Article

2021-03-27 Government Corruption

The Pentagon is investigating whether special operators have committed war crimes, and if their commanders have even been checking

[Insider] The Pentagon's Inspector General is investigating US Central Command's (CENTCOM) and US Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) handling of potential war-crimes cases within their operational jurisdiction or by their units.

CENTCOM is one of the more important unified combatant commands in the US military, as it is responsible for the Middle East and parts of Africa. SOCOM is responsible for developing, equipping, and employing most US special-operations units.

According to the Inspector General, the objective of the investigation is two-fold: First, to evaluate and determine the extent to which CENTCOM and SOCOM developed programs compliant with the Defense Department's Law of War requirements and aimed at preventing or reducing potential war crimes, and second, to determine whether CENTCOM and SOCOM properly investigated allegations of potential war crimes.

In addition to CENTCOM and SOCOM, Inspector General will be investigating US Forces-Afghanistan, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve — which is name for the US-led coalition against ISIS — and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

The investigation comes after an ethics review within US special-operations units and a major scandal in the Australian special-operations community, where an extensive investigation revealed several cases of war crimes by the Special Air Service Regiment — a unit equivalent to Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 — and the Commando Regiments.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-03-27 06:53|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 (SOCOM) handling of potential war-crimes cases within their operational jurisdiction or by their units.

Here it comes, re-subordination, downsizing and 'Big Army' oversight.

I really must speak to Fred about creating a 'Tilting At Windmills' posting category.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-03-27 06:56|| 2021-03-27 06:56|| Front Page Top

#2 "War means fighting, and fighting means killing." - Nathan Bedford Forrest

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2021-03-27 09:29|| 2021-03-27 09:29|| Front Page Top

#3 I wonder, if all it takes to neutralize the Special Operations command would be 'allegations', no doubt anonymous, how would the enemy react?

Posted by Cesare 2021-03-27 09:36|| 2021-03-27 09:36|| Front Page Top

#4 The enemy's been beating us to death with our own political system for seventy years, and it's only gotten worse as time goes on.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2021-03-27 09:52|| 2021-03-27 09:52|| Front Page Top

#5 After WW-2 the "Regular Army" disbanded the Rangers. After the "War on Terror" the knives are coming out for SOCOM in the hallways of the Pentagon.

Posted by magpie 2021-03-27 10:37|| 2021-03-27 10:37|| Front Page Top

#6 "War crimes" redefined to include failure to use preferred pronouns.

Posted by Mercutio 2021-03-27 10:42|| 2021-03-27 10:42|| Front Page Top

#7 Meanwhile, the liberal attorneys and liberal media valiantly defend the AQ detainees in GTMO for the war crimes they committed against innocent victims...

Posted by Tennessee 2021-03-27 10:54|| 2021-03-27 10:54|| Front Page Top

#8 I have not forgotten bldg 4 Fort Benning and the RIF aka betrayal of VN WIA ( my personal observation) Aug,1972. Matter of fact, I will never forget.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-03-27 11:20|| 2021-03-27 11:20|| Front Page Top

#9 Never fear - the diversity czar is here....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...i-trump-memes/

We are so screwed.

Posted by Bangkok Billy 2021-03-27 11:51|| 2021-03-27 11:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Your link, Billy.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2021-03-27 11:56|| 2021-03-27 11:56|| Front Page Top

#11 Stalin purges of the 30's, looks like Champ and ValJar are following the playbook. The ChiComs must be overjoyed that we are commiting national suicide virtually overnight!

Posted by NoMoreBS 2021-03-27 13:13|| 2021-03-27 13:13|| Front Page Top

#12 sounds like a witch hunt to me

Posted by Chris 2021-03-27 13:27|| 2021-03-27 13:27|| Front Page Top

#13 Show me the person, and I'll find the crime?

Posted by swksvolFF 2021-03-27 14:29|| 2021-03-27 14:29|| Front Page Top

#14 ...Perhaps I'm a bit too conspiriatorally minded, but if one looks at it, accusations like this (they don't HAVE to be true, just 'troubling') would be a good way to cripple what are arguably the most effective units in the GWOT while still enabling Regular units to continue the Forever War.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2021-03-27 14:39|| 2021-03-27 14:39|| Front Page Top

#15 'Theories' both plausible and potentially implausible generate thought and dialogue which is healthy and ultimately productive. The ideas, comments, and recommendation posted on the Burg have intrigued me for many years. I regret our political leadership cannot muster similar insights.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-03-27 15:09|| 2021-03-27 15:09|| Front Page Top

#16 Mr. Torres-Estrada has nearly two decades worth of experience working diversity and inclusion programs and activities in federal agencies.

Another Fed butterball lifer.

Posted by Whereque de Medici9590 2021-03-27 15:32|| 2021-03-27 15:32|| Front Page Top

#17 #14 If you were out to purge the military of ideologically unreliable "extremists", special ops might be the place to start.

Posted by Matt 2021-03-27 15:36|| 2021-03-27 15:36|| Front Page Top

#18 Zampolit

Posted by Lowspark 2021-03-27 16:29|| 2021-03-27 16:29|| Front Page Top

#19 Mr. Torres-Estrada has nearly two decades worth of experience working diversity and inclusion programs

He'd make a great IED detector. Send him out on point.

Posted by Sonny Sforza2226 2021-03-27 18:31|| 2021-03-27 18:31|| Front Page Top

#20 ^ Yes

Posted by Frank G 2021-03-27 18:37|| 2021-03-27 18:37|| Front Page Top

#21 At least Tucker's on it. Maybe someone will pay attention:
Tucker Carlson: US military has gone full woke. The Pentagon has turned into the Yale faculty lounge

This is really worrying: looks like the Air Force is about to downgrade the importance of flight experience for those seeking a Rated Pilot slot.

Never mind that RAND analyzed the issue of racial disparities in the pilot washout rate extensively and found that it's mainly because the women/black/black women UPT candidates lacked skills at, um, er, flying airplanes. From the mammoth RAND report done just a few years ago:

"Minority and female candidates have relatively high attrition due to flying performance. Data confirm that female and minority candidates are at higher risk for attrition in UPT, stemming from eliminations due to flying performance.

"Minority and female representation among UPT graduates would be low even if all groups had similar attrition levels. [ or BECAUSE THEY HAVE INFERIOR SCORES ON THE TBAS, orTEST OF BASIC AVIATION SKILLS].

"In a hypothetical counterfactual scenario in which all groups had the same attrition rates, representation among graduates changed by less than 1 percentage point for each group.

"Candidate characteristics could account for higher attrition among female and black candidates. Attrition for female and black candidates was no higher than those for male and white candidates with similar characteristics"

^ The last point is unambiguous: it's not racism but shitty flying skills that cause someone - black or white, female or male - to wash out of Undergraduate Pilot Training.

Posted by Skunky Grumble4992 2021-03-27 18:52|| 2021-03-27 18:52|| Front Page Top

12:46 DarthVader
12:45 Grom the Reflective
12:43 swksvolFF
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12:36 NoMoreBS
12:26 NoMoreBS
12:19 SteveS
12:09 Raj
12:06 SteveS
11:57 Super Hose
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11:51 Super Hose
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11:37 Deacon+Blues
11:36 bman
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