hey unc, this one's for you:
Special Forces May Play Key Role
Anti-Terror Campaign Expected to Use Unconventional Military Units
By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 15, 2001; Page A05
Three years ago, when the Pentagon decided to get closer to the nearly lawless country of Yemen to monitor extremists who had set up shop there, officials knew whom to send: a tiny group of hard-boiled, adventurous special forces soldiers who would show Yemenite troops how to clear land mines as a first step toward coaxing them into a deeper relationship.
When top generals realized that the newly independent, autocratic regimes in Central Asia might become as important as those in the Persian Gulf because of their oil and natural gas and proximity to Afghanistan, they sent special forces troops to bond in a way only the elite brotherhood can: by scaling ice-covered mountains, jumping out of rickety Soviet cargo planes and conducting make-believe counterterrorist raids in the mud and rain.
And just a week ago, a small team of special forces soldiers became the first American troops in nearly 30 years to resume relations with the Vietnamese army by helping its forces locate and disarm land mines from the Vietnam War.
As Washington prepares its campaign against Islamic militants, the military's unconventional warfare units -- formally known as Special Operations Forces -- are certain to be at the center of the action.
While conventional warfare units have seen their budgets decline or remain stagnant, funding for the special forces has grown steadily since the end of the Cold War, as has the military's dependence on them. Last year, Congress gave them $3.3 billion. This year, they will receive $4 billion, plus an as-yet undetermined portion of the $40 billion supplemental Congress passed yesterday.
Some of the increased funding, officials said yesterday, will likely go toward expanding the clandestine units -- which have fewer than 5,000 members -- and the commando strike force units such as the Army Rangers, Navy SEALs and Air Force Special Units.
Created in 1962 as counterinsurgents in President John F. Kennedy's war against Latin American revolutionaries, special forces are made up of only 40,000 men (women are not permitted in most of their units) out of an armed forces of 1.1 million. The units include the military's only clandestine fighters -- the Special Mission Units such as the counterterrorist Delta Force and a separate group charged with countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These groups would likely execute the secret ground strikes under consideration in the current planning of the military.
The special forces would also be at the heart of any sustained effort to dispatch American military forces or cement military alliances in countries that are reluctant to have broad, visible contacts with the United States. This type of mission, known as an "engagement," has been the most in demand since the end of the Cold War, and has provided many opportunities for the U.S. military to enlarge and deepen its contacts around the world.
For example, when Congress suspended most economic and military assistance to Pakistan in 1985 because of the country's nuclear program, only the special forces continued to hold small-scale exercises with the Pakistani armed forces. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, small special forces teams were the first to be dispatched to Russia, Poland, Hungary and East Germany to develop new military relationships there.
While most infantry troops on peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo have stayed in well-guarded fortresses and patrol in full battle gear, the Green Berets -- the Army's Special Forces -- live in houses in the villages and are allowed to leave their body armor at home. Their mission is to insinuate themselves into the local, underground political power structure to collect information about threats to U.S. soldiers and other potential violence.
Special forces are especially active in the Persian Gulf, where the United States tries to keep a low profile. Special Navy and Army units are responsible for the U.N.-sanctioned maritime interdiction program that aims to stop unauthorized supplies from reaching Iraq and unrefined oil from coming out. Each year, special forces troops conduct infantry and coastal craft training with the special forces units of nearly all of the Persian Gulf states, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.
There is a standing proposal to move the U.S. Central Command's Special Operations Command from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa to somewhere in the Gulf because it is so active in the region.
In the other big unconventional war -- the so-called drug war in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia -- Army special forces troops and Navy small-boat units have trained foreign military units in tracking and fighting drug traffickers. They also constitute the biggest American presence in the U.S.-funded peacekeeping and infantry training in Africa.
Although the special forces are likely to be in even higher demand now, they will have to scramble to increase their numbers. More than 50 percent of the new recruits who seek to join the nonsecret side of the units fail the excruciatingly difficult qualifying courses. As a result, the Special Operations Forces have faced a serious recruiting shortfall in each of the past three years.
They will also need to move up in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's list of priorities. He has yet to name a civilian to the post that overseas the Special Operations Command.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company |
