Dirty Wars
by Jeremy Scahill, Íñigo García Ureta, Albino Santos Mosquera · first published 2013
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
An investigative look at America's covert and special-forces wars, especially JSOC's secret operations across many countries. It offers a clear introduction to how these campaigns work and why they stay hidden.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In this book the author of "Blackwater," takes us inside America's new covert wars. As he reveals, the foot soldiers in these battles operate daily across the globe and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture, or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies of America. Funded through "black budgets", Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost mi
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…where this happens, and also leads to creating more terrorists/enemies of the US than it possibly eliminates. Jeremy Scahill wrote a ~700 page book about this very subject that came out a few months ago. Dirty Wars. It is worth reading.
on “Pakistani family of drone strike victim gives harrowing testimony to Congress” ↗The recognized leaders of these countries are the ones who are allowing this. Read Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill for more.
on “Germans abandon hope of US 'no-spy' treaty” ↗…HUMINT-free AI speculation, the US military's policies stipulate that, theoretically, there should always be someone to hold accountable for these successes and these crimes. See also: Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars (2013)
on “America's Missile That Uses Sword Blades Instead of Explosives Has Struck Again” ↗…this has been done without even declaring war. This drone pilot deserves to be recognised for at least having the courage to speak up about what he was asked to do, about the mistakes made. The book Dirty Wars is definitely worth reading if you are interested in finding out more about US drone programs. http://dirtywars.org/
on “Confessions of a Drone Warrior” ↗There is a great and current book describing our current posture. Check out "Dirty Wars" for a wonderful intro to our secret wars all over the world. JSOC is operating in many, many countries where we do not have active wars going. And, dear reader, JSOC is not the CIA.
on “Snowden touches down in Moscow ... tweeted by Wikileaks” ↗…Iraq also pushed America to depend on covert wars because Iraq made overt warfare totally unpopular with the public. Now everything is done via special forces during classified operations, as the book "Dirty Wars" covered so well, as not to put politicians in a place where every military operation is potentially political suicide. I doubt we'll see many large-scale wars in the future. It will almost entirely…
on “The History of SEAL Team 6” ↗…the things that the DoD did that seems to replicate a capability available elsewhere in the USG and almost entirely for the purpose of escaping oversight. BTW, Jeremy Scahill (author of Blackwater and Dirty Wars) reported that HIS laptop was hacked. When you combine this with the surveillance of AP reporters and it does seem that certain parts of the USG seem to feel that journalists are worthy and legitimate…
on “CBS confirms reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer breached” ↗…to attack and kill anyone we consider a threat anywhere on planet Earth without due process. That is reason enough to not contribute to a project making drone killing easier. 0. https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Wars-Battlefield-Jeremy-Scahill...
on “Google Is Pushed to Tie Executive Pay to Progress on Diversity” ↗I recently listened to a podcast where Jeremy Scahill (the author of the book Dirty Wars) claims Saudi Arabia has been belligerently bombing Yemen to show unruly groups inside of Saudi Arabia that they have the ability to bomb people too. https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/episode-52-dirty-war...
on “How the Iranian-Saudi Proxy Struggle Tore Apart the Middle East” ↗…As such, the Whitewater controversy is better known for the controversy - which can be influenced by yellow journalism - than any underlying criminal or even ethical/moral issues. I think Scahill's "Dirty Wars" - critical of Obama's foreign military doctrine - and his further criticism of Obama's pressure to keep Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye imprisoned - would have been a better example of solid…
on “Vimeo deletes Project Veritas account after report highlighting Google AI bias” ↗