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24 Aug, 7 tweets, 3 min read
As I was working this story about drone strikes targeting unarmed men in Afghanistan, it really struck me how complex these operations are from a technical and legal standpoint. No wonder the U.S. public is largely unconcerned. More below:

audacy.com/connectingvets… Image
I had a drone pilot leak footage of strikes in Helmand Province in 2019 to me, along with his personal journal. The entry below describes an instance of collateral damage, but the DOD report lists only one CIVCAS for this strike, not three. The official numbers are inaccurate. Image
This story was extremely complicated because unlike say Abu Ghraib or My Lai there is no clear singular moment one can point to as illegal activity. The story is in the aggregate of highly technical strike cell operations which can be seen through the lens of pilots, lawyers,
mission commanders, policy makers, or Air Force JTACs. It is important to note that these strikes appear completely illegal, but in fact they have been institutionalized and *deemed* legal by the U.S. military although they stretch the laws of war to the breaking point.
Context is important here. Lets say you saw helmet cam footage of a Navy SEAL shooting an old man in his pajamas one night. Appears to be a murder, but what if that old man was Bin Laden? The story completely changes. The same is true with these drone strikes in that the video
footage tells you very little without actual sources and documentation explaining what is really going on, and why these strikes were wrong and served no purpose. Hope you will consider giving the article a read. audacy.com/connectingvets…
I also highly recommend reading this article from @AzmatZahra about strike cell ops in Iraq. These two stories overlap with one another in key areas.

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

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More from @JackMurphyRGR

Jack Murphy Profile picture
24 Aug
Not only were Afghans targeted with lethal strikes for using or touching a radio, but DOD would kill people if a Scan Eagle pilot thought maybe he saw an antenna sticking out from under his clothes for a moment, or caught (maybe) a glimpse of a tac vest.

audacy.com/connectingvets… Image
It is not like they had developed targeting packets based on intelligence, they never even knew the names of the people they were killing. Rather, these Afghans met a "target engagement criteria" in Helmand during 2019 that marked them for death.
It was a tactic developed to fight ISIS in Iraq, an enemy Army that occupied cities but then this template was brought to Afghanistan and used for a maximum pressure campaign against the Taliban during the Doha negotiations.
Read 5 tweets
Jack Murphy Profile picture
24 Aug
This is a complex story about lethal strike operations used against ISIS in Iraq and then the Taliban in Helmand province which resulted in Task Force South West targeting adult males who used or simply touched a radio.

audacy.com/connectingvets…
I started researching this topic when drone footage of many such strikes was leaked to me but that footage says little without understanding the context. I interviewed over two dozen sources. Military lawyers, JTACs, drone pilots, and other subject matter experts in order to
get a better understanding of strike cell operations, how they function, and in this case, where it came right off the rails and pushed the laws of war to the absolute breaking point. It's a long read, with lots of previously unreported details and paints an ugly picture
Read 5 tweets
Jack Murphy Profile picture
12 Aug
Fellas. I mean, really now. How can you have the confidence of a Special Forces Colonel who has a two hour barricaded stand off with the cops after allegedly beating his wife, knowing that the Army officer good old boy network won't do a thing to you?

audacy.com/connectingvets…
Col. Ray had team mates turn him in to the IG (which is a joke btw) who blew them off. His took his kid hostage during a drunken rage while holding a gun to his head and threatening to kill himself, according to an Army report.
Now this guy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Michael I. Mahoney, says no big deal. He gets a honorable discharge, keeps his rank, and is allowed to retire. He gets to keep his SF tab as well.
Read 7 tweets
Jack Murphy Profile picture
11 Jun
The pearl clutching over Operation Paperclip. Wait until you hear about the Lodge Act... More former Nazis in Det A in Berlin than Americans when it first started. Herman Adler was fmr SS, fought on the Eastern Front. Went on to help w/ a Army SMU selection program for many years
One American Det A member told me about their morning formation (done in a hallway b/c it was a clandestine unit) in which the Sergeant Major asked who wanted to go to the D-Day reunion coming up. Det A member Gerhard Kunert raised his hand.
The Sergeant Major stopped as he was writing his name down on the clipboard and says, "Kunert you were not even in the U.S. Army in 1944!" To which he replies ya but I was there and want to go to the reunion!
Read 5 tweets
Jack Murphy Profile picture
8 May
My latest with @zachsdorfman reveals the operational details of Soleimani's killing, including the presence of Delta Force and Task Force Orange and the crucial role of Kurdish counterterrorism operators at the airport. More below.

news.yahoo.com/conspiracy-is-…
One of the main aspects of this story revealed for the first time is that the Kurdish Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) was intimately involved with this op on the ground, and it likely could not have succeeded without them. Here are some details about them not in the article: Image
The unit's inception goes goes back to the CIA and later JSOC and 10th SFG inserting into Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. Most people know about op Viking Hammer in which 10th Group linked up with the Kurds and battled Ansar al-Islam, suspected of having a chemical weapons lab.
Read 20 tweets
Jack Murphy Profile picture
26 Jan
My two cents on this important article from @David_Philipps. I've been trying to tell people for years now that SOF has absolutely no special ability to resist attacks on their cognitive spaces. We have no special training to deal with this.

nytimes.com/2021/01/26/us/…
I first started noticing this during the Obama admin as I was watching Special Forces veterans (mostly on Facebook) jump onboard with clear Russian propaganda, the source was not even concealed. These were Cold Warriors, now worshipping Putin as a defender of Christianity.
It was absolutely bizarre watching people who I thought should know better salivate over a foreign dictator while they decried Obama as a usurper undermining the fabric of America. Putin was the strong white man, Obama was the secret Muslim. Their minds had been captured.
Read 10 tweets

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