Ron Paul: Why Are US Special Forces in 81 Countries?

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Ron Paul: Why Are US Special Forces in 81 Countries?

Posted By Daniel McAdams On September 25, 2015 @ 6:38 am In News | 1 Comment

US special operations forces are operating in 81 countries according to the Wall Street Journal. Their budget has increased five-fold since 2001 and their personnel have doubled. They operate in secret, most often without Congressional oversight or even knowledge. Is it dangerous for the president to have what is de facto a personal army like this? Tune in to the Ron Paul Liberty Report:

 

URL to article: http://antiwar.com/blog/2015/09/25/ron-paul-why-are-us-special-forces-in-81-countries/

URLs in this post:

[1] Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity: http://ronpaulinstitute.org/

[ABX]

...They operate in secret, most often without Congressional oversight or even knowledge. Is it dangerous for the president to have what is de facto a personal army like this?....
 

Can you imagine the bureaucratic and political nightmare if every military division and unit had to answer to congress for every thing they do? No matter how much I dislike the current President, the answer is the Constitution. The President is the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces. That is his primary Constitutional role. That isn't Congress' role.  Congress is who authorizes the CIC's declaration of war and the budget. That is where their military oversight is.

How many of the 81 countries they are deployed in are they actually operational versus stationed at embassies due to local geopolitical nature or specific security threat? This same site (and former politician) often decries the so-called 101 military bases around the world but when you give that a deep dive, they count embassies because military personnel are stationed there.

[EC]

To expand on your point: in short - prestige. And NOT that of the USA as a whole.

You are an Ambassador. Do you want to be guarded by Army grunts or finely tuned killing machines? Your self image insists that you rate the best, after all.

It's stupid. Totally counter to the reason to have Special Forces in the first place, and, to be frank, it blunts their abilities.

Armed forces are split into three tiers. You have the main tier - these are the bulk of your forces, both the shield and the shaft of your military spear, if you like. You then have the tip of your spear - the more speciallized units. Marines, Rangers, Recon. I'm pretty sure the flyboys have their equivalent but God only knows what it is. And finally You have Special Forces. These are the blade hidden in your other hand that the enemy doesn't even know you have. That is how they work. They are SUPPOSED to be unknown. Not bodyguards.