| From The Editor January 29, 2007 |
Blackhawk UpAmerica returns to Somalia.If there is one lesson to be drawn from American military engagements since 9/11, it is that the hard part is winning the peace. Nowhere is this truer today than in Somalia. With the army-vs.-army phase of the conflict in that country seemingly complete, Somalia's transitional federal government faces its real challenge. The position of the transitional government seemed dire a month ago. The Islamic Courts Union, a radical group affiliated with al Qaeda, was on the brink of destroying the U.N.-recognized government, which was confined to the south-central city of Baidoa. But when the Islamic Courts Union launched an assault on Baidoa, the Ethiopian military (which was protecting the transitional government) responded with greater force than expected. The Islamic Courts had no good response to Ethiopian airpower. And high-level sources in both the transitional government and U.S. military intelligence report that U.S. air and ground forces were active from the outset, including CIA paramilitary officers, Special Operations forces, Marine units, and helicopter gunships.Full Story Gary Jackson |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
| "Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause." Homer |
| PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS |
I have an image of David Petraeus burned in my mind. It was just days after Baghdad had fallen to American forces, and Petraeus, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division, had joined other leaders of the division at a memorial service for two soldiers who had just been killed. |
| BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
U.S. troops in Iraq authorized to take more aggressive action against Iranian agentsAmerican troops in Iraq have authority to kill or capture Iranian agents deemed to be a threat, officials said in describing a tougher stand toward Tehran and its suspected meddling in the nearly four-year-old war. The more aggressive policy - evolving over a period of months - was described on Friday as the result of mounting evidence that Iran is supporting terrorists inside Iraq and is a major supplier of bombs and other weapons used to target U.S. forces. President George W. Bush has said the remote-controlled bombs, called improvised explosive devices, are the greatest threat to U.S. troops and the future of a peaceful Iraq.Full Story Net closes on wounded and cornered Bali bomb chief"The Americans like to talk about the battle for hearts and minds. But you need to hold them by the balls. There has to be the threat of force." As the afternoon call to prayer echoes across the teeming port town of Jolo, the chain-smoking Filipino intelligence boss spits out his lewd warning to fugitive Bali bombers Dulmatin and Omar Patek. The two Jemaah Islamiah leaders are holed up somewhere in the cloud-covered jungle only a few dozen kilometres from where we sit beneath the mango trees at Philippines army headquarters, shared with the assisting US special forces." We know where they are," the spy boss says of Dulmatin and Patek." But it's a matter of getting there in time. They could be inside Mount Dajo but to get there even with choppers, they would know we were coming and move on."Full Story Somalia: American Soldiers Seized in Southern Region, Arab And Western Diplomats SayThere have been mounting reports that numbers of American soldiers were missing in southern Somalia following the recent US air operations on the Islamist and al-Qaeda hideouts in southern jungles of the country, Al Sharq, an Arabic newspaper based in Qatar reported on Friday. The paper also reported that Kenyan police have seized armed Asians crossing from Somalia into the Kenyan border. The Kenyan police believe the foreigners were fighting alongside with Somalia's defeated Islamists. According to the paper, Arab diplomats, who asked for anonymity, confirmed that an unspecified number of US foot soldiers was seized in southern Somalia where Islamists are believed to be hiding after their loss of the capital Mogadishu to the UN and internationally-backed transitional government of Somalia and the Ethiopian troops in the country.Full Story U.S. Soldiers Brace for Their SurgeFrom his seat in the tactical operations center, Army Lieutenant Colonel Edward Taylor can survey a wall-sized black-and-white satellite map of Baghdad. But that bird's-eye view will probably matter less than the two books on the table in front of him, as U.S. troops once again attempt to bring the city under control. The first, embossed with the Marine Corps' seal, is titled Small-Unit Leader's Guide to Counter-Insurgency. The second is the small green notebook in which he records details of meetings with his Iraq counterpart, General Samir. U.S. commanders plan to employ classic counterinsurgency tactics rediscovered by the U.S. military through a bitter process of trial and error in Iraq. One question they face, though, is whether Washington has learned those lessons too late. Another is whether the Iraqi government and security forces on whom the new strategy crucially depends are actually part of the problem.Full Story New U.S. Counterinsurgency Tactics Face Challenges AheadLt. Gen. David Petraeus, who has been put forward by the administration as the architect of one of the few successful efforts to stabilize Iraq in the wake of the American invasion in 2003, was selected for the position by the president on Jan. 4 as part of an overhaul of the administration's military strategy in Iraq. After receiving Senate confirmation on Jan. 26, he replaced Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. Considered one of the military's foremost thinkers, Petraeus was stationed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from April 2003 to February 2004. There he commanded the Army's 101st Airborne Division and combined tough military tactics with reconstruction projects to stabilize the city.Full Story |
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Bad Guys of the Week: A South-of-the-Border QuartetIs Mexico getting serious about cracking down on its out-of-control drug trade? Its new president, Felipe Calderon, may be the right guy at the right time. Along with dispatching military and elite police units to battle the gangs, last weekend his government -in an unprecedented move - extradited 15 of "the world's most violent and ruthless criminals," as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen Tandy put it. Tandy isn't exaggerating, investigators tell me. The Mexican group including reputed leaders from that country's top four drug syndicates: the Juarez cartel, the Gulf cartel, the Federation, and the Arellano-Felix organization. These groups rank among the world's most formidable criminal organizations. Together, they move most of the dope pouring into the United States - the world's largest market for illicit drugs - and it has made them rich, hyperviolent, and powerful. Mexican drug cartels smuggle nearly 90 percent of America's cocaine, along with much of its heroin and methamphetamine.Full Story L.A.'s New Gang WarNext month Los Angeles officials will announce details of a new anti-gang initiative aimed at suppressing a resurgence of gang crime in and around L.A. After falling for several years, gang-related crime rose 14 percent last year; 58 percent of the city's murders were gang-related in 2006, up 50 percent from the previous year. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has brought together what he calls an "unprecedented collaboration" to fight the gangs - including prosecutors, the LAPD, the L.A. Sheriff's office and other local police, along with such federal agencies as the FBI. The plan: to target the city's most violent gangs, including one notorious Latino gang that has allegedly been targeting black victims in south Los Angeles. Bratton spoke with NEWSWEEK Los Angeles correspondent Andrew Murr about his confidence that this plan can drive down gang crime and help provide a template for other cities battling these deadly rivalries.Full Story Taliban vows summer wave of suicide bombersThe Taliban is gearing up for a massive summer offensive, with more than 2,000 suicide bombers ready for action and even more preparing, a senior Taliban commander said yesterday. The commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, issued his threat a day after a top U.S. diplomat warned that Afghanistan was in for a bloody and dangerous spring after the bloodiest year since the hard-line Islamist Taliban was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001. "The Taliban will intensify their guerrilla and suicide strikes this summer," the mullah said, speaking with Reuters from a secret location. "This will be a bloodiest year for foreign troops."Full Story U.S. unveils non-lethal heat-ray weaponThe U.S. military demonstrated a new weapon Wednesday designed to disperse crowds: a heat-ray gun that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire. The ray gun for crowd control goes by the unwieldy name of "active denial system" but it sounds like science fiction: its beam makes people feel intense heat. Apart from causing that terrifying sensation, the technology is supposed to be harmless - a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.Full Story MI5 tells labs to secure virusesBritain's laboratories have been ordered to strengthen security on stocks of more than 100 deadly viruses and bacteria after an MI5 warning that Islamic terrorists are training in germ warfare. The biological agents include polio, rabies, tuberculosis and bird flu. Food-poisoning bacteria such as E.coli and the sources for a number of rare tropical and Middle Eastern illnesses are also included. Scientists and lab staff in universities, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies who deal with agents will have to be vetted by police, and their laboratories will be checked by government safety inspectors. Stock will have to be accounted for and regularly audited. The crackdown comes after MI5 privately warned the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that al-Qa'ida was actively recruiting scientists.Full Story |
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Blackwater Language SchoolLearn the language... and the culture... then deploy.Operators, analysts, military and civilian support personnel working with or deploying to a foreign country have four classes to choose from: IRAQI ARABIC - 26 February - 2 March 7 May - 11 May 6 August - 10 August 29 October - 2 November PASHTO - 5 March - 9 March 14 May - 18 May 13 August - 17 August 5 November - 9 November DARI - 12 March - 16 March 21 May - 25 May 20 August - 24 August 12 November - 16 November SPANISH - 19 February - 23 February 27 August - 31 August INTENSITY - Live and breathe Arabic, Pashto/Dari, or Spanish Blackwater Language School provides an intensive language learning environment in which participants challenge themselves and learn at a rate beyond normal limits. This intensive experience has proven to be very successful. Because you and your teammates have limited time to study the language and culture, we substitute time with intensity. Every student is encouraged to communicate as much as possible in the target language during the week-long course. This is no ordinary course of study- it is an endeavor that is emotionally taxing- and rewarding. SURVIVABILITY - Cultural Awareness = Situational Awareness If you don't understand the culture...you can cause real trouble. Our team of accomplished staff is dedicated to helping students survive and thrive in the subject culture. A series of cultural activities will take place throughout the program. Students will be encouraged to use their new skills as they eat cultural meals and engage in situational interviews- in the immersive environment. This highly intensive language environment empowers you to immediately put your language skills into action and test the boundaries of your cultural survival skills. At only $1495 per student, space is extremely limited. To reserve a space for you or your unit call or email us today. (252) 435-2016 languages@blackwaterusa.com |
| FRANKS REVIEW |
BlackHawk SERPA Lvl III w/ LightLast year at SHOT Show ('06) I was delighted to see a prototype of the Xiphos pistol light. Manufactured to the specifications of the guys who own Night-Ops (part of the BlackHawk family) and based on their decades of experience in low-light environments, I expected great things. This year at SHOT Show I was delighted to see the next evolution: a single 3V battery driven LED light called the Xiphos NT. Now, typically, when you get a new light - and this is an entirely new light - you have to wait about six months for the industry to catch up and make a holster for your weapon / light combination. This is the power of BlackHawk: The light and the holster were released at the same time. Designed for use with any Glock 17/22/31, the SERPA Level III duty holster was updated to work with the Xiphos NT mounted on any of those pistols. Here's the kicker: go back and read that line again: Level III duty holster for a pistol with light mounted. That's never before been done in the industry.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/holsters+/serpa3wxiphos.htm Recreational Equipment ReviewJames Rollins' "Deep Fathom"I have to admit to being somewhat of a reading hound. I firmly believe that there is something to be learned in almost anything we read and I view my "recreational" reading as an on-going education process that I enjoy. Every evening when I'm home, my son and I have "reading time". For fifteen minutes or so he will read something he likes - typically one of the Goose Bumps books right now (he's nine) - while I read whatever I'm into at that time. Sometimes it's pure educational material applicable to military or law enforcement operations. Other times it's fiction that is fun. I ran out of books to read and had to pick up one of my wife's. I was delighted within the first few chapters. The book was "Deep Fathom" by James Rollins. Interesting book...
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The Blackwater Tactical Weekly is a free weekly e-publication. The BTW provides readers valuable information from diverse sources regarding tactical and strategic security issues. Editor-in-Chief – Gary Jackson (btw@blackwaterusa.com) Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training
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