Why do we find it necessary to advertise our intentions or at the very least confirm them, seems absurd.... NY Times of course.....
LINK TO ARTICLE
U.S. Orders Covert Military Action in Mideast
FOXNews.com
Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, is said to have signed a directive authorizing Special Operations troops to conduct surveillance missions in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
May 21: U.S. forces sit in the darkness during an ambush on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
The Pentagon has approved a broader range of secret military operations against militant groups in the Middle East and Africa, officials said Monday, according to a published report.
The New York Times said Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, signed a directive in September authorizing Special Operations troops to conduct surveillance missions in such countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
The document says the goals are to "penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy" militant groups, including Al Qaeda, and "prepare the environment" for future attacks. The Times said the document does not authorize offensive action.
Anonymous U.S. officials cited by the Times said the order does allow for intelligence-gathering missions in Iran, which could lay the groundwork for possible military action if tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to rise.
The directive, called the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, does not describe specific missions, although the Times said it had withheld some details in response to Defense Department concerns over U.S. troop safety.
Some of the covert military operations that followed the secret order have been reported.
These include a September 2009 attack by helicopter-borne Special Operations Forces on a car carrying one of east Africa's most wanted Al Qaeda militants, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.
According to Reuters, Central Command has been positioning Reaper drones at a base in the Horn of Africa. Officials told the news agency the drones can be used against militants in Yemen and Somalia, and even against pirates who attack ships traversing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
"They (the drones) are part of it but it is much broader than that," one U.S. official told Reuters of the order
LINK TO ARTICLE
U.S. Orders Covert Military Action in Mideast
FOXNews.com
Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, is said to have signed a directive authorizing Special Operations troops to conduct surveillance missions in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
May 21: U.S. forces sit in the darkness during an ambush on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.
The Pentagon has approved a broader range of secret military operations against militant groups in the Middle East and Africa, officials said Monday, according to a published report.
The New York Times said Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, signed a directive in September authorizing Special Operations troops to conduct surveillance missions in such countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.
The document says the goals are to "penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy" militant groups, including Al Qaeda, and "prepare the environment" for future attacks. The Times said the document does not authorize offensive action.
Anonymous U.S. officials cited by the Times said the order does allow for intelligence-gathering missions in Iran, which could lay the groundwork for possible military action if tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to rise.
The directive, called the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, does not describe specific missions, although the Times said it had withheld some details in response to Defense Department concerns over U.S. troop safety.
Some of the covert military operations that followed the secret order have been reported.
These include a September 2009 attack by helicopter-borne Special Operations Forces on a car carrying one of east Africa's most wanted Al Qaeda militants, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.
According to Reuters, Central Command has been positioning Reaper drones at a base in the Horn of Africa. Officials told the news agency the drones can be used against militants in Yemen and Somalia, and even against pirates who attack ships traversing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
"They (the drones) are part of it but it is much broader than that," one U.S. official told Reuters of the order
