News about SAS and MI6

[quietone]

I got this sent to me in an email from a friend today. Strange-didn't hear anything about it on US news. I don't know anything about the source- the Daily Telegraph, but it looks REAL interesting.

British SAS Troops Fire Opening Shots Against Taliban

By Naomi Toy And Michael Beach
The Daily Telegraph
9-24-1

British SAS troops have fought a gun battle in Afghanistan with Taliban
fighters, marking the first confrontation in the war against terrorism.

A four-man SAS reconnaissance and intelligence team, known as a brick,
exchanged automatic gunfire with a group of Taliban fighters when they
unexpectedly encountered each other in the foothills of Kabul.

The gunfight is believed to have taken place on Friday but it is understood
the SAS infiltrated Afghanistan five days earlier, the first deployment in
the increasing military build-up in the region.

The SAS team entered Afghanistan from Tajikistan. The men's immediate task
was to set up a communications link with their UK headquarters and to make an
assessment of conditions on the ground in areas known to be dominated by
those protecting Osama bin Laden.

The SAS force in Afghanistan is understood to have already linked up with
forces of Jamiat-I-Islam, the military wing of the Northern Alliance which
provides the only tangible opposition in Afghanistan to the hardline Taliban.
Flotillas of warships continue to head towards the region, while planes
carrying troops and surveillance equipment have made secret night landings in
Afghanistan's neighbouring countries.

The US Defence Department also has called up a further 5000 reservists, as
B-52 bombers and other fighters were deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base
in Louisiana.

But the Taliban yesterday claimed to have shot down an unmanned spy plane,
and a helicopter belonging to Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, using
Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons.

Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said soldiers had
shot down the plane taking pictures over Tashgurgan Pass in Samangan
province, northwest of Kabul.

The Taliban has refused the United States's demand to hand over Osama bin
Laden, who is suspected of orchestrating the devastating terrorist attacks on
September 11. It has promised a holy war if it is attacked.

Reports also emerged that the British intelligence arm MI6 had pinpointed bin
Laden's location, still in Afghanistan.

UK papers said the spy group traced bin Laden - leader of the terrorist
organisation al-Qaeda - to a desolate region close to the town of Jalalabad
on the country's north-east border with Pakistan.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said: "We know he is there, put it that
way." When asked if bin Laden's exact whereabouts had been identified, he
insisted: "We know where he is."

America is now firmly on a war footing with the military build-up
intensifying following the arrival of the 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault
Divisions at bases at Quetta and Peshawar in Pakistan, near the Afghan border.

Of the more than 200 warplanes flowing to the Gulf region, 75 are on the
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which sailed from Virginia towards
the Mediterranean last week. It joins the carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS
Enterprise, now stationed in or near the Gulf with 75 warplanes each.

The three ships are accompanied by battle groups totalling more than 20
warships, including cruisers and submarines capable of firing accurate cruise
missiles with ranges of up to 1600km.

The rebel Northern Alliance, which already may be receiving assistance from
special forces, claimed to have killed 50 Taliban fighters at the weekend.



http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,2919473%5E701

 

[Berkley]

More on the same subject from the Sunday Times of London:

SAS troops in Afghanistan have been fired upon by Taliban soldiers in the first clash of the campaign against global terrorism.

Nobody was hurt, military sources said, adding that the gunfire had been "more symbolic than directed". They suggested that the small SAS team had "spooked" Taliban soldiers near Kabul, who had fired indiscriminately before fleeing.

However, the incident marks an escalation in what has so far been only an intelligence war. The Taliban are in a high state of alert for coalition forces waiting to enter their country.

It is rare for Ministry of Defence insiders to confirm that their forces have been involved in skirmishes, but a source close to the SAS said there had been a clash late on Friday.

SAS troopers, together with members of MI6 and the CIA, are working with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the search for Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born millionaire believed to have masterminded the suicide hijacker attacks on America 12 days ago in which 6,818 are feared to have died.

They are seeking intelligence about Bin Laden's whereabouts, the location of mines, routes he might take out of the country and the help of guides for later operations.

Unlike their American counterparts, SAS troopers specialise in long-term operations behind enemy lines, making them ideal for intelligence-gathering missions in Afghanistan.

The soldiers involved in the clash with the Taliban were believed to be from a four-man unit that had crossed the border, possibly from Tajikistan.

The SAS men on the ground are communicating with commanders via RAF Nimrods from the secretive 51 Squadron, using state-of-the-art "squirt" radios to transmit large amounts of data in seconds, helping avoid either interception or pin-pointing by the enemy.

American forces are also on the move. Advance units of two United States army divisions are on the Afghan border preparing for strikes against the Taliban regime.

Units of the 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault Divisions arrived at bases in Pakistan, near the border towns of Quetta and Peshawar, as a huge build- up of ships, aircraft and troops ordered to the region by President George W Bush continued. A Pentagon official declared that the military was ready to respond "the second the president pushes the button".

US military aircraft carrying reconnaissance equipment landed yesterday at a base near Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It also emerged that US attack helicopters are still stationed inside Uzbekistan after recent joint military exercises. Northern Alliance rebels were reported to be advancing towards Mazar-i-Sharif, a possible bridgehead into Afghanistan for American forces.

 

[Yvsa]

It was sorta and open forum type show, Crossfire, and there was a retired General of the Special Forces along with another retired Green Beret that was answering questions asked by the audience.
The General said something about the SAS being thought about being put in Afghanistan, but nothing this extensive and dayumed sure nothing about a firefight!!!!

I think some of our, as well as others like the Brit's SAS, group's have a whole lot more savvy about these sorts of operations than is commonly known about.
And naturally it's gonna be kept as secret as possible.
I don't know if anyone besides a few here are old enough to remember some of the old sayings of WW II like, "Loose lips sink ships." I used to know a couple of more, but that was the most common one I heard and I pray that the Armed Forces keep as much as possible secret about what's going on over there.
It would be nice to know, but we, the general public, have No Need To Know IMO.

I also remember the mail from my Uncles in different WW II Theatres had their mail severely censored.
Anything that could even possibley be considered a hint as to where they were and what they were doing was cut out of the letters.
And their letters, it seems, had to be written double spaced on one side of the paper only, can't really recall about the double spaced, but it seems reasonable as it made the letters easier to read and censor.

Then there was the ration books for sugar, gasoline, oils and other prime products that was needed for the war effort.
It was very, very difficult to get new tires for private vehicles during the war as well.
Even the rubber back then was recycled as only natural rubber could be then.
Most all of the rubber we get today and for quite sometime is out of the test tube and artifical.

I bet Walosi and Uncle Bill remember a lot of these things as well.
Probably more and better than I do since I was just a wee lad when
WW II was going on.
One thing I will never forget is seeing the atom bomb newsreels in the movie theatres!!!!
What saved a lot of our WW II vets was the long trip back home among what friends they had left.
It gave them time to settle down and being with others with similar experiences helped them to come to at least a sort of understanding before they got home.
The Viet Nam Vets had maybe came out of a firefight the same day they were shipped home by plane and of course they were still on edge!!!
Hell, It hadn't been 48 hours for a lot of them!!!!!!!

 

[Walosi]

I remember my uncles being "in the Air Corps" and "in the Navy". You DID NOT ASK where, in my family. In most cases, no one knew anyway - even some of the servicemen were "on a damn island" and didn't know the name of it until they were trying to go ashore. The ration coupons were for gasoline, tires, motor oil, meat, silk (no nylon, then). There were others, I'm sure, but those were among the most sought after. Dad enlisted four times in the week following December 7. He was a precision machinist, and had a "forced deferment". Each time, he was informed he was more important to the war effort at home in a machine shop. His first cousin, John Howard, was a Chief Hospital Corpsman at the Marine barracks at San Diego. After Dad's last turn-down, "Jr," (he was 6'4") took Dad out for solace. While they were obtaining "solace" some 12 paratroopers entered the bar and commented on the "sailor and his sissy". Dad came home in a SD patrol car with a sympathetic cop. He still had his undershorts and one shoe, black eyes and badly skinned knuckles. Jr. walked almost all the way back to the base, before the SPs caught up with him, wearing his belt with pockets and one pantleg attached. Fortunatly, his ID was in the pocket. The troopers all went home in ambulances. The cop let Dad sit in the car and watch them being loaded. The cop told my mother he could not figure for the life of him why Dad was not allowed to enlist. He and the "big Marine" were the hardest arrest he had ever made. They didn't fight the cops - just pushed them aside as long as there were paratroopers standing. When Jr. decided to "go home", they just let him. Yvsa, there was a club up on East Admiral, then just outside the city limits, that was well known as a place to stay away from. Jr. survived Corregidor, and was repatriated. When his time in Manila (rehab) was up, he came to Tulsa. One night his nerves stirred him, and he took a cab up there. About an hour later, a deputy brought him home. Some one said something he didn't like, and he closed the club. He went on to Tulane, and was promoted to Capt. when he got his MD. He retired to a practice in Connecticut (strange country for an Okie farm boy), and went west before I had a chance to see him again.

We are different people than we were then. Kinder, gentler, etc., etc. I am afraid we will get the chance to see how much iron is still in the blood.I pray that it is still sufficient. Getting maudlin - time to go to bed.

Berkley - Your London Times item reports units of the 101st Air Assault in Pakistan. We are about 70 miles from Ft Campbell, and were informed today that "elements of the 101st have been deployed". Nothing more. Loose lips, etc.

 

[BruiseLeee]

I agree with Yvsa. It is stuff that's nice to know but for the sake of security I'd gladly give up knowing where ships and forces are. But in the age of CNN, news = $. I wonder in this age of sattelite feeds and the internet if the reporters would choose to omit confidential information for the sake of national security. I doubt the military is able to go through everything that goes on air nowadays.

 

[SamuraiDave]

Walosi,

I am 20 and am filling out papers this very moment so that when I graduate from college I will be a officer in the Air Force.

I know of quite a few folks with "iron in their blood", I just hope we have enough of them left. My room-mates don't "get it", and I have even heard of my little sister speak of my Church Youth Ministers putting down our Armed Services and the actions that they are currently involved in.

Right now I classify all the boys I talk about as YELLOW COWARDS.

I have friends that are local, not going to college, that are joining the Marines in Nov. I have been more tempted than ever to drop what I am doing and join with them. I had the same thing happen to me 2 years ago when I graduated high school, a group of friends joined up and wanted me to go along. My college education is what prevented me then and now. Although I, for some wierd reason, would like to be a grunt (gold guts and glory type of stuff I guess). I know that my education in computers will be more effective against any enemy.

I guess what I am saying is stated in Article I and summed up in Article VI

"I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

"I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America."

If you feel any different...on second thought I wont get started...

 

[Rusty]

Just sent Uncle and others the "Five day forecast for Afghanistan" and maybe one of you can put it up for me.

 

[Bill Martino]

Cigarettes and booze were rationed, too! And I remember Lucky Strike cigs modified the color on thier packs saying, "Lucky green has gone to war." My guess is green must have been in demand for camoflage.