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{{Short description|U.S. military unit in the 2003 invasion of Iraq}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Task Force 121 
TF121
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| command_structure = '''[[United States Army]]''' [[Delta Force]] [[75th Ranger Regiment (United States)|75th Ranger Regiment]] [[160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (United States)|160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment]] [[1st Cavalry Regiment (United States)|1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment]] '''[[United States Navy]]''' [[United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group|Naval Special Warfare Development Group]] ([[SEAL Team Six]]) '''[[United States Air Force]]''' [[Air Force Special Operations Command|Special Operations Command]] [[Air Force Pararescue|Pararescue]] [[United States Air Force Special Operations Weather Technician|Special Operations Weather Team (SOWT)]] [[United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party|Aviation Tactics Evaluation Group (AvTEG)]] [[Joint Communications Unit]] '''[[Central Intelligence Agency]]''' [[Special Activities Division]]
| country = {{flagicon|USA}} [[United States of America]]
| size =
| dates = 2003 – 2006
| type = [[United States Department of Defense]] special operations [[task force]]
| garrison =
| role = Multi-service force for apprehension of [[high-value targets]]
| battles = {{Tree list}}
* [[Iraq War]]
** Firefight and deaths of [[Uday Hussein|Uday]] and [[Qusay Hussein]] (21 July 2003)
** [[Operation Red Dawn]] - capture of [[Saddam Hussein]] (13 December 2003)
{{tree list/end}}
| decorations =
| commander =
}}

[[File:SaddamSpiderHole.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Samir, an Iraqi-American military interpreter of Task Force 121, helped find [[Saddam Hussein]] by [[Capture of Saddam Hussein|pulling him out of hideaway]] in December 2003.]]
[[File:uday qusay house.jpg|thumb|right|225px|House of Uday and Qusay Hussein in Mosul, Iraq destroyed by members of Task Force 121 in July 2003]]

'''Task Force 121''' was a [[United States Department of Defense]] special operations [[task force]]. TF121 was a multi-service force from [[Joint Special Operations Command]], made up of operators from the U.S. Army's [[Delta Force]], [[75th Ranger Regiment (United States)|75th Ranger Regiment]], and [[160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (United States)|160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment]], the U.S. Navy's [[United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group|SEAL Team Six]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s [[Special Activities Division]], U.S. Air Force [[Air Force Special Operations Command|Combat Controllers]], [[Air Force Pararescue|Pararescuemen]], [[United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party|Tactical Air Control Party]] operators, and [[United States Air Force Special Operations Weather Technician|Special Operations Weather Technicians]], the Aviation Tactics Evaluation Group (AvTEG), and the [[Joint Communications Unit]]. Two companies of armor from the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division and later two cavalry troops from 1/1 Cav 1st Armored Division provided armor support.

== History ==
TF121 was a combination of the now defunct Task Force 5 and Task Force 20, which operated in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]] respectively. Acting on the apparent logistic redundancy of keeping two separate task force teams for Iraq and Afghanistan, General [[John Abizaid]] decided to combine both teams into a single streamlined force, forming the TF121.<ref>Urban, Mark. ''Task Force Black'', p. 63</ref> The force was approximately 1,500 soldiers with its own support capabilities.<ref name="globalsecurity2003">{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030805-secret-taskforce01.htm |title=Secret task force is spearhead in hunt for Hussein |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |date=5 August 2003 |accessdate=19 May 2011}}</ref>

Task Force 20's primary goal was to capture or kill "[[High-value target]]s" (HVTs), such as Iraqi [[Mujahideen]] leaders and former [[Ba'ath party]] regime members and leaders. Task Force 20 operators were directly involved in the 4-hour firefight between [[101st Airborne Division|101st Airborne]] soldiers and [[Saddam Hussein]]'s sons, [[Uday Hussein|Uday]] and [[Qusay Hussein]]. The two sons were killed in the shootout. The apprehending of the most wanted man in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, in [[Operation Red Dawn]] directly involved Task Force 121 operators and members of the Army's [[U.S. 4th Infantry Division|4th Infantry Division]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0724/p01s01-woiq.html |title=Anatomy of the raid on Hussein's sons |work=[[Christian Science Monitor]] |author=Ann Scott Tyson |date=24 July 2003 |accessdate=17 March 2009}}</ref><ref>Urban, p. 83</ref>

Task Force 20 was also involved in what the US military calls a tragic accident on 27 July 2003. At least three Iraqis were killed in western Baghdad's Mansour district, when US soldiers from Task Force 20 opened fire on cars that overshot a military cordon. The drivers apparently had missed the cordon when they turned into the area from an unblocked side street.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0804-03.htm |title=Bitterness Grows in Iraq Over Deaths of Civilians
|publisher=[[Common Dreams]] |work=[[Boston Globe]] |author=Vivienne Walt |date=4 August 2003 |accessdate=17 March 2009}}</ref>

=== Mission ===
TF121's primary mission was the apprehension of High Value Targets and was organized in such a way that it has a close relationship with intelligence personnel and has timely and unhindered access to any relevant data gathered by intelligence assets in the area. Such an option is invaluable to any Special Operations team, and especially so to one whose primary mission is hunting elusive fugitives whose hideouts change frequently and randomly.<ref>Urban, p. 92</ref>

Many TF121 groups were assigned Special Operations [[Communications Intelligence Reconnaissance and Action|CIRA]] (Communications Intelligence Reconnaissance and Action) personnel with expertise in relevant fields. These operators work closely with the intelligence agencies tied to TF121 and work to pinpoint and identify HVTs aggressively.

=== Achievements ===
On 21 July 2003, Saddam's sons [[Uday Hussein|Uday]] and [[Qusay Hussein|Qusay]] were killed in a firefight with TF20 operators and soldiers from [[101st Airborne Division|101st Airborne]]. On 13 December 2003, [[Operation Red Dawn]] netted HVT #1, Saddam Hussein. After intelligence narrowed down the target to two possible locations, TF121 coordinated the raid with 600 soldiers from the [[U.S. 4th Infantry Division|4th Infantry Division]]'s 1st Brigade Combat Team and Golf Troop 10th Cavalry Regiment (Reconnaissance troop), 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division.

== Detainee abuse ==
According to an internal army investigation leaked to the ''[[Washington Post]]'', Task Force 121 was responsible for the illegal abuse of detainees in secret interrogation facilities in Iraq.<ref>{{cite news|last=White|first=Josh|title=U.S. Generals in Iraq Were Told of Abuse Early, Inquiry Finds|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23372-2004Nov30|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120208081842/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23372-2004Nov30|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 February 2012|accessdate=8 February 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=4 December 2004}}</ref> In 2006, after the unit had changed its name to [[Task Force 6-26]], a [[Human Rights Watch]] report recorded evidence of continued abuse, including beatings and [[waterboarding]].<ref>{{cite web|title="No Blood, No Foul": Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/07/22/no-blood-no-foul-0|work=23 July 2006|date=22 July 2006 |publisher=Human Rights Watch|accessdate=8 February 2012}}</ref>

==Cultural references==
* [[Groove Games]]' ''[[Combat: Task Force 121]]''<ref>[http://www.groovegames.com/combat121/index.html Groove Media Inc.]</ref>
* ''[[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2]]'' and [[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3|3]] includes a top secret joint operations task force named "Task Force 141." The primary purpose of the video game's organization, as in its supposed real life counterpart, is to take on and either kill or capture high priority individuals. Unlike Task Force 121, it is a primarily multinational force.
*''[[The Colbert Report]]'' used Task Force 121 as an example of a "secret" task force in its television episode airing on 27 September 2010.

==See also==
* [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)]]
* [[Joint Special Operations Command Task Force in the Iraq War]]
* Articles on later incarnations of the same unit, [[Task Force 145]] and [[Task Force 6-26]]
* [[U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis|U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis]]
* [[Task Force ODIN]]

==References==
<references />

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book |title= [[Operation Dark Heart]]: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and the Path to Victory|last=Shaffer |first=Anthony|date=2010 |publisher= [[Thomas Dunne Books]] |isbn=978-0-312-61217-7 |author-link=Anthony Shaffer (intelligence officer)}} Has a few impressions of the arrival of Task Force 121 in Shaffer's location.
*{{cite book
| isbn = 9780312541279
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I5JT0uogwJgC&q=Dulaimi&pg=PA225
| title = Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq
| publisher = [[MacMillan Publishing]]
| year = 2011
| accessdate = 10 November 2011
| author = Mark Urban
}}

[[Category:Special forces task forces of the United States]]
[[Category:Joint task forces of the United States Armed Forces]]
[[Category:Occupation of Iraq]]

Task Force 121 - Revision history

imported>Recon75: /* Achievements */