A U.S. soldier provides security near a blockade on a road toward Manbij, Syria, June 20, 2018. (Timothy R. Koster/U.S. Army)
The Defense Department inspector general will examine whether elite U.S. commando forces are doing enough to comply with the laws of armed conflict and hold violators accountable.
For decades the Defense Department has relied on covert and classified special operations troops to kick in doors and raid high-value targets around the world. The department’s Inspector General’s Office now may be taking its first broad look at whether those shadowy strike forces committed war crimes along the way.
The office sent a memo on Monday to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to Special Operations Command, advising them it was beginning an inquiry into whether the forces overseen by the command, which include the Navy SEAL teams, the Army’s Delta Force, Marine Raiders and other elite commandos, have programs in place to ensure they are following the law during combat, and whether they are reporting troops when those laws are broken.
The four-paragraph memo, which was first reported by Task & Purpose, could have seismic repercussions in the special operations community, current and former commandos and military legal experts say.
The Pentagon has come to rely heavily on special operations troops, who often conduct missions with little oversight, backed by a military and nation that often idolize the elite fighters. Accountability has at times been scant.
Read more ....
Update #1: Pentagon to probe possible war crimes committed by troops downrange (Task and Purpose)
Update #2: DoD to Investigate Special Operations' Compliance with War Crimes Laws (Military.com)
WNU Editor: This is part of President Biden's review .... Pentagon To Probe Middle East, Special Forces Law of War Violations Amid Biden Review (Newsweek).
The Inspector General's memo is here .... Evaluation of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command: Implementation of the DoD’s Law of War Program (US Department of Defense).
There was civilian casualties with missile strikes under the Obama administration, but nobody talk about war crime. Just curious.
ReplyDeleteChinese Soft Power... Simply put their specials forces are so far behind the only way forward is to degrade the enemies special ops
ReplyDeleteThis is witch hunt. It is twofold. One is to hopefully to find something bad with which to tarnish Trump. The other is to beat the fuck out of the military and hold this over their heads. Redemption will only come when they admit they were guilty and will be willing to do whatever the Democrats say. None of this will go back past January 20, 2017.
ReplyDeleteI know war. Relatives like to point it out all the time. They point out a very tall hill built from rubble from a leveled city or summer palace burnt down.
When the Democrats (IG) mention the battle of Raqqah or Mosul and air strikes they are telling the American side, that they were bad, because they did not take more casualties. They are asking American soldiers and other soldiers to take a bullet, lose limbs, and worse in order to play by liberal rules that liberals would never themselves play by.
These battles were over 3 nd 4 year ago. The House or Senate could have investigated, but did not. Part of the reason the would not, is because without executive control, they could not make the hay out of it that they want to make.
Now the Harris administration will find political generals to sit on other soldiers and order them to sacrifice themselves to the political wolves. They are to not fight back during hearings or investigations.
If hearing has been done inside of a year or two while the memory of ISIS was still fresh, the blowback on the Democrats would have been tremendous.
Germany has a word for this type of war. It is called Rattenkrieg. Not one Democrat would engage in Rattenkrieg. No they are all JAGoff Corps and Intel. In the rear with the gear.
During the Battle of Berlin the Russians blasted literally everything, which got me angry. Then I thought about it. If they had not, they would have lost all their armor. After a few cycles of losing their lead tank at every intersection they went from move, take incoming fire, and die to Fire (first) and MOVE. No longer angry. It just is. They had to do what they did. Rattenkrieg sucks.