Manhunt (military)

Manhunting is a term sometimes used for military operations by special operations forces and intelligence organizations to search for, and capture or kill important enemy combatants, known as high-value targets. It has been used particularly in the United States during the War on Terror.

The most visible such operations conducted involve counterterrorist activities. Some involve government-sanctioned targeted killing or extrajudicial execution, and such operations have drawn political and legal controversy. Other military operations, such as hostage rescue or personnel recovery, employ similar tactics and techniques.

The term has been used for some US operations such as Operation Red Dawn, the apprehension of Saddam Hussein, the search for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

Notable military manhunts

Year	Conflict	Combatant	Pursuer	Bounty	Duration	Outcome	Depiction	Notable Remarks	Captor/Killer(s)
72-71BC	Third Servile War	Spartacus	Roman Army		12 mnths	Killed			Unknown, Marcus Crassus (CO)
1781	American Revolution	Charles Cornwallis	Continental Army		21 days	Surrendered >Imprisoned		"I have the mortification to inform your Excellency that I have been forced to surrender the troops under my command as prisoners of war to the combined forces of America and France." —Cornwallis	Benjamin Lincoln (CO)
1836	Texas Revolution	Santa Anna	Texian Army		3 days	Captured > Imprisoned		"I am General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and a prisoner of war at your disposition." —Santa Anna	James Sylvester, Sion Bostick
1865	American Civil War	John Wilkes Booth	Union Army	$50,000 (~$2.5M in 2018)	12 days	Captured > Killed		"I prefer to come out and fight." —Booth	Boston Corbett, Edward Doherty (CO)
1865	American Civil War	Jefferson Davis	Union Army	$100,000 (~$5M in 2018)	31 days	Captured > Imprisoned			Unknown, James Wilson (CO)
1885-1886	American Indian Wars	Geronimo	U.S. Army		1 year, 3 mnths, 18 days	Surrendered >Imprisoned		"Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all." —Geronimo	Charles Bare Gatewood (CO)
1916-1917	Mexican Border War	Pancho Villa	U.S. Army	$100,000 ($1.9M in 2018)	10 mths, 24 days	Failed			John J. Pershing (CO)
1941-1943	World War II	Isoroku Yamamoto	U.S. Military		1 year, 4 mths, 11 days	Killed		"A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack." —Yamamoto	Rex Barber
1945-1960	World War II	Adolf Eichmann	Mossad		15 years, 4 days	Captured > Executed		"To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing." —Eichmann	Unknown, Peter Malkin (CO)
1966-1967	Cold War	Che Guevara	U.S. Military		11 mths, 6 days	Captured > Executed		"Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and I am worth more to you alive than dead." —Guevara	Unknown, Félix Rodríguez (CO)
1989	War on Drugs	Manuel Noriega	U.S. Military	$1M ($2M in 2018)	14 days	Surrendered >Imprisoned		"I am General Noriega and I am surrendering to U.S. forces." —Noriega	Rene De La Cova, Drug Enforcement Administration
1993	Somali Civil War	Mohamed Farrah Aidid	U.S. Army	$25,000 ($43,400 in 2018)	1 month, 21 days	Failed			William F. Garrison (CO)
1992-1993	War on Drugs	Pablo Escobar	U.S. Army		1 year, 4 mnths, 10 days	Killed		"I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States." —Escobar	Unknown, Hugo Martínez (CO)
2001-2011	War on Terror	Osama bin Laden	U.S. Military	$25M ($35.4M in 2018)	9 years, 7 mnths, 21 days	Killed		"For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo" — Robert O'Neill	Robert J. O'Neill, Matt Bissonnette
2001-present	War on Terror	Ayman al-Zawahiri	U.S. Military	$25M ($35.4M in 2018)	18 years, 1 month, 16 days	Ongoing
2003	War on Terror	Saddam Hussein	U.S. Military	$25M ($34.8M in 2018)	8 mnths, 23 days	Captured > Executed		"I am Saddam Hussein the president of Iraq and I am willing to negotiate." — Saddam Hussein	Steve Russell, James Hickey (CO)
2003	War on Terror	Qusay & Uday Hussein	U.S. Military	$30M ($40.8M in 2018)	4 mnths, 2 days	Killed		"These killers are the enemies of Iraq's people...wherever they operate, they are being hunted, and they will be defeated...Yesterday, the careers of two of the regime's chief henchmen came to an end. Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible for torture, maiming and murder of countless Iraqis." — George W. Bush	Classified (Delta Force TF 20, 101st Airborne)
2003-2006	War on Terror	Abu Musab al-Zarqawi	U.S. Military	$25M ($31.1M in 2018)	3 years, 2 mnths, 18 days	Killed		"America has realized today that its tanks, armies and Shia agents will not be able to end the battle with the Mujahideen." — al-Zarqawi	Classified (F-16 pilot)
2011-2019	War on Terror	Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi	U.S. Military	$10M ($11.3M in 2019)	8 years, 5 mnths, 21 days	Suicide		"He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place." — Donald Trump	Delta Force
2016-2018	War on Drugs	El Chapo	U.S. Army	$5M ($5.1M in 2018)	5 mnths, 28 days	Captured >Imprisoned		"You are all going to die." — El Chapo	Classified (Fuerzas Especiales and Delta Force soldiers)
2019- 2022	War on Terror	Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi	US Joint Special Operations Command	$10M (in 2019)	2 years, 3 mnths, 3 days	Suicide		"As a final act of desperate cowardice, with no regard to the lives of his own family or others in the building, he chose to blow himself up...This horrible terrorist leader is no more." — Joe Biden	Delta Force

See also

• Assassination
• Targeted killing
• Manhunt (law enforcement)
• Extraordinary rendition