US Preparing for JSOC ‘Kill-Capture’ Operations in Libya After Consulate Attack

The preparations illustrate the administration's penchant for secrecy and killing, instead of transparency and trials

The top-secret Joint Special Operations Command may be preparing to engage in kill or capture operations targeted at some of the militants suspected of attacking the US consulate in Libya last month that killed four Americans.

JSOC is preparing what senior military officials described as “target packages,” which are the first step in what might eventually be deployed operations in Libya to kill or capture – but usually kill – suspects of last months attack.

President Obama has not yet ordered such actions, reports The New York Times, but these are preliminary procedures in the event that he does make the order.

Since the attack, which the Obama administration belatedly admitted was a planned attack and not a spontaneous protest, many options at the administration’s disposal have been prepared – from drones, to JSOC, to deploying Marines on the ground.

The fact that the President is considering using a top-secret JSOC raid or attack on suspects illustrates the administration’s penchant for secrecy, without congressional oversight or open discussion with the public, in its foreign policy operations.

It also demonstrates their preference to kill suspected perpetrators as opposed to apprehending suspects and carrying out a transparent trial in court, something the administration seems long ago to have abandoned in favor of night raids or drone strikes.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.