U.S. Navy SEALs train members of the Brazilian Marine Corps Special Operations Battalion (Tonelero) in close quarters combat during a joint combined exchange training exercise in Brazil on May 2010.
(Chief Petty Officer Kathryn Whittenberger, U.S. Navy/Wikimedia Commons)
U.S. Special Operatives captured a senior Al Qaeda leader in Tripoli, Libya last weekend—a man that was thought to be the mastermind behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Abu Anas al-Libi remains on board the U.S.S. San Antonio for questioning.
And in Somalia, a SEAL team failed at their mission to capture a senior leader of Al-Shabab, known as Ikrima. The Special Operation forces were forced to withdraw after a firefight with militants.
These two events mark a very significant shift in U.S. tactics—a shift that has been happening over the last decade—from boots-on-the-ground to a Special Operations-only approach. Has the U.S. taken up a new policy on how it deals with national security threats in the Middle East?
Joining us to discuss this is Linda Robinson, senior international policy analyst at Rand Corporation and author of "One Hundred Victories: Special Ops and The Future of American Warfare."
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The New York Times and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [2]
After 9/11 I thought the US should have gone after Bin Laden with special forces instead of full scale invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most people I talked to said it was a dumb idea. But I was thinking of the 1990s where the US did not get into full scale war in former Yugoslavia and Somalia while the WTC and Oklahoma federal building were bombed by terrorists. At the time it seemed to me like we would likely have to deal more and more with autonomous paramilitary groups than foreign armies.
Even now I believe we should deploy special forces in place of drones. Special forces can hit a target and gather intelligence with minimum collateral damage. Leave the drones to reconnaissance, not making craters.
I wouldn't be surprised if those small footprints might have some Israeli feet inside those boots;(at least in the training aspect of the special ops).
What does the world look like had the U.S. not gone to war in Iraq or Afghanistan but just used Special Operations squads to hit their targets?
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