Down Range Navy SEALs in the War on Terrorism pt.1 Chapter 1 and 2

So far in the first 60 pages this book has given me a great deal of insight of how the American forces and special forces reached out to other nations in the middle east even before 9/11. There are six SEAL teams that are stationed all throughout the world. Three on the east coast of the US and three on the west coast. However, these teams consist of multiple platoons so that at any one time there are six platoons deployed all around the world. In fact, "there were combat-ready SEAL platoons in Central Command and the Arabian Sea, ready for operational tasking, on 11 September. These forward deployed platoons were in Afghanistan within weeks of the al-Qaeda strikes in New York and Washington, D.C." The effectiveness of broadening Americas territory in which its power and special forces can reach is extremely beneficial to counter terrorism. It allows for the necessary swift action to stop the terrorists and enforce justice. However, this does bring up many issues in the fact that spreading our forces around the world in order to protect ourselves is very similar to an imperial power. In order to keep other countries happy and not to act as an imperial power, American special forces must meet certain ROE, or rules of engagement, established by the UN. For example, before the attacks on 9/11 there were many oil tankers that were smuggling oil out of in order to fund Saddam Hussein's weapons and palace-maintenance coffers. These ships were welded shut in order to resist boarding parties such as the Navy Seals. The Iraqis knew that the SEALs could only operate when the vessel has entered international waters. Therefore, the welded doors and portholes only needed to slow the special forces down long enough for the vessel to enter territorial waters. "An armed force entering the territorial waters of another nation is considered a hostile act."(43)This rule of engagement helps stop America from becoming an imperial power and just entering any country that they please. However, for the men on the front lines it is extremely different. The SEALs also could not use an explosive breaching round that would allow them entry to the ship when on board. Therefore, they had to use saws to cut through the welded doors and portholes which was difficult in the allotted time. This seemed really silly to the SEALs. They believed that "given a free hand, they would have put an end to Saddam's tanker-smuggling operation in short order."(49) The rules of engagement that try to protect America's name and stop America from doing malicious acts of invading unfriendly country's territories are the same rules that help make it easy for Saddam to fund his army. These special forces units have to work with one hand tied behind their back all the time. Every ship that gets away is worth $10 million or more to Saddam in pure profit.(45) In my opinion there should be restrictions on where the special forces should be able to act. However, there certainly should not be rules on how they act. These men are trained to make wise decisions by themselves. They are so powerful that their enemies do not want to carry guns because then that would give the SEALs a reason to kill. If the Iraqis had no lethal weapons on them then the SEALs would just fight to remove the threat and not kill. The SEALs often used the phrase "They got what they deserve."(51) The SEALs have the training in close quarters combat to instinctively identify the threat and react with equal and appropriate lethal/nonlethal force. This ability to save lives and still get the job done is the reason why the Navy SEALs are of the elite.