War in Yemen: CIA to Get Control of Special Forces, Drones?http://www.thenation.com/blog/155704/war-yemen-cia-get-control-special-forces-dronesRobert Dreyfuss
November 1, 2010
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the White House and the Pentagon are considering stepping up covert action in Yemen, giving the CIA operational control over U.S. military’s Special Forces units. They’d operate what the Journal calls “elite U.S. hunter-killer teams” to go after Al Qaeda and others allegedly responsible for terrorist attacks and attempts against the United States.
In addition, the plan includes using drone attacks, a la Pakistan, to target Al Qaeda operatives.
By giving the CIA control over the Special Forces units, the United States can claim that the whole enterprise is “covert,” that is, that it doesn’t need the permission of Yemen’s government to be carried out. Or, as the Journal puts it, the CIA get “get around restrictions placed on military operations.”
Adds the report:
“An increase in U.S. missile strikes or combat ground operations by American commando forces could test already sensitive relations with Yemen, which U.S. officials believe is too weak to defeat al Qaeda. Such an escalation could prompt Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the training his military receives from U.S. special operations forces.”
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