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U.S.: Commando units to fight global terror
U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld recently approved three programs to significantly enlarge commando units for special missions around the world. The aim – to locate al-Qaeda organizations and dozens of terror groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa
Yitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON - War on terror: U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld approved an ambitious program for the war on terror around the world, outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, via the use of commando units, which will immediately respond should the U.S. again come under a terrorist attack.
The Washington Post reported that three programs have been approved by Rumsfeld in the last month, to significantly enlarge commando units for special missions in different areas in the world, a role traditionally reserved for the CIA and the State Department.
The Pentagon has invested billions of dollars a year in the training and operation of such groups. The units are small commando units from the green berets, navy commando, and Delta Force, sent to U.S. embassies in 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where they are supposed to collect intelligence on terrorists and terror organizations and plan operations in areas where the U.S. is not managing a war.
Although the special forces are sent to embassies, they are not subordinate to ambassadors in the carrying out of their operations. The units are instructed to locate terrorist training camps, terrorist recruitment efforts, and coordinate a military response with the local American military commands.
The specific aim of the commando units is to locate al-Qaeda organizations and dozens of terror groups in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Among terror organizations in the crosshairs of the American commando units: Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Ansar al-Islam, Jamaa Islamiya in Indonesia and Salafist in the Sahara in Africa.
The third program of the Pentagon is to disrupt planned attacks or to rapidly respond to a terror attack on the United States against terrorists, terror groups, or states giving sanctuary to terrorists who operated in the United States.
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