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SAS reveal the war they fought
This is the Aussie SAS, but i'm sure the Brits did plenty of cool stuff too, it's just a shame the Kiwis couldn't join inAn Australian flag now flies over al-Asad air base. Once home of the Iraqi air force, its capture last week effectively marks the end of what were probably the most intense operations in the history of this SAS regiment. And also, the Australians say, a new beginning for Iraq. According to the regiment's operational commander, who cannot be named or photographed and is surprisingly young, probably in his late 20s or early 30s, "we are very, very proud we have made Iraq a viable nation state". Whether Iraq emerges from this war as a stronger state will depend very much on whether the United States-led reconstruction team can unite the country's fractious components but there is little doubt about the contribution of the 150-strong regiment to the swift military victory. Within an hour of crossing into Iraq, the regiment was engaged in its first firefight. In the first 48 hours there were two more big battles but no sleep. The SAS may specialise in reconnaissance and stealth but in this war they took on a new dimension. It was not simply a matter of calling in air strikes or other forces to deal with an identified enemy: the SAS took on that task themselves, initiating numerous conflicts. Their targets were suspected sites for weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles from which troops of neighbouring states could be attacked. Using rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns mounted on their long-range patrol vehicles or shoulder-mounted Javelin anti-tank missiles, they destroyed many in the opening days of the conflict. Along the way they encountered Iraqi forces trained especially to counter US, British and Australian special forces teams. They used modified utilities carrying heavy weaponry and often they disguised themselves as civilians or Bedouin tribesmen. One of the Iraqis' tactics was for a vehicle to surrender, encouraging the SAS to continue forward. Then their compatriots would hit the SAS patrol vehicles in an ambush. They were, the commander says, "very experienced, very aggressive and very good at what they did. I have no doubt they thought we were a much larger force." The SAS were outnumbered, but surprise and stealth and superior weaponry enabled them to "poke out their eyes" and "crush their spirit and will" to force the enemy to "run or surrender". SAS patrols have also intercepted a number of convoys with fleeing Iraqi regime leaders on their way out of Iraq, and caught Arab fighters answering Saddam Hussein's call for a jihad coming the other way.
That being the Cricket World Cup, i'm sure their Pom counterparts would have been crying in between destoying missile launchers and Jihadis Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-04-25 |
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