Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns
The Navy SEAL operation that freed two hostages in Somalia is representative of the Obama administration’s pledge to build a smaller, more agile military force that can carry out surgical counterterrorist strikes to cripple an enemy.
That is a strategy much preferred to the land invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that have cost so much American blood and treasure over the past decade. The contrast to a full-bore invasion is stark: A small, daring team storms a pirate encampment on a near-moonless night, kills nine kidnappers and whisks the hostages to safety.
Special operations forces, trained for such clandestine missions, have become a more prominent tool in the military’s kit since the September 11, 2001, attacks that led to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The administration is expected to announce on Thursday that it will invest even more heavily in that capability in coming years.
It gave an added punch to the five-state tour President Barack Obama began the day after he delivered his State of the Union speech. Obama did not mention the raid that was unfolding during his Tuesday night address, but he dropped a hint upon arriving in the House chamber by telling Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “Good job tonight.”
The SEAL mission also helps soften the blow of defence cuts the White House is seeking in spite of a chorus of criticism by hawkish lawmakers.
Not to be discounted is the feel-good moment such missions give the American public, a counterbalance to the continued casualties in Afghanistan.
Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday outlining the reasons for the raid and declaring that his order to use force to rescue the hostages was in line with his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He wrote that the kidnappers were “linked to” Somali pirates and financiers.
After planning and rehearsal, the Somalia rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). It was not clear whether any team members participated in both the raid in Somalia and the bin Laden mission in Pakistan.
The SEALs parachuted from US Air Force special operations aircraft before moving on foot, apparently undetected, to the outdoor encampment, two officials said. They found American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane, who had been kidnapped in Somalia in late 2011.
The SEALs encountered little resistance from the kidnappers during the operation, which lasted about an hour to an hour and a half, two US officials said. Only one of the attackers fired back and was quickly subdued, one official said. The rest were believed killed, although officials did not rule out the possibility of an escape, as aerial surveillance of the scene was hampered on the cloudy, dark night.
Army special operations MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters then swooped into the subdued encampment near the town of Adado to carry away the SEALs and hostages.
The captors were heavily armed and had explosives nearby when the rescuers arrived on the scene, Pentagon press secretary George Little said, but he was not more specific. Little declined to say whether there was an exchange of gunfire and would not provide further details about the rescue beyond saying that all of the captors were killed by the Americans.
A US defence official said on Thursday Buchanan and Thisted had been flown to Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Italian island of Sicily, for medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home.
Buchanan’s family is meeting her at NAS Sigonella, which is the hub of US Navy air operations in the Mediterranean and hosts an Italian air force base.
