Task Force 121: human rights abuses in Iraq War

[Jan Klimkowski]

Wiki hasn't been overly sanitised yet.

It's gung ho, but the details clearly describe an assassination squad, with direct access to the intelligence of several agencies (gathered by embedded, dedicated, CIA officers), and no meaningful political, military, intelligence or judicial oversight.

Task Force 121 is an example of the United States' 'Joint Task Force' concept of conducting special operations. TF121 is a multi-service force commanded by U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Gregory L. Trebon. The spearhead of the force is a forty-man team made up of operators from the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army's Delta Force, U.S. Army's INSCOM intelligence unit, the U.S. Navy's DEVGRU, the CIA's Special Activities Division, and the U.S. Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (a.k.a. SOAR, Nightstalkers.) Other Special Operations contributions will include U.S. Air Force Combat Controllers, and U.S. Air Force Pararescue. On occasions, operators from Coalition nations (particularly Canadian, British, Australian and Polish operators) augment the TF121 and provide direct and indirect operational assistance.
Contents

1 Deployment
1.1 Mission
1.2 Achievements
2 Detainee abuse
3 Cultural references
4 See also
5 References
5.1 Bibliography

Deployment

TF121 is a combination of the now defunct Task Force 5 and Task Force 20, which operated in Afghanistan and Iraq respectively. Acting on the apparent logistic redundancy of keeping two separate task force teams for Iraq and Afghanistan, General John Abizaid decided to combine both teams into a single streamlined force, forming the TF121.[1]

As TF-20, this task force was composed of United States Army Special Forces, Delta Force operators, commandos from the US Navy's DEVGRU and elements of SEAL Team 3, and Army Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment.[2]

The force was approximately 1500 soldiers with its own support capabilities.[2]

Special Operations Task Force 20's primary goal was to capture or kill "High-value targets" (HVTs), such as Iraqi Mujahideen leaders and former Ba'ath party regime members and leaders. Task Force 20 operators were directly involved in the 4 hour firefight between 101st Airborne soldiers and Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein. The two sons were killed in the shootout. The apprehending of the most wanted man in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, in Operation Red Dawn directly involved Task Force 121 operators and members of the Army 1st Armored Division, 4th Brigade, 1/1 Cavalry Regiment (Hurricane Troop) and 4th Infantry Division.[3]

Task Force 20 was also involved in what the US military calls a tragic accident on 27 July 2003. At least three Iraqis were killed in western Baghdad's Mansour district, when US soldiers from Task Force 20 opened fire on cars that overshot a military cordon. The drivers apparently had missed the cordon when they turned into the area from an unblocked side street.[4]
Mission

TF121's primary mission is the apprehension of "High Value Targets" or HVTs: key figures in organizations involved in the War on Terror, such as Osama bin Laden, Mullah Mohammed Omar and other senior leaders of Al Qaeda, Taliban and high-ranking officials of the former Iraqi Regime.[5]

The task force has been organized in such a way that it has a close relationship with intelligence personnel (CIA operators are an integral part of the unit) and has timely and unhindered access to any relevant data gathered by intelligence assets in the area. Such an option is invaluable to any Special Operations team, and especially so to one whose primary mission is hunting elusive fugitives whose hideouts change frequently and randomly.[6]

Many TF121 groups are assigned Special Forces CIRA (Communications Intelligence Reconnaissance and Action) operators with expertise in relevant fields. These operators work closely with the intelligence agencies tied to TF121 and work to pinpoint and identify HVTs aggressively.
Achievements

On 21 July 2003, Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a firefight with TF20 operators and soldiers from 101st Airborne. On the 13 December 2003, Operation Red Dawn netted HVT #1, Saddam Hussein. After intelligence narrowed down the target to two possible locations, TF121 coordinated the raid with 600 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team and Apache Troop 1-1 Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
Detainee abuse

According to an internal army investigation leaked to the Washington Post, Task Force 121 was responsible for the illegal abuse of detainees in secret interrogation facilities in Iraq.[7] In 2006, after the unit had changed its name to Task Force 6-26, a Human Rights Watch report recorded evidence of continued abuse, including beatings and waterboarding.[8]
Cultural references

Groove Games' Combat:Task Force 121[9]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 includes a top secret joint operations task force named "Task Force 141." The primary purpose of the video game's organization, as in its supposed real life counterpart, is to take on and either kill or capture high priority individuals.
The Colbert Report used Task Force 121 as an example of a "secret" task force in its television episode airing on 27 September 2010.

See also

Articles on later incarnations of the same unit, Task Force 145 and Task Force 6-26.
Good informative article on JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) http://www.specialoperations.com/Units/J...fault2.htm

References

^ Urban,Mark Task Force Black p.63
^ a b John Pike (5 August 2003). "Secret task force is spearhead in hunt for Hussein". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
^ Ann Scott Tyson (24 July 2003). "Anatomy of the raid on Hussein's sons". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
^ Vivienne Walt (4 August 2003). "Bitterness Grows in Iraq Over Deaths of Civilians". Common Dreams (Boston Globe)). Retrieved 17 March 2009.
^ Urban,Mark Task Force Black p.83
^ Urban,Mark Task Force Black p.92
^ White, Josh (4 December 2004). "U.S. Generals in Iraq Were Told of Abuse Early, Inquiry Finds". The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
^ ""No Blood, No Foul": Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq". 23 July 2006. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
^ Groove Media Inc.