Special ops no longer a ‘giant killing machine.’
Under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. special operations became a “giant killing machine,” according to former Army colonel Douglas Macgregor, who anticipates a change when Navy Vice Adm. Eric Olson takes the helm of the operations. “The emphasis will be on, ‘If you have to kill someone, then for God’s sakes, kill the right people,’” Macgregor said. “That’s been lost over the last several years.”
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Cue the so-called “military expert” trolls to bad-mouth the retired Colonel.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:10 pm‘kill the right people’…
and they are:? al Qaeda=Insurgents=Iraqi’s
June 29th, 2007 at 2:12 pmBush Regime just loves to kill people > PERIOD.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:14 pmThere was no al Qaeda in Iraq until WE gave them the entry visa. Saddam wanted nothing to do with them, he had his own fiefdom to be concerned with.
Now look what has happened. A small number of radical fanatics enter the country and all of a sudden, every person in Iraq is al Qaeda.
Nice try, Rove. Only your 26%ers are gonna buy it.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:15 pmKilling the right people in the Bush lexicon is anyone who doesn’t agree with his temper tantrums. That and people who stand in the way of his domination of world oil supplies to pay back his campaign contributors.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:16 pmAnd sorry for the repost, but, gotta do it….
I don’t know if this is true, I read it on another blog and can’t find any confirmation, but his guy said that House Res 333 to Impeach Cheney has gone through Subcommittee to the FULL JUDICIARY. ?
If this is so, call your congressperson and say you are in support of impeaching Cheney. Whether it’s true or not, I called every one of my reps in IL today to say I was supporting his impeachment.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ (just click on your state)
Call all your representatives!
Today and every day!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:16 pmThe Bush/Coulter Republicans look at humans as bees and roaches to be killed.
They’d do the same thing to Americans given the cahnce.
-GSD
June 29th, 2007 at 2:17 pm“Giant killing machine” and “Special-Ops” seem diametrically opposed to me. Shouldn’t that be, giant-killing machine, as in they stealthily kill “giants’? Yanno, like those Castro, Saddam, Kin Jong Il assassinations. Oh, wait….
June 29th, 2007 at 2:19 pm“Kill the right people”
Please try telling that to the BLACKWATER Ops.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:20 pm.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:21 pmRepublicans: Making the United States less safe since 2001.
.
They called these “Death Squads” in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina…… etc etc
June 29th, 2007 at 2:21 pmSomeday members of the Bush Regime could be tried for War Crimes, for unlawful killing of civilians and innocent people. No government is shielded from acts of homicide, so this is a serious charge being made.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:21 pm“Kill the RIGHT people.”
June 29th, 2007 at 2:26 pm#12….Its my most sincere hope that “someday” you mention in your post begins on January 21, 2009. Bush would look great in an 8×5 Gitmo-style cage in the Hague.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:26 pmHere you go, MsJ:
http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=2382
June 29th, 2007 at 2:31 pmBen > this info at top is chilling, because the officer is admitting that Bush administration is allowing our military to murder people.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:31 pmWhat are we going to call this impeachment scandal?
Dickgate?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:32 pmanyone have the stats on how many people GWB oversaw the execution of when he was gov. of Texas… beter yet an estimate on how many were wrongfully convicted?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:35 pmSounds like the best of the best will be handing out flowers again. I am sure that will persuade the terrorists to change their mind.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:35 pmAfter January 2009 the World Court at the Hague could request the extradition of Bush and Cheney to be tried for War Crimes, so will the next president refuse to turn them over like Chile refused to turn over Pinochet?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pmSpecial Ops is not reducing its murder and terrorism tasks now doled out to it by a criminal administration and country, it has just out-sourced them to agencies that are unaccountable.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pmhil:
George W. Bush during his six years as governor of Texas presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in the recent history of the United
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17670
June 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pm‘If you have to kill someone, then for God’s sakes, kill the right people,’†Macgregor said.
Wow. What a nice human being.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pmWhen we have to resort to a campaign of “kill the right people”, it speaks volumes about what we’ve been criminally doing all this time, doesn’t it?? Wow!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:40 pm…I’m a proud 5th generation Texan, and Shrub is a wannabe, since the majority of us DON’T live on farms, playing “cowboy”.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:41 pmSounds like the best of the best will be handing out flowers again. I am sure that will persuade the terrorists to change their mind.
Comment by Roger_Roger —
So, RR wants our soldiers to keep killing the wrong people. that will win the hearts and minds of the Iraquis.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:41 pmThis is stunning….because the implication is that it is well known that we don’t know the enemy from our friends. Wow…double wow! What the hell are we doing in there in the first place if we haven’t ever identified an enemy??
June 29th, 2007 at 2:41 pmKilling all the wrong people only emboldens our enemies, that’s a given.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:42 pmUnfortunately for this country, Shrubbie never grew up. Some of the characatures of him are so apropos….a very small person in some huge ten gallon hat, giant spurs, and shoes that he couldn’t fill in his wildest of dreams.
Guess that pretty much sums up this guys’s legacy!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:43 pmAll the candidates running for president need to be asked from the press, if they will shield Bush and Cheney from being prosecuted for War Crimes? If any say YES, then they must be rejected by the voters. Is this why the Bush family purchased a 100,000 acre ranch in Paraguay for Dubya to hide out from being tried at the Hague?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:43 pmBush special ops philosophy: Kill’em all, and let God Sort’em all later.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:44 pmBy all means the Army shouldn’t kill people!…these politically correct idiots are what bring about Clinton era 9/11 attacks.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:46 pmHey Jay! You know that’s precisely why the Bush Crime family purchased that land recently….that and the fact that it sits on the largest pure water reserve in the world….the next “texas tea”??
I hear that the Hague is preparing some pretty stiff penalties for these thugs….won’t come a moment too soon for most americans.
As for the question to ALL candidates, I believe it will not only be an optional question but you will see forthright candidates coming out voluntarily and discussing what penalties may be in store for the criminal behaviors committed by the Bush Cabal.
It will be THE ‘election winner’!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:46 pmHey Frank…..hate to tell you but 911 occurred on douchbag’s watch….wake up from your rip van winkle sleep!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:47 pmOn this thread, the village idiot if Frank J, that’s obvious.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:48 pmFrank > how would you feel if Bush had Special Ops kill your entire family for NO justified reason?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:48 pmF*ckin-A. Well said. Every word.
About time someone OFFICIALLY put the truth on record.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:48 pmand Bush’s heinous “surge” has netted the “deadliest three months” yet in the war….go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com for the details.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:49 pm#32 By all means the Army shouldn’t kill people!…these politically correct idiots are what bring about Clinton era 9/11 attacks.
Comment by Frank J — June 29, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
You’re really dense.
Special Ops: SELECTIVE, PRECISE, SURGERY little (in size) deeds.
The rest of the military: generic war operations, security, curfews, bombings, etc.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:50 pmveritas > I hope you are right, because the info on this TP thread implies that Bush thugs have been murdering innocent people.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:50 pmYes, Frank, you and the rest of the 26% are indeed politically incorrect. You are incorrect about politics, war, economics, religion,… pretty much everything. Congratulations.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:54 pmUnfortunately for this country, Shrubbie never grew up. Some of the characatures of him are so apropos….a very small person in some huge ten gallon hat, giant spurs, and shoes that he couldn’t fill in his wildest of dreams.
Guess that pretty much sums up this guys’s legacy!
Comment by veritas
I believe the correct expression is “all hat and no horse.”
June 29th, 2007 at 2:54 pmThe Hague could indict Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Reid for being accomplices in murder. They are in effect shielding Bush and Cheney from being impeached and going to prison.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:54 pm“the right people” == MAMs (military-aged males)
June 29th, 2007 at 2:55 pmBy all means the Army shouldn’t kill people!…these politically correct idiots are what bring about Clinton era 9/11 attacks.
Comment by Frank J — June 29, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
Frank J wants the army to continue to kill the Wrong people.
And I think you’re a little confused on history, Jake. I believe if you will check the facts, Bush was president on 9/11. That technically (as well as spiritually) makes it part of the “Bush era”.
Can’t you do any better than that?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:55 pmThe Great US Killing Machine - what a wonderful moniker! Dis-gusting….totally disgusting and something which most americans would never want to identify with.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:56 pm#45 We all know Jake-off’s shenanigans and monikers even if he tries a new one for size, don’t we?? what a joke!!!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmI have to go eat, but will be back later. Bye all and take care.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmJake - aka Blame Clinton - outs himself every time. Too comical.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmBye, Jay! Enjoy your dinner! Catcha later!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmThe PROBLEM is that under Rumsfeld, all SOF forces pretty much became direct action forces, kicking in doors and shooting bad guys in the face. Some SOF units are designed for that and are very good at it, but others are designed for doing other more difficult things like building raport with the locals and helping to win over the population. With everyone doing direct action missions, the other missions have fallen by the wayside. That’s a complete oversimplification, but the best way I can think of to encapsulate it here.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmThanks, NC. I will link to that next time I post (for which I surely will again - apologies in advance).
Did you see that Jenna Bush was chatting Portuguese with a child on her trip with momma Bush? Preparing for her time near the equator, I suppose (and far away from The Hague, where her papa should be).
June 29th, 2007 at 2:58 pmHi MsJoanne - No doubt the Bushitco offspring need to be moving to parts unknown and learning the lingo. They will be in hiding there for a very long time.
Catch ya’ll later….don’t beat up the trolls too badly in the meantime….JK!!
June 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pmWhy do they hate us?
Well, I think you’ve got your answer. America is a “giant killing machine” that too often kills the wrong people.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:00 pmUmm… So now who is going to kill the Islamo-Fascist giants?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:07 pmHaving been to the Hague and watched the process and the degree of security afforded accused war criminals, I am reminded of a fitting scene :
Andre Chikalito, the mad Butcher of Rostov was tried in a cage in the courtroom. One day the enraged relative of a victim whipped a 1 inch steel ball-bearing at Chikalito’s head and the soldiers present in the courtroom did nothing to prevent it ; the ball-bearing bounced off concrete taking a small shard out of the wall next to the mad butchers head. The soldiers did nothing to protect the madman in the cage.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:08 pmnot Canadian-just called my congressman! told the sec to tell him this is a HUGE deal to the people in his district!!!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:09 pmthe HUGE deal on Cheney, that is…
June 29th, 2007 at 3:09 pmWe’re back to Catch-22 again: “If dropping bombs on the enemy isn’t a Special Service, I don’t know what is.”
June 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pmFrom the looks of Bush’s immigration bill defeat speech yesterday, it seems Cheney has quit informing him of the next move. He’s been hung out to dry altogether, except for the resumption of his old liquor habit.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:15 pmIt’s possible Cheney’s nongovernmental security apparatus and his pet KBR and Blackwater boondoggles have superseded some of the special ops units, or have at least had the lion’s share of funding diverted to them.
It doesn’t matter either way. If I’m simply being paranoid, then Bush is still marginally included in the decision making process. That’s no good either.
But killing the wrong people is part of what makes death, maming, suicide, terrorism, and so forth, so humorous to the right wingers! To them, killing the wrong people is absolutely hillarious! Way funnier than killing the right people.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:19 pmWow! Bush really does look defeated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pA9oOcuOE
Get used to it a$$hole.
Listen to how he says we have to watch how we spend the people’s money. If he isn’t the dumbest, most hypocritical, dirt bag (ok, well, there is the Dark Lord), but honestly.
F8ck You, Bush!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:24 pmBush Regime just loves to kill people > PERIOD.
Comment by Jay Randal #3
…not JUST the Bush administration…
…there’s a SICKO gene…
…running throughout…
…the homo sapien community…
…at the rate we’re going…
…we probably won’t last as long as…
…the Dodo bird…
June 29th, 2007 at 3:32 pmJohn Negroponte…Elliot Abrams,convicted and pardoned…Robert Gates, convicted and pardoned, all Death Squad Familiars .
Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Privatised Warfare. Black sites, Rendition. Torture . Death Squads .
Why are any of us remotely Surprised ? Since day one , George Bush has surrounded himself with the ingredient personalities to permit and allow and create exactly the situation we now observe.
There was never any chance of any other outcome, there was never any attempt to prevent it; it’s not a bug , it’s a feature . The Bush Admin promised Privatisation, Tax cuts and War. It’s the sum reality hinted at in a quick glance over the attendant resumes. And it’s the America Bush Voters always wanted . That’s why there are so many of them on TV and radio telling you why we need Torture and Segregation…and are so angrily shocked when you remind them it’s vile .
Who Among us doubted it would be a race to the bottom?
And who among them can pretend they weren’t warned?
It’s the America they always wanted .
June 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm“The emphasis will be on, ‘If you have to kill someone, then for God’s sakes, kill the right people,’†Macgregor said. “That’s been lost over the last several years.â€
I guess we’re supposed to be relieved?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:49 pmThat’s a very strange way of admitting that the wrong people were killed. But it is nothing new that neocons don’t care about whom they kill as long as there is somebody killed.
Therefore the civilized world (and that includes civilized Americans) have to make sure that those responsible for killing the wrong people get prosecuted. Murdering innocent people in our name is not a solution .
June 29th, 2007 at 4:02 pmhmm, whatever happened to the principle of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?? if Bush ordered (say) Castro or Chavez to be assassinated, wouldn’t that provide a justification for Castro or Chavez to assassinate Bush?
it seems to me that the “right people” to kill are the ones who are ordering the killings in the first place.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:08 pmTo be fair, they are talking about targeted killing of significant individuals rather than just killing any old “terrorist” regardless of who they actually are - which is what Rumsfeld had them doing.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:12 pm@67 - after a fashion. Ideally, military special ops is targeted at military objectives - commanders in the field, etc., not political targets. That’s the CIA’s territory.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:14 pmKilling.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:19 pmThe one place where discriminating is a good thing.
If you’re discrimination leads to not killing the innocent bystander.
Yeah, that would be a good thing to get back to.
This is rubbish, a slander on our men of strength, resolve and impeccable and unimpeachable ability to distinguish the ‘right’ people to kill from the innocent ones.
Sadly this Colonel has been brainwashed by liberal, ant-Rumsfeld and, therefore, anti-American propagandists of the left.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:45 pm“kill the right people”
We will never know the “right” people to kill, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, or anywhere else.
Think about it. Leave aside for a second the problems of actual execution (literally), the whole premise of so-called counter-insurgency operations is that we could somehow know who to execute to make Iraq and Afghanistan functioning democracies. Does this premise make it through even a first pass common sense test?
Do you imagine that we have, or ever could have, intelligence analysts who understand Iraq or Afghanistan better than folks who’ve lived there their whole lives, actual Iraqis and Afghanis? If you sensibly answer “no”, then ask yourself whether or not you, or any other US citizen off the street, could reasonably be entrusted to know which of our fellow citizens need to be executed to improve the political climate in the US. If you, again sensibly, don’t think American democracy would be improved by anyone, no matter how wise and discerning, being entrusted with deciding which Americans are a threat to democracy and should be executed, why do you think even the wisest and most discerning of us on the subject of Iraqi and Afghanistani politics would ever “know who to kill” in those societies?
Ask any war supporter, and even many of those who think we shouldn’t be in Iraq, or even Afghanistan, and they will tell you that the folks we need to kill are the “bad guys”. Now, use of this term is ipso facto proof that the speaker has no idea who to kill, since “bad guys” is recognized shorthand for “them what needs killin’”, so we are in the presence of circular reasoning when this term is used. But I guess they would tell you that they mean by this folks in these countries who are against our occupation, since the unthinking assumption is that no one without ulterior motives in these countries could possibly object to our presence. But polling shows that overwhelming majorities in both countries want us out yesterday. The Admiral is wasting his breath. Kill anyone in these socities — man, woman or child — and you’ve probably killed the “right” people. At least according to an irredeemably wrong basic approach to the world.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pmgregor
keep it up, positions like yours are what led to the end of McCarthyism and the demise of the John Birch Society
June 29th, 2007 at 4:51 pmDamn runaway Jason Bourne.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:53 pmattack the warriors, the defenders of our nation when they speak out against a bad policy and poor leadership, soon the kings troops will be bunking in your house and you will be on the street scrounging rat meat
June 29th, 2007 at 4:54 pmnow don’t forget what a bad guy Max Cleland is, he is just hiding his traitor sympathies behind all of his arms and legs
sorry Max but I am sure you understand the sarcasm
June 29th, 2007 at 4:57 pmNo. Sounds like civilian leadership is okaying the murder of the wrong people. I’m sure that will persuade their relatives to vow allegiance to the US.
Just as the Russians proved in Afghanistan, there’s nothing like occupying a country to win their love and affection. And make no mistake, the US is not fighting a war, it’s supporting an occupation.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:58 pmOh wait there is that no good lilly livered liberal Chuck Hagel , or was it John Warner, these dirty red coats or are the blue aaarrrrghhh
June 29th, 2007 at 4:59 pmtubino
don’t forget the British in the pass in Afganistan
June 29th, 2007 at 5:01 pm“If you have to kill someone, then for God’s sakes, kill the right people”
and heaven forbid, don’t get 3500+ Americans killed by invading a soveign nation that has nothing to do with 9/11.” — oops
June 29th, 2007 at 5:25 pmYep, they are no longer a “giant killing machine”. They are now a “mini killing machine”. Killing is killing. Why do we love to kill people? What have we become?
June 29th, 2007 at 5:52 pm‘kill the right people’…
and they are:?
…Bush, Cheney, and Rove?
June 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pmWhat have we become?
Comment by katie #81
…no offense but…
…obviously you’re not too well versed in…
…World History…
June 29th, 2007 at 7:43 pmGosh, why did we kill 3 million Japanese? Why not just dance in a circle and sing Kumbayah, that will stop the Muslim invaders!
June 29th, 2007 at 10:31 pmanyone have the stats on how many people GWB oversaw the execution of when he was gov. of Texas… beter yet an estimate on how many were wrongfully convicted?
Not enough!
June 29th, 2007 at 10:33 pmm12 celebrates the wrongfully convicted being put to death.
Do we need any further proof of what this troll is?
June 29th, 2007 at 10:45 pm#86
Why do you hate our system of justice?
June 29th, 2007 at 11:17 pmlet me get this straight … Bush gets home from church and tells his mum and dad he’s headed out to the stall to feed his pet goat, but his folks say No!, not until he’s changed his sunday school clothes and written in his project book as instructed on that days lessons discussed about the nature of forming bad habits such as substance abuse and compulsion addiction. He reluctantly agrees with, “oh shucks … okay”, and with an odd look in his eyes disappears into his room where he opens the composition book past that day’s notes and slowly tears a blank page out and slips it into his slacks’ pocket. He removes his tie and tosses it into the closet where it falls to the floor and closes the door on which is a full length mirror. He hesitates to assess the clothing, sans the tie, and the features of his face, then grins broadly and makes for the rear screen door out to the back porch. Leaping the last few stair steps, he trots to the the back of the barn against which, lean things he recognizes as implements but of which he has no knowledge of their workings. In a matted area of thatch is the generous evidence of a recent visiting racoon who’s done his business and then been on his way. He grins broadly again and stomps in it’s center leaving the deep imprint of his crisp dress shoes. For reasons only he would, but may not be aware of, he slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out the blank page torn from the sunday studies composition book, folding over and again until it’s not possible to continue to do so, then places it in the center of the heel print at it’s deepest part. He steps back, views this momentarily, then steps forward and stomps at the pile driving the remaining mound over the paper and footprint. He smiles again and turns toward the house loosing and losing the shoe to the sticky muck and considers bending to remove it but instead hops a few feet toward the house then gives up and just walks in an uneven gait one shoe, one sock to the back porch where he’s met by his parents who are by this time changed and seated comfortably on the porch, when they immediately admonish him for not being changed and ask about his sunday school lessons to which he assures them he’s seen to them as advised. His mother demands he go in the house and change and remain in his room for the remainder of the day. He cringes past both and near gleefully tromps down the hall and enters his room where he lays out on the bed still one shoe, one soggy sock and pulls the phone from the nightstand. As he dials he can imagine variations of what will be said, and as the receiver is answered on the other end he responds to hello with, “I need you to help me get my shoe back”.
June 30th, 2007 at 8:56 amKilling the “wrong” people, a.k.a, killing innocents, a.k.a., killing possible allies, a.k.a., causing possible allies and neutrals to flock to the banner of the enemy, a.k.a., cutting off your nose to spite your face, a.k.a., piss-poor tactics. And people fail to see this, why?
June 30th, 2007 at 3:32 pmThis is FUNNY . I am sure that all of you Liberals would have no problem pointing out the Terrorist for the whole 2 minutes that you would stay alive over in Iraq
June 30th, 2007 at 4:36 pm