In January 2005 , JSOC contributed to the arrest of a master bomber responsible for bombing the Canal Hotel and other vehicle bombings in 2003 — aimed at police stations , recruiting offices and markets . On 20 February 2005 , JSOC missed a chance to kill al-Zarqawi : acting on intelligence that Zarqawi was travelling by car with bodyguards from Ramadi towards Fallujah , US special operation forces landed by helicopter on a desert road in Anbar province and set up a checkpoint . There are different versions of what followed : one is that the car saw the roadblock and sped through it and the JSOC team did not feel within its rights under their ROE to open fire , and the second is a Predator UAV supporting the JSOC team that was following the car suffered a technical fault and the camera mounted beneath it was gyrating out of control ; ultimately Zarqawi escaped . By early 2005 , JSOC had a clear focus deriving from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld , McChrystal 's command had built a regional laydown , which was designed to allow rapid response to intelligence anywhere that Zarqawi or key associates might be found . The Laydown consisted of : DEVRGU at Al Asad Airbase as part of Task Force West/Blue ; in Tikrit a select team of Rangers as part of Task Force North/Red and at MSS Fernandez in the Green Zone a Delta squadron as part of Task Force Central/Green . JSOC leaders devoted the best intelligence-gathering individuals and the UKs share of resources to this aim , however the UK opted out owing to its concerns about American actions , the resumption of full cooperation between US and UK was dependent on work to improve the condition of the prison cells at Balad . In April 2005 , the Battle of Abu Ghraib took place ; on 13 April up to 100 insurgents including 3 vehicle suicide attacks mounted a sustained assault on a Marine base near the Syrian border at al-Husaybah , the attack was beaten off by airstrikes and helicopters , the attack was attributed to al-Qaeda ; and on April 29 , al-Qaeda staged 14 car bomb attacks in a single day ( most of them in Baghdad ) . These events disturbed General George Casey due to the capabilities shown in these attacks that he formally upgraded AQI to be the Coalition 's principal enemy in Iraq . The JSOC task force operating from Balad , successfully obtained a large proportion of the ISR ( Intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance ) platforms in the hunt for Zarqawi , this meant not only control of Predator UAVs , but other technical means such as satellites and aircraft used to intercept and locate mobile telephones , this huge taking of resources caused tension with Casey and with commanders of regular battalions and brigades that were still taking a large number of casualties . Casey and other commanders increased pressure on JSOC for results , McChrystal began to shift emphasis of his operations in Iraq , now that AQI was the target of the whole coalition force , he needed to do more to take on the local militant networks that were killing and wounding many US troops . McChrystal exploited the growing information flow from drones and cell phones to target the entire al-Qaeda network from top to bottom with particular focus on middle . JSOCs commander codenamed this effort Operation Snake Eyes : it involved synchronising raids by DEVGRU or Delta Force to those of the ground-holding Army and Marine units in the Euphrates Valley . By the first half of 2005 , JSOCs commander put forward three tactical concepts that were central to Operation Snake Eyes , they advocated : the Unblinking Eye — 24/7 surveillance or certain critical targets ; black operations were to increase sharply in tempo or frequency ; and the operations carried out in ' F3EA ' — find-fix-finish-exploit-analyse . From May to October 2005 , regular US ground forces fought a series of at least 14 major operations , each involving more than a thousand troops , the battlefield ranged from remote farms to the suburbs , which ranged from close to the Syrian border in al-Qaim down through Haditha and Hīt , through Ramadi and Fallujah to Abu Ghraib . The US characterised these places as stopovers on the infiltration routed of foreign fighters from Jordan or Syria to the capital ; in many of these communities , regular troops came up against well-organised paramilitary groups armed with everything from small arms to mortars or surface-to-air missiles . As these operations went ahead during the summer of 2005 , JSOC mounted dozens of takedowns against suspected local militants and middle managers in the guerrilla organisation — exposing McChrystals men to determined heavily armed opposition that stood and fought rather than retreating in classic guerrilla fashion . After Delta Force took casualties in the summer of 2005 , McChrystal asked the then UK Director Special Forces for assistance , however he refused , citing the treatment of detainees and the conditions of JSOC detention facility at Balad and other operational issues such as rules of engagement , so a second Delta Force squadron flown in and Delta pressed on with its operations . This worsened relations between the DSF and the newly appointed commander of the 22nd SAS Regiment , Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams — who was a strong advocate of supporting JSOC , especially against AQI , at the time due to previous tensions between US and UK relations , Task Force Black operated in semi-detached way from JSOC and were given targets that were former Ba'athist party regime elements , rather than AQI . Due to the extremely high tempo and hazardous nature of their operations , JSOC 's Task Force generally served three-month rotations . On 23 July 2005 , JSOC developed intelligence that showed a multiple suicide bombing was about to be launched from a house in southern Baghdad , the information was urgent , so JSOC gave the mission to Task Force Black 's , M Squadron SBS , supported by members of G squadron SAS and a detachment of US Army Rangers from Task Force Red , carried out Operation Marlborough . McChrystal met the UKs DSF in Washington and explained what he was trying to achieve by ratcheting the tempo of operations , but the DSF continued to strain relations , instead McChrystal consulted with the commander of 22 SAS , he and Williams had good relations and they worked together on how they could get the SAS integrate more into JSOC , as a result , the JSOC TSF at Balad was improved to meet British-approved standards ; despite tensions with the DSF , JSOC was still ready to support the SAS . During the Basra prison incident , the Colonel who was the-then Delta Force commander that ran JSOCs operation in Iraq , offered the services of a Delta squadron and scrambled a Predator from Baghdad to assist , the incident was eventually resolved by British forces . In November 2005 to early 2006 , following the change of the UK 's DSF — the period marked the fulfilment of Task Force Black/Knights integration into JSOC ( TF Black changed its name to TF Knight following the release of its name to the press in the wake of the Basra Prison incident ) ; the closer integration meant JSOC flows of intelligence increased . During late 2005 and early 2006 , the change of allegiance of tribes and small towns on the outskirts of Baghdad added militants to the Jihadists groups faster than JSOC could take it down
bombing the Canal Hotel
Canal Hotel bombing
Joint Special Operations Command