Special Forces

A Community's Tough Love

Matt Browner Hamlin | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Leukemia, Green Beret, Goruck, Goruck-Challenge, GORUCK Challenge, Childhood Cancer, Special Forces, Impact News

As a relatively new member of the GORUCK Tough community, I've found the willingness of its members to support each other and the causes we believe in to be rewarding in a way I never expected.

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Thousands of Vietnam POWs Fight for Health Insurance

Scout, Ph.D. | Posted 05.02.2012

For the last two years, Mr. Khao has contacted every legislator he can, asking for official recognition and veteran's benefits for these thousands of U.S. citizens who were soldiers for the CIA's secret war in Laos. So far nothing has come to pass.

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Special Forces on Steroids

Michael Brenner | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: US Military, Military, Special Forces, Pentagon, Special Operations Command, National Security, William McRaven, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Pentagon Spending, State Department, Pentagon Budget, Foreign Policy, Politics News

More military capability equates to more security for the United States. This precept is so deeply embedded in our minds that no one sees a need to state it. Yet it may be false.

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Obama Praises Bold Raid While Audience In The Dark

AP | By LOU KESTEN and KIMBERLY DOZIER | Posted 01.25.2012

Read More: Navy Seal Raid, Obama State of the Union 2012, Obama Navy Seals, Obamas State of the Union, Special Forces, President Obama, Navy SEAL, Obama Address, Special Forces Raid, Sotu 2012, State of the Union Speech, Obama, State of the Union Address, Somalia Navy Seal Raid, Somalia Raid, State of the Union Address 2012, Barack Obama, Video, Obamas State of the Union 2012, President Obama Speech, Obama Speech, State of the Union 2012, Panetta, Obama Navy Seal Raid, Sotu, State of the Union Speech 2012, Obama State of the Union, President Obama Address, Leon Panetta, State of the Union, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- "Good job tonight," President Barack Obama told his Defense chief as he arrived for his annual State of the Union message. Unknown to a...

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Big Stink Over Saddam Hussein's Bronze Butt: Iraq Wants It Back

HuffPost Weird News | David Moye | Posted 01.20.2012

Read More: Video, Jim Thorpe, Treble Tap, Nigel Ely, Controversy, Saddam Butt Cheek, Special Forces, Saddam Statue, Weird Iraq, Hussein Bronze Butt Cheek, Weird News News

Saddam Hussein may have been an ass, but Iraq still wants a former British special forces soldier to give a bronze butt cheek that was part of a toppl...

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Medal of Honor Upgrades Are Rare -- and Should Be

Ed Hooper | Posted 01.11.2012

Read More: U.S. Department of Defense, Military History, President Ronald Reagan, US Military, Congress, Medal of Honor, Duncan Hunter, Vietnam War, Special Forces, Veterans Day, Pennsylvania, Terry Calandra, Politics News

The Medal of Honor is this nation's highest combat award. The process of selection must remain exclusively with the Department of Defense for the medal to retain its valorous prominence -- on Veterans Day 2011 and for generations to come.

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In Wake of Al-Awlaki's Death, U.S. Needs to Come Clean on Targeted Killings

Daphne Eviatar | Posted 11.30.2011

Read More: Dod, Anwar Al Awlaki, Cia, Drones, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, Aclu, u.s. Air Force Drones, Special Forces, Iran, Predator Drones, Osama Bin Laden, World News

Was the killing of Awlaki lawful? For that matter, is the growing U.S. practice of targeting individuals around the world with remote-controlled drones or secret Special Operations raids a legal way to fight terrorism?

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Watch: SEAL-Mania Grips Nation After Bin Laden Raid

Posted 07.19.2011

Read More: U.S. Navy, Osama Bin Laden Dead, Commandos, U.S. Military, Navy Seals, Special Forces, Video, Home News

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Air Force Invests In 'Batman' Technologies For Special Forces Soldiers

msn.com | Adam Hadhazy | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided kNowledge, Air Force Batman, Batman, Special Forces, Technology News

A military program named for and inspired by the superhero Batman is bringing together advanced technologies to equip U.S. Special Forces soldiers fo...

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Pentagon Papers 2.0: Afghanistan

Phyllis Bennis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Wikileaks, War Funding, Afghanistan, Drones, Special Forces, Pakistan, Pentagon Papers, World News

There is no evidence yet of a new smoking gun among the individual documents. But taken as a whole, the documents provide a collective arsenal of evidence of a brutal war that never did have a chance to "succeed".

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Nothing to See Here, Folks: Covering Up a Massacre in Afghanistan

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Civilian Deaths, Mcchrystal, Paktia, Gardez, Brave New Foundation, Civilian Killings, Afghanistan, Isaf, Special Forces, Nato, Paktiya, Civilian Casualties, Special Operations, Sayid Mohammed Mal, Rethink Afghanistan, Night Raids, World News

What does it mean for McChrystal's people to apologize for killing innocent people and lying about it, only to have them turn around and keep repeating the same behavior? Why should we be moved or lend credulity to such apologies?

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U.S. Doubles Anti-Taliban Special Forces In Afghanistan

Los Angeles Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Kandahar, Pentagon, Ranger, Taliban, Afghanistan, Anti-Taliban, Joint Special Operations Command, Seal, Jsoc, Delta, Special Forces, Special Operations, World News

The Pentagon has increased its use of the military's most elite special operations teams in Afghanistan, more than doubling the number of the highly t...

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COIN vs. Hearts and Minds: The Real War in Afghanistan

Lesley Young | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: General Stanley McChrystal, Afghanistan, Coin, Special Forces, World News

The U.S. must take greater control over Special Forces operations in Afghanistan or risk losing the popular support that is so critical for achieving some measure of success in the war.

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U.S. Military Still Lying About Special Forces Night Raid in Afghanistan

Robert Naiman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nato, Special Forces, Afghanistan Night Raids, Stanley McChrystal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Afghanistan, Times of London, Inter Press Service, World News

U.S. officials are "probing a possible attempted coverup" in the deaths of five Afghan civilians in February in a raid carried out by U.S. Special Forces accompanied by Afghan troops, the LA Times reports.

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Where "Military Victory" Is an Oxymoron

Tom Andrews | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gardez, Military, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Special Forces, Politics News

We are calling on the president to investigate the baby shower raid that resulted in the killing of innocent Afghans, including two pregnant women.

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Humanity Missing From Afghanistan Debate

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Civilian Deaths, Afghanistan, Isaf, Special Forces, Cover-Up, Orientalism, Anti-War, Spencer Ackerman, Civilians, Michael Yon, Nato, Humanity, Rethink Afghanistan, Senator Hollings, Afghans, Derrick Crowe, World News

Respect for Afghans is sorely lacking on all sides of the Afghanistan debate. It's 2010, nine years into the war, and we're still talking about Afghanistan in orientalist terms. We don't want to think about them as human. This has to change now.

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U.S. Troops Killed Afghan Women, Then Dug Bullets Out Of Their Bodies To Cover It Up

New York Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gardez, Afghanistan Women, Afghanistan, Nato, Special Forces, Stanley McChrystal, Kabul, Special Operations, Taliban, Afghanistan Special Operations, World News

After initially denying involvement or any cover-up in the deaths of three Afghan women during a badly bungled American Special Operations assault in ...

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McChrystal Reining In Special Forces In Wake Of Afghan Civilian Deaths

New York Times | RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ROD NORDLAND | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mcchrystal, Civilian, Civilian Casualties, Afghanistan, Special Forces, Afghanistan War, Special Operations, World News

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, has brought most American Special Operations forces under his direct control fo...

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Private Spies: DOD Investigating Use Of Contractors To Track, Kill Militants

AP | ANNE FLAHERTY and DEB RIECHMANN | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pentagon, Cia, Contractors, Pakistan, Department of Defense, Private Spies, DoD Contractors, Afghanistan, Defense Department, Spies, Special Forces, Spies for Hire, World News

WASHINGTON — A Defense Department official is under investigation for allegedly hiring private contractors to gather intelligence on suspected i...

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Spinning the War in Afghanistan

Ashley Rindsberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Green Beret, Vietnam War, Special Envoy, The Only Thing Worth Fighting For, Vietnam, David Halberstam, The New York Times, Neil Sheehan, Diem, Afghanistan, Karzai, Special Forces, World News

One has to wonder why after eight years of near-total silence, the media has suddenly, gushingly fallen in love with covering the war in Afghanistan.

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Obama in the Thicket of "Afghaniranistan"

William Bradley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Russia, Britain, Cia, France, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Mi-6, Nobel Peace Prize, Iaea, Mossad, Moscow, Tehran, Israel, Iraq, Vienna, Special Forces, Taliban, Sayeret, Al Qaeda, Revolutionary Guard, Iranian Nuclear Program, Abdullah Abdullah, Hamid Karzai, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Soviet Union, Jihadism, Post-Soviet Space, Somalia, Cairo Address, John Kerry, World News

Obama is in a multi-faceted complex of geopolitical crises. He is actively using military force in two of the countries, and has threatened, at the least, tough sanctions in the third.

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Happy Birthday, AFRICOM!

Brian Palmer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Africom, Military, Pentagon, Africa, Special Forces, Department of Defense, Liberia, Nigeria, Department of State, U.S. Africa Command, Inside DC, World News

Unbeknown to most Americans, the Departments of Defense and State maintain a wide web of military programs across Africa. Collectively, they fall under the jurisdiction of AFRICOM.

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Afghanistan: A Whole New Approach

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Capitol Hill, White House, President, Relief, President Obama, International, Indigenous, Council, Washington, War, Oxfam, Muslim Countries, Collateral Damage, Surge, America, Dick Cheney, Muslim, World Vision, Counter Insurgency, Terror, Development, Faith, History, Tragedy, Afghan Government, Democracy, Counter Terrorism, Special Forces, Religious, Terrorist, Richard Stearns, Congress, Unmanned Drones, Religious Leaders, Foreign Policy, Urgency, Moral Issues, Occupier, Arab, Taliban, Military, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Humanitarian Assistance, D.C., Casualties, Faith-Based, World News

When you massively intervene in a country as much as the U.S. has in Afghanistan, you can't responsibly just walk away. We must lead with what works -- development.

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We The Fallen of 9/11

Stephen Herrington | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nyfd, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Special Forces, George W. Bush, 9/11 Anniversary, Nypd, 9/11, Taliban, Tora Bora, Osama Bin Laden, World News

One must question at this point, on this day of the year especially, whether the power of the U.S. government, diplomatic and military, has been used in the best way to honor our own fallen of 9/11

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Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Happy Campers?

Keith Thomson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nsa, Intelligence, Sere, Cia, Afghanistan, Homeland Security, Pakistan, Dia, Torture, Al Qaeda, Special Forces, Counter-Terrorism, Obama Terrorism, Spy, Espionage, Fbi, Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta CIA, World News

A former CIA operations officer told me that Al Qaeda members are "happy" with the new U.S. policy that essentially has opened our interrogation playbook to them.

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