Eat Pray Kill

"Somewhere on this planet an American commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done... for the day. Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret force within the U.S. military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world’s countries."

That's the provocative beginning of a new piece by investigative journalist Nick Turse about the U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM. Its mission includes clandestine "assassinations, counterterrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and [WMD] counter-proliferation operations." Outgoing SOCOM chief Admiral Eric Olson says our special forces number about 60,000 and operate in at least 120 countries (most by invitation). The list includes hot spots like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Jordan, Lebanon ― and Iran. (Turse oddly omits Libya, but it's a safe bet our boots are on that ground, too.) One key sub-command is the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC. They specialize in tracking and killing terrorists, and report directly to the president. In effect, these operators are Obama's private army. JSOC is the outfit that took out bin Laden. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

At a recent Aspen Institute Security Forum, Olsen let slip that similar black operations are now common. "A dozen or so are conducted every night," he said. Then there's "Project Lawrence." Taking a page from the playbook of T.E. Lawrence (as in "Lawrence of Arabia"), SOCOM hopes to duplicate the Britisher's innovative derring do by creating its own "Lawrences of Wherever." To that end, its operators are now getting advanced training in languages, history and local customs. Lawrence spoke fluent Arabic. Imagine what he could have done with night scopes, GPS, 21st century weaponry and stealth helicopters.

Even if Turse's detailed report about SOCOM is accurate, we still don't know the half of it. Or as a colleague of his put it, "We probably don’t know the tenth of it ― neither the breadth or number of their missions, nor the range of their targets." Turse writes, "Americans have yet to grapple with what it means to have a “special” force this large, this active, and this secret -- and they are unlikely to begin to do so until more information is available." But there's the rub. That information is unlikely to be forthcoming ― ever. It's a dilemma for our democracy. And it adds a new dimension to the weave of Walter Scott's “tangled web" when the government rightly or wrongly chooses to deceive.

But the true cautionary note comes from T.E. Lawrence: "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." It isn't hard to guess what type of "dreamers" we are unleashing into the world for good or ill.

(Photo: Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, Horizon Pictures Ltd)