Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

Juan Cole links to a Guardian article that says that Israelis are in Ft Bragg training US military Special ops on "terror" fighting tactics, which explains all the recent house razings, arrest of families of suspected insurgents etc.  

http://www.jauncole.com  (second or third post down)

What's worse, it's evidently General Boykin, the noted fundamentalist, who has devised this crazy plan.   After a very thorough explanation of Bush Senior's understanding of how to avoid alienating Arabs, he concludes that Buswh Junior is not only an ignoramus but has probably now lost the war on terror.

Scary stuff.

Here's the Guardian link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1102940,00.html

•  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

  I'm sure they are.  There is a great deal of interaction between the American special forces and their foreign counterparts just as there is a great deal of cooperation between the intelligence services.  

  The Israelis despite the moral aspect of their tactics are brutally effective in countering terrorism and admittedly its very difficult to make the argument that we should forgo the use of these tactics to protect our troops while they are over there.  The obvious downside is that these tactics if abused lead to an immense backlash.

  by TX Dem in DC on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 03:39:01 PM PDT

  •  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

    The obvious downside is that these tactics if abused lead to an immense backlash.

    The obvious downside is that these tactics are so reprehensible that their use guarantees "an immense backlash."  The fact the the United States is even considering them shows how misconceived were the invasion and occupation of Iraq to begin with.

    The Israeli tactics in the occupied territories are neither "effective" nor applicable to Iraq.  Israel has set in motion a train of events that puts its population at constant long-term risk, requires increasingly massive subsidies from a foreign power, and requires huge numbers of Israeli draftees per square kilometer of occupied ground.  Is the United States willing to put its population at greatly increased long-term risk in order to hold Iraq?  To which foreign power will the United States look to subsidize the operation?  How readily will Americans accept re-institution of the draft in order to raise the intensity of the occupation to the required level?

    by C S McCrum on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 04:03:37 PM PDT

•  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

  If you think the IDF is successful at managing the occupation of the Palestinians, by what standard do you measure success?

  by Carl Nyberg on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 03:47:47 PM PDT

•  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

  Thanks for the link.

  The indispensable Seymour Hersh has a long piece in the New Yorker on this.  Rumsfeld has long wanted to use systematically planned assassinations as a way of controlling territory.  Effectively it's a revival of the Vietnam-era Phoenix program, in which between 20,000 (U.S. estimate) and 40,000 (S. Viet. estimate)  civilians were murdered in a failed effort to secure South Vietnam for the United States.

  A similar strategy has gained for Israel the undying hatred of Palestinians.  It will gain for the United States the undying hatred of Iraqis.  

  Let's be clear.  The United States is betting the farm on the proposition that it can control Iraq by terrorizing the population.  Like all similarly conceived projects, this one will fail, but only after unspeakable, prolonged, and unnecessary suffering.  

  by C S McCrum on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 03:48:52 PM PDT

  •  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

    Colby is dead, yet the Phoenix keeps coming back.  

    Actually I read somewhere that the Israeli illegal settlements back in Golda Meir's time built to surreptitiously extend their territory were used as a model for the 'strategic hamlets' design in VN.  

    Hmm...it's time for Sim City, the Occupation. I'll have to try it out.

    by paper tigress on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 04:12:54 PM PDT

  •  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

    I briefly saw Hersh on Charlie Rose but fell asleep .  Thanks for the link.  I did catch the part about our troops being trained by the IDF and the US using assassination squads.  Hersh was just shaking his head.  He also said that the reason Rumsfeld likes Boykin is because he isn't afraid to kill or die.  He also said that we're head for a showdown in the ME with the US and Israel standing back to back facing off with over one billion arabs.  He was pretty disgusted.  Anyway, off to read the article.

    by kimo on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 04:32:38 PM PDT

•  Re: Are Israelis Training US Special Ops?

  Shouldn't this be on the front page?

  by nu on Tue Dec 09, 2003 at 06:43:35 PM PDT