How U.S.' Top Killers Became Its Top (Unaccountable) Spies

wired.com:

This is what people think of when they imagine the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, the secretive, uber-elite military unit that killed Osama bin Laden. The leader of a JSOC unit in Iraq, known as K-Bar, gets shot in the chest by insurgents. K-Bar waves away his medic until he finishes killing his assailants. His reward? Leading JSOC’s operations in Afghanistan.

Read the whole story: wired.com

Comments

[MacTheCat]

03:12 PM on 02/13/2012

End all our wars.

Bring home every US troop.

Cut the Pentagon by half.

Rebuild this country into the one we once had and were proud of.

So long as we mind our own business, we have nothing to fear.

[AllegroTroppo]

05:48 PM on 02/13/2012

This kind of naive isolationism used to be popular in U.S.
Then in one single day, December 7, 1941, it became irrelevant.
Although it still rears it's short-sighted head here and there in certain Birkenstock circles.

[MacTheCat]

05:49 PM on 02/13/2012

Still posting for nickels, are you? LOLOLOLOL

[pepper1311]

02:46 AM on 02/15/2012

That was all myth, and dreams.

[MacTheCat]

02:02 PM on 02/15/2012

We've never actually tried it.

Look, the uncomfortable truth is that all those countries around the world that we've mucked about in through either their economies, covertly destabalizing, or with actual aggression, have good reason to dislike us.

And most of what we're fed about "national security," or "national interests," always comes down to one thing--Money! Making the world a safer place for BP, Exxon, Coke and United Fruit.

If we were the good neighbor we want people to believe we are, we'd stop all that, and the reasons for those folks to fear us or worse, would stop with it.

Then we throw up an impenetrable defense around this country, take the savings to build vast new factories to give Americans jobs and restore the middle class I assume you were fighting to protect, and invite the rest of the world to do the same, while letting them know that any attack on our shores would invite swift and complete retaliation.

It would work, you know it would. It just means admitting that we've been misled all these years and have gotten it 180 degrees wrong.

[capt ayhab]

02:50 PM on 02/13/2012

So super duper extra elite that took them ONLY 10 years to find one guy.

[Frog of War]

03:29 PM on 02/13/2012

it's called persistance ...

[capt ayhab]

03:42 PM on 02/13/2012

What ever you say.

But I say it is called utter failure and the mightiest of all armies to be so inefficient and ineffective.

[pepper1311]

02:57 AM on 02/15/2012

Only started looking for him in January 2009. Last prez didn't think it was important.

[kevrob]

01:51 PM on 02/13/2012

Yeah, blame the soldiers who are executing their orders. Never blame the Commander and Chief, whose extra legal command is worse than any previous US President....

[dem4theday]

02:36 PM on 02/13/2012

By the time a lawyer receives his or her extra legal degree how long have they been in school?

[MacTheCat]

04:33 PM on 02/13/2012

Indefinite detention, expanded surveillance of Americans, extra judicial terminations...........

[MacTheCat]

01:40 PM on 02/13/2012

US out of every Country!

Why should we continue to lose our men and women for 1. People who don't give a darn. 2. Corporate Interests who also don't give a darn?

[AllegroTroppo]

02:24 PM on 02/13/2012

MActheCat example of #1.

[Changein2012]

01:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Right on...we need guys like this. Obama uses them on a routine basis. Remember this Libs...

[MacTheCat]

01:47 PM on 02/13/2012

Obama has doubled the number of countries with which we are not at war, but into which he launches drone controlled weaponry!

He is Bush on steroids.

[AllegroTroppo]

01:35 PM on 02/13/2012

“You know, it would scare the s-h.i ,t out of Qaida if suddenly a bunch of black ninjas rappelled out of helicopters into the middle of their camp.” President Clinton. 1998.

Done deal. JSOC.

[MacTheCat]

01:48 PM on 02/13/2012

Hoorah--guns, bibles, flags and beer!

[AllegroTroppo]

02:23 PM on 02/13/2012

Tofu, Chomsky, Iranian flags and herbal tea.

[rothomaha]

01:35 PM on 02/13/2012

Friggin' terrifying! We train and pay for these guys so they go around the world executing people??!! And the administration knows it and does nothing about it, even thought the POTUS is SUPPOSED to be Commander-in-Chief to whom all these critters answer?? Fits right in perfectly with Gitmo, renewal of the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, frisking babies and nursing mothers, along with grandmas in wheelchairs, etc, etc, etc. We are living in a society of fear and lawlessness and pretending it is otherwise by going through motions! As a people, we'd better face it very soon and deal with it or all will be lost!

[eljefefx]

02:04 PM on 02/13/2012

Critters? You haven't got a clue, kid.

[rothomaha]

02:40 PM on 02/13/2012

No clue? To what exactly? Do you think hired killers are lower than "critters" on the evolutionary scale? Was I being too kind? BTW, I've been around long enough to see the devastation of Vietnam, serve in the USAFMC, personally know some Seals(scary fellows, those!) and see the secret infrasturcture of the paramilitary in this country grow by leaps and bounds. So, please give me a clue - do I rate 'em down a notch or two?

[MacTheCat]

01:33 PM on 02/13/2012

Once you realize that the US is responsible for most of the unrest in the world due to our never ending interference in the affairs of sovereign nations where we have no right to be, then you can walk that back to a point where we will no longer need these highly trained machines of destruction simply by staying in our own borders and making THIS country a better place.

We have nukes. Other than to continue our empire building, armies, elite teams and all the rest are unnecessary.

[Berettasskeeter]

01:36 PM on 02/13/2012

To what "empire" do you refer? I cannot find one anywhere around the world.
Semper fi

[MacTheCat]

01:38 PM on 02/13/2012

Wow, they give you inferior armor in Iraq (if any at all) and NOW bad maps!

Go figure...

[boscobear]

01:30 PM on 02/13/2012

Don't mess with success. All you need is for some Capitol Hill suits to get involved and all the hard work these soldies do for the US will be lost. If suits get involved it won't be long before they will have to get approval to use the restroom.

[AllegroTroppo]

01:24 PM on 02/13/2012

The article about Umar Patek, the person responsible for Bali ( 200+ lost their lives)
" Trial Opens"
The article about U.S. forces -- " U.S.Killas"

If you don't understand the agenda, then you can't read or think.

[MacTheCat]

01:00 PM on 02/13/2012

Hoo Rah and Semper Fi--ain't we a tough bunch a guys!

This is what our boys (and girls now, too) are being raised on.Video games developed and sponsored by the military and a slew of war movies since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iran, that just like this article, proclaim the wonders of our might!

Are we conditioned yet?

Are we ready for Iran and maybe a real war with Russia or China in order to keep feeding the bottomless appetite of the Military Industrial Intelligence Complex?

I have another answer--US out of every country we are based in. Bring 'em all home. Stop policing the world and protecting the financial interests of the Corporations that buy and sell our Congressmen day in and out.

Disband these units that are a greater threat to us than to our manufactured "enemies." Cut our military in half.

Then watch the "threats" to our country evaporate as we no longer try to insert ourselves where we don't belong!

[Berettasskeeter]

01:39 PM on 02/13/2012

Let's see, in 1940, we were inserted nowhere! We were no longer in China, except as small forces to protect our various diplomatic assets. Ditto Japan. We were in the Philippines, working the country up to independence, which took place in 1946. Then, on Dec 7, 1941, we were attacked by Japan, following which Germany and Italy declared war against us.
Your suppositions have no basis in reality!
Semper fi

[MacTheCat]

01:45 PM on 02/13/2012

This isn't 1940...

[eljefefx]

02:06 PM on 02/13/2012

Never worn the uniform, have you kid?

[MacTheCat]

11:23 PM on 02/13/2012

I owe no one like you an explanation.

You wanna compare scars?

Tough guy...............lol

[westcoastsc]

12:56 PM on 02/13/2012

According to the Constitution we are not supposed to have a standing army. The founding fathers certainly would look aghast at the size of the military and the fact that huge parts of government have sanctioned secrecy and terrorize the world. I hate having to read this propaganda that tells us that something very bad is very good. This piece is supposed to somehow explain why we never hear from the guys who "took out Osama bin Laden". We got no body. We got tapes that were faked and admissions that they made fake tapes. We have Benazir Bhutto telling us many years ago that he is no longer alive and who took his life. There was that helicopter that was shot down that had all those experts on it against military policy that first reports said and many people as well still are saying was likely what happened to the people who "assassinated' Osama bin Laden. Nevermind that assassinations are illegal and Osama said many times that he was not behind the attacks. We deserve trials, we deserve transparency. If we continue to believe people, though they have lied to us before that has cost millions of lives and continue to believe them without verification of any evidence, then this whole thing is going to end very very badly.

[dem4theday]

02:45 PM on 02/13/2012

You aren't supposed to question the heavily subsidized if not 100% paid for defense industry.

[escholar]

12:44 PM on 02/13/2012

JSOC & OBL -
I hate to spoil the party and the romanticizing of the JSOC. They are credited with allegedly killing Osama Bin Laden, who was reported dead several times before they claimed to have killed him, without producing any credible evidence(body) to support their claim. How many times can one man be killed? And how do we know, which death is the real one out of several reported deaths?
Several days ago, there were rumors, that the leader of North Korea had died. The US authorities flatly refused to believe the rumor, without any credible evidence, but they expect everyone to believe, their rumor that they killed OBL, without any credible evidence(body)?
Why does the US believe, credible evidence is required to prove the death of the North Korean leader, but the same is not required to prove OBL's death?
By the way, as of now, there is no confirmation of the rumored demise of the North Korean leader.

- http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/10/world/asia/north-korea-leader-rumors/index.html?ref=allsearch

[MacTheCat]

01:45 PM on 02/13/2012

Shhhhh....

Too much truth and logic for the armchair warriors here.

[RudyHaugeneder]

12:28 PM on 02/13/2012

Where does it stop?
In the so-called world of counter-cyberwar to control the Internet, are there Seals on your roof, already in the attic, or sneaking through the basement window? That's the worry.

[SWilliams3G]

12:20 PM on 02/13/2012

HP, your level of 'journalism' is an utter joke; if you guys so badly want to be considered a credible news publication, the least you could do is try and be impartial.

God Bless these guys; may their missions be many and their successes continue. To the men themselves, keep on trucking boys as 99 percent of us are behind you; ignor­e the contrarian 1%, in this case, including the ridiculous HP.

[Axekick]

12:32 PM on 02/13/2012

The article was written by Spencer Ackerman from Wired.com, not the Huffington Post.

[SWilliams3G]

12:57 PM on 02/13/2012

I'm talking about the headline; which certainly wasn't taken from Wired.com