The Nation' Plays 'Murder, Incorporated' Angle in Article About U.S. Special Forces

The legendary U.S. Special Forces Unit that took out Osama bin Laden on Sunday has been receiving a lot of press coverage lately--and for good reason. The bravery of those soldiers, the significance of their mission, and the sheer drama with which it was carried out is right out of a Blockbuster thriller.

In an article from The Nation, the U.S. Special Forces are depicted as a class of talented, courageous, elite, and highly dangerous men. Surprisingly, given that it's The Nation, the writer plays up the "murder, incorporated" angle of the story about JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command):

Col. W. Patrick Lang, a retired Special Forces officer with extensive operational experience throughout the Muslim world, described JSOC’s forces as “sort of like Murder, Incorporated.” He told The Nation: “Their business is killing Al Qaeda personnel. That’s their business. They’re not in the business of converting anybody to our goals or anything like that.” Shortly after the operation was made public, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey called JSOC’s operators the “most dangerous people on the face of the earth.”

“They’re the ace in the hole. If you were a card player, that’s your ace that you’ve got tucked away,” said Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was the Chair of the Joint Chiefs on 9/11, in an interview with The Nation. Shelton, who also headed the Special Operations Command during his career, described JSOC as “a surgical type of unit,” adding “if you need someone that can sky dive from thirty miles away, and go down the chimney of the castle, and blow it up from the inside—those are the guys you want to call on.” Shelton added, “They are the quiet professionals. They do it, and do it well, but they don’t brag about it. Someone has to toot their horn for them, because they won’t, normally.”

Read the rest of the article here.