by Jack Murphy
The community has arguably been drifting toward a conventional bureaucratic force that is slow moving and tied to large programs of record. We risk moving farther away from unconventional thinking of the past that was the spine of the Special Operations community.
Is the U.S. Special Operations community becoming more conventional in nature? It’s a good question to ask.
Notes
Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
1 http://change.gov/agenda/iraq–agenda.
2 www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html.
3 www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/world/meast/isis-iraq-syria/.
4 http://abcnews.go.com/US/secret-service-aware-apparent-isis-flag-photo-front/story?id=24985241.
5 www.blueforcetracker.com/article/ ISIS-propaganda-video-transcript.
6 H. John Poole, Tactics of the Crescent Moon: Muslim Combat Methods (Emerald Isle, NC: Posterity Press, 2004).
7 https://news.vice.com/video/the-islamic-state-full-length.
8 http://sofrep.com/19955/aq-iraq-alive-and-well/.
9 www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/07/al_qaeda_in_iraq_cla_2.php.
10 www.naharnet.com/stories/en/78961-al-nusra-commits-to-al-qaida-deny-iraq-branch-merger.
11 http://sofrep.com/31224/go-isis-now-control-fallujah-ramadi/.
12 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101083.html.
13 www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/al-qaeda-in-syria-a-closer-look-at-isis-part-i.
14 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/Syria/10094590/Muslim-Brotherhood-cleric-calls-for-Sunni-jihad-in-Syria.html.
15 “ISIS: Public Legitimacy Through the Reenactment of Islam’s Early History,” Small Wars Journal, August 15, 2014.
16 www.thenational.ae/opinion/implausible-as-it-sounds-isil-has-plundered-maos-playbook.
17 http://sofrep.com/31224/go-isis-now-control-fallujah-ramadi/.
18 www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/21/islamic_state_turkey_hostage.
19 www.dw.de/the-fight-for-iraqs-baiji-refinery/a-17880825.
20 http://www.niquash.org/articles/?id=3460.
21 http://breakingdefense.com/2014/09/isis-force-remains-low-tech-dod-data/.
22 http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/2014/08/iraq-situation-report-august-3-2014.html.
23 http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/2014/09/iraq-situation-report-september-25-26.html?utm_source=Iraq+Situation+Report%3A+September+25-26%2C+2014&utm_campaign=ISW+New+Iraq+update&utm_medium=email.
24 www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28481283.
25 http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/09/islamic_state_assaults_baiji_o.php.
26 www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/opinion/bergen-american-al-qaeda-suicide-bomber-syria/.
27 http://foreign-intrigue.com/2014/09/voices-from-the-front-2/.
28 http://sofrep.com/36837/isis-terror-maneuver/.
29 www.everyjoe.com/2014/09/01/politics/why-arab-armies-bad-worthless/.
30 Council on Foreign Relations, “Background Briefing: What is ISIL?” PBS NewsHour, June 24, 2014.
31 Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987).
32 www.rewardsforjustice.net/English/yasin_al_suri.html.
33 “By Hyping ISIL Threat, US Is Falling into Group’s Trap,” Aljazeera America, September 30, 2014.
34 archive.org/stream/shamikh_000093/4-djvu.txt.
35 “Abandoned Al Qaeda Notebook Found in Yemen Features Blueprint for Creating Islamic State,” New York Daily News, July 8, 2014.
36 www.caliphate.eu.
37 Eric Selbin, Modern Latin American Revolutions (Bolder, CO: Westview, 1998), pp. 30–64.
38 Henry A. Kissinger, “The Viet Nam Negotiations,” Foreign Affairs, January 1969.
39 Department of State, Office of Website Management, www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2011/nea/192885.htm.
40 Colin Freeman, “Iraq Crisis,” Telegraph, June 11, 2014.
41 Ruth Sherlock, “Inside the Leadership of Islamic State, Telegraph, July 9, 2014.
42 Department of State, Office of Website Management, www.state.gov/r/prs/ps/2014/230676.htm.
43 Suhaib Anjarini, “Syria: Jihadist Factions Close to Civil War,” Al-Akhbar English, March 8, 2014.
44 Radwan Mortada, “Al-Qaeda Leaks II: Baghdadi Loses His Shadow,” Al-Akhbar English January 14, 2014.
45 Sam Dagher, “Iraq Resists Pleas by U.S. to Placate Baath Party,” New York Times, April 25, 2009.
46 Dr. Michael Knights, “The Next Insurgency” Gulf States Newsletter, September 17, 2010.
47 Brett McGurk, “Al-Qaeda’s Resurgence in Iraq,” February 5, 2014, www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/221274.htm.
48 Alaa al-Lami, “Sectarian Divisions Plague Iraq Baath Party,” Al-Akhbar English, January 18, 2012.
49 Aaron Y. Zelin, “Free Radical,” Foreign Affairs, February 3, 2012.
50 Aron Lund, “Who and What Was Abu Khalid al-Suri? Part I,” carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=54618&reloadFlag=1.
51 “FSA Captures Chief of Palestine Branch of Syrian Mukhabarat,” YouTube, June 28, 2012.
52 Scott Fitzsimmons, “When Few Stood against Many,” Defence Studies 13, no. 2 (2013).
53 www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09KABUL1361_a.html.
54 “SAS Raid Hits German Airfield at Fuka,” World War II Today, http://ww2today.com/26th-july-1942-sas-raid-hits-the-desert-airfield-at-fuka.
55 John D. Gresham, “The Battle of Debecka Pass,” Defense Media Network, August 12, 2010, http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/roughnecks-at-war-the-battle-of-debecka-pass/.
56 Zeke J. Miller, “U.S. Launches Air-Strike Campaign Against ISIS in Syria,” Time, September 22, 2014.
57 Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela, The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding (Boston: Shambhala, 1987), pp. 249–50.
58 www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/farewell_address/1961_01_07_Draft-of-Speech.pdf.
59 David Barstow, “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand,” New York Times, April 20, 2008.
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About the Authors
Peter Nealen is a former Reconnaissance Marine and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He deployed to Iraq in 2005–2006, and again in 2007, with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Recon Bn. After two years of schools and workups, including Scout Sniper Basic and Team Leader’s Courses, he deployed to Afghanistan with 4th Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, I MEF. He is now the author of the military thrillers Task Force Desperate, Hunting in the Shadows, and Alone and Unafraid. Nealen also authored the Wall Street Journal bestseller and SOFREP original book Operation Red Wings: The Rescue Story Behind Lone Survivor, and is the USMC editor for SOFREP.com.
Jack Murphy is an eight-year Army Special Operations veteran who served as a Sniper and Team Leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion and as a Senior Weapons Sergeant on a Military Free Fall team in 5th Special Forces Group. Having left the military in 2010, he recently finished a degree in Political Science at Columbia University. Murphy is a New York Times bestselling author (Benghazi: The Definitive Report) and the author of Reflexive Fire, Target Deck, the PROMIS series, and numerous nonfiction articles about weapons, tactics, special operations, terrorism, and counterterrorism. He has appeared in documentaries, national television, syndicated radio, and currently serves as the editor-in-chief of SOFREP.com.
Brandon Webb is a former U.S. Navy SEAL with combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. During his last tour he served as the sniper Course Manager at
the Naval Special Warfare Center. He is the President of Force12 Media, cofounder of SOFREP.com, and the editor-in-chief of SpecialOperations.com. Webb is a New York Times bestselling author (The Red Circle and Benghazi: The Definitive Report) and regularly appears on national news media as a subject matter expert on weapons, terrorism, and special operations issues.
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