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Manhunt (military)
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Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capture or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, dubbed high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations. According to a recent study, since 1968, 40% of terrorist groups have met their end because local police and intelligence agencies arrested or killed key members.
A response to asymmetric tactics adopted by terrorists, insurgents, pirates, narcotraffickers, arms proliferators and other non-state actors, manhunting has been adopted by military organizations to reduce collateral damage that would occur during a conventional military assault.
The most visible such operations conducted today involve counterterrorist activities.
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Encyclopedia
Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capture or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, dubbed high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations. According to a recent study, since 1968, 40% of terrorist groups have met their end because local police and intelligence agencies arrested or killed key members.
A response to asymmetric tactics adopted by terrorists, insurgents, pirates, narcotraffickers, arms proliferators and other non-state actors, manhunting has been adopted by military organizations to reduce collateral damage that would occur during a conventional military assault.
The most visible such operations conducted today involve counterterrorist activities. Some involve government-sanctioned assassination, also known as targeted killing or extrajudicial execution. Operations to capture terrorists have drawn political and legal controversy, due to the practice of extraordinary rendition. Other military operations, such as hostage rescue or personnel recovery, employ similar tactics and techniques. The primary difference in hostage rescue or personnel recovery is that the person being rescued or recovered wants to be found; while high-value targets want to avoid being found.
U.S. operations
The United States has use armed forces or militia to apprehend people deemed threats to national security since colonial times.
Colonial period
Early 1900s
- The 20th century began with the United States intervention in the Philippines, as the Army sought out individual insurrectos in a concerted counterinsurgency campaign.
- American political influence was employed in 1904 in a manhunt for Ion Perdicaris, who had been taken captive by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni.
- In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the Mexican Expedition to end Pancho Villa's reign of terror in the American Southwest.
- A squadron of P-38 Lightning twin-engined fighters was sent to shoot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's transport aircraft, downing his bomber on 18 April 1943 as it approached Bougainville.
Vietnam Conflict
- Fourteen , trained at the British Jungle Warfare Schools in Malaya and New Zealand, were deployed to Vietnam to hunt enemy insurgents.
- During the battle of Khe Sanh, military intelligence identifies communications eminating from an area designated Oscar 8. Suspected of being the command post for General Vo Nguyen Giap, Special Forces teams and indigenous Hatchet teams are dispatched to capture or kill General Giap following an air strike by B-52 bombers. The mission is unsuccessful, leading to heavy losses on both sides.
- Cambodian pirates seize the S.S. Mayaguez, leading the United States to conduct punitive military strikes and an assault on Koh Tang, while a boarding party from the U.S.S. Holt seized the hostage merchant vessel. Cambodian forces returned the Mayaguez crew during the operation.
- 1979
- An abortive special operations forces rescue attempt ended in disaster during the Iranian hostage crisis.
1980-1999
Manhunting after September 11, 2001
- The Pentagon acknowledged an aggressive hunt for terrorists was taking place in 2007. The Ethiopian Premier claimed that the United States targeted 20 terrorists in Somalia in January 2007.
- Manhunting activities accelerated in August-September 2008 along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Officials remarked the rise in attacks by Predator UAVs and Hellfire missiles was due to a desire to strike decisively at al Qaeda senior leaders in the waning months of the Bush administration. In 2009, the Barack Obama administration reaffirmed its commitment to lethal strikes, when CIA Director Leon Panetta confirmed the strikes had been successful to date, and would continue.
Military manhunts within the United States
Legal Issues
- Manhunting is a challenging legal issue. Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Israel and the United States have labeled manhunting as "targeted killings" against "enemy combatants," thus constituting legitimate targets for military action.
- Contemporary international law provides two distinct normative paradigms which govern targeted killings in situations of law enforcement and the conduct of hostilities. any targeted killing not directed against a legitimate military target remains subject to the law enforcement paradigm, which imposes extensive restraints on the practice. Even under the paradigm of hostilities, no person can be lawfully liquidated without further considerations.
Foreign operations
Ancient Times through Conquest of the New World
- International manhunting dates to Alexander the Great's pursuit of Darius III.
- Chinese General Sun Tzu advocated assassination as a strategic method in his classic work The Art of War.
- The Romans pursued Hannibal Barca after the Second Punic War.
- The Hashashim, a mystic sect of warriors, cultivated a fearsome reputation with targeted assassinations of Muslim leaders, often in Mosques or other public places.
- Feudal Japan's Ninja or Shinobi warrior sect adopted similar techniques.
- Vlad Tepes, a.k.a. Dracula, carried out The Night Attack in an attempt to kill the Ottoman leader, Mehmet II.
- The conquest of the Aztec Empire resulted from Hernan Cortes' capture of Aztec ruler Montezuma II.
- Francisco Pizarro later repeated the tactic against the Inca ruler Atahuallpa.
- North Korea secretly sent a 31-man detachment from its 124th Army Unit into the Republic of Korea to kill President Park Chung-hee, nearly succeeding in a Jan 21 1968 raid on the Blue House.
- British Special Air Service manhunting operations were conducted during the Malayan Emergency, against key Irish Republican Army operatives, and as part of global counterterrorism missions.
- Britain employed groups of Iban and Dayak tribesmen as jungle trackers during the Malayan Emergency, attaching the skilled natives to British forces. The trackers were later formed into the Sarawak Rangers.
- Britain developed specialized tactics six months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, under the code name Operation Kratos. The "tactics have been developed to include a specialised response to both the sudden appearance of a suspect where we have intelligence they may be about to commit a deadly attack and for the surveillance of suspects identified through intelligence.... These tactics are only ever used when absolutely necessary."
- British Special Air Service forces, operating in concert with United States Special Operations Forces, disrupted suicide bomber networks responsible for over 3000 deaths in Baghdad, Iraq. Over 3500 members of the bomb making networks were captured or killed in an 18-month period from 2007-2008. Most of the hundreds of network members killed were members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The SAS suffered 6 killed and over 30 injured, many due to rappelling from helicopters with over 100 pounds of equipment.
- the Rhodesian/Zimbabwe War of Independence (Chimurenga War, 1966-1980) the Selous Scout were officially credited with either directly or indirectly being responsible for 68% of all terrorist killed, while losing less than 40 scouts in the process. The Selous Scouts, Grey's Scouts and were formed to pursue Zambian terrorists deep into the African bush. Their first operational use was in 1967.
Israel may have the most advanced and experienced manhunters.
Israel has continued to employ the targeted killing of violent radical opponents. Notable operations include:
- April 1973, when Israeli commandos landed in Beirut and killed senior members of the Fatah movement including Yasir Arafat's deputy Yusuf Najjar and the Fatah spokesman Kamal Nasir.
- Israel may have been behind the 1979 explosion in Beirut that killed Ali Hassan Salameh, founder of Fatah's elite Force 17.
- In April 1988 an Israeli commando force landed in Tunis and killed the head of the (PLO) military branch Khalil al Wazir (Abu Jihad).
- In February 1992, Israeli helicopters fired on the car of Hizbullah leader Abbas Musawi, killing him and members of his entourage.
- In October 1995, following a series of suicide attacks which claimed the lives of dozens of Israelis, Mossad agents shot and killed the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Fathi Shaqaqi, in Malta.
- In January 1996, three months later, a booby-trapped cellular phone exploded, killing Hamas member Yahya Ayyash, also known as "The Engineer," who masterminded suicide attacks in which 50 Israelis died and 340 were wounded.
- An attempt to kill Khaled Meshal, the Jordanian-based political chief of Hamas, goes awry. A struggle ensues. Two Mossad agents are arrested, along with Meshal's driver Mohammed Abu Saif. When Meshal falls ill, Jordanian police suspect he has been exposed to a toxic agent. An international debacle ensues. King Hussein nearly severs relations between Israel and Jordan. U.S. sponsored negotiations with the Palestinians falter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to provide an antidote to save Meshal's life, and to release Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, who had been in custody. In the wake of an Israeli investigation, Danny Yatom, director of Mossad, resigns in 1998.
- Amal's operations officer, Hussam al Amin, was killed in a similar operation in August 1998.
- On November 9, 2000, near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired a laser-guided missile at the vehicle of Husayn Abayat, killing him and wounding his deputy.
- Similar operations on February 13, 2001 killed Masud Iyyad, a Force 17 officer trying to establish a Hizbullah cell in the Gaza Strip, and PIJ activist Muhammad abd al Al, who according to the IDF was responsible for terrorist acts and was on his way to carry out two major attacks.
- On July 22, 2002, a 2000-lb bomb dropped from an F-16 fighter killed Salah Shihada, the leader and founder of Hamas' military wing of Izz ad Din al Qassam in Gaza.
- Israeli Defense Forces reveal that an April 14, 2008 air strike by an unmanned aerial vehicle killed Ibrahim abu Alba; Palestinian sources confirm his death. A member of the military wing of the Palestinian Democratic Front responsible for operations in northern Gaza, the IDF said Alba was responsible for rocket attacks and a recent infiltration into Israel that had injured three soldiers. The IDF stated Alba was planning another attack when he was killed near Beit Hanoun.
- On April 16, a helicopter airstrike kills Mohammed Ghausain, Islamic Jihad's commander in northern Gaza.
- On December 14, 2006 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that targeted killing is a legitimate form of self-defense against terrorists, and outlined several conditions for its use. This decision, arrived at after four years of deliberation, may establish precedent for international law.
- Elyezer Shkedy, the recently retired Israeli Air Force commander, claims IAF operations only comprised 5% of targeted killings in 2003-4, while in 2007-8, IAF strikes comprised 50-70% of targeted killing operations. “Bystander fatalities” decreased from 50 of 100 Palestinians killed (1:1 ratio), to 1 in 25 (24:1 ratio). In the final months of 2007, 98 terrorists were killed with a single bystander fatality (98:1 ratio). While the IAF does not provide detailed data of these operations, (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) communications director Sarit Michaeli acknowledges improvements in IAF accuracy.
- On New Years Day 2009, Israel begins air strikes targeting HAMAS in the Gaza Strip after militants repeatedly fire rockets into Israel. On January 1, Nizar Rayyan, a HAMAS leader who urged suicide attacks against Israel, is killed in an air strike on his home in the northern Gaza Strip. Rayyan was the most senior Hamas leader to be killed since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in April 2004. Rayyan claimed, "we will kill the enemy and take hostages" during a Dec 31, 2008 interview on HAMAS’ al-Aqsa television channel. The strike kills at least four other people in the Jabaliya refugee camp, including some members of his family. Subsequent IDF operations target the homes of HAMAS leadership.
See also
Sources
- John Cloud, "The Manhunt Goes Global," Time/CNN, October 15, 2001
- Seymour Hersh, "Annals of National Security: Moving Targets: Will the counter-insurgency plan in Iraq repeat the mistakes of Vietnam?" The New Yorker, Dec 15 2003
- Steven Marks, Thomas Meer, Matthew Nilson, Manhunting: A Methodology for Finding Persons of National Interest June 2005
- George Crawford, , 2008, ISBN 1604413328
- Charles O'Quinn, An Invisible Scalpel: Low-Visibility Operations in the War on Terror, June 2006,
- Steven Roberts, Unilateral Man Hunting: Is The Strategic Operating Environment Structured To Allow The Department Of Defense To Conduct Unilateral Manhunting Operations, June 18, 2004
- Matthew Machon, Targeted Killing as an Element of U.S. Foreign Policy in the War on Terror, March 25, 2006
- John Dodson, "Man-hunting, Nexus Topography, Dark Networks and Small Worlds", Joint Information Operations Center IOSphere, Winter 2006
- Casper Weinberger "When Can We Target the Leaders?," Strategic Review (Spring 2001), p.23.
- Thomas Wingfield, "Taking Aim at Regime Elites," 22 Md. J. Int'l. L. & Trade 287.
- Elizabeth Bazan, , January 4, 2002
- Eben Kaplan, "Targeted Killings," Council on Foreign Relations Website,
- Gal Luft, "The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing," Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2003
- David Kretzmer, "Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists: Extra-Judicial Executions or Legitimate Means of Defence?" European Journal of International Law, 2005
- Laura Blumenfeld, "In Israel, a Divisive Struggle Over Targeted Killing," The Washington Post, August 27, 2006
- Mayur Patel, "Israel's Targeted Killings of Hamas Leaders," American Society of International Law Website, May 2004
- Daniel Byman, "Do Targeted Killings Work?" Foreign Affairs March/April 2006
- Angus Fay, Combating Terrorism: A Conceptual Framework for Targeting at the Operational Level, June 18, 2004
- Sue Rodgers, , Vietnam Magazine, October 2001.
- Ray Suarez, "Manhunt," Online News Hour, October 16, 2002
- Lieutenant Colonel Jack Marr, U.S. Army; Major John Cushing, U.S. Army; Captain Brandon Garner, U.S. Army; and Captain Richard Thompson, U.S. Army, , April 2008
- Michael A. Sheehan, Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing Ourselves, ISBN 978-0-307-39217-7, 2008
- Catherine Lotrionte, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mar 17, 2004.
- Eben Kaplan, , , March 2, 2006
- Lester W. Grau, LTC (ret), Military Review, July-August 2004
- Seth G. Jones, Martin C. Libicki, , RAND, ISBN 9780833044655, July 2008.
- Billy Waugh with Tim Keown, Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Ground Soldier's Fifty-Year Career Hunting America's Enemies, William Morrow, 2004, ISBN 0060564091
- Nils Melzer, Targeted Killing in International Law, Oxford University Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-953316-9
- Stephen T. Hosmer, , RAND Corporation, 2003
- Bob Carss, The Lyons Press, Guilford CT, 2009
- David Scott-Donelan, Paladin Press, Boulder, CO, 1998
- Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2006, ISBN 0-312-36272-2
- David C. Isby, Leave No Man Behind: Liberation and Capture Missions, Cassell, London, 2004, ISBN 978-0-304-36204-2
- Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew, , MIT International Review,17 February 2009
- Michael McClintock, , Pantheon Books, 1992
- Peter Harclerode, Fighting Dirty: The Inside Story of Covert Operations From Ho Chi Minh to Osama bin Laden, Cassell & Co. London, 2001
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