Iraqi Freedom Largest Special Ops Effort Since Vietnam
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 4, 2003 – Operation Iraqi Freedom is supported by the largest special operations force since the
Vietnam War, Defense Department officials said during a press briefing today.
While the vast majority of special operations forces are American, the United Kingdom and the Australian militaries are
also providing "very capable" forces, officials said.
Army Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice chief of operations on the Joint Staff, said coalition land forces are
consolidating their hold on what is now called Baghdad International Airport.
"Currently, the coalition has a substantial number of forces on the ground at Baghdad International Airport and will
begin to increase out scope of control over additional areas nearby," McChrystal said. "We're still sporadically
engaging forces on the ground and clearing buildings there."
Further east, U.S. Marines are pushing toward Baghdad from Al Kut and are engaging any remaining elements of Republican
Guard divisions defending the outskirts of Baghdad.
Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke commented on the video broadcast today showing Saddam Hussein walking around Baghdad.
"It doesn't matter whether he's dead or alive," she said. What is significant is that "whoever is left of the regime
leadership got up today and realized they have less and less control of their country."
McChrystal, who wears a U.S. Special Operations Command combat patch, spoke about the special operations actions of the
war in Iraq.
"They are more extensive in this campaign than any I have seen," he said. "Probably as a percentage of effort, they are
unprecedented for a war that also has a conventional part to it."
In northern Iraq there is a significant special operations presence, he said. Coalition personnel are working with
Kurdish fighters against the regime. Special operations personnel are helping achieve stability in the area. They helped
bring in the 173rd Airborne Brigade last week, and they are marking and calling in coalition air power on regime
targets.
"In the west, there is a large area denial mission -- very, very effective at this point," McChrystal said. Special
operations forces were also responsible for attacking a number of specific targets such as airfields, weapons of mass
destruction sites, and command and control headquarters.
In the south, special operations personnel gave aid to conventional forces and did some of the work in the cities to
help the Shi'ia elements.
When Operation Iraqi Freedom started, defense officials said "hundreds" of special operations forces were in country.
Two weeks into the operation the number has risen. Clarke did not give a ballpark figure for the manpower committed to
operations, except to say "enough."
ENDS