President Obama Has Ordered The Pentagon's 'Hunter-Killers' To Go After The Leaders Of The Islamic State

Kimberly Dozier, Daily Beast: Obama Unleashes Hunter-Killers on ISIS

The Special Ops Forces that got Bin Laden, Saddam, and Zarqawi are finally being sent by the dozens to go after the Islamic State’s leaders. Can these troops turn the tide?

The Obama administration is dispatching a targeting force of elite U.S. special operations troops into northern Iraq, after top U.S. defense and intelligence officials warned the ISIS network is growing faster than the coalition that’s fighting it, senior U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast.

The new special operations task force is aimed at denting the so-called Islamic State Group’s popularity by decimating its leadership, and gathering the intelligence needed to cut off more of its operations before they can launch.

It will be roughly 200 strong, based in northern Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

WNU Editor: I have trouble seeing this new initiative being successful. The "former" elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) cell that operated in Iraq during the U.S. occupation had far more special ops personnel, thousands of U.S. soldiers to support them, Sunni-Arab allies, a somewhat functional Iraqi military, a massive intelligence network, free movement (somewhat) throughout the country, and the resources to conduct in a short period of time a huge number of raids.  This new version has far fewer special ops personnel, very few (if any) U.S. soldiers to back them up, a dysfunctional Iraqi military, a limited intelligence network, Sunni-Arab allies that have fled or are dead, limited freedom of movement that cannot enter freely into ISIS controlled regions, and to top it all off .... limited resources. And before I forget .... the Islamic State is a far more dangerous and organized foe than the Al-Qaeda forces that U.S. special forces had to face 10 years ago. I do not see a policy for success, what I see is a PR attempt and a policy driven by hope that the Islamic State would eventually implode.