Israel Training US
Assassination Squads In Iraq
The Guardian - UK
4-11-4
Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive
counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of
assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and
military sources said.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has sent urban warfare specialists to
Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and
according to two sources, Israeli military "consultants" have also
visited Iraq.
US forces in Iraq's Sunni triangle have already begun to use tactics
that echo Israeli operations in the occupied territories, sealing off
centres of resistance with razor wire and razing buildings from where
attacks have been launched against US troops.
But the secret war in Iraq is about to get much tougher, in the hope
of suppressing the Ba'athist-led insurgency ahead of next November's
presidential elections.
US special forces teams are already behind the lines inside Syria
attempting to kill foreign jihadists before they cross the border, and
a group focused on the "neutralisation" of guerrilla leaders is being
set up, according to sources familiar with the operations.
"This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being
conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team," said a former
senior US intelligence official, who added that he feared the new
tactics and enhanced cooperation with Israel would only inflame a
volatile situation in the Middle East.
"It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to
Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in
the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."
"They are being trained by Israelis in Fort Bragg," a well-informed
intelligence source in Washington said.
"Some Israelis went to Iraq as well, not to do training, but for
providing consultations." The consultants' visit to Iraq was confirmed
by another US source who was in contact with American officials there.
The Pentagon did not return calls seeking comment, but a military
planner, Brigadier General Michael Vane, mentioned the cooperation
with Israel in a letter to Army magazine in July about the Iraq
counter-insurgency campaign.
"We recently travelled to Israel to glean lessons learned from their
counterterrorist operations in urban areas," wrote General Vane,
deputy chief of staff at the army's training and doctrine command.
An Israeli official said the IDF regularly shared its experience in
the West Bank and Gaza with the US armed forces, but said he could not
comment about cooperation in Iraq.
"When we do activities, the US military attaches in Tel Aviv are
interested. I assume it's the same as the British. That's the way
allies work. The special forces come to our people and say, do debrief
on an operation we have done," the official said.
"Does it affect Iraq? It's not in our interest or the American
interest or in anyone's interest to go into that. It would just fit in
with jihadist prejudices."
Colonel Ralph Peters, a former army intelligence officer and a critic
of Pentagon policy in Iraq, said there was nothing wrong with learning
lessons wherever possible. "When we turn to anyone for insights, it
doesn't mean we blindly accept it," Col Peters said.
"But I think what you're seeing is a new realism. The American
tendency is to try to win all the hearts and minds. In Iraq, there are
just some hearts and minds you can't win. Within the bounds of human
rights, if you do make an example of certain villages it gets the
attention of the others, and attacks have gone down in the area."
The new counter-insurgency unit made up of elite troops being put
together in the Pentagon is called Task Force 121, New Yorker magazine
reported in yesterday's edition.
One of the planners behind the offensive is a highly controversial
figure, whose role is likely to inflame Muslim opinion: Lieutenant
General William "Jerry" Boykin.
In October, there were calls for his resignation after he told a
church congregation in Oregon that the US was at war with Satan, who
"wants to destroy us as a Christian army".
"He's been promoted a rank above his abilities," he said. "Some
generals are pretty good on battlefield but are disastrous nearer the
source of power."
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