- U.S. Army Special Operations officials are denying a
British newspaper report that Israeli advisers came to Fort Bragg to train
special forces soldiers in counter-insurgency tactics including assassination.
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- The Guardian, a British newspaper, reported Tuesday that
the Israeli Defense Force sent urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg
to train special forces soldiers to act as ''hunter-killer" teams
tasked with killing guerrilla leaders in Iraq and foreign fighters attempting
to cross the Syrian border with Iraq.
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- The Guardian quoted two unnamed sources in its report.
One confirmed that the Israeli advisers did the training at Fort Bragg.
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- ''This command is not conducting any combined U.S. or
Israeli training at Fort Bragg," Lt. Col. Hans Bush, a spokesman for
U.S. Army Special Operations, said. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command
is based at Fort Bragg.
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- It is unclear if the training occurred elsewhere. Calls
to U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees all U.S. special operations
forces and U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of U.S. forces in Iraq,
seeking comment about the reported training were not returned. Both commands
are based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
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- Bush said working and training with foreign military
soldiers ''is a core task" of special operations units.
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- ''Our training focuses on doctrinal approaches to special
operations in general," he said.
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- International flavor
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- Soldiers from other nations often come to Fort Bragg
to train at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
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- U.S. Special Forces units are trained in guerrilla warfare,
and one of their primary missions is ''foreign internal defense."
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- Foreign internal defense is the development of skills,
tactics and techniques to counter a guerrilla movement against a standing
government, he said.
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- Bush said assassination is not part of that training.
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- Special Forces units are also trained to perform combat
search and rescue missions, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and counter-drug
operations.
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- Staff writer Kevin Maurer can be reached at maurerk@fayettevillenc.com
or 486-3587.
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- http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=military&Story=6048490
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