The U.S. military has launched nearly a dozen secret attacks against al Qaida and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere since 2004, the New York Times reported Monday.
The military raids were authorized by a classified order that then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President George W. Bush, the newspaper said.
The secret order gave the military new authority to attack al Qaida networks anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.
In 2006, for example, a U.S. Navy Seal team raided a suspected militant compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan.
Some of the missions have been conducted in close coordination with the CIA, according to senior U.S. officials, who said that in other attacks, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of CIA-directed operations.
However, as many as a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the past four years, often to the dismay of military commanders, senior military officials said.
Source:Xinhua
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