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US special forces have conducted about a dozen secret operations against Al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants in Pakistan, Syria and other countries under broad war-waging authority given them by the administration of President George W. Bush, The New York Times reported on its website.
Citing unnamed senior US officials, the newspaper said the authority was contained in a classified order signed by then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld in early 2004 with the approval of President Bush.
The order gave the military permission to attack Al-Qaeda and other hostile targets anywhere in the world, even in countries not at war with the United States, without any additional approval, the report said.
Under this authority, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected Islamic militant compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan in 2006, The Times said, citing a former top CIA official.
What’s more, military planners were able to watch the entire attack “live” at CIA headquarters in Virginia through a video camera installed on a Predator aircraft that was sent to the area, the paper said.
Another raid was conducted by US special forces in Syria last October 26 in cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency, the report said.
There is no information about the remaining secret military strikes, but officials made clear the list of targets did not include Iran, The Times pointed out.
The paper said, however, that US forces had carried out reconnaissance missions in Iran using other classified directives.
About a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the past four years because they were deemed too risky, too diplomatically explosive or relied on insufficient evidence, the paper said.
Before the 2004 order, the Pentagon needed to get approval for missions on a case-by-case basis, which could take days, the paper recalled.
But Rumsfeld was not satisfied with the status-quo and pressed hard for permission to use military power automatically outside the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to The Times.
The paper says the 2004 order identifies 15 to 20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and several other Persian Gulf states, where Al-Qaeda was believed to be operating or had sought sanctuary.
According to the New York Times, the name of the secret order is called the “Al Qaeda Network Exord”.
According to a senior administration official, the new authority was spelled out in a classified document called “Al Qaeda Network Exord,” or execute order, that streamlined the approval process for the military to act outside officially declared war zones. Where in the past the Pentagon needed to get approval for missions on a case-by-case basis, which could take days when there were only hours to act, the new order specified a way for Pentagon planners to get the green light for a mission far more quickly, the official said.
Hopefully, the secret raids were successful in killing and capturing Al Qaeda militants.
Countries on the list where secret raids took place include: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, plus other Gulf states. Secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran were also ordered and executed.
There were missions canceled as well, and some of these canceled missions were reported in the New York Times this past June. This was at the time when the New York Times was (rightfully) accused by the American public for revealing U.S. military and CIA missions in other countries. One of the canceled missions, reported by the New York Times, included the U.S. Navy SEALS and Army Rangers receiving secret orders to capture Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama Bin Laden’s top deputy, inside Pakistan.
Read the entire 3-page article - International Herald Tribune
