Al-Qaeda

First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA to Avenge 9/11- Review

Looking for the Perfect Christmas Gift or Reading Material? Look No Further

Award-winning author Toby Harnden has crafted an incredible story of the first Americans to enter Afghanistan immediately after 9/11. His book, “First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA to Avenge 9/11,” was initially slated to be released on the 20th anniversary of the U.S. involvement. Still, during his detailed 17-month research into putting this book together, the Afghan government collapsed, and the Taliban returned to power once again.

Harnden was granted some incredible access to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) employees, some of whom are still in government service. All of their stories and remembrances make for compelling reading. But as Harnden said, sometimes the best stories are the true ones. And this one is fantastic.

The Plan

The story begins on 9/11 when the members of al-Qaeda hijacked the planes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the one aircraft that was crashed into rural Pennsylvania. America is shocked and on its heels, reeling after ignoring some intelligence reports that the terrorists intended to bring death to America. Signals and intelligence were missed or not shared.

President Bush convened his National Security Council on September 13, and the Pentagon revealed that they had no war plan for Afghanistan. CENTCOM commander General Tommy Franks told the president it would take months to build up enough conventional troops for an invasion. CIA Director George Tenet turned the meeting over Cofer Black, an experienced Agency hand who had spent many years in Africa. The CIA’s plan was to infiltrate small numbers of Agency linguists and paramilitary officers along with some Green Beret A-Teams (ODAs) into Afghanistan to link up with the Afghan resistance, warlords from the Northern Alliance. Black sensed that President Bush wanted his pound of flesh.

“When we’re through with them, they will have flies walking across their eyeballs,” he said.

The President pondered for several seconds before asking, “Cofer, can we really do this?” Black stared back at the President for several seconds for theatric effect and said there wasn’t a doubt in his mind at all. Bush responded with, “That’s what I’m talking about. Go get ’em.”

And in the early days of the war, the successful ones, the CIA, would run the war effort. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld seethed over this. He later dragged his feet over any assistance until the military took over the war, pushed thousands of troops into the country in a mission completely opposite of what had worked, and ultimately turned the effort into a “goat rope.”

For an avid reader of all things OSS/SOE from World War II, the mission was a throwback and a fantastic legacy of those who paved the way for the organizations that became the CIA and Special Forces.

The Team

Team Alpha, David Tyson, and Mike Spann (top row far right). Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

The book centers around “Team Alpha,” an eclectic group of Agency employees who entered Afghanistan on October 17, just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Much of the book centers around CIA agents David Tyson and Mike Spann. They joined Northern Alliance warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who in a SOFREP podcast said the warlord was “straight out of central casting.”

Dostum was known as a thug. A brutal, bloodthirsty type whose own men were terrified of him. But, he was also quite shrewd. He could adapt to situations at the drop of a hat, like anyone who had survived the bloody politics of Afghanistan for so long could.

Tyson was an Uzbek linguist, which was invaluable as he had the ability to communicate easily with the Northern Alliance. The key to taking the country was taking the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. A precursor to the fall of Kandahar, Kabul, and the collapse of the Taliban government that occurred on Nov. 17, 2001.

The CIA/Green Beret team had built a great rapport with Dostum in a very condensed period of time. Much faster than is preached at “Robin Sage,” the SF UW exercise that every SF NCO and Officer must pass. The commander of the A-Team, Captain Mark Nutsch of the 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG), and Tyson built a great relationship of trust with Dostum.

Dostum (white horse) with Northern Alliance fighters and U.S. troops. Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

The Fortress

Rumsfeld was still trying to convince President Bush that all of the CIA’s efforts were stalled. But once Mazar-I-Sharif fell, he insisted that the war couldn’t be won with just Captains and Sergeants and started sending Colonels and Generals, who Harnden says were not needed nor appreciated. Dostum was told in short order that instead of Nutsch, he’d now deal with Nutsch’s battalion commander LTC Bowers. He, in turn, would be replaced with a two-star, Rear Admiral Bert Calland, the SOCCENT commander.

The Green Berets were pulled out from Team Alpha, and the military was pushing in green troops with no clue as to what was still going on. Before the country was even taken from the Taliban, the Pentagon was focused on stability operations.

Mike Spann and David Tyson find “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh in the throng of al-Qaeda prisoners at Qala-i-Jangi. Photo courtesy of Toby Harnden

During this time, Tyson and Mike Spann headed to the Qala-i-Jangi fortress outside Mazar-i-Sharif to interrogate hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters, who had supposedly surrendered, including U.S. citizen John Walker Lindh. But the al-Qaeda fighters had smuggled weapons, grenades, and suicide vests into the fortress.

They then started a violent uprising while Spann was interviewing a prisoner with dozens around him. As they rushed him, Spann killed numerous al-Qaeda fighters before being hit from behind. The prisoners then overwhelmed Spann before killing him with a pistol. Tyson attempted to get to his friend, but the sheer numbers of prisoners rushing him prevented that, despite the fact that he killed perhaps dozens.

Tyson made it a temporary safe spot in the compound with German journalists. Other American CIA, Green Berets, conventional troops, and a small contingent of British SBS (Special Boat Service, Britain’s equivalent to Navy SEALs) began an effort to rescue Tyson and Spann (who was considered missing) from the fort. The amount of detail and the personal accounts of the men who fought at Qala-i-Jangi is some riveting reading.

The Break Down

Harnden’s book is a fantastic read as he interviewed nearly all of the major players in the early, heady days of the Afghanistan invasion before the Pentagon and State Department turned it into a nation-building sh** show and tried to build a country based on our own model that would never work in Afghanistan.

Dostum, the pivotal warlord who was instrumental in the success, was pushed to the side and quickly ostracized by the government, especially the State Department. Harnden traveled to Afghanistan a year ago to interview the former warlord who was blocked from visiting the U.S.

“I was the one who fought against and defeated the Taliban in 2001,” Dostum said. “My soldiers were killed and wounded, but I was left behind and received nothing. If the Americans had listened to me, they would now have the upper hand on the battlefield and at the negotiation table.”

“I have no issue with CIA,” he says. “They never let me down. But US diplomats have not allowed me to act against the Taliban.”

The Page-Turner

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the reader in the household or want to spend hours on end curled up in a chair with a great book, then pick up “First Casualty.” It is extremely well-written, meticulously researched, and an absolute page-turner.

It was a story that needed to be told, which is why the CIA was so helpful with Harnden in arranging for nearly all of the involved people to be interviewed. It is a story about personal sacrifice and incredible bravery and resourcefulness. But most of all, it is a story about “what could have been,” but like what occurred in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal, to quote Charlie Wilson, “we f***ed up the end game.”

AFRICOM Commander, “We Are Not Winning” Counter-terror War

Opinion: The recent comments by the commander of United States troops in the Africa Command (AFRICOM), MG Marcus Hicks are very sobering yet not really surprising. “I would tell you at this time, we are not winning,” Hicks said last week during interviews with Voice of America.

The general’s comments came during the large military exercise known as “Flintlock” last week was ongoing. Flintlock is an annual regional exercise among African, allied and U.S. counterterrorism forces, and has taken place since 2005. The U.S. has the lead in this annual training which this year has about 2000 commandos from about 30 countries taking part.

Held this year in Burkina Faso, Flintlock, although an exercise, belies the issue which lies barely beneath the surface. Burkina Faso is combatting an active Islamic insurgency from several terror groups aligned with al-Qaeda. The U.N. released figures that stated that over 100,000 citizens have been uprooted and over 150,000 children can’t attend school in the country due to the Islamic threat. And that is just a small part of the problem in the region.

The threat is growing from terror organizations like al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) and their offshoots, as they try to spread their tentacles across the Sahel, sub-Sahara Africa. And the local nations are growing increasingly uneasy over how they see the United States reacting to this increasing threat.

The Trump administration is advocating pulling out troops, first from Syria and Afghanistan. And then from Africa. With a renewed focus on threats from China and Russia, the U.S. is switching its focus from counterterrorism to the big conventional battlefield. And it has the locals afraid.

Back in February, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Alpha Barry told a security conference in Germany, “the threat is gaining ground. It’s no longer just the Sahel, it’s coastal West Africa and the risk of spreading regionally.”

Locally, the commanders know that their troops don’t have the training, numbers, and equipment to stand on their own. Worse, they see a U.S. pullout (the administration wants to reduce troop strength by 25% by 2022) before the threats from terror groups have been eradicated as a potential disaster.

With the U.S. scaling back operations and troop numbers in West Africa, terror groups are striking previously untouched targets. Moving from Burkina Faso thru Niger, insurgents are now actively targeting in the Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Ghana.

The United States has a relatively small footprint in Africa, with about 6000 troops and 1000 contractors at any given time on the ground. Of those about 1300 are Special Operations troops who provide training and advisory roles for the host nation forces.

The French have been doing the majority of the heavy lifting for the counterterror operations in the region. They keep about 4500 troops in the area and have been active in the areas of Niger, Chad, and Mali. In 2013, the French helped forces from Mali rout the al-Qaeda fighters from the north portion of the country.

Unlike the U.S., the French are staying. They received assurances from the Americans, however, that the U.S. will continue to provide intelligence, logistical and aerial refueling support in the region.

The United States has also pledged money to increase security forces in the region. AFRICOM increased spending to $242 million for the G5 Sahel Joint Force which consists of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania. The G5 Sahel Joint Force was first authorized in 2017 and combined the forces of these countries to improve security along their shared borders, improve cooperation and deployment of joint patrols to interdict the flow of terror groups and traffickers that currently cross their shared national borders with ease.

Meanwhile Gen. Hicks “would not recommend more drones or more advisers” presently, but said he wouldn’t advise reducing U.S. troop numbers in the region, either. However, he said that idea that the U.S. is leaving the area completely isn’t true. He characterized it as “a natural transition.”

“We’re trying to avoid as much as possible the kinetic activity that could eventually disenfranchise the people from the legitimate government,” he added.

The problem is that poverty and economic development go hand-in-hand with military problems and the host nations are not equipped to deal with. For now, in the interior of Burkina Faso, Muslims and Christians live alongside one another in harmony. That will never happen with an Islamist terror group gaining a foothold.

And while current training such as “Flintlock” provides valuable training for the troops in the region, commanders had to frequently check on active counterterror operations nearby. One area that the U.S. has increased its presence is in the realm of airstrikes against terrorist targets.

In Somalia alone, thus far in 2019, there have been 23 airstrikes against al-Shabab targets in Somalia, compared with just 47 in all of 2018.

With the threat increasing in Africa, the U.S. won’t at least for the near future, cut any additional troop strength there. But Special Operations personnel advising local forces and at the staff level will be needed along with economic and civic action reforms.

“We aren’t winning” the battle currently as Gen. Hicks has stated, but it doesn’t mean that the war is lost.

Photo: US Army

US Offers $1 Million Reward For Information On Osama bin Laden’s Son

The United States is turning up the heat on al-Qaeda and Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden who along with his son Khaled was killed by US Navy SEALs in 2011. The U.S. is offering $1 million dollars under the “Rewards for Justice” program for information leading to the arrest of the younger bin Laden, specifically calling him a “specially designated global terrorist.”

The younger bin Laden was groomed for this position since he was born. He is believed to be about 30 years old today. Described as Osama’s favorite son, Hamza is one of 26 children the former head of al Qaeda was believed to father. He allegedly sought his father’s approval from a young age. He also asked to be named his father’s heir as the head of the terror organization he founded.

Hamza grew up in a very strict Islamic compound in Jalalabad, Afghanistan where he and his extended family memorized the Koran, while the men planned terror attacks and strategy. Despite this, Hamza was supposedly a fan of Western items that were strictly taboo in al-Qaeda circles such as Tabasco sauce and Coke.

At the time of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, Hamza was believed to be about 12 years old. However, less than two months after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Al-Jazeera posted an al-Qaeda video that showed Hamza and his brothers, armed and inspecting the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter.

Osama tried to steer his son away from being an active participant, but it is believed that he then attempted a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Hamza then married the daughter of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta.

No one is aware of where he, his wife and three daughters are living, but it is rumored that they live in Iran and are safely guarded by Iranian security and intelligence teams. In an interview with the Guardian last summer, Osama bin Laden’s mother, Alia Ghanem, said, “I don’t want to go through this again.

“When we thought everyone was over this, next thing I knew was Hamza saying, ‘I am going to avenge my father.’

“If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him, ‘God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don’t retake the steps of your father. You are entering really negative and horrible parts of your soul.’ ”

As the younger bin Laden has been being groomed by the leadership to bigger and more prominent roles in the organization, he’s been more visible. He called on all Muslims to “take revenge on the Americans” for killing his father. His comments were made thru al-Qaeda as-Sahab Media Foundation in a speech last year.

Hamza told followers at the time that he rejected democracy, saying “freedom cannot be earned with worthless pieces of paper cast inside a ballot box.”

Al-Qaeda grew out of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The resistance group, known by the U.S. as “mujahadeen” was a localized resistance group that was funded and armed by the CIA. However, many Arabs flocked to their cause, including bin Laden.

Bin Laden, the son of a billionaire real estate developer grew disenfranchised with what he called the corrupt Saudi government and U.S. interests and presence in the region. So, under his leadership, al-Qaeda began to call for attacks on America, their allies and of course, the Jews.

Al-Qaeda began bombing US troops in Yemen, the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing up about 300 people and injuring more thousands more. It was behind the suicide attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors. Then bin-Laden’s charges were behind the hijacking of the four airliners on 9/11.

That put bin-Laden squarely on the U.S.target list. It took ten years, but they finally tracked him down to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was rumored that Hamza was there with him but no evidence was found of his living there. However, his father had a video of Hamza’s wedding, which took place in Iran.

Al-Qaeda has been more active in the past 3-4 years in Sub-Sahara Africa, trying to take advantage of a power vacuum there as the Islamic State has come under increasing pressure by the coalition forces there.

Hamza urged Saudis to unite with al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch to fight against the Saudi state and threatened to target US citizens abroad. Because of this, the Saudis stripped him of his citizenship and then the United States put the bounty on his head.

And his father’s old organization has grown to about 30,000 members which led the US Co-ordinator for Counter-terrorism Nathan Sales to say that, .“Al-Qaeda during this period has been relatively quiet, but that is a strategic pause, not a surrender,” he said.

“Today’s al-Qaeda is not stagnant. It’s rebuilding and it continues to threaten the United States and its allies… Make no mistake, al-Qaeda retains both the capability and the intent to hit us,” he added.

Photos: Wikipedia

The Mali Green Beret Murder Case is a Stain on All of SOF

The murder case of SSG Logan Melgar of the 3rd Special Forces Group (3rd SFG) is another tough scenario for the SF Group’s soldiers to bear. The unit lost four of its members in a deadly ambush in Niger and then to find out that one of its finer NCOs was murdered in US Embassy housing while stationed in Mali was worse. But worst of all was the fact that SSG Melgar wasn’t murdered by terrorists but reportedly at the hands of his fellow US Special Operations warriors from the Navy SEALs and Marine Corps Raiders. That is a stain regardless of the outcome of the court-martial on all of SOCOM that won’t soon fade.

While we’re not going to argue the merits of the case, this much is clear. Melgar shared an apartment with two members of SEAL Team Six, operators identified as Petty Officer Adam Matthews and Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph. Both SEALs admitted to breaking into Melgar’s room while he was asleep. Melgar died of asphyxiation and DeDolph has admitted to putting Melgar in a chokehold. The SEALs stories have changed several times which raised red flags which triggered a further investigation.

Last week, the military has said that they are charging the two SEALs and two Marine Raiders who are still unnamed with felony murder, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, burglary, hazing, and involuntary manslaughter in the strangulation death of Melgar in June of 2017. A preliminary hearing is set for December 10.

How this came to be is still a source of speculation but the military has obviously found enough evidence to proceed. Melgar was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Mali as part of a six-man intelligence cell in support of counterterrorism efforts against al-Qaeda’s local affiliate, known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The Daily Beast had a source with knowledge of the situation stating that Melgar was put off by the unprofessional behavior of the two members of SEAL Team Six.

The two had several lapses of operational security, bringing prostitutes to the safe house in the capital of Bamako. Worse, Melgar reportedly found evidence of the two skimming cash out of the operational fund to recruit informants about illicit Islamic activity in the area. Melgar reported his concerns to the chain of command. That had to have gotten back to the SEALs.

On the night of June 4, 2017, Melgar was invited to an Embassy party but the other four members had not. That, according to the Daily Beast was the final straw. They decided to plan an attack on him later that evening. According to the source, they planned for hours.

The SEALs went to the place where the Marines were staying for duct tape to restrain him. Shortly before 5:00 a.m. they kicked open his door, used the duct tape and then DeDolph put Melgar in a chokehold. When they saw he wasn’t breathing, they covered their tracks by doing first CPR and then a tracheotomy. They took him to a French hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Here is where the stories began to come apart. The story in the DB stated that the SEALs then began a coverup which included returning “to the safehouse, they engaged in a cover-up, according to several witnesses—including cleaning up evidence and coaching witnesses. The charge sheet accuses the members of the conspiracy with “providing a false timeline of events to the Navy chain of command,” and “purposefully” left out the duct tape when making their statements on Melgar’s death. They as well allegedly “disposed of the alcohol” they kept in the shared Army-Navy quarters and lied to investigators.”

The same sources told the DB that the SEALs filed two operational reports of the incident and this is where things began to go awry. In one report, the Navy operators said that the men were wrestling and Melgar was drunk. But Melgar didn’t drink alcohol and blood alcohol levels taken during a toxicology report showed zero in his system.

And the report that the men were just “playfully wrestling” left out that the SEALs used the duct tape to restrain him. Plus DeDolph as an MMA fighter knows the difference between when a chokehold would incapacitate another fighter or do serious harm.

This incident will have long-lasting implications. The very nature of Special Operations Forces and units like JSOC is the fact that all of the units in all of the services have to have one another’s back. And the trust factor to watch out over one another has to be supreme in SOF.

Melgar’s widow Michelle, was briefed on this case twice in the past month, first in Norfolk, Virginia and later again at Ft. Bragg, NC. While she declined to address specific aspects of the case, she uttered support for the prosecution but also feels that she doesn’t want to cause a rift between the Special Forces and SEALs and Marine Raiders.

“While I have faith that the military court will handle this situation in the best possible way, I also understand that the mission continues,” she said. “Our men must work well together, and we need to support them in doing so.”

She reiterated much the same feelings in a statement that she released to NEWSREP. “I fully support SOCOM, NCIS, and the prosecutors. It is important to me that we continue to support all of our Special Operators and their efforts to work together. The actions of these individuals is not a direct reflection on the organizations themselves. I am grateful for the continued support that SOCOM has shown me and my family throughout the investigation.

The U.S. Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) spokesman, Navy Captain Salata said the command honored Melgar’s memory and kept his loved ones in its thoughts. He pledged unity among the U.S.’ elite forces that probably none of them are feeling right now.

“We will not allow allegations or substantiated incidents of misconduct to erode decades of honorable accomplishments by the members of U.S. Special Operations Command. Ours is a culture of professionalism and accountability, which prides itself in being a learning organization that uses critical self-examination in a relentless dedication to improvement,” Salata said.

While all of what Salata said is absolutely true, it takes only one incident such as this one to erode what decades of dedicated Special Operators have accomplished. The command has a lot of work to do in this regard. The services have their jobs cut out for them in regards to this incident. They will have to tread very carefully here. The troops will smell B.S. in a second. But they must get everyone pulling in the same direction again.

Trust is very hard to build and it can be lost in a split second. Even if these charges are proved false, the damage has been done. And the losers are everyone in the SOCOM community.

Photo of Logan Melgar and his father: US Army

With the Islamic State on the Run, Al-Qaida Calls For Jihad

Al-Qaida’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged followers to wage war against the US for opening an embassy in Jerusalem. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. While many Middle East experts claim the move is an attempt to capitalize on the fall of its main rival, the ISIS, it is the normal operating procedure to call for jihad against the United States.

President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “was clear and explicit, and he revealed the true face of the modern Crusade,” al-Qaida leader Zawahiri said in a recording circulated on social media this week. “Standing down and appeasement does not work with them, but only resistance through the call and jihad.”
But, despite al-Zawahiri’s new appeal, “reactions thus far don’t show any sort of organized online campaign from either side,” Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, said in a tweet, referring to the social media channels of al-Qaida and the “Islamic State” (often abbreviated as IS or ISIS).
That silence may be indicative of a shift, according to Ian Oxnevad, a Middle East scholar at the University of California, Riverside. He told DW that while there wasn’t much of a backlash, “that does not mean that it is not present.”
“This is a chance for al-Qaida to reinvent itself,” Oxnevad said. “Al-Qaida can co-opt old IS networks and strategies while setting up new cells in Europe,” which provides a “base of potential recruits along with a social infrastructure removed from new realities in the Middle East.”

After the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, Al-Qaida took a blow that it has been slow to recover from. But as the US has shifted its focus in counter-terrorism from them to ISIS, they’ve recovered and have looked to expand. And they have, in Asia and other places such as Algeria and Pakistan.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Two Dead in Protests at Gaza Border Over US Embassy Move

As the preparations were being finalized to officially open the United States embassy in Jerusalem, protests across the border in Gaza turned violent as thousands of Palestinians marched toward the border. Two were killed and at least 69 wounded in exchanges with the Israeli border guards.

Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank were being urged to come out and protest not only the U.S. embassy move but also the 70^th anniversary of what they call the “Nakba” or catastrophe…as they call the creation of the state of Israel.

Israel Police are preparing for the U.S. embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with thousands of policemen deployed through the city. At 4:00 P.M. (Israel Time), the official ceremony will take place at the U.S. Consulate in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem, which will officially become the U.S. embassy this week.
Clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters marching from Ramallah towards the Qalandiyah security barrier near Jerusalem. Israeli Army is also confronting dozens of protest marchers in the north of Bethlehem.
A Palestinian, 29, was killed by Israeli live gunfire east of Jabaliya, the Gaza Health Ministry reports. This is the death reported from Monday’s protest.

The Arab League is meeting to condemn the “illegal” U.S. move of its embassy to Jerusalem, the site of its consulate until today. Not surprisingly, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri released a video on Sunday condemning the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem, calling on Muslims to wage jihad against the U.S.

He also called out Palestinian leaders for their “policy of appeasement.” He also called Tel Aviv, the land of the Muslims, however, the city was settled by Jewish immigrants early in the 20^th century.

To read the entire article from Haaretz, click here:

Photo screenshot of Reuters video, Palestinian protester drags burning tires to the border between Gaza and Israel

Niger Report Slams Troops’ Complacency, Lack of Training for Ambush

The classified Pentagon investigation concerning the death of four U.S. soldiers in Niger last October during an ambush placed the blame squarely on the unit and listed a list of shortcomings including complacency and a lack of training.

Citing a culture of “excessive risk”, low-level commanders took shortcuts to approve operations — with at least one officer lifting orders from a different mission and pasting them onto the “so-called concept of operations to gain approval,” officials said.

Initially, the mission on Oct. 3, 2017, that ultimately sent the Army Special Forces team, along with Nigerian soldiers, into a deadly ambush, was a planned meeting with local officials. However, the team was redirected to assist in a search for Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.
Upon returning, the team was later attacked by Islamic State-linked militants in a village near Tongo Tongo, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops on Oct. 4.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday he has given a 200-page classified summary to Congress.
Mattis acknowledged Thursday there was not one but many problems that led to the American soldiers being ambushed by roughly 50 heavily armed ISIS-affiliated fighters more than six months ago in West Africa.
Mattis said: “I think right now we have found what we believe to be the crux of the problems, not problem but problems that contributed to this. It was not a delegation of authority problem. So, we know immediately how to address and we are doing that right now.”

It doesn’t come as a surprise that the report would come down hard on the unit. Since the Pentagon has changed the narrative on this operation several times since the October ambush.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

“12 Strong”, A Visually Powerful, Important War Film

If there was ever a story from the endless war in Afghanistan that needed to be told, the story of the Horse Soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group was it. Just weeks after the terrifying events of 9/11 played out, the Army inserted a Special Forces A-Team, ODA-595 into Afghanistan to link up with fighters from the Northern Alliance to fight the Taliban. It was a classic UW (Unconventional Warfare) mission, one that only Special Forces train for and is able to conduct.

The Northern Alliance fighters didn’t have vehicles, they traveled across the steep mountains of Afghanistan on horseback. The SF men embedded with Afghan fighters, and they too moved on horses, fought alongside them while calling in airstrikes that decimated a numerically superior enemy that had tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.

The producers billed it as “the declassified true story of the horse soldiers.” So, did SF finally get its Hollywood film after the Navy SEALs had several made of their exploits during the Global War on Terror? Yes and no. Which we’ll explain later. And while the story is true and it really happened, Hollywood made it into a fictional representation.

The film was based off the book, The Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, and when turning the pages it reads like a novel or a bad B movie, but everything that appears in the book truly happened.

Chris Hemsworth is the star of the show and the story. He portrays a Special Forces Captain named Mitch Nelson, whose has served on an SF A-Team but has asked for a staff job because he’s trying to spend some time with his family. Soon after moving into a new home, Nelson and his family watch the events of 9/11 unfold on his television.

Nelson is based on the real-life Mark Nutsch and his XO Hal Spencer, portrayed by Michael Shannon, is the grizzled, old veteran. Shannon’s character is based on the real-life Bob Pennington, who was a CW4 on A-595.

Jerry Bruckheimer is known as a producer who likes his bang for the buck. And he didn’t disappoint here. But unlike some of his other films that go over the top, the action sequences were wonderfully presented. The director making his film debut, Nicholas Fuglsig, previously covered the war as a photojournalist and he captures the action perfectly.

The sweeping, jagged mountains with incredible vistas are offset in the valley where the Taliban, finding themselves in the same pickle that they forced on the Russians a decade plus earlier. They have heavy tanks and armor that are tied to the narrow roads that bisect the mountains. And they’re facing a tough, determined enemy that has the ability to outmaneuver them, despite their archaic mode of transportation. The cinematography has the gritty realism that shows what a dirty business war is. All the while showing a B-52 bomber soaring in the clear blue sky, 30,000 feet above, dropping 2000 pound bombs into the Taliban below.

Fuglsig didn’t get caught up in the BS political speak that often mars war films. The men know why they’re there, because of 9/11, but after that, there are no more sweeping speeches about God and country. The men are fighting to do their job and to protect one another.

Nelson’s mission is to link up with the Uzbek guerrilla warlord General Dostum, wonderfully portrayed by Navid Negahban, who many viewers will know from “Homeland”, gain their trust and take the Taliban stronghold of Mazar-i- Sharif. The interaction between Nelson and Dostum is very good as the former tries to influence the warlord while proving himself, time and again.

Dostum initially doesn’t trust Nelson as he doesn’t have “killer eyes” and prefers the older Spencer.

But other than Nelson, Spencer, and Dostrum, we really don’t get to know much about the other characters. Michael Pena, the excellent character actor seems to be the senior enlisted team member, the team sergeant but they never really acknowledge that. Pena’s wise-cracking SFC Sam Diller deserved more airplay but we only get short glimpses into what he’s about. Rob Riggle gets a serious role as Colonel Bowers. Riggle was a PAO officer in Central Command during the early part of the war in Afghanistan. William Fichtner plays the steely-eyed Colonel John Mulholland. Fichtner has been in many war films but with his shaved head here, is almost unrecognizable.

When the team learns their Northern Alliance guerrilla force doesn’t have vehicles (Toyota Hilux) as they thought but only horses it is a bit of a shock. Only Nelson who grew up on a ranch has riding experience. In reality, the shock was as great for the horses as the men. The guerrillas gave the SF troops their spare horses which were smaller and the animals were not used to carrying bigger American men loaded down with all their kit.

But the visual of seeing an American Green Beret loaded down with modern weapons and gear riding on a horse was a wonderful anachronism just as they call down the rain of bombs from the B-52s. Later Nelson and A-Team lead an attack with the Northern Alliance on Taliban and Al-Qaeda positions, fortified with armored vehicles while on horseback.

Fuglsig blends an awesome visual here with a musical score that keeps you on the edge of your seat and brings the viewer right into the action. For the action film lovers out there, this will satisfy them, Bruckheimer is at his best when he’s showing explosions and non-stop gunfire and with the surround sound of the theater, you’ll feel it.

So back to the top, is this a “Special Forces” film? As I said above it is and it isn’t. Why? For the SF veterans we can see and recognize the patches and crossed arrow brass on the collars of the officers in what is the headquarters at Ft. Campbell, but not a Green Beret was seen. In fact, there isn’t one in the entire film except when Nelson’s family sees Donald Rumsfeld on television talking about the “Horse Soldiers.” Only then do we see a few SF troops standing far behind him. The terms “Green Beret” and Special Forces are mentioned very few times. As the team lifted off, they were singing a few bars of the Ballad of the Green Beret, but it was somewhat muted by the roar of the helicopter blades.

Except for the trained eye, the average viewer may come away with confusion as to who exactly these men were. Am I being nitpicky here? Perhaps. No mention was made either that the team was augmented by an Air Force Combat Controller who was instrumental in bringing down the rain on the Taliban.

There was as mentioned above, the lack of the Team Sergeant role in the film. As everyone in SF knows, the officers command the teams but the team sergeants are the men who drive the train. The interaction between the men and the team sergeant are what makes A-Teams go. There was a little of the banter of what SF team rooms unique, but not much. Pena’s character Diller is the closest thing we see to a true team sergeant but it was seeming like it was only Nelson and Spencer running the show here. Perhaps having an SF military advisor to the filmmakers would have made that clearer.

Horse Soldier statue sits in its final resting place at Liberty Park, adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Eric Hudson, 160th SOAR Public Affairs.)

Then there was the standard issue with nearly all war films, that are out there, where the actors have those M-4s with the never-ending magazines. The only magazine change I saw was at the end of the climactic battle when Nelson finally changes his out. But that has been an issue with nearly every war film ever made. Some of the kit the men are wearing looks closer to what the guys are wearing today than what they would have had in 2001. But again, we’re just picking here.

In the theater, I could hear some voices of probable conventional military veterans questioning why none of the SF men were wearing helmets or body armor. The simple answer is, they didn’t have any. Their Northern Alliance cohorts didn’t have any and the weight factor of the chopper ride in made the troops decide to forego them. Such is the way of life in a UW scenario where you have to make rapport with the host forces.

One excellent portrayal was the aircraft used. The Army cooperated with the film and actual members of the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment flew the real deal helicopters for the filming. The mountains of Afghanistan were pretty nicely represented by the terrain of New Mexico which was a surprise. I thought the producers would have opted for the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Overall, the production was fine. Hemsworth was excellent as the steely-eyed (with eventual killer eyes), barrel-chested Special Forces captain. One interesting aspect which was nice was that the super action hero who played “Thor” is forced to prove himself again and again. There is your Special Forces Selection hook for the SFAS cadre. If Thor has to prove himself every day, you better come prepared and yes, you are always being evaluated. Shannon, Pena, and Negahban were all excellent in their own roles.

This was a good film, and will certainly please fans of the action genre. Does it play with the facts a bit as Hollywood is apt to do? Of course it does. But let’s not forget it is honoring what the real men of ODA-595 did. And that was one of the most classic UW operations ever conducted. A handful of Special Forces teams, inserted into Afghanistan with Northern Alliance fighters and supported by US Air Force air strikes, brought the Taliban and Al Qaeda to their knees. The fact the US screwed the pooch in the end game doesn’t come into the picture here. Nor that the US is still embroiled in the fighting. This isn’t the big picture here. It is simply these soldiers’ story. And it is a fantastic one.

Nutsch and Pennington, the real Nelson and Spencer have said the producers of the film do a good job of trying to capture the essence of the Special Forces men in the post 9/11 era. That is good enough.

Go see “12 Strong”. You’ll be glad you did. DOL

Photos: Warner Bros./US Army

Niger Agrees to Grant Authority to U.S. Military to Arm Drones

Reports from CNN earlier this week are saying that the government of Niger has granted the US military the authority to arm its drones in Niger. US military officials had been seeking the authority to arm its drones for months prior to the ambush of a US Special Forces unit that left four soldiers dead.

Since that attack in October has goaded US officials to press the Niger government with a renewed sense of urgency to allow the arming of drones.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters that a remotely piloted drone aircraft arrived overhead within minutes of the soldiers’ request for support but defense officials told CNN that it was unarmed due to the previous prohibition on armed drones.
It is unclear what if any authority military commanders have to conduct drone strikes in Niger.
“The Government of Niger and the US stand firm in working together to prevent terrorist organizations from using the region as a safe haven. For operational security reasons, I will not comment on specific military authorities or permissions,” Maj. Audricia Harris said.
The New York Times was the first to report Niger’s granting of authority to arm drones.

There are currently around 800 US troops in the country of Niger, most are helping to build a new drone operational base in the town of Agadez. The current base for drone operations is located near the civilian airport in the capital of Niamey.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Release of Bin Laden Files by CIA Presents Iranian Connection?

When Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, they brought back thousands of documents on computer hard and thumb drives that, it was hoped would shed much more hope on the al-Qaida organization. Now as the CIA released thousands of pages of documents seized in the raid, it has once again raised questions about the support that Iran gave the terror network prior to 9/11.

It has always been the belief within US intelligence organizations that the Iranians had at least some ties to the terrorists of bin Laden since 1991. The 19-page report released by CIA as part of their other 47,000 documents released show just that.

For its part, Iran has long denied any involvement with al-Qaida. However, the report included in the CIA document dump shows how bin Laden, a Sunni extremist from Iran’s archrival Saudi Arabia, could look across the Muslim world’s religious divide to partner with the Mideast’s Shiite power to target his ultimate enemy, the United States.
“Anyone who wants to strike America, Iran is ready to support him and help him with their frank and clear rhetoric,” the report reads.
The document had been included in the CIA release and was available online Wednesday. The CIA later issued a warning about the files on its website, saying that since the material “was seized from a terrorist organization … there is no absolute guarantee that all malware has been removed.” The CIA then took down the files entirely early Thursday, saying they were “temporarily unavailable pending resolution of a technical issue.”
The unsigned 19-page report is dated in the Islamic calendar year 1428 — 2007 — and offers what appears to be a history of al-Qaida’s relationship with Iran. It says Iran offered al-Qaida fighters “money and arms and everything they need, and offered them training in Hezbollah camps in Lebanon, in return for striking American interests in Saudi Arabia.”

The Iranians allowed al-Qaida members to pass through their borders without getting a stamp on their passports to avoid suspicion and met with Iranian intelligence officials. It was also reported that 8 of the 10 so-called “muscle hijackers” of 9/11 passed thru Iran.

The Iranians have long denied any involvement with al-Qaida.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia