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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

SOC’s Secretive Delta Force Operators, on the Ground for El Chapo Capture

Posted by DD Republished from Sofrep News and Washington Post  thank you BB reader for the tip on this article
                                              
 by 
Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, was recaptured following an intense firefight between Mexican Marines and Chapo’s goons in Sinaloa, Mexico, last Friday. Although Mexican officials claimed that the entire operation to recapture El Chapo after he escaped from prison for the second time was planned and executed by Mexico, multiple sources report to SOFREP that American law enforcement officers and JSOC operators were involved in the mission.

The operation, dubbed “Black Swan” by the Mexican government, was actually targeting Chapo’s lead sicario (assassin) but came across the cartel leader by chance. The Mexican Marines stormed the house, and in the ensuing firefight five cartel gunmen were killed and six were injured. One Marine was also injured. During the firefight, Chapo escaped through a series of tunnels and then tried to flee in a stolen vehicle. 

Federal agents caught sight of him and arrested him on the spot. According to one account, the arresting agents had not even been aware of the larger mission being carried out in the area by Mexican Marines. Arresting Chapo was simply a chance encounter, a stroke of good luck.
Drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is escorted to a helicopter at Mexico City’s airport on 1.8.16following his recapture during an intense military operation in Los Mochis, in Sinaloa State, Mexico.  (Omar Torres/AFP)
Rumors of American special operations personnel roaming around the badlands of Mexico have been floating around for well over a decade at this point, but the idea of bearded, ball cap- and Oakley-wearing American soldiers south of the border has been more fiction than fact. JSOC maintained a small analysis cell in Mexico, but the Mexican government has been extremely wary of an American military presence on the ground. Much of this has to do with fears of neocolonialism, as well as Latin American machismo—insecurity over the fact that Mexico cannot manage its own internal affairs.

While America’s so-called “war on drugs” is perhaps at an all-time low socially and politically, with our focus on the Middle East, the capture of El Chapo is still a tactical win for the United States, even if it only gets us incrementally closer to securing the rule of law in Mexico.

In the lead for the capture were the Mexican Marines, who are the go-to preferred force for counter-drug cartel operations in a country where public officials are often hopelessly corrupt. It is interesting to see how, around 2006 or 2007, the Mexican Marines suddenly became very effective at direct-action (DA) raids. Such raids were responsible for capturing and killing high-value targets (HVTs), causing speculation that the Marines were receiving a little help from their North American neighbors. America has also leveraged its significant signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities to help the Mexican authorities track down drug cartel leaders.
In regards to the latest El Chapo capture, SOFREP has been told that it was actually the U.S. Marshals who had an important role in tracking down the drug lord. Also on the ground was the U.S. Army’s elite counterterrorism unit, Delta Force. Operators from Delta served as tactical advisors but did not directly participate in the operation.

This type of arrangement is hardly unprecedented, as Delta also worked in the shadows during the search for, and eventual killing of, Pablo Escabar in Colombia. They’ve also served in advisory capacities during hostage-rescue missions in places as diverse as Sudan and Peru. Delta Force has also remained behind the scenes in the capture of other HVTs, from Manuel Noriega in Panama during the 1989 invasion, to the killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein in Iraq in 2003. Also worth noting is the unit’s role in tracking down and arresting Bosnian war criminals in the 1990s.

Although Delta had some level of involvement in the operation, their presence is probably less interesting than many would assume.  Law enforcement agencies often request the presence of Delta operators as advisors to sensitive operations.  These operators are often there putting in face time to appease the request of a federal agency, but may have little if any actual participation in the planning and execution of events.  Such was the case when Delta was asked to consult on the Waco stand-off between the ATF, FBI, and the Branch Davidians in 1993.  Law enforcement agencies are said to regard the presence of a JSOC operator as a sort of lucky talisman.

The good news is that it is now unlikely that Chapo will be escaping from prison a third time as the Mexican government is signaling that he will be extradited to the United States to face prosecution.  When the black Chinook comes for Chapo, we will know that he will finally face the justice that he has long evaded.

Did Delta Force help capture El Chapo? US role yet to be detailed. The secretive history of U.S. manhunts in Latin America



Nearly 24 years ago, the United States deployed a small, secretive force to hunt for a drug kingpin whose merchandise had flooded U.S. markets. Pablo Escobar’s cartel was believed to smuggle in at least 80 percent of the cocaine in the United States, and was responsible for a wave of murders in Colombia that stretched back 15 years.

For more than a year, the U.S. military’s secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) rotated teams into Colombia from the Army’s elite Delta Force and the U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Developmental Group, commonly known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team 6, according to the book “Relentless Strike,” a lengthy history of JSOC published last year by journalist Sean Naylor. The U.S. Special Operations troops were supposed to be limited to training Colombia’s elite military forces, but found ways to accompany them on missions.

On Dec. 2, 1993, Escobar was finally discovered through phone surveillance, and killed in a raid. Rumors have long persisted that a member of Delta force killed him, but retired Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, a longtime Delta operator, denied that was the case in his 2008 book, “Never Surrender.”
The operation bears consideration as the United States seeks the extradition of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a billionaire drug lord who was captured Friday by Mexican marines in the coastal city of Los Mochis, near Baja California. An expansive article by the actor Sean Penn published by Rolling Stone magazine suggested that El Chapo knew that Mexican authorities and officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were closing in, drawing on a secret visit Penn said he had with the kingpin in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico.

DEA officials said in a tweet that the capture of El Chapo is “further evidence of our two countries’ resolve to ensure justice is served for families who have been plagued by his ruthless acts.”

“The DEA and Mexico have a strong partnership and we will continue to support Mexico in its efforts to improve security for its citizens,” the agency added. “We will continue to work together to respond to the evolving threats posed by transnational criminal organizations.”


The U.S. government has not detailed how it assisted in the capture of El Chapo. But a report by the online magazine SOFREP suggested that Delta Force operators and U.S. law enforcement officials were involved in the mission. The report, which includes bloody photos said to be taken after a firefight with El Chapo’s forces, said that Delta troops served as tactical advisers but did not participate directly in the mission, citing multiple anonymous sources.

The SOFREP cite is run by former Special Operations troops, and has been known to break some stories. In one example, they identified former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill as the veteran who had anonymously described the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a 2013 article published by Esquire magazine. O’Neill later identified himself in an interview with The Washington Post.

SOFREP’s new report on El Chapo could not not be confirmed on Monday, but involvement of the U.S. military in Latin America has long been a source of intrigue.

In another example, Delta Force, Army Ranger units and other Special Operations forces led the 1989 hunt for Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian leader who also had a long history of shipping cocaine to the United States. Operation Just Cause was approved by President George H.W. Bush in late 1989, and took only a few weeks, with Noriega turning himself over to U.S. troops on Jan. 3, 1990, according to an Army history of the operation.

Noriega was known to wear red underpants. According to the books by both Naylor and Boykin, a pair ended up in a display case at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the home of both SOC and Delta.


46 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh here we go with the rumors. I don't even know why this is news. Either you really know for sure or you don't.

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    1. They were there with pablo escobar, they didn't need to be there with chapo

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    2. J-SOC, All about secrecy, with secret details to fill-a-book, and many other, un-mentionables, dirtier than Manuel Noriega's calzones...
      --i wonder if they were also involved on other secret deals, like Benghazi, supplying Iraqi rebels with IEDs, helping Book Haram take 300 girls hostage, helping Blackwater prolong the iraq and afghanistan wars after they had been won in a timely manner, the training of ISIS...and helping mexico with the Ayotzinapa "communist drug trafficking rebels" of Isidro Burgos Normal Rural...
      --the mind numbing secrecy and prefect execution of all these operations, as well as the raining of military personnel shooting from helicopters from the sky a la Blackwater everywhere in the world, suggest that the US government only carries shameful operations in secret...
      --At this point, NO CLEAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE CARRYING ON WITH SECRET DIRTY OR FALSE WARS AND PASSENGER PLANES BOMBINGS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD...
      --It can't be denied that of the dirty drug money laundering banks in panamá and the secret bank accounts of the biggest depositors, nobody has been prosecuted and not one dollar has ever been arrested...
      --But the J-SOC THANKS YOUR WELL MEANING EFFORTS...
      KISSES KISSES, xxx, small cap kisses xxx...

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    3. 3:40 hope you get well soon.

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    4. YOU are a moron...lol. I grew up, then later went to high school and basically spent much of my life with people who didn't do a lot, and eventually enlisted in the US Army and ended up being in Special Mission Unit about ten to twelve years later. Delta members ("Unit" guys, as they'd call them, as they say) are and have been in Mexico for a long time AND in places like Venezuela etc. It's not news...and there aren't conspiracies WHATSOEVER with BENGHAZI when it comes to Delta. The two men that arrived to assist came and administered aid as they evacuated/destroyed TS/SCI (top secret) docs, and then even earned medals for leading civilian admin staff (among the contractors) to vehicles and providing fire to keep the growing hordes back.
      BOKO HARAM? You think they assisted them? You are obviously mentally unable to critically think or just uninformed by CNN or FOX News but THEY HAVE BEEN FIGHTING GROUPS LIKE ASL (ANSAR AL SHARIA), B.H (BOKO) in Nigeria, AND MORE THAN ANYTHING, LEADING TASK FORCES DURING THE WARS IN IRAQ, NOT "HELPING BLACKWATER" KEEP THEM GOING. HOW WOULD THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE TO YOU??
      What? They are so desperate for the defense's industrial complex (because it has soooo much trouble with $$ right? lol...you moron) that they helped a private firm to stay in a war they weren't even fighting offensively in? They were security guards who got out of hand on a small amount of occasions, and btw, Delta members that retired WERE in Blackwater-type firms, and they would never need to do the bullsh-t that Blackwater got caught doing later when their members (most were not Special Forces vets that did that crap, it was ex-cops, douchebag infantry dudes who got lucky and got a high paying job, etc).

      I mean, try meeting someone from the Unit before you judge or even assume/presume anything about them or trying to string them up to past events they had nothing to do with...The stuff they do actually do? THAT is the stuff YOU DO NOT HEAR ABOUT AND RARELY SO IF EVER. Period. Those I know who have been a part of it won't even tell me half the crap I've asked...and they wouldn't even be breaking OPSEC (the rules, so to speak, on past covert operations' narratives) sometimes when I actually WOULD ask and beg to know...They are just quiet, quiet, quiet professionals (as they keep saying). Period.

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  2. If they were acting on a anonymous tip of suspicious activity, and not a specific operation to capture Sapo, why were U.S. operaters there? Anyways, I think it's awesome they were there.

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    1. You sure seem to have unconditional faith in the government of Peña Nieto.

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    2. 8:07 why you think that?

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    3. Not 8:07, but expressing praise for anything paramilitary, military, political or police of the peña nieto's government,
      STINKS TO HIGH HEAVENS...
      That is like working for the other side or for another cartel.
      --releasing the AD, Nestora Salgado, Dr Mireles, or bringing back the 43 would force us all to say "thankiu" very much, el chapo arrest or not does nothing for me personnally, but I could see the political prisoners set free, and some criminal politician hijos de su puta madre get arrested, prosecuted, at least condemned on the press and all MSM, but nooo...

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    4. Anyone here who believes the conspiracy bullshit about this stuff is ridiculous....They are JSOC for the love of GOD! They don't NEED to hide things from you...It's already never going to be known. But unlike most here, I've met good dudes who work in these SOF units like Delta and the even a few PJs from the 24th STS (Air Force Special Operations unit) and they aren't the evil, conspiring bullies you see in your movies down there....Believe me. They are mostly the nicest, most wittiest and hilariously brilliant guys you'll meet, most with hearts of gold and spend the very little free time they have doing volunteer work for their community and yet no one even hears about it because like being in Delta Force, they don't care about getting attention NOR do they want to further political agendas in shitholes like Sinaloa...I've been there more than a dozen times. Their Federales are a bunch of drunks half the time (not all but way, way too many ARE) and if there's US Special Operations personnel down there (and if they are anything like the ones I grew up around) then BE THANKFUL. Believe it...They aren't some Presidential hit squad who doesn't care about life...They are just professionals, and that scares people who are not because they don't cry after they drop some psycho, beheading radical in the middle of Syria every night as we speak. K? That's all. No politics, and in fact, they avoid ALL of the things you guys keep saying they "might" or "probably" had something to do with..Yeah they helped with El Chapo etc, and many others you'll never hear about...Those I know won't tell me a thing..EVER. But they have diversified and successful stock portfolios, awesome families who treated me like one of their own, and are not just mindless trigger-pulling "door kickers". They are the "best of the best" not for the killing etc, but because they represent the best parts of courage and doing the right thing EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING...That's what they'd tell you if any of you actually knew one and knew what they are all about. Get over it and stop trying to make somethin' from nothing. Go after the ATF or DEA if you want to talk conspiracies or something...These guys aren't the type, they are. US SOF are not part of any conspiracies or doing any dirty work for Mexico. They just do what they can to help when/where they can. That's it. One of their sister units' motto, my friend in the Unit told me, is "Send Me". Think about that. This organization is an intelligence org and they have that as their motto because they will go alone and unafraid into horrible places to help...not always to hurt or overthrow governments etc. That's just a hobby once in a while..jk

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  3. 4 ATF agents were killed at waco by friendly fire.. Thats just to show you how good they are and how much good delta did for them.

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    1. Delta is probably in the top 3 special operation units in the world. Waco happened in 1993 get over it.

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    2. No proof of friendly fire in Waco 3:10. All the Agents except one were killed inside the main house by David Koresh followers. The lone Agent killed outside of the house was killed on the roof top of the main house where he bleed to death. The shooter shot him from within the house through the roof. I honestly believe you made that shit up to get arise out of us Americans.

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    3. ATF does not equal Delta Force, you moron. ATF is a Federal agency with reasonable, but not special operator-level tactics training. Delta and the Teams are a whole different world of hurt, and you obviously have no idea of the level of destruction they're capable of inflicting, in a very short period of time.

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    4. Chris, weren't ATF advised by Delta operators at that time?

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    5. To add the ATF agents were killed in the initial ATF raid. Unit advisors [2-3] arrived weeks after that.

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  4. So much for sovereignty...

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  5. B.S. quit lying. Those were neither U.S.black ops delta forces or mexicana marina. Those were Russian majestic special forces Spetsnaz sent by tha Almighty Vladimir Putin. Special force motto:No one except us. Get out of here with your americani propaganda.Adios amigotz!

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  6. It's funny how Mexico tries to ALWAYS claim they did all the work n catching the big capos. I thought it was NAVY seals that were present and not the ARMY. Either way Mexico got pressured by U.S. to catch his chief of sicarios but caught chapo there too. Mexico will try to keep Chapo in their prison system because chapo will give them alot of money so hecsn live loke s king but U.S wants that money too. He's going to get extradided even if it takes a while, they want to tax him like el vicentillo. real talk

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    1. Is funny how people believe everything they read

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    2. 5:10 it's funny how people dont believe. Mexico would never catch chapo if it wasn't for U.S., that's how they caught him last time.

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    3. The reality is that no one and I mean no one wants Delta boots on the ground. When they come they come with a revengance. They would have killed hundreds of sicarios looking for Chapo. If they would have been in Mexico in full force Chapo would have been caught in less than month. Delta is simply that good. End of story.

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    4. Real warriors don't care about getting credit when helping fellow warriors. They simply go help. They're there for their brothers not their egos.

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    5. Soldiers of fortune are mercenaries who only care about the good pay, and will fight for whoever pays better.
      The US would have many less soldiers if they were not paid and promised the world and "benefits" for their service...

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  7. Once again the rumors and fiction plays a role on news articles.

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  8. WOW Jack Murphy created a rumor and now people think is true.

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    1. Jack Murphy seems all cool and down to earth, but he's a f--kin tool....Everyone I've met who's spent time with him like I have thinks the same. He's a Ranger and part of an ODA for part of OIF/OEF and suddenly, he and his staff are the TOP of the SME list on Special Operations on Earth. What a joke...I know several dudes who've served in the Unit and they think he's such a joke. They read SOFREP for entertainment, not news. They get more news in a series of calls they can make in fifteen minutes than a month's worth of SOFREP articles...They pretend they keep it real, but it's just really horsesh-t. Sure, I respect and admire all my veteran friends and family friends who spent time in the box. But dude....Those who suck Jack's prong because he was a sniper in the 75th and part of an ODA Team that literally did DICK the entire time they were on the ground. It's no secret. They never took down anything gnarly...softball objectives nearly every time. Then he rolls in and starts outing other vets for sh-t and it's disgusting..and if you argue with him (LIKE I DID) then YOU are the one who doesn't know anything and his gospel is ABSOLUTE (this is what he thinks to himself as he takes you "down a peg" for telling him about reality and how he forms opinions on ops and/or people without knowing every facet of it..So what he spent time with the Kurds for his PR deal, big whoop. Still ain't a Subject Matter Expert. I can ask the former Pesh that works at a store ten miles from me and get better data on what he was reporting on).

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  9. If true, I wonder if USA Delta etc. advised Mexico the location of Cholo under the pretext to really capture Chapito knowing he would be there too.

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    1. It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

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  10. Here we go with this American Propaganda again

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  11. I knew that American special forces where involved. But Chivis knows better than I do.

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  12. Whenever there is a high profile person that needs to be found the CIA or DEA is 99% of the time involved. Why? They have top notch surveilliance. They have been tapping phones, using drone and satellite surveillance since the end of the vietnam war. Their intelligence has only gotten more sophisticated and even if your worth $1 billion or a $1 trillion if the CIA wants to find you to capture or kill you they eventually will. Look at Osama bin laden. Chapo should be glad the CIA didn't kill him as they have given 7 south american leaders that oppose them cancer, they could have easily given el chapo cancer or caused his death in another mysterious way.

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    1. You aee correct. The CIA is known for using holloywood actors as operatives. That is what Sean Penn is a CIA operative. He planted some tracking device on Chapo

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    2. :P yea wonders now we hated on penn for his south american voyages but this is the CIA track record... i wonder about drone footage ive seen said few different versions of how chapo was caught after sewer but id be willing to bet a drone was above

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    3. The unit that catches Escobar and El Chapo (SIGINT....meaning monitoring phones) is done by a unit called lots of diff names. Just call them Orange (it's an easy name to remember and how most of those I speak with refer to them). They are a twenty five year (maybe more) year old unit who does what Delta does (kinda) but with less people, and mostly before Delta gets there. They followed and found Pablo Escobar when they were called Centre Spike. They ARE NOT CIA. They work for the US Army and are like the twin brother of Delta Force yet they specialize in tech and human intel, not so much trigger-pulling (though they've done it plenty in countries you've never heard of, and they've been in Mexico, Central America, etc, for over a couple decades EASILY).

      They are the real heroes...They caught Saddam (they were the ACTUAL guys who found him, not Delta or the infantry unit that launched Op Red Dawn), and were the REAL dudes finding not just Pablo, but Noriega, Aidid (Black Hawk Down), Osama Bin Laden (no, it wasn't just the CIA, these guys were literally listening to the courier right off), about three huge Bosnian war criminals (PFWCS), the guys who blew up the USS COLE (they caught them in days), and hell, even some of those guys from the Westgate Mall massacre (yeah, they tracked their cells for a while). They got all of the world's most notorious bad guys and no one even knows who they are...Not like the SEALs or CIA or Delta even....Even the NSA and the DIA rip off the techniques they've utilized over the years.

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  13. Sean Penn led them to his capture RIP Sean Penn !

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  14. Operators from Gente Nueva Special Forces were there too!

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    1. But they ran as soon as they saw the Marina. If the Marina wants to find them all they have to do is follow the shit trail. Cause you know they pooped their pants when they saw the Marina coming.

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    2. If the mexican marinas followed the MONEY, they would find the rich billionaire politicians and mexican "businessmen" and the dollars they stole and hide, while the marinas get fed maruchan and their officers sell their Jumex on the street

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  15. Reforma is running this story and a couple of other reputable news outlets

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  16. Fact: no US presence at the time of Mr Guzman apprehension.

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    1. Fact, Deniable Plausibility always plays a role, but the secrecy hides the darkest designs, and the populace, the rabble, the proles and the asalariados can keep their BS and eat it, or both at the same time...

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    2. FACT: When TF Orange (ISA) and Delta (Green) are ANYWHERE ON THIS EARTH, you don't hear about it 'till long after in almost every case (except for people like you guys or the media who get wind and start talking about wheres and whens and whos etc...that's what makes it impossible sometimes...
      Delta and the Activity were both present for Chapo if he was being tracked by JSOC. Same with Escobar (Centre Spike...do your homework). It's not a conspiracy to make the U.S look "cool" by "claiming" to send operators to a sh-thole like the places in Sinaloa or Monterrey or Nuevo Laredo or Juarez (the places I've spent more than a few days in my liftime).

      If someone internally said they helped, they shouldn't have because that's not their TTPs (their usual behavior, lets say) when they go out for a night on the town, so to speak, I guess. Those I grew up with who ended up in Army Special Operations won't even discuss the SIGINT/HUMINT unit or Delta etc with 99% of those they are close to...That includes me. The stuff I know I don't say that much about (A- because it's not that much and B- not only do i not know much, but I think it's ridiculous to talk about these people unless it's to merely give momentary praise for stopping world-class bad men and THAT'S IT). There's no point in spanking it to conspiracy theories about whether Delta was here or there. If they were, and they pulled any triggers, then believe that it if that's what leaked from the "horse's mouth", not from the news. If a member says they did, then thats what happened...I promise. I've seen a buddy make a competitive 1911 (pistol) shooter look like an amateur and then run circles around him (not to show off, to prove that a .45 can run under conditions some others can't) and he made head shots with a sidearm at MORE than 60 meters. That's just nuts...Especially after a full sprint (like the 3-gun competitions).
      I doubt it was Bean Marine that put that 62-grain in ANYONE'S head lol.

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  17. That explains the head shots.

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  18. Same head shots that killed Lazca.

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