U.S. intel officer: Long war turning troops into 'gleeful murderers'
Afghanistan 'beyond anything now that we ever envisioned'
Published: 14 hours ago
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WASHINGTON – After 14 years of war in which the objectives have become increasingly murky, the U.S. Special Operations Forces bearing the load in Afghanistan are wearing down mentally and emotionally, fostering a general atmosphere in which many have become desensitized to the value of life, asserts an intelligence officer stationed in the country, according to a new report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
In an interview with G2 Bulletin, the officer described SOFs in Afghanistan as “a crew of gleeful murderers.”
This week, the Obama administration reversed its decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, announcing more than 9,000 will remain in the country as the Taliban reasserts itself, and al-Qaida and ISIS pose threats.
The intel officer, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, said he works with an officer who says, “I like killing people.”
The attitude, the source said, raises concerns about the impact the prolonged war is having on human emotions.
A G2 Bulletin request for comment to U.S. Army Special Forces headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, went unanswered.
The war’s effect, the intel source said, is reflected in an article he sent to WND that featured an Iraqi war veteran who continues to struggle to regain basic human emotions.
Go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin now for the rest of this, and other, reports.
Post-traumatic stress syndrome caused by the war is producing “invisible scars” on the veteran, the article said.
“Remember, way back before the invasion (in March 2003) when we were all so emotional, arguing WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), eating freedom fries, marching – wherever we stood, we stood there with passion,” the article quotes a veteran as saying.
“We could not have imagined that we would end up worse than angry. We would be desensitized,” the veteran said.
The intelligence officer told G2 Bulletin he sees a callousness in how human intelligence, or humint, is being handled.
The normal course of business in developing human sources of intelligence is having them report back “with the dirt.”
“We’re now sending sources in as ‘humint triggers’ and having them stand on the location of whatever bad guy with an electronic device (white flag with a giant target signature) and have him wait there till the JDAM lands on him and the target,” the intelligence source said. “The calculus being, ‘We can always get new sources.’”
“Somebody wrote a book about it decades ago, called ‘Kite Runner,’” he said. “They’re dirty, smelly and primarily illiterate; and corruption is part of the culture. So, even probably the best of people have a hard time getting upset about sending these guys to see Allah.”
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http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/u-s-intel-officer-long-war-turning-troops-into-gleeful-murderers/#mHObGLr0Ir4hYiDz.99
