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US military hit a dozen secret targets in four years: report

US special forces have conducted about a dozen secret operations against al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants in Pakistan, Syria and other countries under broad war-waging authority given them by the administration of US President George W. Bush, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Citing unnamed senior US officials, the newspaper said the authority was contained in a classified order signed by former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld in early 2004 with the approval of Bush.

The order gave the military permission to attack al-Qaeda and other hostile targets anywhere in the world, even in countries not at war with the US, without any additional approval, the report said. Under this authority, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected militant compound in the Bajur region of Pakistan in 2006, the Times said.

What’s more, military planners were able to watch the entire attack “live” at CIA headquarters in Virginia through a video camera installed on a Predator aircraft that was sent to the area, the paper said.

There is no information about the remaining secret military strikes, but officials made clear the list of targets did not include Iran, the Times pointed out. The paper said, however, that US forces had carried out reconnaissance missions in Iran using other classified directives.

Before the 2004 order, the Pentagon needed to get approval for missions on a case-by-case basis, which could take days, the paper said.

But Rumsfeld was not satisfied with the status-quo and pressed hard for permission to use military power automatically outside the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Times reported. The paper said the 2004 order identified 15 to 20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and several other Persian Gulf states.
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