About That Delta Force Guy Killed in Iraq…
By Peter Van BurenOctober 29, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "We
Meant Well" - The United States does
not formally acknowledge the existence of Delta Force, and rarely
mentions the names of any of its members, even after they leave the
service.
Unlike the SEALs, who seem to be prolific writers,
Delta operators keep to themselves. Most of the unit’s actions
abroad are never mentioned publicly, and when an operator is killed
in combat, often the death goes unmentioned in the press, or
attributed sometime later to a training accident.
So the very public attention given at the highest
levels in Washington to the combat death of Master Sergeant
Joshua Wheeler was more than a little significant.
Wheeler was not only acknowledged as having fought
with Delta, but his photo was widely published. That in itself is
usually a no-no, for fear of linking him to others and outing active
duty Delta. His place of death, on the ground, deep inside Iraq, on
a strike mission, was explicit, with only a little b.s. thrown in
about how Delta was present to provide security for the Kurdish
raiding forces seeking to free some hostages. Well, well, nobody in
their right mind believes America’s finest special forces are sent
out to provide security for a bunch of gussied up militiamen.
That all within the context that the president of
the United States has made it explicit that his war against Islamic
State would not involve any American “boots on the ground.” Well,
Sergeant Wheeler most definitely was an example of boots on the
ground. There were an awful lot of reasons to have said nothing
about Wheeler, and instead much has been said.
So why all the public attention to Wheeler’s death, and why now?
One reason stands out: we, the public, are being
readied for a larger U.S. combat role in Iraq and Syria, one big
enough that it will be hard to keep hidden.
The circumstances of Wheeler’s death are picture
perfect for such a plan. He was a revered hero simply by the nature
of the unit he served with. He was fighting with about the only
competent and pro-American force left in the Middle East, the Kurds.
He was fighting the most evil enemy of America (for now), Islamic
State. He was on a successful rescue mission; hostages were freed,
prisoners released, some IS bad guys dispatched. And the whole thing
was conveniently
videotaped — a videotaped special forces raid. How often do you
see that? You don’t.
The whole could not be more palatable to an
American public perhaps just a little bit weary of war in the Middle
East.
Now hear this: in an “exclusive,” meaning the
entire story was handed intact to a single reporter to jot down and
print, The Hill
reports “top leaders at the Pentagon are considering a range of
options to bolster the military campaign against the Islamic State
in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including embedding some U.S. troops with
Iraqi forces… A second option sent to Pentagon leaders would embed
U.S. forces with Iraqis closer to the battlefield, at the level of a
brigade or a battalion. Some of the options sent to Pentagon leaders
would entail high risk for U.S. troops in Iraq and require more
personnel.”
Timing? Couldn’t be better. Defense Secretary
Ashton Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine
General Joseph Dunford (himself just back from Iraq) will discuss
the options when they testify today, October 27, in front of the
Senate Armed Services Committee. They will no doubt raise Wheeler’s
name.
I don’t like to traffic in conspiracy theories,
but if you can put these pieces together in another way without
having to use the word “coincidence” a couple of times, I’d be
interesting in what you have to say. Otherwise, hang on, the United
States is doubling down in the quagmire of Iraq. Again.
Peter Van
Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State
Department, spent a year in Iraq. Following his book,
We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for
the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People,
the Department of State began proceedings against him. Through the
efforts of the Government Accountability Project and the ACLU, Van
Buren instead retired from the State Department on his own terms.