Here at BooTrib, we’ve been following the tragic story of the SEALs lost in Afghanistan (here and here), and sending our messages to their comrades. Col. W. Patrick Lang, a retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, and much more, has written a riveting, disturbing post about the deaths of the U.S. Navy SEALs in Afghanistan.
What Lang has to say — drawing on his direct experiences — will haunt you.
When you read Lang’s story, you’ll see why I didn’t try to summarize it. It would lose too much, and it’s a short read, especially since it’s utterly fascinating and highly disturbing.
Lang does add this note below in the comments section — and this explains why he has such an at-hand knowledge of the subject of Special Ops:
Posted by: ismoot | July 11, 2005 04:16 PM
That was interesting susan and also I had wondered just what Seals were doing by themselves ..wondering if they spoke the language etc..I imagine we will probably never know the real story or the exact story about this fiasco.
Pat Lang’s analyses are always full of detail and insight.
On this one, though, I’ll be a little contrary. I don’t see how the U.S. could ever create something like the SOG in Afghanistan or Iraq. We’ve been on the ground so long with our own troops that I believe we’ve managed to kill or maim someone in just about every major tribe. Hard to get someone to join your side, if they still think they’ve got a blood debt to settle with you.
More to the point, and as Pat himself well knows, we’ve still got a paltry amount of language expertise in the U.S. military. They still don’t have enough U.S. soldiers that speak Arabic to help in Iraq. And I have nasty suspicion that the number of U.S. military personnel speaking Dari and Pashtu can be counted on fingers and toes.
Thanks for highlighting this, Susan! No Quarter is definitely on my morning blog list now.
No Quarter has an RSS feed, which helps me track them a lot.
So, given our limitations — SOG or no SOG — why would we put these superbly trained, exceptional soldiers in such treacherous circumstances?
If they can’t do the job, and they haven’t sufficient help, why risk them?
You don’t have any locals that you trust, so you use your best and brightest. Lacking anyone to tell you that this is a dumb idea (sending a four man team with no local skills against the baddest warlord of them all), the commander gives the go ahead and expects to win big.
And as usual, the guys at the pointy end of the stick pay the price for our determination to pursue tactics oddly reminiscent of the Soviets in Afghanistan.
.
Nice Blogsite you linked to …
… I guess life in the UK is just a little more fun than the third world rat’s nests where they were likely spawned.
The implications for the US GWOT (Leftist carping notwithstanding) within the capitals of Europe could hardly be better …
If Iran and its terrorist president were found to be implicated, then we may actually “address” the nuclear issue once and for all. […]
GWOT – Global War On Terrorism
He is right in a sense, all Brits are lining up behind their leader TONY BLIAR!
Just unbelievable, thanks to rhetoric of Bush and Condoleezza Rice, it’s now called a Clash of Civilizations.
~~~
Related Diaries/Comments @BooMan by Oui