Friday, September 9, 2011

False positive killings by JSOC

In his interview with Dana Priest on his Russia Today program, Thom Hartmann asks if she thinks JSOC has been a net positive or a net negative.

"You know, it depends on your definition," Priest answers. "They've been an effective killing force. That's what they do. In the process, they have killed civilians. Accidentally, they would say. But, they will continue to do those, because civilians are mixed in with people that are terrorists. So, what does that create? You know, even the leader of JSOC, General McChrystal at one point, he told me in an interview for the book that often their actions were counterproductive. Because if they killed innocent people, if they bombed the wrong house - and the rate of success was only 50% because intelligence is so hard to be accurate with - you would create hostilities on the ground that the conventional army, ill-equipped to deal with that kind of blowback, would have to handle. And they weren't good at handling it."

Edit: Real News link no longer works

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