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The US's Failed Hostage Rescue Attempt In Yemen Is Raising Some Troubling Questions

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luke somers yemen

Johannesburg (AFP) - Questions are mounting over a botched US rescue mission in Yemen that left one US hostage and another South African hostage dead, the day before he was expected to be released by his Al-Qaeda captors.

The United States admitted it was "absolutely unaware" that a South African charity had negotiated 56-year-old teacher Pierre Korkie's release — or even that he was being held at the same compound as American photojournalist Luke Somers.

The stepmother of 33-year-old Somers has criticized the mission that should have saved his life, saying "if there had not been a rescue attempt he would still be alive".

Korkie and Somers were shot by Al-Qaeda militants Saturday when the US commandos were discovered about 100 yards from the compound where they were being held.

Korkie and his wife Yolande were abducted in May 2013 in Yemen's second city of Taiz by members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, while Somers was seized in the capital Sanaa four months later.

Yolande was released in January after protracted negotiations led by South African charity Gift of the Givers.

But Korkie remained captive for another 11 months and his kidnappers demanded a ransom of $3 million (2.2 million euros).

His ordeal was due to end Saturday, said Gift of the Givers, claiming they had finally secured Korkie's release at a reduced "settlement fee" of $200,000 after months of negotiating with Al-Qaeda through tribal leaders in the region.

"Take The Risk" 

The US insists it was not informed of the development.

"The United States was not aware of the progress of the negotiations between the Gift of the Givers and the Yemeni hostage takers, nor of a promise for Pierre Korkie's release," the US embassy in Pretoria said in a statement Monday.

"Moreover, at no time was it apparent that Pierre Korkie was being held in the same space as the American photojournalist Luke Somers. We moved with the information available in an attempt to save lives."

The US intervention came after Somers' captors released a video last week threatening to execute him.

"We had indications, very good indications, that they were going to murder Mr Somers perhaps as early as the next day," a senior US defence official said Saturday.

"It was either act now and take the risk, or let that deadline pass. And no one was willing to do that."

But Somers' family said they would have preferred a negotiated approach.

Speaking to The Times of London, the British-born photographer's stepmother Penny Bearman said: "We are sure that Luke would have given support to the ongoing discussions (to secure his release) in Yemen rather than the conflict approach. There had been threats before that had not been carried out."

Speaking from Afghanistan Sunday, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel told reporters the US has no plans to review how it conducts rescue operations, despite Saturday's mission being the latest in a series of failed attempts.

"Our process is about as thorough as there can be," he said. "Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes.

"But we start with the fact that we have an American that's being held hostage and that American's life is in danger. That's where we start."

At a press conference Saturday, Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said that, after seeing the Somers video, he had a premonition Korkie could be killed should the US attempt a rescue mission.

"I'm not blaming them," he added. "The Americans have their own hostages and their own interests... There's no bad feeling towards anyone."

A spokesman for South Africa's department of international relations and cooperation refused to be drawn on whether or not Gift of the Givers informed them of Korkie's imminent release either.

"We're trying to bring closure to the matter," Nelson Kgwete told AFP. "The family requested that finger-pointing not be done."

But South Africa's official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has urged Pretoria to "engage with American representatives to get to the bottom of the circumstances that led to Mr Korkie's death". 

"There was clearly a lack of intelligence," DA lawmaker Stevens Mokgalapa told AFP. "The left hand didn't know what the right was doing."

Still, he stopped short of censuring the Americans.

"It's a tragedy that happened. You can't point fingers. They were all trying to do the same thing — the Americans militarily and Gift of the Givers diplomatically — to get the hostages out of Yemen."

The sentiment resonated throughout a statement released by Yolande Korkie Saturday.

"How can we, with God's help, respond appropriately to this painful hour?" she wrote. "Will we win anything if we hate and accuse? Will this return Pierre to us? No ... We choose to forgive."

SEE ALSO: Here are the FBI's most wanted cyber criminals

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France Has Mobilized 88,000 Personnel After The Paris Shootings

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French Special Forces Manhunt Charlie Hebdo

French special forces are combing the fields and woodland around a small town northeast of Paris today in search of two suspects in Wednesday's methodical attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people.

Overall, more than 88,000 personnel are committed throughout the country, according to the French Ministry of Internal Affairs. Those include 50,000 Police employees, 32,000 from the Gendarmerie, 5,000 policemen and gendarmes of the Forces mobiles, and 1,150 military.

The two brothers were reportedly seen in a light grey car carrying heavy weapons, including grenade launchers. On Thursday morning they held up a gas station in the town of Villers-Cotteret, stealing food and ordering staff to refuel their car, according to The Telegraph.

"As Puma helicopters flew overhead, the heavily armed officers mounted road blocks and scoured the countryside in a an area ten by twelves miles square around the small town of Crépy en Valois, 60 miles north east of Paris,"The Telegraph reports.

Locals around the town of Crépy-en-Valois were advised to stay indoors as police went door to door and stopped cars for information. One witness described the nearby forest into which they're thought to have entered "is very big and very wide."

Screenshot 2015 01 08 11.05.44

The Aviationist reports that "600 military personnel are deployed in the region around France’s capital as part of Vigipirate, France’s national security alert system. The alert level of such forces was raised on Jan. 7, in the aftermath of the attack and additional reinforcements are set to be deployed in the next hours."

Here's a graphic from the French Defense Ministry that shows the movement of assets to Paris.

Vigipirate

SEE ALSO: Special Forces Are Tracking The Paris Suspects In Northern France

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Intense Photos Of South Korean Special Forces Training In The Snow

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About 200 South Korean Special Forces are taking part in ten days of grueling winter weather combat training.

With a constant threat from North Korea, South Korea's Army Special Warfare Command (SWC) is responsible for special operations in the country. SWC soldiers frequently work closely with US Green Berets and their modus operandi include guerrilla warfare, assassinations, and counter-terrorism. 

Every year, members of the SWC must participate in winter warfare training in the mountains of Pyeongchang, east of Seoul. Conditions in Pyeongchang generally include temperatures as low as negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit and deep snow. 

During the training exercises, SWC soldiers participate in distance runs shirtless. 

South Korean Special Forces

Soldiers also participate in general exercises in the frozen temperatures. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

The idea is to acclimate soldiers to any intense conditions they may find themselves in. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

Seemingly bizarre, the training instills a sense of mental and physical toughness within the SWC ranks. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

Aside from becoming acclimated to adverse physical conditions, all members of the SWC must achieve a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

Likewise, members of the team must excel at marksmanship. Here, SWC soldiers train in tactical skiing with rifles. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

The SWC is composed of seven special forces brigades with an eighth special mission battalion. Here, SWC forces take position in a frozen river.

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

All SWC members must volunteer for entry into the group before being handpicked for entrance. 

South Korean Special Forces Winter Training

SEE ALSO: This incredible special forces battalion is one of South Korea's top lines of defense

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These Are The Elite French Police Units That Have Been Deployed To Fight Terrorists In The Country

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France Hostage Situation Kosher Supermarket

It's been an eventful year already for France's special police units.

Three separate "intervention" teams have been called to action since the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and subsequent hostage crises claimed 17 lives last week.

France sent RAID, which stands for research, assistance, intervention, and dissuasion, and GIGN, the Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie, to hunt down Cherif and Said Kouachi, who killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo's offices. 

Earlier today, Paris deployed RAID and BRI ("Research and Intervention Brigade") in a hostage situation at a post office outside of the capital. Both teams were also used in response to a hostage situation at a kosher market in which 4 people were killed.

RAID is a 200-strong special force founded in 1985 to counter major robberies, organized crime and terrorism.

Though it works in areas closest to Paris, RAID can be sent anywhere in France as directed by the nation's traditional police force. That was the case in 2012, when RAID killed Mohamed Merah, an extremist who killed 7 people during a week-long rampage, after a 32-hour siege in Toulouse in southern France.

RAID was also behind the rescue of 21 kindergarteners and their teacher in a two-day crisis in 1993. Most of the children — held hostage by a man with 16 sticks of dynamite strapped to his body — were rescued in negotiations leading up to the eventual raid. The perpetrator was killed while asleep in a classroom.

French special forces RAID post office Paris ColombesRAID is also frequently used in less high-profile situations, as captured in French newsmagazine program"Le Droit de savoir."

GIGN is an older organization founded in the wake of the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics. French news outlet Le Figaro reports the group has some 400 members based in Versailles, just west of Paris; the organization's site specifies it is capable of fielding 280 armed specialists in extreme situations.

Though similar to RAID, GIGN is more suited to open, rural settings.

The organization did the heavy lifting in the firefight with the Kouachi brothers, setting up snipers, vehicles, and assault teams around the industrial building where the terrorists made their last stand.

The unit is also trained for interventions on airplanes, as in its forcible response to four gunmen who hijacked Air France Flight 8969 in 1994.

Air France Flight 8969 French special forces GIFPublic television channel France 3 reported that since its founding, GIGN has launched more than 1,000 operations and rescued more than 600 hostages.

Finally, BRI is a special unit belonging to Paris's own police department, intervening only within and around the capital. An unofficial site on RAID and other special police forces reports that BRI counts 48 full members, and can field up to 72 if necessary.

Since the "R" in BRI stands for research, a ten-year veteran of the unit told Paris Match, only five percent of their work time is in actual interventions in the field.

They're expertly trained for stakeouts and surveillance. "When you've been hiding away undercover in a car for over a month and nothing moves, it can get pretty boring," the unit veteran said. "The real quality you need to work here is patience."

Though the three units are separate, RAID and GIGN especially work closely together. In the late 2000s, French Minister of the Interior Michèle Alliot-Marie initiated joint exercises. And on January 10th, GIGN's Twitter account thanks all three units for their work during an incredibly trying week.

SEE ALSO: Here's the aircraft carrier France is sending to chase down ISIS in Iraq

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Canadian Soldiers Were In 2 More Firefights With ISIS In Iraq

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canada special forces

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian government officials insist that special forces troops in northern Iraq are not involved in a combat mission, even though the commandos engaged in two more firefights there over the last week with Islamic State group militants.

Earlier this month, Canadian soldiers engaged in a gun battle with militants after coming under a mortar and machine gun attack while conducting training at the front lines. It was the first ground firefight between Western troops and the Islamic State group.

Navy Capt. Paul Forget said Monday that two similar events occurred over the last week. In both cases, soldiers acting in self-defense returned fire and "neutralized" the threat, he said.Canada has 69 special forces soldiers with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in what the government calls an advising and assisting role. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Parliament in late September the soldiers would not accompany the fighters, but a Canadian general said last week they do 80 percent of the training and advising behind front lines and about 20 percent right at the front lines.

The general also revealed that Canadian soldiers have been helping the Kurdish fighters by directing coalition airstrikes against Islamic State extremists, work generally considered risky because it means they are close to the battle against the group.

The Canadians' efforts complement those of the United States, which has conducted the vast majority of the airstrikes against the Islamic State group. But in their new role, the Canadians are performing a task that so far the U.S. has been unwilling to do. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly said the U.S. would consider directing attacks from the ground but that it has not done so.

Forget said Canada's role has progressed since the mission started last October.

"When we initially got there and we were conducting the advise and assist role for Iraqi security forces, we were teaching them the basics of - of warfare, if you will.  That has since evolved," Forget said.

Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper's conservative government of dragging Canada farther into direct combat operations, contrary to what the Harper government has promised.

"How many gun battles, how many airstrikes, how many targets painted by our troops on the ground before the prime minister and this minister admit that our troops are in a combat mission?" Opposition New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair asked.

Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for Harper, said "all of the activities outlined by the military today are consistent with the advise and assist mandate they have been given."

Canada is among dozens of countries that have joined the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group. Canada sent special forces and joined the air combat mission after a request from President Barack Obama. Canada has six CF-18 fighter jets, two surveillance planes, a refueling tanker aircraft and 600 airmen and airwomen based in Kuwait as part of the mission.

This article was written by Rob Gillies from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

SEE ALSO: ISIS is having a rough day

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The Head Of SOCOM Is Concerned About Growing Tensions In The Arctic

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SOCOM Joseph Votel

U.S. Special Operations Command leader Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel will travel to Norway within the next few weeks to discuss with his Nordic special operations forces counterparts growing tensions in the Arctic region, he said Jan. 27.

"Our Norwegian partners are paying particularly close attention to this and our SOF commanders in the region and I are going to go spend some time with them [Norwegian military officers] to understand what they are doing and how we can potentially assist in that," he said at the National Defense Industrial Association's Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict symposium in Washington, D.C.

The primary concern is Russia and its growing activities in the region, he said.

"We don't know what we don't know, so it is important for us to engage and understand what is happening out there and understand the spaces in which they can begin to assert some of their influence.

"I consider this to be a current and a future challenge for us," he added.

Votel said the harsh Arctic environment would pose a challenge for special operators, but that the command over the past 14 years of operations in desert-like climates hasn't totally abandoned other areas of operations. Industry together with the command could ramp up the production of equipment needed to conduct missions there relatively quickly, he said.

"This is something we could deal with ... We do continue to focus on [other] environments," he said.

Another major cause for concern is the expansion of the Islamic State into regions outside the terrorist group's traditional territory in Syria and Iraq, he said.

"I think we have to watch this organization very closely. ... we are seeing the expansion of ISIL in North Africa. We need to be prepared to deal with them where they are," he said.

ISIL has attracted over 19,000 foreign fighters from 90 different countries to fight in Syria and Iraq, a number he called "staggering." SOCOM is playing a leading role in pulling together military efforts within the United States and overseas to fight ISIL, he added.

SOCOM is also seeing a "growing nexus" between terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations, he said. "The ability of criminal organizations to move money, people and weapons is very attractive to violent extremists. We don't fully understand or appreciate completely how these different networks interact wittingly or unwittingly, but the more they cooperate, the greater the threat."

Partnering with law enforcement agencies will be critical to countering this nexus, he added.

Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram is a destabilizing threat to West and Central Africa, he added. "It is creating fertile ground for expansion into other areas," he said.

Regarding technology, SOCOM's number one shortfall is manned and unmanned intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance systems, Votel said.

"Our ability to see and understand is an important requirement for all our operations and as a result airborne ISR remains one of our chief concerns," he said. SOCOM will continue to invest in these technologies and collaborate with industry, he said.

SEE ALSO: Russia is constructing an arctic stronghold 30 miles from the Finnish border

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This is Canada's version of SEAL Team Six

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Canada has its own version of the elite US Navy SEAL Team Six that is just as capable at counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and other sensitive missions.

Canada Special Forces

Known as Joint Task Force 2 and based near Ottawa, the unit keeps tight-lipped about its operations. That's the case with most special forces of course. But JTF2 has seemingly dodged infamy and insider books. That stands in sharp contrast to the SEAL Team that has become well known in the US thanks to leaked details of high-profile missions such as the raid in which Osama Bin Laden was killed.

Canada Special Forces

Established in 1993, the unit has about 250 members. According to its official website, the unit was deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 — the first time it had been in major combat operations outside of Canada. It has also been rumored to be involved in combat against the Islamic State group (also known as ISIS or ISIL).

Canada Special Forces

The activities of the unit are so secretive that a query about why no one ever hears about it — unlike other nations' special-operations forces — appears as one the frequently asked questions on the Canadian Armed Forces' website.

Canada Special Forces

This video originally posted by Funker 530 gives an idea of some of their capabilities. Check it out:

SEE ALSO: Intense photos of South Korean Special Forces training in the snow

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Watch Spanish Special Forces drive a boat into a Chinook helicopter in the middle of a lake

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Spanish Special Forces train to carry out quick aquatic evacuations. That can mean driving a boat full of soldiers into the back of a Chinook helicopter idling over water.

The Spanish Army's Department of Communications has uploaded an incredible video showcasing a quick retrieval of its special forces from a lake aboard a Chinook. In under three and a half minutes, the Chinook conducts an aquatic landing, opens its hatch, secures the soldiers' boat after it rides into the helicopter, and takes off.

We have created GIF highlights of the exercise below.

The exercise begins with a Chinook helicopter conducting landing on a lake.

chinook water landing Spanish Special Forces

Immediately upon landing, the Chinook opens its back hatch. The interior compartment begins to flood ...

flooding Chinook Spanish Special Forces

... but the flooding allows the special forces to ride their zodiac boat directly into the helicopter.

chinook approach Spanish Special Forces

Upon reaching the back of the Chinook, the Special Forces climb into the helicopter and help pull the zodiac boat aboard.

zodiac boat pull in Spanish Special Forces

The boat is secured to the hull of the Chinook with cables.

zodiak secure Spanish Special Forces

Once secured, the helicopter takes off from the lake. All of this takes place in under three and a half minutes. 

chinook takeoff Spanish Special Forces

You can watch the entire exercise below. 

SEE ALSO: This is Canada's version of SEAL Team Six

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Jordan's special forces are some of the best in the Middle East

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Jordan Special Forces

Jordan's military has promised an "earth-shattering" response against the Islamic State after the group released a video in which Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbe was burned alive. 

There are already unconfirmed reports that Jordan has carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Mosul. Beyond airstrikes, Jordan could further contribute to the fight against ISIS through the use of its extremely effective special forces units. 

Jordan's special forces team, grouped under Jordan's Joint Special Operations Command, is 14,000 strong and is one of the most effective fighting and intelligence forces in the region. Jordanian special forces frequently train alongside US forces.

Meanwhile, Jordan is a global center for special forces training operations. Jordan's King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) is the centerpiece of the country's Special Operations capabilities and is routinely used by other countries.

The facility, which includes training like simulated airline hijackings and close-quarter fighting in addition to K9 integration exercises, also hosts the annual Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference.

This focus reflects ruler King Abdullah II's past assignment within the nation's special forces and his certification as a Cobra pilot. In 1996, with US help, Abdullah began the reorganization of the country's special forces into a more modern force.  

Formed in 1963, the Jordanian special forces have been trained to conduct reconnaissance, combat, and counterterrorism operations. 

Jordan Special Forces

One of the Jordanian special forces' chief duties is guarding Jordan's national borders. This mission took on increased importance following mounting instability in Iraq after 2006.  

Jordan Special Forces

The potential for violent spillover from Iraq and Syria has caused the special forces to put increased emphasis on counterterrorism operations. Here, service members conduct a mock anti-hijacking operation.   

Jordan Special Forces

Jordanian forces have also trained alongside the US for anti-hijacking missions. 

Jordan Special Forces

Most of Jordan is a dry desert, but the special forces train in all manner of environments. Here, special forces train to carry out a water-borne assault.

Jordanian Special Forces

Jordan's special forces have also benefited from actual combat experience, including multiple deployments to Afghanistan.

Jordan Special Forces

Aside from military capabilities, Jordanian special forces have proved adept at intelligence gathering. Internal instability and terrorism have turned into major concerns for the Jordanian monarchy.

Jordanian Special Forces

SEE ALSO: The most powerful militaries in the Middle East [ranked]

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Here's how the Middle East responded to ISIS brutally killing a Jordanian pilot

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Jordan pilot

CAIRO (AP) -- The horrific fate of a captured Jordanian pilot, burned to death by the Islamic State group, unleashed a wave of grief and rage on Wednesday across the Middle East, a region long riven by upheavals and violence. Political and religious leaders united in outrage and condemnation, saying the slaying of the airman goes against Islam's teachings.

The gruesome militant video of the last moments in the life of 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 crashed in Syria in December during a U.S.-led coalition raid on the extremist group, crossed a line - beyond the beheadings of Western hostages at the hands of Islamic State extremists.

From the world's most prestigious seat of Sunni Islam learning, Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said the IS militants deserve the Quranic punishment of death, crucifixion or the chopping off of their arms for being enemies of God and the Prophet Muhammad.

"Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life," al-Tayeb said. By burning the pilot to death, he added, the militants violated Islam's prohibition on the immolation or mutilation of bodies - even during wartime.

Under many Mideast legal systems, capital punishment is usually carried out by hanging. In Iran and Pakistan, stoning to death as punishment for adultery exists in the penal code but is rarely used. Beheadings are routinely carried out in Saudi Arabia, and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have on occasion publicly shot to death Palestinians suspected of spying for Israel.

But burning to death as a punishment proscribed by an Islamic court - such as the self-styled tribunals set up by the Islamic State militants in areas under their control - is unheard of in the contemporary Middle East. The IS extremists captured a third of both Iraq and Syria in a blitz last year, proclaimed their caliphate and imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

In Saudi Arabia, prominent cleric Sheik Salman al-Oudah cited on Wednesday a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, which reserves for God alone the right to punish by fire.

In Qatar, cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi - respected by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists - issued a five-page statement listing Quranic verses and sayings, also attributed to the prophet and telling Muslims to not mistreat prisoners of war.

But al-Qaradawi tempered his admonishment of the immolation death of the Jordanian pilot by criticizing the international community's "laxity" toward Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying such an attitude "created these extremist groups and provided them with a fertile environment."

In Algeria, cleric El-Hadi Shalaby noted that the majority of Islamic State group's victims have been Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites.

"What hurts me as a Muslim is that they (IS militants) do all this in the name of Islam," he said. "The Muslim faith is utterly foreign to these practices." Jordanian pilot

However, some sought to justify the Islamic State's killing of the pilot.

Hussein Bin Mahmoud, an Islamic State-linked theologian, claimed on one of the group's social media forums that two of the Prophet Muhammad's revered successors ordered punishment by fire for renegades shortly after the Prophet's death. Al-Azhar has long disputed this claim.

Bin Mahmoud also cited a Quranic verse that requires Muslims to punish their enemies in kind. Since U.S.-led airstrikes "burn" Muslims, he argued, the IS group must burn those behind the raids.

But that view has only been embraced by a radical fringe, and mainstream Muslims united in condemnation of the killing on Wednesday.

Iyad Madani, the leader of the 57-nation, Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation - the world's largest bloc of Muslim countries - said the killing showed total disregard for the rights of prisoners under Islam, as well as what he called the moral standards for war.

There is a "malaise" in parts of the Middle East, along with the "intellectual decay, the political fragmentation and the abuse of Islam, the great religion of mercy," he said.

U.S.-allied Gulf Arab nations issued similar condemnations.

United Arab Emirates' foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, reaffirmed his nation's commitment to fighting terrorism and extremism. "This heinous and obscene act represents a brutal escalation by the terrorist group, whose evil objectives have become apparent," he said.

The UAE is one of the most visible Arab members in the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group, which also includes Jordan.

Bahrain, a Gulf state that is home to the U.S. 5th Fleet, denounced the killing as "despicable," and Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, blasted the killing as "criminal" and "vicious."

Qatar's Foreign Ministry also condemned the "criminal act." The tiny but very rich Gulf nation hosts the regional command center coordinating coalition airstrikes.

In predominantly Muslim Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the killing an act of "savagery," adding that "there is no such thing in our religion."

Iran, which has aided both Iraq and Syria against the IS, said the killing of the pilot was an "inhuman" act that violated the codes of Islam, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham.

Tunisia's Foreign Ministry decried the "cowardly" and "savage" act. The newly elected President Beji Caid Essebsi said the pilot's slaying was an "odious crime" incompatible with the principles of Islam and all other divine laws.

President Beji Caid Essebsi

In his native Jordan, the killing of al-Kaseasbeh - who had been the subject of intense negotiations over a possible swap with an al-Qaida prisoner on death row - drew swift retribution.

The prisoner, an Iraqi woman convicted of involvement in a triple hotel bombing in Amman in 2005, was executed along with another al-Qaida prisoner at dawn on Wednesday.

The pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper denounced the pilot's killing with a one-word headline on the front page: "Barbarity."

"How many ... are there, whose names we are ignorant of, slaughtered by the Islamic State and their brothers?" asked an article in Lebanon's left-leaning daily Assafir.

Jordanian politician Mohammed al-Rousan wept openly on national television as he described watching al-Kaseasbeh's death, saying even people accustomed to violence could not bear to see a man burned alive.

Then, his tears turned to rage.

"Let's use the same methods as them!" he shouted during the interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV. "Let's kill their children! Let's kill their women!"

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Veterans Affairs Secretary apologizes for incorrectly stating that he was in the military's special forces

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va sec affairs

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologized Monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces.

McDonald made the erroneous claim while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on "CBS Evening News."

In a statement released Monday by the VA, McDonald said: "While I was in Los Angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status, I asked the man where he had served in the military. He responded that he had served in special forces. I incorrectly stated that I had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and I apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement."

The VA website says McDonald is an Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division. The Huffington Post website, which first reported on McDonald's mistake, noted Monday that the 82nd is not considered part of special forces.

McDonald said he remains committed "to the ongoing effort to reform VA."

The White House issued a statement Monday saying, "We take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he's doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation's veterans."

President Barack Obama chose the former Procter & Gamble CEO to take over the scandal-plagued VA last year, and McDonald took office last July. The questions about McDonald's service come as TV newsmen Brian Williams and Bill O'Reilly have had their claims about covering foreign wars called into question.

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An Army Special Forces officer shares 5 secrets to overcoming adversity

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army medic

Life can be really difficult sometimes. We all deal with it. But how do top performers overcome challenges? And what can we learn from them?

I figured I'd call an expert.

Who knows about overcoming adversity? Special Forces.

So I called Mike Kenny. Mike's a Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel with 22 years of service under his belt. For most of his career he was an 18 Alpha (Special Forces Officer) and is currently the Special Operations Forces liaison to the School of Advanced Military Studies.

Most of what you may think you know about Special Forces is wrong. You might be imagining summer movies and gun battles. But a lot of what they deal with isn't all that much different from some of the challenges you face.

SEALs and Rangers specialize in "direct action" and "special reconnaissance." Meanwhile, Special Forces is focused on "foreign internal defense" and "unconventional warfare." That means preventing or assisting an insurgency. So, plain and simple, SF guys need a lot of people skills.

They're good behind the gun, no doubt, but they spend a lot of their time working with people — and usually people who don't speak their language and don't share a common culture. Which means they face a lot of problems that you can't just shoot or blow up.

Here's what you can learn from Special Forces training about overcoming adversity.

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

We often wait until the hurricane hits us to think about how we're going to cope with it. Special Forces, on the other hand, is very big on preparing.

Via "Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces:"

The Special Forces are not a rapid deployment force; the secret of their success is intensive preparation. The men studied the area they were assigned as thoroughly as any Ph.D. student. They sucked up every available open-source and classified assessment of the demographics, tribal clans, local politics, religious leaders and schisms, history, terrain, infrastructure, road maps, power grids, water supplies, crops, and local economy. They planned, debated, and rehearsed both combat and follow-on operations.

Many of the benefits that come from preparation are obvious. Nobody thinks preparing is bad. But Mike pointed out something that isn't so readily apparent.

Not only does preparation get all your ducks in a row but prep changes your attitude. You're more confident and this creates an upward spiral that improves performance. Here's Mike:

Something that people underestimate is that preparedness is not only that you're hardening and conditioning your body, but there's a powerful mental aspect. Physically, you know you're prepared. You and your mind are going, "I'm ready for this. This is what they said their standard was, and I know I can do that. I know I'm at this level so that whatever they throw at me I know I am adequately conditioned."

Research shows this feeling of control neutralizes stress and builds courage.

When you do blood tests on soldiers during a challenging task, what do you find? The level of stress hormones in their bodies doesn't match the difficulty of the task, it matches their perception of the difficulty.

Via "Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom:"

What mattered was how closely the anticipated challenge matched the soldiers' actual capabilities. We took blood samples from the four groups to see how the experience affected each group's stress hormones… The soldiers who never knew the actual length of the march were asked at the end to estimate its length. The levels of stress hormones in their blood corresponded to the length they thought it was, not the length it actually was.

army special forces sniper courseAnd what's the best way to prepare? Make your training as close to the real thing as possible. Here's Mike:

In Army parlance they say, "train like you fight." Don't screw around and say, "Okay, when it's for real then we'll really ramp up." No, you need to do that now. You need to train as hard and as realistic as possible, because this notion that when it's for real and the stakes are high, that's when we'll really turn it on and rise to the occasion… that's not what happens. You will not rise to the occasion. You will sink to the lowest level of your training. It's the truth.

(For more on how Special Forces and other elites make themselves fearless, click here.)

So preparation is pretty straightforward. But Special Forces is also big on something you probably never expected to hear from a military unit…

2. Creativity Isn't Nice — It's Essential

When we think about the military we think following orders, not creativity. But that changes when you're talking about Special Forces.

A small independent unit can't always rely on a division of tanks backing them up. They'll have many problems they need to solve quickly, in the field, with little or no support. So resourcefulness is vital.

Via "Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior:"

The Special Forces are looking for more than someone who is tough and smart and plays well with others. They are looking for adaptability and flexibility, men who can look at a given task and come up with any number of ways to solve it. Someone with good entrepreneurial skills is a good candidate for Special Forces, since the work of the Green Berets often involves calculated risk and creative thinking. If one solution to a problem fails, they have to immediately come up with another way to accomplish the mission.

The army calls this type of creativity "disciplined initiative." It's not wild and crazy risk-taking, but it definitely looks outside the conventional for how to solve difficult problems. Here's Mike:

…in SF, and now the Army at large, you hear constantly we need agile and adaptive leaders and thinkers, critical and creative thinkers. Special Operations has always valued it, and I think out of necessity, because with smaller units you've got to be creative and adaptive, because you don't always have all the resources at your disposal. What they want is a guy that can think on his feet and think somewhat unconstrained. To me, there's always this tension between the cowboy that does crazy stuff for the sake of doing crazy stuff and those that can exercise what in Army mission command they call "disciplined initiative." That means, "We want you to exercise initiative, but the discipline lies in keeping it within mission parameters to achieve the commander's intent."

But how does creativity allow Davids like small Special Forces units to overcome Goliaths like bigger groups of enemy soldiers? The key is what's called "relative superiority."

Objective superiority is more soldiers, more guns, more planes. Relative superiority is tactical, like using surprise or timing or a well-planned ambush. This is why creativity is so critical to SF.

Via "Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice:"

Relative superiority is a concept crucial to the theory of special operations. Simply stated, relative superiority is a condition that exists when an attacking force, generally smaller, gains a decisive advantage over a larger or well-defended enemy… An inherent weakness in special forces is their lack of firepower relative to a large conventional force. Consequently when they lose relative superiority, they lose the initiative, and the stronger form of warfare generally prevails. The key to a special operations mission is to gain relative superiority early in the engagement. The longer an engagement continues, the more likely the outcome will be affected by the will of the enemy, chance, and uncertainty, the factors that comprise the frictions of war.

(For more on the four principles that will lead you to breakthrough creativity, click here.)

So SF is not just gung-ho testosterone. And that means they know how to deal with people.

3. Cooperate and Negotiate

Author Dick Couch, who followed a class of Special Forces cadets through training put it bluntly: Special Forces needs to know how to shoot people and make friends with people.

That separates them from most of the other special operations groups like SEALs and Rangers who are more focused on "direct action" missions.

army special forcesVia "Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior:"

Since the work often involves working as a team or in a cross-cultural environment, the Special Forces are looking for candidates who have good interpersonal skills— men who are open to listening and working with other people and foreign communities. More crudely put, it may come down to whether a man is more comfortable in shooting people or trying to make friends with them. Some soldiers are very proficient in a tactical situation and very comfortable behind the gun, but they don't really want to make the effort to communicate with someone different from themselves.

And this isn't the kind of negotiation that involves the barrel of a gun. SF needs to empathize just like FBI hostage negotiators. Plain and simple, they need to get along with people and cut a good deal. Here's Mike:

The negotiating comes in having humility. We want to cultivate a relationship, and do what's mutually beneficial. So we can't come in and say, "Okay, this is what you're going to do for me." The diplomacy lies in convincing these guys that a relationship is going to be mutually beneficial. That's one. Number two, we want to add value. We want to bring certain things to the table and find some common ground, because a lot of people are going to think, "You're just going to tell me what to do" or "I'm not going to be your pawn, I'm not going to be your patsy." We're sensitive to what it is that they want. And we'll help them get it, provided it's not something that runs counter to what it is the US government needs to achieve.

(For FBI behavioral expert strategies on getting people to like you, click here.)

Collaboration and negotiation are so critical because SF works with and through others. And what are they doing most of the time with partners? Teaching.

4. Be A Teacher

Want to truly be the best? Want to be an expert? It's one thing to be able to do but it's another level to be able to do and teach it to others. That's when you really understand something.

A fundamental concept to all SF soldiers is that they are teachers. Here's Mike:

We'll tell guys up front, "Hey, your primary job is as a teacher, as an instructor." Our bread and butter mission is unconventional warfare. The Surgical Strike portion of our portfolio is important no doubt, but the Special Warfare part of that portfolio is what people need to understand. It implies that we're going to be working through proxies. That means I have to be able to teach. I need to be able to convey information. I need to be able to influence diplomatically, because these are partners. They're not subordinates where I say, "You do this." You've got to win them over. You've got to be able to convince them, so if you can't instruct, if you can't work through a proxy, through another party, and you've got to do everything unilaterally yourself, as an SF guy I don't want to say you're worthless, but you're not that valuable.

army special forcesAnd your ability to teach well is always limited by how much you actually know. So Special Forces are always looking to improve themselves. Here's Mike:

To be a professional you have to be a lifelong learner. You're always getting better. You're always trying to get better. A buddy of mine was saying, "Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best."

How good do they need to be? A good example is the "pile test." To qualify as an 18 Bravo (a Special Forces weapons expert) they dump a huge pile of weapon parts in front of you. You have a limited amount of time to assemble them all into nine guns.

Via "Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces:"

As a weapons sergeant his job was to know everything about all the small arms and crew-served weapons in use around the world: Soviet-made systems, black-market weapons, customized weapons. He had to know how to use them, train on them, fix them, clean them, dismantle them, and disable them. Part of the final exam for his course was the "pile test," which required assembling a massive jumble of weapons parts into nine guns. Randy could do it in forty-five minutes.

(For more on the science of being the best at anything, click here.)

This is a lot of stuff SF is working at. So how do they get it all done?

5. Be Motivated — And Then Make A Plan

Want to be in SF because it's "cool"?

You'll never make it. The guys who pass are the ones who have a deep-seated desire. The vetting is too punishing for anyone who isn't 100% committed. Here's Mike:

I saw so many guys showing up at Ranger School and SFAS on day one and you could tell they really weren't switched on. Then there were guys that were laughing and really really cavalier. A lot of times those guys didn't make it, because they really weren't serious about being there. The only thing that's going to sustain you then is not, "I thought it would be cool" or "I want all my friends to be impressed" or whatever lame reason you have for putting yourself through that. The thing that's going to keep you motivated is when you really internally want it, when you have that desire.

Of course, whenever someone talks about motivation they always say, "you have to want it." But what's that really mean to SF?

For them, motivation needs to translate into a plan for readiness. It's not all talk. If your motivation doesn't turn into a blueprint for how to handle things then it's just cheerleading.

What conditioning will you need to pass SF training? The guys who make it are motivated to find out ahead of time. Then they do diagnostic runs to see where they're at and what it will take for them to get there.

The motivation becomes a plan. Here's Mike:

Develop that plan and break it down into steps, so, using the SFAS model as an example, you can say, "Okay, I've got to do 12 miles with 70 pounds. Okay, great, I'm going to do it," and then you realize, "Oh my God, I can't do this." So you need to break it down and build. Start out, doing a six-miler with 35 pounds. Then when your conditioning goes up, extend the mileage, increase the weight, and then at the end of a six-month process or so you should be at that goal.

(For more on how you can motivate yourself, click here.)

Let's round this up and learn the last critical factor for overcoming adversity like Special Forces.

Sum Up

Here's what we can learn from Special Forces Officer Mike Kenny:

  1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
  2. Creativity Isn't Just Nice — It's Essential
  3. Cooperate and Negotiate
  4. Be A Teacher
  5. Be Motivated — And Then Make A Plan

A lot of this sounds very serious. But in the preparation for every post about the various special operations units I've talked to, one thing comes up again and again that isn't so serious: the power of humor.

Ranger Joe Asher said it:

I said, "You know what? If I can laugh once a day, every day I'm in Ranger School, I'll make it through."

Navy SEAL James Waters said it:

You've got to have fun and be able to laugh; laugh at yourself and laugh at what you're doing. My best friend and I laughed our way through BUD/S.

The formal research backs them up. And in researching Special Forces, sure enough, I heard it again.

Via "Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior:"

This training is serious business, and it will demand your best effort to be successful, but every day, try to smile at least once. A little humor will help you to get through this, and it might even help some when it starts to hurt.

Work hard. Be diligent. But make sure to laugh along the way.

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SEE ALSO: Malcolm Gladwell Explains Why You Need Adversity To Succeed

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How carrying a 150-pound log taught a Navy SEAL the meaning of teamwork

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Resilience book cover

Eric Greitens has been a Navy SEAL, a Rhodes Scholar, and an Oxford PhD. Today, he's founder and director of The Mission Continues, an organization that helps veterans from the US's post-9/11 wars maintain a sense of mission and purpose once they return home.

The Mission Continues seeks to reintegrate veterans into civilian life in a way that also pays social dividends, "redeploy[ing] veterans in their communities, so that their shared legacy will be one of action and service." 

In his recently published bookResilience: Hard-Won Wisdom For Living A Better Life, Greitens draws on his experiences as a Navy SEAL — and on thousands of years of literary and philosophical reflection on warfare's psychological and human toll — to look at how veterans can apply their experience in the military to other, just as fundamental aspects of their lives. The book is written as a series of letters to Zach Walker, a SEAL comrade of Greitens who had struggled with his transition back into civilian life.

In this excerpt, Greitens looks at how one of SEAL training's hardest challenges taught him the meaning of teamwork. 

Walker,

I don’t know about you, but log PT was, for me, the most searingly painful evolution during BUD/S [Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, an intensive SEAL training course]. Log PT is such an innocuous name for making seven shivering-cold and salt-soaked trainees pick up a 150-pound log, run it over a fifteen-foot-high sand berm, drop it in the sand, immediately pick it up and press it over their heads, run the log into the ocean, and then carry the soaked, slippery log back through the soft sand to start all over again.

And that’s the easy part. The physical portion of the training is horrible, but bearable. What makes you really hurt is that you don’t know how long it’s going to last. Are we almost done? Have we barely started? What’s next? You run the log up and down the beach. You cross the finish line in first place, but then you get punished for cheating when you thought that you ran the course the right way. Next time, you run the log up and down the beach, come in second place, and get punished for losing.

PBS Navy SEALs documentary swim training

Then you change positions on the log, the weight shifts, and you feel as if you’re holding the whole log yourself. Are the other guys slacking? Everybody’s in pain. If it’s early in the training and you still have a clown in your crew, everybody starts to wonder if the clown is pulling his weight. Everyone’s thinking that somebody else is slacking, their own will deflates a bit, the log gets heavier, and then — wham — log’s on the ground and the instructors pile on.

You think: We have how many more hours of this, how many more weeks of BUD/S? You reach a point of exhaustion at which you seem to be able to express yourself only in prayer or profanity. Most guys combine the two in very creative ways. You bend down to pick up the log, but you and your crew are all a little less certain. You manage to lift it over your head, but it’s a struggle and a fight this time, and as you waste your energy and spend your strength, you stoke your anger.

Here, one of two things happen. One, a crew breaks down completely. Men start to snipe at each other, each person believing that somebody else is slacking. Or two, a crew comes together. The trainees figure out a way to slow down, breathe, lift on a single clear command, and win the next race. Two hours later in the chow hall, everybody’s laughing and a few of the guys on the log are going to be friends for the rest of their lives.

navy sealOne moment in log PT, I came to a realization. We were carrying the log at the low carry, so that our arms extended in front of our bodies. We collectively had the log cradled in the crook of our elbows, and my biceps and shoulders and back were burning, and I remember thinking: If these guys weren’t here right now, I’d probably stop. I wouldn’t believe I could go on, but these guys are keeping on right beside me, so I guess I can go on too.

We’ve already talked about the importance of friends, Walker. Friends you have. It’s also likely that soon—in your work, in your coaching, or in your service—you’re going to be part of a team again. The strength of others can make us stronger. So let’s think a bit about how teams are formed, and what makes people come together. 

PBS documentary Navy SEALs boat trainingPeople form even deeper bonds when they serve together. “Serve” is not quite the right word, but it’s better than “work.” People can work with others and not feel any sense of common cause. Being in the same place, working for the same boss, and even doing the same tasks can breed resentment, alienation, competition, and distrust just as easily as they can bring people together.

Serving together is different. When we share a purpose with others, our work creates a shared connection. When the work matters, we’re more often able to overcome personal differences in service of a shared goal. Before I joined the military, if you’d asked me how important it was to like the people I worked with, I would have told you it was very important. When I was a student, it was.

Later, practicing combat diving at fifteen feet deep and kicking for half a mile underwater through a pitch-black night in a pitch-black bay, I didn’t really care about how much I liked the guy swimming beside me. My life and our mission depended on one thing: his competence.

If I were going to suggest a general rule for understanding this, I’d say that the extent to which personal differences disrupt a team is inversely proportional to the importance people place on the mission. In other words, the more vital people consider a mission, the more they’ll learn to deal with people who rub them the wrong way. The less the mission matters, the more people care about being around those they like.

That’s helpful to remember if you’re ever on a team that’s starting to tear itself apart in the face of hardship. Often people react to these breakdowns by trying to ensure that there’s more “understanding,” or that people’s “feelings are respected.” Sometimes that’s essential. But much of the time, when animosities and jealousies rule the day, it’s because the work simply isn’t important enough for people to put their differences aside. We’re often told that work that’s too intense can break a team. Maybe — but intense work that matters can just as often save a team.

Clarity of purpose creates perspective. When people have a shared commitment, differences and disagreements don’t disappear, but they can be seen in a new light. 

US Navy SEALsLet’s talk again about what really makes a team.

Originally, “team” just meant a pair of animals yoked side by side. They had to pull a heavy load together. Sometimes that’s what human teams feel like. We’re yoked to other people for no purpose other than to pull a burden that has no meaning to us.

Real teams work with and for one another. They share a purpose that is larger than any one person.

But human motivation is rarely simple. The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote that “purity of heart is to will one thing.” How many people do you know who are completely pure of heart? It’s rare that anyone wills only one thing.

And what’s true for us as individuals is magnified when we form teams. One person has many motivations. Bring a few people together and you have a multiplicity of motivations.

Some teams are tight like families. Other teams work more like allies. But all resilient teams share one thing: an ability to manage many interests while serving a purpose that is larger than the interests of any one person.

This is — to put it mildly — very hard to do. But I’ve found that it’s worth the effort. A resilient team is rare. Most beautiful and excellent things are. 

Excerpt from RESILIENCE by Eric Greitens, which was published on March 10th, 2015. Copyright © 2015 by Eric Greitens. Used by permission of Houghton MifflinHarcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

SEE ALSO: These incredible photos show a week in the life of the US military

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This is the ‘Super Bowl’ for special ops commandos

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Every year, Jordan’s King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center hosts the Warrior Competition. Operators from a number of nations battle to be named the top warriors in the world.

This year, the competition began on April 19 between 43 teams representing 19 countries. It continues until April 25.

Competition events change from year to year. For 2015, the KASOTC is planning 10 events, with competitors only learning what an event is when they receive orders 24 hours prior to the event start.

In previous years, teams have navigated obstacle courses with 180-pound dummies, forced entry onto buses and into buildings, and conducted hostage rescue among other trials.

Warrior Competition
Top units from around the world compete. The US has historically refused to send special operations personnel to the competition, citing operational requirements and operational security. This year though, the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion is sending a team.
 
Until now, America has primarily been represented by police units and teams made up of standard Army and Marine infantry.

China, which sends its top police units, has done very well in recent years. Its Snow Leopard Commando Unit won in 2013 and 2014, but will be absent this year. Instead, China will be represented by two other elite police units. Other countries sending teams include Russia, Canada, and Greece, as well as many Middle Eastern countries.

Warrior Competition

While training at the facility can cost $250,000, the competition is free for participants. Sponsors in the defense industry pay in and the KASOTC covers the rest of the bill. Both the sponsors and the center pitch products and services to the teams between events. Sponsors generally provide free trials of weapons and gear, allowing participants to try out explosive charges, automatic weapons, armor, and medical equipment.

KASOTC hopes competitors will return home and convince their commands to return to the center for training. Videos advertising the center’s capabilities are impressive. In addition to standard ranges, training areas, and amenities, KASOTC features a mock city, a large ship, and even a plane that units can train on, all of which could appear in the competition.

KASOTC is sharing updates from the competition on their Facebook page.

SEE ALSO: Jordan's special forces are some of the best in the Middle East

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Chuck Norris says US Special Forces exercises are a threat to Texans

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Chuck Norris

Actor and karate king Chuck Norris is adding himself to the list of skeptics questioning whether a US Special Forces exercise is a government ruse to impose martial law over several states including Texas.

"The US government says, 'It's just a training exercise.' But I'm not sure the term 'just' has any reference to reality when the government uses it," said Norris, who said Texas Gov. Greg Abbot was right to order his Texas State Guard monitor the exercise in Texas to ensure civil rights are protected.

This is the second time Norris has weighed in on controversial national security debates. Norris threw his support behind the A-10 Thunderbolt and criticized the Air Force for pushing to retire the aircraft.

Norris gained his celebrity status after leveraging his championship karate skills into an acting career when Hollywood jumped into the Kung Fu craze of the 1970s and '80s. Norris had previously served in the Air Force. He took up martial arts as an airman stationed in South Korea.

He made numerous movies in which he played a soldier, including the "Missing in Action" trilogy, about an Army colonel who returns to Vietnam to rescue American prisoners of war who had been left behind.

In 2007, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway made Norris an honorary Marine. A few years later, after several seasons playing the lead role on the TV series, "Walker: Texas Ranger," Texas Gov. Rick Perry made Norris an Honorary Texas Ranger.

US Army Special Operations Command said there is nothing unusual about Jade Helm, though the scope of the event sets it apart for skeptics.

"To stay ahead of the environmental challenges faced overseas, Jade Helm will take place across seven states," officials wrote on the exercise's website. "However, Army Special Operations Forces will only train in five states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. The diverse terrain in these states replicates areas Special Operations soldiers regularly find themselves operating in overseas."

Chuck Norris militaryAbbot's ordering the Guard to monitor the exercise has fanned the flames of citizens who believe the operation is part of a plan to impose martial law on the country.

Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, poked fun at the spreading rumor with quick TV clips of newscasters throwing about the term "Texas Takeover."

"You know who calls it a 'Texas Takeover?' Lone Star lunatics," he quipped. 

Stewart also noted that when the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force held Operation Roaming Sands in Texas in 2005 — at the time the largest exercise in the state's history -- there were no concerns about the event being a move to impose martial law.

"I don't' know what's changed since then," he said, as a picture of President Obama appeared on screen. "Oh, right…"

Norris, in his column for World Net Daily, said "Concerned Texans and Americans are in no way calling into question our brave and courageous men and women in uniform. They are merely following orders. What's under question are those who are pulling the strings at the top of Jade Helm 15 back in Washington.," he wrote.

On the eve of the November 2012 elections Norris and his wife, Gena, went on television to tell voters that "Our great country and freedom are under attack … [and] could be lost forever if we don't change the course our country is headed."

Obama's re-election, Gena Norris added, will be "the first step into 1,000 years of darkness."

SEE ALSO: Air Force veteran Chuck Norris wants to save the A-10

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The 8 most elite special forces in the world

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Pakistan SSG

Elite special forces are some of the best-trained and most formidable units a country can boast.

They go where other soldiers fear to tread, scoping out potential threats, taking out strategic targets, and conducting daring rescue missions.

These really are the best of the best.

Although it's extremely difficult to rank these forces relative to one another, there are some units that rise above the rest in their track record and the fear they instill in their adversaries. These soldiers have been through rigorous training exercises designed to weed out those who can't hit their exacting standards.

In a world where the importance of the sheer size of a country's military forces is no longer a guide to their effectiveness, these soldiers are the ones states look to in order to get the job done.

8. The Special Services Group, SSG, in Pakistan is better known in the country as the "Black Storks" because of the commandos' unique headgear. Training reportedly includes a 36-mile march in 12 hours and a five-mile run in 50 minutes in full gear.



In October 2009, SSG commandos stormed an office building and rescued 39 people taken hostage by suspected Taliban militants after an attack on the army's headquarters.



7. Spain's Unidad de Operaciones Especiales, or the Naval Special Warfare Force as it has become since 2009, has long been one of Europe's best-respected special forces. Originally established as the volunteer Amphibious Climbing Company unit in 1952, it has since followed the SAS's example to become an elite fighting force.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The 8 most elite special forces in the world

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GIGN France special forces

Elite special forces are some of the best-trained and most formidable units a country can boast.

They go where other soldiers fear to tread, scoping out potential threats, taking out strategic targets, and conducting daring rescue missions.

These really are the best of the best.

Although it's extremely difficult to rank these forces relative to one another, there are some units that rise above the rest in their track record and the fear they instill in their adversaries. These soldiers have been through rigorous training exercises designed to weed out those who can't hit their exacting standards.

In a world where the importance of the sheer size of a country's military forces is no longer a guide to their effectiveness, these soldiers are the ones states look to in order to get the job done.

Click to see the most elite special forces >>

Join the conversation about this story »

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Here are the differences between the US's 2 most elite special forces units

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US Navy SEALs

SEAL Team 6, officially known as United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), and Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), are the most highly trained elite forces in the US military.

Both are Special Missions Units (SMU) under the control of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), they perform various clandestine and highly classified missions around the world. Each unit can equally perform various types of operations but their primary mission is counterterrorism.

So what’s the difference between the two? Delta Force recently took out ISIS bad guy Abu Sayyaf in Syria; DevGru took out Al Qaeda bad guy Osama bin Laden a few years ago. Same-same, right?

Wrong.

WATM spoke with former DEVGRU operator Craig Sawyer as well as a former Delta operator who asked to remain anonymous to uncover five key differences between the two elite forces.

Patches

1. Selection


Delta Force is an Army outfit that primarily selects candidates from within their own special forces and infantry units. However, they will also select candidates from all branches of service, including the National Guard and Coast Guard.

SEAL Team 6 selects candidates exclusively from the Navy’s SEAL team community. If a candidate does not pass the grueling selection process they will still remain part of the elite SEAL teams.

“It’s a matter of can candidates quickly process what they are taught and keep up,” Sawyer says.

2. Training


Both units have the most sophisticated equipment and are highly trained in Close-Quarters Combat (CQB), hostage rescue, high-value target extraction, and other specialized operations. The difference is the extensive training DEVGRU operators have in specialized maritime operations given their naval heritage.

“Each unit has strengths and weaknesses, neither is better or worse,” according to our Delta operator source.

3. Culture


Delta Force operators can be vastly diversified in their training background since they can come from various units across different military branches (including DEVGRU). Delta operators will even be awarded medals of their respective branch of service while serving with the Army unit.

“No matter what your background is, everyone starts from zero so that everyone is on the same page,” says our former Delta operator

DEVGRU operators come from the SEAL community, and while the training is intensified and more competitive, they all retain their roots in familiar SEAL training and culture.

“Candidates have proven themselves within the SEAL teams,” Sawyer says.  “It’s a matter of learning new equipment, tactics, and rules of engagement.”

4. Missions


Generally speaking, both units are equally capable of executing all specialized missions that JSOC is tasked with. Again, because of DEVGRU’S extensive training for specialized maritime operations they are more likely to receive missions like the rescue of Captain Phillips at sea.

Delta’s known and successful missions include finding Saddam Hussein and tracking down Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

“These are 2 groups of the most elite operators the military can provide,” says Craig Sawyer.

5. Media exposure

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Members of both units are known as “quiet professionals” and are notorious for their secrecy. Unfortunately, with today’s social media, 24-hour news coverage and leaks within the government, it can be difficult to keep out of the media no matter what steps are taken to ensure secrecy. 

While both units carry out high-profile missions, SEAL Team 6 has gained much more notoriety and (largely unwanted) exposure in the media in recent years thanks to government leaks and Hollywood blockbuster films such as Zero Dark Thirty, pictured above.

“We are very strict with our quiet professionalism. If someone talks, you will probably be blacklisted,” says our former Delta operator

For more differences between these elite forces, check out this SOFREP article.

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These are the most elite special forces units in the US

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Special Ops American

This post is originally by Geoffrey Ingersoll.

Ever since the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011, the American public and policymakers have taken an intense interest in US Navy SEALs and Military Special Operators in general.

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The Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, is constantly given spending and personnel increases while the rest of the military is making cuts. 

Thee number of operators doubled between the 9/11 attacks and 2013, and their budget tripled from $3.5 billion to $10.5 billion. The trend will likely continue as the US military is in the midst of a shift to "smaller footprint"-type operations that depend on special operators and air cover.

Putting tens of thousands of troops and countless private support personnel on the ground in any given country s a costly strategy that US political are reluctant to embrace. Even in the fight against ISIS, there's been little talk of countering the group with conventional ground troops. But US special operators have been used throughout the fight against the jihadists, like the during the May 2015 raid in eastern Syria that killed ISIS commander Abu Sayyaf.

Though it was the SEALs who killed Bin Laden, it's worth noting there are quite a few more SpecOps units in the US than just the Navy SEALs. Here's a comprehensive list of all the SpecOps units we could find (with help from the extensive descriptions on AmericanSpecialOps.com).

Division Marine Recon

Marine Reconnaissance teams provide intelligence for active small unit operations on the battlefield. Those with Marine Sniper quals can also provide accurate and demoralizing small arms fire at a distance.

Marine Recon is arguably in the top five of all special operators. It's capable of harassing an entire enemy battalion for long periods of time, tracking enemy units for larger American forces, or conducting well-orchestrated raids on high-valued targets.

These guys are the gems in the crown of the United States Marine Corps.



USMC Amphibious Recon Platoons

Amphibious Recon Platoons draw their personnel from Battalion Recon Units and typically support direct-action Force Reconnaissance Operations as well as Naval Fleet Operations.

They hold all the same certifications, generally speaking, as Recon Marines. The only difference are their tasks, which include determining the characteristics and defenses of possible amphibious landing zones, and reporting the information back to the commanders at sea.



Air Force Special Operations Weatherman

These special operators can forecast the weather above a fight, kill the enemy, and direct artillery — simultaneously.

The official mission of the US Air Force field weatherman is as a ground-level, small-unit meteorologist who provides accurate forecasts for the purpose of air asset deployment.



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