The Joint Special Operations Command Task Force which fought in the Iraq War was a joint U.S. and British
special operations
Special operations or special ops are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment." Special operations ma ...
temporary grouping assembled from different units. It has been described as a "hunter-killer team" with its core made up of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
's
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta
The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), also known as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as Task Force Green, is a special operations force of the United ...
(Delta Force or Delta) and the
75th Ranger Regiment
The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as the United States Army Rangers, Army Rangers, is the United States Army Special Operations Command's premier light infantry and direct-action raid force. The 75th Ranger Regiment is also part of Joint S ...
, as well as the
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six) and members of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
's
24th Special Tactics Squadron
The 24th Special Tactics Squadron is one of the List of United States Air Force special tactics squadrons, Special Tactics units of the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Garrisoned at Pope Field, North Carolina, it is t ...
(24 STS), all under
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and elements from the
United Kingdom Special Forces
United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is a directorate comprising the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the Special Forces Support Group, 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the Joint Special Forces A ...
, including the
Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...
(22 SAS or SAS),
Special Boat Service
The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roy ...
(SBS),
Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR),
18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment (18 SR), and the
Special Forces Support Group
The Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) is a special forces unit of the British Armed Forces. The SFSG was formed officially on 3 April 2006 to provide support to the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Special Reconnaissance R ...
(SFSG).
The task force was reported to be responsible for the cross border raid into Syria from Iraq in October 2008 that resulted in eight deaths including
Abu Ghadiya, along with several US operations in the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
targeting
al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
.
Successive Task Force designations
Since the invasion of Iraq, the unit went through a number of changes of designation. Task Force 20 was amalgamated with Task Force 5 (formerly Task Force 11/Task Force Sword) in Afghanistan in July 2003, and became Task Force 21. It was then redesignated
Task Force 121, and later as
Task Force 6–26,
Task Force 145, and Task Force 88.
[Leigh Neville, ''Special Operations Forces in Iraq'', Osprey Publishing Elite 170, Osprey, 2008, , p. 32.] By the time
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born 14 August 1954) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 during which his organization was credited w ...
took command, the force was known as Task Force 714.
Post-invasion organization
* Task Force 77 (formerly Task Force 145) – LSA Anaconda, Balad
** TF Black/Knight – Elements, UK's SAS, SBS, SRR, 18 SR and the SFSG until 2006 – Based in headquarters known as MSS Fernandez a.k.a. 'the Station', in Baghdad
[Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq'', St. Martin's Griffin, 2012. , pp. 15-16.]
** TF North/Red rotating battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and a small element of Delta Force operators – Tikrit
[Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq'', St. Martin's Griffin, 2012. , p. 71.]
** TF West/Blue rotating squadron, DEVGRU, supported by units from the 75th Rangers –
Al Asad Airbase
Al-Asad Airbase is an Iraqi airbase located in al-Anbar Governorate of western Iraq. It was originally known as Qadisiyah Airbase.
It was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Until January 2010, it was ...
(company sized sub-unit)
** TF Center/Green rotating squadron, Delta Force, supported by an element of the 75th Rangers –
LSA Anaconda and MSS Fernandez
** TF Orange – detachments of various intelligence agencies including the U.S.
Intelligence Support Activity (ISA)
[Michael Smith]
"Secret War of the SAS"
''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'', 16 September 2007.
History as Task Force 20
Invasion of Iraq
In preparation for the
2003 invasion of Iraq, Task Force 20 was formed based on
Task Force 11/Sword during the
2001 invasion of Afghanistan and were assigned to western Iraq, the TF (Task Force) was led by
Major General Dell L. Dailey. TF 20 was composed of mainly
Special forces
Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
units from JSOC: B squadron, Delta Force and all three battalions of the 75th Ranger Regiment; a battalion strength element of the
82nd Airborne Division
The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into hostile areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...
, serving as a
QRF and reinforcements; and a
M142 HIMARS; later in the invasion
M1A1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...
tanks from C Company, 2nd Battalion
70th Armor were attached to TF 20.
TF 20 was covertly based at
Ar'Ar Air Base in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
; the commander of the Delta Force squadron
Lieutenant Colonel Pete Blaber wanted to deploy his operators out into western Iraq and conduct strikes against enemy concentrations, tying up enemy forces that could otherwise be sent to reinforce against the Army and Marine advance from the south, such operation would also effectively deceive the Iraqis as to the true intentions of the coalition forces and precisely where the main effort would be concentrated. However, Daily wanted the Delta squadron to stay at Ar'Ar Air Base and only launch against suspected
Weapon of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures ( ...
sites and/or
High-value target
In United States military terminology, high-value target (HVT) is the term used to describe a person or resource which an enemy commander can least afford to lose. The term has been widely used in the news media for Osama bin Laden and high-ranking ...
s. The disagreement was decided by
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Tommy Franks
Tommy Ray Franks (born 17 June 1945) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States Armed Forces, United States military op ...
who went with Blaber's plan. TF 20 was tasked with seizing airfields deep in Iraq and capturing HVTs along with providing long-range
Special Reconnaissance
Special reconnaissance (SR) is conducted by small units, such as a recon team, made up of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units and/or military intelligence organizations. Special reconnaissance teams operate behind ...
; one of its primary pre-invasion targets was the planned seizure of
Saddam International Airport in
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, two full-scale rehearsals were carried out but the operation was never carried out and the airport was eventually captured by conventional units.
In the evening of 19 March 2003, Task Force 20, led by B squadron, Delta Force (accompanied by several Air Force Special Tactics teams, a Delta intelligence and targeting cell, several military working dog teams and two Iraqi—American interpreters), was the first US SOF unit to enter western Iraq as part of the
initial infiltration before the main invasion. They later assisted coalition SOF in the capture
H-3 Air Base, Rangers were later flown in to garrison the base; unofficially, Task Force 20 had been in Iraq, along with British SOF Task Force 7 and 14, and the Australian SOF Task Force 64. Delta Force then proceeded to the
Haditha Dam complex; it also conducted numerous
deception operations to confuse the Iraqis as to the disposition of Coalition forces in the west.
On 24 March 2003, Delta Force recce operators drove through Iraqi lines around the Haditha Dam, marking targets for Coalition airstrikes, the subsequent bombings resulted in the destruction of a large number of Iraqi armoured vehicles and antiaircraft systems. Also that day,
3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a combat drop onto
H-1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in western Iraq. Delta's reconnaissance of the dam indicated that a much larger force was needed to capture it, so C squadron Delta squadron was dispatched from
Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...
, with a further Ranger battalion, along with M1A1 Abrams tanks from C Company, 2nd Battalion 70th Armor (known as 'Team Tank').
C-17s flew the company from
Tallil to H-1 Air Base and then to MSS (Mission Support Site) Grizzly—a desert strip established by Delta Force which was located between
Haditha and Tikrit; C Squadron, Delta Force was flown directly to MSS Grizzly.
[Neville, Leigh, '' Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military)'', Osprey Publishing, 2015 ,p.128-129]
On 26 March 2003, the DEVGRU component in TF 20 supported by B company
2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment conducted the raid
Objective Beaver—a suspected chemical and biological weapons site at the
al Qadisiyah reservoir, north of Haditha, they engaged numerous gunmen but there was no chemical or biological weapons at the site.
On 1 April 2003, DEVGRU along with Para Rescue Jumpers and Combat Controllers from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron and Rangers from
1st
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
and 2nd Battalions, 75th Ranger Regiment and other forces took part in the
rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch; also that day C Squadron, Delta Force and 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
captured the Haditha Dam and held it for a further 5 days.
Delta units headed north from Haditha to
conduct ambushes along the highway above Tikrit, tying up Iraqi forces in the region and attempting to capture fleeing high-value targets trying to escape to
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, Team Tank convinced Iraqi Generals that the coalition main effort might be coming from the west. On 2 April 2003, they were engaged by half a dozen armed technicals from the same anti-special forces
Fedayeen
Fedayeen ( ''fidāʻiyyūn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic language, Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign.
Etymology
"Fidayun" is the plural of "fidayi" ( ''fidāʻiyy'' ...
that had previously fought Task Force 7. Two Delta operators were wounded and the squadron requested aero medical evacuation and close-air support as a company of truck-borne Iraqi reinforcements arrived to bolster the Fedayeen assault. Two MH-60K Blackhawks carrying a para jumper medical team and two MH-60L Black Hawk DAPs of the 160 SOAR responded and engaged the Iraqis, which allowed the Delta operators to move their casualties to an emergency HLZ, after which they were medevaced to H-1 Air Base, escorted by a pair of
A-10As. However,
Master sergeant
A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries.
Israel Defense Forces
The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...
George Fernandez died of his wounds. The DAPs stayed on station and continued to engage the Iraqis, destroying a truck carrying a mortar and several infantry squads, whilst Delta snipers killed Iraqi infantryman firing on the DAPs. A pair of A-10As arrived and dropped 500 lb airburst bombs within 20m of Delta positions and killed a large number of Iraqi infantry who had been gathering in a wadi. The DAPs spotted several Iraqi units and engaged them until they were dangerously low on fuel.
On 9 April 2003, the combined team seized an airfield near Tikrit during a night attack, one tank drove into a 40 ft deep hole and flipped, injuring one of the crew and disabling the tank, which was later destroyed by another tank to deny it to the enemy. By mid-April, Delta had advanced into Baghdad and 'Team Tank' returned to its parent unit.
Throughout April, TF 20 continued to raid suspected WMD sites, sometimes only hours ahead of the official Army WMD
SSE team as major combat operations were winding down TF 20 transitioned to hunting HVT former
Ba'athists. On 19 April 2003, the TF captured HVTs
Mohammed Abbas, the leader of the
PLF terrorist group. On 25 April, captured the Iraqi
deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz (, , 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraq, Iraqi politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iraq), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 ...
. TF 20 also recovered a
Mi-17 Hip helicopter for later use in covert operations.
Post invasion
In May 2003, 80% of SOF assets were rotated out of the theatre at the conclusion of major combat operations, elements of Task Force 20 remained and continued to hunting HVT former Ba'athists under direct JSOC command and had several successes in its early operations.
On 16 June 2003, operators from G Squadron, SAS (part of Task force 14) and B squadron, Delta Force, captured Lieutenant-General
Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, who had been Saddam Husseins' personal secretary and had been ranked the fourth most important HVT. He was captured in a joint helicopter and ground assault on a safehouse in Tikrit without resistance or casualties, in what was considered a highly successful operation.
On 18 June 2003, near the Syrian border,
AC-130 Spectre
The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sensors, navigation, and fir ...
gunships guided in by TF 20 operators destroyed a convoy of Ba'ath Party members escaping to Syria, intelligence indicated that the convoy may included
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
and/or his sons, other reports claim the convoy was composed of oil smugglers. Once the convoy was destroyed by the AC-130s, TF 20 conducted a heliborne assault into a nearby compound that proved to be a Ba'athist safehouse for ferrying FREs (Former Regime Elements) across the border, the operators then came under fire from Syrian border guards leading to a firefight that left several of the border guards dead with 17 more captured who were immediately released.
On 22 July 2003, a former Ba'athist regime member used an informer to pass intelligence onto the 101st Airborne Division that
Uday and
Qusay Hussein
Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000. He was also in charge of the Republ ...
(whom had $15 million
bounty), along with Qusays' son and a bodyguard, were hiding in the informers home in Mosul; the 101st passed this information to their divisional special forces liaison, whom passed it onto TF 20. Platoons from the 101st Airborne set up an outer cordon around the target house, a Delta assault team prepared to breach and clear the building from the entrance, whilst a Delta interpreter called upon the occupants to surrender. The informer and his two sons left the building as previously agreed. Delta operators breached and entered, upon which they were immediately engaged by small arms fire, which wounded one Delta operator. As they withdrew from the house, the occupants threw grenades from the second floor on them, and several Delta operators were lightly wounded by the grenade fragments; the stairs had also been blocked to impede any rapid assault. Another group of assaulters fast roped from a MH-6 Little Bird onto the roof of the building to examine the possibility of entering the building through the roof, but this wasn't possible. The decision was taken to soften up the target with heavy weapons before another entry. After soldiers of the 101st Airborne engaged the building with .50cal HMGs and M136 anti tank rockets, a third entry attempt was made, but was again driven back by intense gunfire. The 101st fired 10 TOW missiles from HMMWV-mounted
TOW II antitank guided missiles into the house, followed by repeated gun runs from
OH-58 Kiowas firing 2.75 rockets and .50cal machine guns. Delta subsequently made a successful entry and moved up onto the second floor, finding Qusay and the bodyguard dead. Qusay's son was hiding under a bed and opened fired on the operators, leaving them no choice but to kill him. Uday was discovered wounded and armed, a Delta operator shot and killed him.
History as Task Force 121
In July 2003, Task Force 5 (formerly Task Force 11) in Afghanistan and Task Force 20 were amalgamated to form Task Force 21, which was later renamed as Task Force 121—the command was set up in such a way that TF 121's Delta Force and other elements of JSOC could be switched between Afghanistan and Iraq as required. The task force continued to successfully target former regime members.

Between July and December 2003, TF 121 carried out twelve unsuccessful raids to find Saddam Hussein, together with 600 other operations against targets, including 300 interrogations. On 12 December 2003, a raid on a house in Baghdad, that was being used as an insurgent headquarters, captured Muhammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit, who was Saddam's right-hand man, known to TF 121 as "the source" or "the fatman". Early the next morning he revealed where Saddam may be found.
[Lewis, John E., '' The Mammoth Book of Covert Ops: True Stories of Covert Military Operations, from the Bay of Pigs to the Death of Osama bin Laden (Mammoth Books)'', Robinson, 2014, ] This intelligence and other intelligence from detained former members of the Ba'ath Party, supported by signals intelligence from the ISA, finally pinpointed Hussein at a remote farm compound south of Tikrit.
Operation Red Dawn was launched on two likely locations of Saddam's whereabouts (code-named Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2) near the town of ad-Dawr. C squadron, Delta Force, ISA operators under TF 121 and the First Brigade Combat team of the
4th Infantry Division, conducted the operation, Delta operators eventually found and arrested Saddam Hussein.
In the final weeks of 2003, Colonel
Stuart Herrington had been on an inspection of
Camp Nama—the special ops facility at
Baghdad Airport (at the time it was TF 121 main operations centre in Iraq prior to moving to Balad Air Base), in particular he inspected the detention and interrogation facilities—where individuals captured by JSOC and SAS were taken to. As a result, he reported to the chief army intelligence officer in Baghdad that Iraqis who had been captured by TF 121 had shown signs of mistreatment. In the following months there was a series of investigations and a total of 29 complaints were investigated in relation to Camp Nama, 5 were upheld resulting in disciplinary action against 34 soldiers.
[Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq '', St. Martin's Griffin , 2012 ,p.52-53,p.54-55]
By early 2004 many of the leading
'deck of cards' figures had been accounted for. By the Spring of 2004,
Major General Stanley McChrystal
Stanley Allen McChrystal (born 14 August 1954) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 during which his organization was credited w ...
, the commander of JSOC, began dealing with the level of abuse of detainees at Camp Nama, McChrystal—believing that 'you need to build a network to defeat one'—shut down Camp Nama and established a new base at Balad Air Base, there he created a
state-of-the-art
The state of the art (SOTA or SotA, sometimes cutting edge, leading edge, or bleeding edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contex ...
JOC (Joint Operations Centre) where JSOCs war in Iraq would be run day to day by the commander of Delta Force, the base was up and running by July 2004.
History of Task Force 6-26
''The Guardian'' reported that a few days after the US media published a series of photographs showing
abuse of detainees at Abu Gharib prison Task Force 121 was renamed Task Force 6-26.
TF 6-26 conducted missions in Fallujah before and during the
First Battle of Fallujah
The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an American-led operation of the Iraq War against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractor ...
.
On 19 August 2004, TF 6-26 operators and an Iraqi special forces unit, supported by
U.S. Marines from
Detachment One as part of Task Unit Raider carried out a raid on "Objective Resistor", the target being a former regime official running a large anti-coalition cell connected to
JTJ, Detachment One would raid the official's house while TF 6-26 operators and an Iraqi special forces unit killed/captured two of his financiers. However, the mission was a "dry hole".
History as Task Force 145
It was a combined U.S. and British military special forces provisional grouping specifically charged with hunting down high-value al-Qaeda and Iraqi leadership including
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
and, prior to his death on 7 June 2006,
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq (; AQI), was a Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda. It was founded on 17 October 2004, and was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until its disbandment on 15 October 2006 after he was killed in a targ ...
leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (; , "Father of Musab, of Zarqa"; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel Nazal al-Khalayleh (), was a Jordanian militant jihadist who ran a training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq a ...
. It is believed that the Task Force played a role in the medium-altitude strike mission that killed al-Zarqawi just outside Baqubah. The Task Force was charged with disrupting al-Qaeda operations in
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and, to a lesser extent,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
.
The action arm of the task force was made up of operators from Delta Force, DEVGRU, SAS, SBS and the 75th Ranger Regiment. Members of the CIA's elite (SAD/SOG) paramilitary unit were also believed to be an important part of the group. Support elements include the 160 SOAR (Night Stalkers), the USAF 24 STS, and British
paratroopers
A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light inf ...
from the SFSG.
The unit was operating up until at least January 2007; it is not clear whether it is still operational with the U.S. drawdown from Iraq. In January 2007 Task Force 88 established a subsidiary task force, Task Force 17 (US Army ODA/Special Forces), in addition to an existing task force for which it supported, Task Force 16 (US/UK Tier 1 SOF). Task Force 17 was established to 'counter Iranian influence.' Task Force 17 was to be made Initially Operationally Capable as of 'NLT 15 January 2007 and Full Operational Capability (FOC) will be in place NLT 15 February 2007.'
Operations
The task force is known to operate very autonomously. In their only publicly known operation they reportedly conducted several raids without requiring approval from nearby conventional command structures and only requiring it from USSOCOM. The task force was also responsible for the tracking and eventual elimination (by F-16 launched ordnance) of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Over 18 months beginning in early 2007, the task force reportedly arrested 3,500 terrorists in Baghdad and killed several hundred others. Thus, al Qaeda bomb attacks went down from an average of 150 per month (killing monthly 3,000 people) to about two. During the campaign, six SAS troops were killed and 30 injured. Delta Force suffered an overall 20 percent casualty rate (killed, injured, sick). Overall, by the cessation of operations, TF 145 suffered 18 killed in action.
During operations in Al-Anbar province, TF88 operatives entered the insurgent-controlled city of
Haditha, several times finding Zarqawi's hideouts. Their raids found eggs still cooking, just missing the terrorist leader. Based on this current and actionable intelligence, they asked the commander of II MEF(FWD) to have the city of Haditha assaulted in order to flush Zarqawi out. The general chose the 3rd Battalion 1st Marines, experienced in heavy fighting from
Operation Phantom Fury, to assault the city.
Originally, it was not clear what the reduced U.S. military role following the
U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement and associated drawdown to purely advisory operations has had on the task force's operations.
Other temporarily formed Task Forces are composed primarily of US and UK Special Operations units (and depending on operational needs, usually involving other SOF units such as Australia's
Special Air Service Regiment and
2nd Commando Regiment as well as Canada's
JTF2 and Germany's
Kommando Spezialkräfte
The Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) (, alternatively Special Operations Forces Command (SOFCOM)) is a unified combatant command and a large brigade-level unit of the German Army (Heer) designated to perform Covert operation, covert operations, ca ...
(KSK).) They mostly are put together for specific taskings, such as hunting ISIL leadership (such as unconfirmed reports of a reformation of "TF Black") or the hunt of the Somali
Al-Shabaab alongside CJSOTF-Africa.
Task Force Black/Knight
Based in the Baghdad area at MSS Fernandez, TF Black (which was supported by Parachute Regiment members of the SFSG) is based around a squadron of the SAS, with integrated units from the SBS, SRR, 18 SR and Delta Force and DEVGRU.. In the early months of 2004, the SAS used their capabilities in reconnaissance and surveillance to watch suspects and develop/gather intelligence for the coalition intelligence services. The SAS operational process in Baghdad was known as ''find-fix-finish''. Working backwards with the 'finish' part being a raid to take down a suspect, 'fix' involved pinpointing a time and place which a target can be taken; 'find' would be finding the insurgent/terrorist. In this period, they almost captured/killed
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (; , "Father of Musab, of Zarqa"; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel Nazal al-Khalayleh (), was a Jordanian militant jihadist who ran a training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq a ...
when they assaulted a house in Baghdad. After forcing entry, they withdrew when they discovered a booby trap. They still managed to overwhelm the occupants of the building; captured intelligence revealed Zarqawi had left a short time before.
Due to mistreatment of detainees and the conditions at
Camp Nama and JSOC's TSF (Temporary Screening Facility)
at Balad and the deportation of detainees to
Bagram Airbase, US-UK relations were strained when they refused to turn over detainees to US custody.
McChrystal kept Task Force Black out of JSOC, but this would change in 2006. In the meantime, Task Force Black targets were former Ba'athist party regime elements. On 11 April 2005, Task Force Black's G squadron, SAS, captured Fadhil Ibrahim al-Mashhadani, one of Saddam Hussein's former apparatchik after assaulting his house. At about the same time, in an attempt to find the kidnappers of a foreigner, the SAS also captured a former senior Ba'athist party official and another man. They didn't find the hostage but the men were definitely connected to the kidnappers; they were later released, however, when US intelligence revealed that they were CIA assets.
In Spring 2005, the
Director Special Forces (DSF) rebalanced British special forces deployments so that Afghanistan would be the responsibility of the SBS and Iraq would be that of the SAS. Following the
Basra prison incident in September 2005, in which the name of the unit 'Task force Black' was leaked to the press; the unit was renamed 'Task force Knight'
After a change of
DSF and improvement of the JSOCs TSF, in late 2005 Task Force Black began to integrate more closely with JSOC. In mid-January 2006, the British SAS began Operation Traction: which was its secret upgrade/integration into JSOC, they deployed TGHG (Task Group Headquarters Group): this included senior officers and other senior members of SAS - to JSOCs base at Balad. This upgrade now meant that the SAS were "joined at the hip" with JSOC and it gave the SAS a pivotal role against Sunni militant groups, particularly AQI
In early 2006, Task Force Black was involved in the release of
three hostages working for Christian Peacemaker Teams as part of Operation Lightwater. With the aim of finding the hostages, the operation involved raiding houses and arresting suspects almost every day and night until sufficient intelligence was gathered on the whereabouts of the hostages. The total number of building raids amounted to 50, 44 of them being by British special forces including a total detained 47 people. In April 2006, B squadron SAS launched
Operation Larchwood 4 the results of which gave the coalition intelligence on Zarqawi which led to his death.
According to journalist Sean Rayment for the ''Telegraph'', TF Black removed or killed 3,500 terrorists in Baghdad prior to 2008.
Rayment wrote that these killings "reduced bombings in Baghdad from about 150 a month to just two."
In October 2004, all SAS personnel in Iraq including Task Force Black were banned from handing over suspects to the US forces if the suspects were going to be taken to a US interrogation center, because of the bad reputation of the centers.
[Haynes, D. (2010). SAS was barred from dealing with US forces. Lexisnexis. Retrieved (2010, 15 September) from http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/] Another setback for the task force was during the
Second Battle of Fallujah
The Second Battle of Fallujah, initially codenamed Operation Phantom Fury, Operation al-Fajr (, ) was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that began on 7 November 2004 and lasted about six weeks.
A joint military effort of the United ...
when the SAS was banned from going into the city alongside its American counterpart because of the pressure that the government was feeling from the unpopularity of the war.
In 2007, when JSOC began conducting CII (Counter Iranian Influence) missions, the UK government ordered that Iranian nationals should not be taken by Task Force Knight and they excluded them from certain intelligence-gathering missions measures being taken to prepare for possible strikes against Iran.
Following a SAS takedown operation of
Qais Khazali - a senior Shia militant and Iranian proxy in Basra and his brother: Laith al-Khazali and his
Ali Mussa Daqduq a
Hezbollah
Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
advisor, turned out to be the Task Force most significant action of Operation Crichton. They also found critical documents: one was a report on the
Karbala raid which identified
Azhar al-Dulaimi as being responsible for it, he was eventually killed by US forces; the Karbala memo also indicated that Iran's
Quds Force
The Quds Force () is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Fo ...
approved the attack. There were memos about attacks on British forces in Basra and large financial payments based on performance against the coalition. Daqduq revealed that he had been brought into Iraq by Quds Force leadership to be a sort-of insurgent management consultant. He also revealed that the Shia
Special Groups gave reports of IED attacks and indirect fire to the Iranians as well as said Iraqi's for training in Iran.
The mission made a strategic impact, Task Force 17 (a unit consisting of US Army Special Forces and elite Iraqi units conducting Counter Iranian Influence missions) stepped up its raids against Iranian targets. Operators from Task Force knight responded to
2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel, but the incident was eventually resolved. The CII missions successfully caused the leader of the
Mahdi Army
The Mahdi Army () was an Iraqi Shia militia created by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
The Mahdi Army rose to international prominence on April 4, 2004, when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the ...
,
Muqtada al-Sadr
Muqtada al-Sadr (; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric, politician and militia leader. He inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father, and founded the now dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted ...
, to flee to Iran, where in August he declared a ceasefire with the coalition.
During the Spring and summer of 2007, the British SAS as part of Task Force Knight suffered several men seriously wounded as it extended its operations into
Sadr City
Sadr City (), formerly known as Al-Thawra () and Saddam City (), is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister of Iraq, Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, Abdul Karim Qassim and named Al-Rafidain Distric ...
; in April, Task Force Knight focused its efforts against
Arab Jabour which HUMINT intelligence revealed that it was an al-Qaeda's "bastion".
Following the disbandment of Task Force Spartan in southern Iraq following the British withdrawal, Task Force Knight focused its efforts on al-Qaeda VBIED network in Iraq, mainly in
Dora,
Salman Pak
Salman Pak (, ) is a city located approximately south of Baghdad near a peninsula formed by a broad eastward bend of the Tigris. It is named after Salman the Persian, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who is believed to be buried i ...
and Arab Jabour, killing dozens in the summer months of 2007.
By March 2008, the Sunni insurgency was waning rapidly, the need for aggressive special operations raids became few, B squadron SAS extended its operations into Tikrit and Anbar province, going after low-level targets that the Iraqi military could deal with. UKSF left Iraq in May 2009.
Task Force Black/Knight provided the United Kingdom with one clear success of the nations controversial involvement in the Iraq War. In an interview with
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
newspaper in August 2008, General
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus (; born 7 November 1952) is a retired United States Army General (United States), general who served as the fourth director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 2011 until his resignation in November 2012. Pri ...
said the SAS "have helped immensely in the Baghdad area, in particular to take down the al-Qaeda car bomb networks and other al-Qaeda operations in Iraq's capital city".
Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...
Rob Fry described the role of British special forces in defeating al-Qaeda as being of "an absolutely historic scale".
The SAS campaign against the Shia Special Groups was successful. Iraq's population, however, is made up of a Shia majority whose insurgents were supported covertly by
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. The task force and JSOC, therefore, could only contain the threat rather than destroy it. Many members of the Special Groups have since been released by the Iraqi government.
Currently, rumors of a "reformation of a similar Task Force going by the cover name of TF Black" have emerged. Most former Special Mission Unit members and insiders believe, however, that because the concept of a "Task Force is temporary, hence the term 'Task' Force...as in being tasked with a particular objective", this would be unlikely, regardless of the reports of mainstream media to the contrary. Most of the time, Task Forces such as the original TF Black, cannot technically "be reformed" to hunt ISIL when the creation of a more current and lesser-known joint Task Force would make more sense to those inside the Joint Special Operations Command.
History as Task Force 88
The ''Long War Journal'' reported that Task Force 88 operators with Iraqi forces carried out a raid in north of Baquba, Diyala province on 22 January 2008 as part of Operation Raider Harvest-an operation focusing on
al Qaeda in Iraq/ISI's network in the Miqdadiyah region of Diyala province. The raid targeted "an improvised explosive device specialist involved in coordinating IED and suicide-vest attacks in the region-with ties to several al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders." They killed the high-value target and one other operative during the raid and found IEDs and grenades at the scene. The following day, TF 88 returned to the region in search of a second ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) leader. Ten ISI fighters were killed in airstrikes and another three were killed by ground fire as they moved to attack the operators. As they secured the building used by the terrorists, Coalition forces found "machine guns, military-style assault vests, rocket-propelled grenade propellant, and various ammunition," Multinational Forces Iraq reported. "Nearby, the ground force discovered additional weapons caches to include rocket-propelled grenades, artillery, and mortar rounds, improvised IEDs, and suicide-vest materials."
The ''Long War Journal'' reported that on 24 June 2008, a team of TF 88 operators killed ISI emir in a raid on a terrorist safe house in Mosul.
References
Further reading
*
Smith, Michael, ''Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team'', 2008
*
Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black'', 2010
*
* Shultz, Richard (2018
"U.S. Counterterrorism Operations during the Iraq War: A Case Study of Task Force 714" ''Intelligence and National Security'' 33:7, pp. 974–998.
External links
*Cuomo, C, McNiff, E, & ABC News Law and Justice Unit, . 9 June 2006
The men in the shadows—hunting al-zarqawi*GlobalSecurity.org
*Hala Jaber, Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith
How Iraq's Ghost of Death was Cornered ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 11 June 2006
*Brian Ross
Secret U.S. task force changes its name, again The Blotter,
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
, 12 June 2006
*
Mark Bowden
Mark Bowden (; born 1951) is an American journalist and writer. He is a former national correspondent and longtime contributor to ''The Atlantic''. Bowden is best known for his book ''Black Hawk Down (book), Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern W ...
The Ploy Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 ...
, May 2007
*Bill Roggio
Secret order to target Al-Qaeda{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005015344/http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/11/secret_order_to_target_al_qaed.asp , date=5 October 2012 , November 2008
*Bill Roggio
The Black Guards Long War Journal, September 2006
Special forces task forces of the United States
Ad hoc units and formations of the United States
Occupation of Iraq
Special Air Service
Military counterterrorist organizations
Military units and formations of the Iraq War
Military units and formations established in the 2000s