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Rumsfeld Okays Secret Anti-terror Plans: Report

by IOL (reposted)
CAIRO, April23 , 2006 (IslamOnline.net) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has okayed three plans on terror combat, envisaging a significantly expanded role for the military and special forces outside war zones, a leading US daily reported on Tuesday, April23 .
The blueprints, each running more than 100 pages, were drafted by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) over the past three years and approved by Rumsfeld in March, officials familiar with the documents told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity.

They cover a wide range of overt and clandestine military activities, including man-hunting, intelligence gathering, attacking terrorist training camps, recruiting, and partnering with foreign militaries to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries.

The main campaign plan sets priorities, allocates funds and coordinates operations among regional military commands, they said.

It outlines nine key goals such as targeting terrorist leaders, safe havens and communications as well as countering extremist ideology.

A second blueprint is concerned with Al-Qaeda and more than a dozen groups across the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, including Egypt's Islamic Jihad, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Saharan Africa and Jemaah Islamiya in Indonesia.

The third plan outlines how the military would retaliate quickly, against specific terrorist groups, individuals or states, in case of another major terrorist strike at home.

Senior US Democrats have recently joined a mounting campaign championed by a cohort of retired generals for embattled Rumsfeld to resign.

Expanded

The plans envision a significantly expanded role for the military and its elite Special Operations troops in military operations where the US is not at war, according to the Post.

They reflect enhancing the Pentagon's involvement in areas traditionally handled by the CIA and the State Department.

SOCOM has dispatched small teams to US embassies in about 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering.

A classified order issued last year, allows the Pentagon to inform, rather than seek the approval of, the US ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country.

"We do not need ambassador-level approval," said one defense official familiar with the order.

The budget of SOCOM, designated by Rumsfeld in 2003 as the lead command for the war on terror, has since grown 60 percent to $ 8billion in fiscal 2007 .

President George Bush has empowered the53 ,000-strong command with coordinating the entire military's efforts in counterterrorism in2004 .

SOCOM is increasing by13 , 000the number of its Special Operations troops, including Special Forces soldiers skilled in language and working with indigenous militaries.

It already has7 , 000troops deployed oversees, with 85 percent last year in the Middle East, Central Asia or the Horn of Africa.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-04/23/article03.shtml
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