALs

(Newser) - Mark Bissonnette (aka "Mark Owen") broke the Special Forces' "code of silence" and wrote No Easy Day because of "bad blood" with many in his SEAL Team 6 unit—at least according to another book by Special Operations veterans. No Easy Op is an ebook that...

New Anti-Obama Super PAC 'Borrows' Military Logos

'Special Operations for America' targets Obama over Osama raid

(Newser) - Special Operations for America, a new anti-Obama super PAC launched this week, accuses the president of stealing glory from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But it has been a little light-fingered itself, Mother Jones finds. The group's website and social media pages are plastered with the insignias...

Special Ops Are the Future: Top Admiral

William McRaven calls for bigger focus on secret missions

(Newser) - Today's international threats call for a shift in military strategy, and the US must focus increasingly on secret operations, says the US special operations chief. William McRaven, who headed the Osama bin Laden raid, wants more power for the Special Operations Command—including Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other...

Afghans Take Over Night Raids
 Afghans Take Over Night Raids 
Apr 9, 2012 2:10 AM CDT

Afghans Take Over Night Raids

Deal big step in returning operations control to Afghan authorities

(Newser) - The US will end its deeply unpopular night raids in Afghanistan as part of a larger deal handing over special operations control to the Afghan military, reports the New York Times . The agreement puts Afghan forces in charge of night raids, and requires Afghan court warrants for raids. Usually, warrants...

Green Beret Dies Trying to Save Kids in Fire

Dad, 2 daughters die in house blaze near Fort Bragg

(Newser) - A decorated Green Beret soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan died a hero's death at home in North Carolina. After Edward Cantrell and his wife jumped from the second floor of their burning home, he wrapped himself in a blanket and ran back inside in an attempt to save...

US Eyes Switch to Special Ops in Afghanistan

Focus to be on training, special missions, not policing

(Newser) - The United States may be wrapping up its combat operations in Afghanistan a year early, but the fight against insurgents and terrorists will continue in the form of US special forces, who are expected to stay in the country well after 2014, reports the New York Times . According to the...

US Sending 'Mothership' to Gulf for Special Ops

Navy retrofitting warship for commando missions: Washington Post

(Newser) - With the US increasingly relying on targeted special ops instead of large military forces, the Pentagon will send an aging warship to the Gulf region to serve as a "mothership" for Navy SEALs and other special forces fighting Somali pirates, al-Qaeda, and other threats (like maybe this ), reports...

US Expands Secret Mideast Operations

Petraeus authorizes special ops in friendly, unfriendly Mideast nations

(Newser) - The head of US Central Command has green-lighted a huge expansion in American secret operations in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia, according to documents obtained by the New York Times . Gen. David Petraeus has authorized the sending of special forces to both friendly and hostile...

Afghan Survivor Tells Obama: 'You Be the Judge'

Video calls for UN-led investigation into US attack

(Newser) - American forces in Afghanistan lost "all credibility" by killing 5 civilians and attempting to hide the evidence by digging bullets out of their bodies, a new video campaign says. The video features an interview with Afghan scholar Sayid Mohammed Mal, who survived the attack. "They say they have...

US Officer Says We're Sorry With Sheep

Special Ops commander asks family of 5 dead for forgiveness

(Newser) - The most senior special operations commander in the American military begged a grieving Afghan father for forgiveness—by taking him two sheep. The man lost two sons, two daughters and a grandchild in a botched special forces operation in February. The peace offering seems to have worked: "We were...

Attack Draws Attention to Quiet US Efforts in Pakistan

Taliban may have had intelligence from within the Frontier Corps

(Newser) - The US had an uncomfortable light shined on its training operations in Pakistan yesterday, when three American soldiers were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Lower Dir. The soldiers were part of a Special Operations team training Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, the New York Times reports, a program...

George W, Bill Clinton to Lead US Aid Team
 George W, Bill Clinton 
 to Lead US Aid Team 
haiti earthquake
Jan 14, 2010 12:02 PM CST

George W, Bill Clinton to Lead US Aid Team

Ex-presidents will help direct 'full-court press' on Haiti

(Newser) - In addition to pledging $100 million to Haiti relief efforts, President Obama is calling in some familiar names for help. He's asked former presidents Clinton and the younger of the Bushes to lead US relief efforts, reports Politico . Clinton is currently the UN special envoy to the nation. In other...

Elite US Forces Take Bigger Role in Afghanistan

Navy Seals, Army's Delta Force make gains against top militants

(Newser) - Elite US military units are taking on a larger role in the hunt for the most dangerous Taliban militants in Afghanistan. Navy Seals and the Army's Delta Force have had enough success over the past few months that their operations will be expanded next year, reports the New York Times...

Tora Bora Among 'Greatest Military Blunders'

 Tora Bora Among 
 'Greatest Military 
 Blunders'  
How bin laden escaped
Dec 22, 2009 11:51 AM CST

Tora Bora Among 'Greatest Military Blunders'

US had him pinned but held back on troops

(Newser) - Peter Berg has assembled what he calls the “definitive account” of "one of the greatest military blunders in recent US history"—the failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in 2001 at Tora Bora in Afghanistan. The operation started out well enough, he writes in the...

US Backs Afghan Militias Against Taliban

Supporting local resistance, as in Iraq, is a delicate equation

(Newser) - The US is actively supporting local militia groups against the Taliban as American and Afghan officials move to encourage a demoralized Afghan population to re-engage in the war, reports Dexter Filkins of the New York Times . Tapping into the militias’ resources could fill the manpower gap as a vacillating White...

MIA Dog A-OK After Year in Afghanistan

Bomb-sniffer Sabi gone for a year after 2008 firefight

(Newser) - An Australian military bomb-sniffing dog that went missing during a firefight in Afghanistan in September 2008 has been reunited with one of her trainers. An American soldier found Sabi wandering near a remote base last week and realized the black Lab wasn’t a stray when she responded to commands....

'Rumsfeld's Renegades' Blamed for Afghan Deaths

Unit of 'cowboys' behind some of war's worst civilian casualty incidents

(Newser) - A Special Forces unit set up by Donald Rumsfeld is being blamed for some of the worst civilian casualty incidents in the Afghanistan war, the Independent reports. The Marine Corps' Special Operations Command—known as MarSOC—ordered the air strikes that Afghan officials say killed 140 civilians last week, and...

Cheney Ran Secret Hit Squad: Hersh

(Newser) - The Bush administration ran a secret team authorized to assassinate foreign targets without being accountable to Congress, says New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh. On CNN's Situation Room, he said the hit squad could go "into a country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack someone....

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