Author: Isaac J. Peltier
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781466233454
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) saw the United States Army employ Special Forces (SF) on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War.1 Since 11 September 2001, U.S. Army Special Forces have experienced a renaissance with unconventional warfare (UW), the role for which SF was originally founded in June 1952.2 In his 12 March 2002 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Charles R. Holland, Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, stated that the "long-standing SOF mission" of surrogate warfare was receiving deserved new attention.3 In fact, according to General Holland, U.S. strategic objectives in Afghanistan would not have been achieved if not for surrogate warfare.4 Interestingly, however, surrogate warfare is not mentioned in Joint or Army doctrine. This raises the primary research question for this monograph, what does SF need to do to prepare for future surrogate warfare? This monograph will argue that surrogate warfare is indeed a form of unconventional warfare and that U.S. Army Special Forces are clearly the force of choice for conducting it because of their cultural and regional expertise. The attacks of September 11th, 2001, demanded a swift response. President Bush made it clear in his address to the nation that the U.S. would hunt down those responsible and hold them accountable.5 Intelligence suggested that Osama Bin Ladin and al-Qaeda were operating out of Afghanistan, which meant the military task fell to Central Command (CENTCOM), because it was in its geographic area of responsibility (AOR). In deciding how to respond militarily, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CENTCOM Commander General Tommy Franks were keenly aware of the failure of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and did not want to repeat that failure. They agreed that the force would have to be small, flexible, and possess the capabilities to operate with precision and lethality.6 CENTCOM directed its Special Operations Command (SOCCENT) to begin planning. SOCCENT in turn notified the 5th Special Forces Group to begin preparations to conduct UW in Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom saw SF take an unprecedented role as the main effort in the campaign to overthrow the Taliban and root out al-Qaeda. The unconventional war fought in Afghanistan involved working by, with, and through the Northern Alliance to achieve strategic, operational and tactical objectives. The Northern Alliance, under the advisement and direction of SF, served as a surrogate army in place of the large conventional U.S. force that Rumsfeld and Franks wanted to avoid using. SF's success in Afghanistan would foreshadow what was to come a year later in Iraq. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, SF was employed on an even larger scale. When the 4th Infantry Division was not allowed to enter northern Iraq through Turkey, the 10th Special Forces Group was used to open up a second front with surrogate forces. Kurdish militia, which numbered approximately 70,000, were used by SF to disrupt 13 Iraqi divisions, preventing them from interfering with the Combined Forces Land Component Command's (CFLCC) march on Baghdad.