The special forces war on terror

LA Times:

Weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, a small team of Green Berets was quietly sent to the Philippine island of Basilan. There, one of the world's most virulent Islamic extremist groups, Abu Sayyaf, had established a dangerous haven and was seeking to extend its reach into the Philippine capital.

But rather than unleashing Hollywood-style raids, as might befit their reputation, the Green Berets proposed a time-consuming plan to help the Philippine military take on the extremist group itself. Seven years later, Abu Sayyaf has been pushed out of Basilan and terrorist attacks have dropped dramatically.

"It's not flashy, it's not glamorous, but man, this is how we're going to win the long war," said Lt. Gen. David P. Fridovich, the Army officer who designed the Philippine program.

Fridovich is part of a quiet but significant transformation taking place within the most secret of the U.S. military's armed forces, the Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which encompasses the Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, Delta Force and similar units from the Air Force and the Marines.

SOCOM Commander Adm. Eric T. Olson, who was appointed to the post in July 2007, is shifting emphasis away from the high-profile raids that were the hallmark of the early years of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. Instead, Olson has stressed "indirect action": training friendly militaries to better fight terrorism and violent separatists within their own borders.

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The story confuses the two different missions of special forces. They have always been used as described for the mission in the Philippines. Many have also been used for raids behind enemy lines. I suspect that we are doing both right now. In areas where the special forces are not permitted to develop local forces because of the objection of the "host" nation such as in Pakistan, they do clandestine operations behind enemy lines to find and disrupt enemy activity.

Many were doing that along the Ho Chi Minh Trial while other special forces teams were assisting the Vietnamese prepare to fight the communist. We will continue to do both during this war too. The special forces working in Afghanistan and Pakistan have a very different mission than the ones in the Philippines. Both missions are important.

When al Qaeda's leadership is caught it very well could be by special forces troops whose mission is very different from the one described here.