SEAL Team 6: A secret history of quiet killings and blurred lines

[webfact]

SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines
The unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been converted into a global manhunting machine with limited outside oversight.
By MARK MAZZETTI, NICHOLAS KULISH, CHRISTOPHER DREW, SERGE F. KOVALESKI, SEAN D. NAYLOR and JOHN ISMAY

NEW YORK: -- They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia. In Afghanistan, they have engaged in combat so intimate that they have emerged soaked in blood that was not their own. On clandestine raids in the dead of the night, their weapons of choice have ranged from customized carbines to primeval tomahawks.

Around the world, they have run spying stations disguised as commercial boats, posed as civilian employees of front companies and operated undercover at embassies as male-female pairs, tracking those the United States wants to kill or capture.

Those operations are part of the hidden history of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, one of the nation’s most mythologized, most secretive and least scrutinized military organizations. Once a small group reserved for specialized but rare missions, the unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been transformed by more than a decade of combat into a global manhunting machine.

That role reflects America’s new way of war, in which conflict is distinguished not by battlefield wins and losses, but by the relentless killing of suspected militants.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/the-secret-history-of-seal-team-6.html

-- The New York Times 2015-06-08

[Falcon]

The reports ok except the final part about the 'suspected' militants. It should be 'confirmed' militants not simply suspected but hey, can't have everything, right!?!?!

Edited June 8, 2015 by Falcon

[masuk]

Sounds like the situation In Indonesia during the Suharto reign.

Local villains, proved or un-proved, were ending up on front lawns in body bags, hands tied, extra ventilation to the head.

It put the fear of hell into a lot of the bad lads, and the crime rate dropped drastically.

[uty6543]

What our special forces do around the world is top secret but what ever they do is for our benefit to keep us safer than we would otherwise be. I thank them and support them 100%

[ChrisY1]

What our special forces do around the world is top secret but what ever they do is for our benefit to keep us safer than we would otherwise be. I thank them and support them 100%

Agree.....a local country we all know of, could do with some of their expertise!

[Ulysses G.]

The Navy SEALS are great warriors and my guess is that they are working constantly, but their missions are usually kept secret - as they should be. My personal favorites are Marine Corps Force Recon, but they excel in their primary intelligence-gathering mission and are not as well known for black Ops, although they do them as well.

[geriatrickid]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

[canuckamuck]

In a world with groups like ISIS, I am quite happy to have special forces teams on the hunt.

[Anthony5]

I believe a few of them are a member of this forum, so probably they'll chime in soon with the real facts.

[gchurch259]

The real fact is, "if you don't start something, there will not be something", they are just cleaning up the mess, God Speed in their quest !!

I believe a few of them are a member of this forum, so probably they'll chime in soon with the real facts.

[ABCer]

Good luck to all of them.

As to their methods - we have come a looong way from the old "noble" war making. So, good luck to them, again.

I would very much prefer watching Obama vs Ibrahim or Putin vs Merkel or Netanyahu vs Abbas fist fight in front of a line of Seals vs a line of Spetsnaz forces.

Ah, I am really missing the old style battles!

[NickJ]

Fight Fire with a Flamethrower........

Seal Teams are groups of Heros.....

[RKASA]

I believe a few of them are a member of this forum, so probably they'll chime in soon with the real facts.

I am sure nether assumtion is correct.

[DLang]

Great stuff.

Moving onto others sovereign territory half way round the World and executing their civilians without trial.

Strange that so many can't see where the real evil of this World is. But to be fair, the masses usually are rather dense.

[Scott]

A number of off-topic posts have been removed along with replies. The thread is not about the police.

Please stay on topic.

[willyumiii]

What our special forces do around the world is top secret but what ever they do is for our benefit to keep us safer than we would otherwise be. I thank them and support them 100%

Like any good military unit, these people do not stop and question what they are assigned to do and determine if it is the right or wrong thing to be done, they just do it, as they should.

Therefore, I am pretty confident that all they are sent out to do is not necessarily in the interest of keeping Americans safe or free.

Some of what they do is probably done to protect corporate profits, not citizens or fredom.

Again, they do what they are ordered to do, they do it well and without question.

I respect them for what they are and how they do their job.

[TerrylSky]

I try to respect everybody and their opinion and belief. Mine? Certainly SEALS have their place from time to time, and their services can come in darn handy. But my problem with it is - and any military unit - that if they are ordered to go kill somebody, they will without hesitation - or any moral and ethical contemplation. I could never do that - or participate in any BS so the US corporations can make a killing (like Haliburton/Cheney). Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, 911, and Iraq … … … all U.S. scams at the cost of trillions of tax dollars and millions of lives. Sad that so many people are merely blind sheep. I Question authority; SEALS can't. That's my take. Thanks for letting me express my opinion.

[elgordo38]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

What amazes me is how many helicopters malfunction either on the way to the mission or on the ground. I think when they shot Bin Laden they blew one up on the ground.

[RKASA]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

What amazes me is how many helicopters malfunction either on the way to the mission or on the ground. I think when they shot Bin Laden they blew one up on the ground.

Pretty tricky to land inside a compound at night without lights wearing night vision head gear, but they walked away to open the gates for the others so it was a good landing. Recall how many gliders crashed on D-day. Military flying is not a safe sport.

[newatthis]

They are the necessary antibiotic for the disease that seems to be spreading through our world.

[ubonjoe]

A post with a inflammatory image has been removed.

[Somtamnication]

TV members are full of Special Forces types. Can anyone confirm this story?

[NeverSure]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

What amazes me is how many helicopters malfunction either on the way to the mission or on the ground. I think when they shot Bin Laden they blew one up on the ground.

Pretty tricky to land inside a compound at night without lights wearing night vision head gear, but they walked away to open the gates for the others so it was a good landing. Recall how many gliders crashed on D-day. Military flying is not a safe sport.

Pilots say that any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing.

[Lopchan]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

What amazes me is how many helicopters malfunction either on the way to the mission or on the ground. I think when they shot Bin Laden they blew one up on the ground.

Pretty tricky to land inside a compound at night without lights wearing night vision head gear, but they walked away to open the gates for the others so it was a good landing. Recall how many gliders crashed on D-day. Military flying is not a safe sport.

Pilots say that any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing.

And a landing where you can re-use the aircraft afterwards is a GREAT landing

[rsokolowski]

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

George Orwell quotes

A very wise man.

[billd766]

One has to take these stories with a grain of salt. There are a lot of failed/botched operations too. People die or are caught and we never hear about them.

if people die or are caught and we never hear about them how do you know if they died or were caught?

[Soutpeel]

TV members are full of Special Forces types. Can anyone confirm this story?

Walk in any bar in Pattaya, ex SAS, SBS, CIA, Seals, delta force representatives in all of them

[Soutpeel]

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." George Orwell quotes A very wise man.

I think you will find this isn't a George Orwell quote, he may have written things with a similar premise, but you have quoted Orwell and nowhere did he write or say these exact words, this quote has also incorrectly attributed to Winston Churchill as well

[Thongkorn]

TV members are full of Special Forces types. Can anyone confirm this story?

Walk in any bar in Pattaya, ex SAS, SBS, CIA, Seals, delta force representatives in all of them

You forgot Soy 7 lady boy three squeal team.

[Yahooka]

Great stuff.

Moving onto others sovereign territory half way round the World and executing their civilians without trial.

Strange that so many can't see where the real evil of this World is. But to be fair, the masses usually are rather dense.

The real evil in this World is found where the SEAL`s and other SF`s operate,isn`t it ?

Edited June 9, 2015 by Yahooka