An article about Task Force 121, and US operations during the occupation of Iraq.
Israeli Defense Forces have been training a US Special Forces group, called Task Force 121, at Fort Bragg North Carolina, for antiterrorist operations in Iraq, and Syria. Task Force 121 has
already been deployed in the Sunni Triangle, and they have also been conducting operations
along the Syrian border.
Task Force 121 is composed of Army Delta Force soldiers, Navy Seals, and CIA operatives.
The paramilitary group has been designed to infiltrate Baathist terrorist groups in the Sunni
Triangle, Syrian terrorists, and al Qaeda operations within Iraq.
The plan is for Task Force 121 to infiltrate terrorist operations within the Sunni Triangle, in
a manner similar to Israeli military operations against Hamas in the West Bank. Task Force
121 is supposed to kill terrorists in the Sunni Triangle, and disable the insurgency.
The “take no prisoners,” attitude exhibited by Task Force 121, and other US military operations
within Iraq have been criticized by several groups. Alastair Mcdonald from Reuters reported
an incident in Tikrit on August 4, 2003 where a 70 year old farmer named Hamad Antar was
killed, and his three sons were wounded by US forces, while they were riding in a car during
a raid in Tikrit.
There was another incident that occurred in Najaf Iraq on December 20, 2003. According to
Robert Fisk at The Independent: “Another former Baath party official was murdered in Najaf yesterday, the five-year-old son of another was shot dead, and three policemen were mistakenly killed by American troops south of Kirkuk. Life after Saddam's capture is beginning to sound depressingly like life before the ex-dictator was seized by US forces a week ago.”
The plight of women in Iraq has also deteriorated during the occupation, because the Coalition
Provisional Authorities’s police forces have failed to provide adequate security for women in
Baghdad. Lauren Sandler observed that: “the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is creating a growing human rights crisis for women as an extracurricular issue at best, leaving women at the mercy of thugs on the streets and the religious parties that have rushed into the political vacuum.”
The daily life of many Iraqis has not been improved by the US occupation of Iraq, and thousands
are without jobs, or electricity. The antiterrorist activities of Task Force 121 may improve the
security situation somewhat in Iraq, but it remains to be seen, if the human rights violations by US forces will be reduced.
www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2275
Original: Task Force 121