U.S. sees Somalia mission as model

Special Forces used in counterterror strike

By Mark Mazzetti
New York Times News Service

01/13/07 "Chicago Tribune" --- WASHINGTON -- Military operations in Somalia by U.S. commandos, and the use of the Ethiopian army as a surrogate force to root out Al Qaeda operatives in the country, are a blueprint that Pentagon strategists say they hope to use more frequently in counterterrorism missions around the globe.

Military officials said the strike by an American gunship against terrorism suspects in southern Somalia on Sunday shows that even with the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from the Pentagon, Special Operations Command troops intend to take advantage of the directive given to them by Rumsfeld in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.

U.S. officials said the recent military operations have been carried by the Pentagon's joint Special Operations Command, which directs the military's most secretive and elite units, like the Army's Delta Force.

The Pentagon established a desolate outpost in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti in 2002 in part to serve as a hub for Special Operations missions to capture or kill senior Al Qaeda leaders in the region.

Few such "high-value" targets have materialized, and the Pentagon has gradually relocated members of the covert Special Operations units to more urgent missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But officials in Washington said this week that the joint command had quietly been returning troops and weaponry to the region in recent weeks in anticipation of a mission against members of an Al Qaeda cell believed to be hiding inside Somalia.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace told members of Congress on Friday that the strike in Somalia was executed under the Pentagon's authority to hunt down and kill terrorism suspects around the world, a power given to it by the White House shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

However, Pentagon officials said it is still not known whether any senior Al Qaeda suspects or their allies were killed in the air strike Sunday, carried out by an AC-130 gunship.

Some critics of the Pentagon's aggressive use of Special Operations troops argue that using U.S. forces outside declared combat zones gives the Pentagon too much authority and blurs the lines between soldiers and spies.

According to a Pentagon consultant with knowledge about special operations, small teams of American advisers crossed the border into Somalia with the advancing Ethiopian army.

"You're not talking lots of guys," the Pentagon consultant said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "You're talking onesies and twosies."

On Friday, Somalia's Defense Ministry said Ethiopian-backed government forces captured Ras Kamboni, the last remaining stronghold of the Islamic movement in southern Somalia.