I just read the most marvelous book, all of you MUST read it. THE HUNT FOR BIN LADEN, Task Force Dagger by Robin Moore (Former Green Beret, who wrote the song). The war in Afganistan was mostly planned by Rummy and you guessed it! GWB!! This is the true story from the Green Berets that went in...SEPTEMBER 19TH!!!! While everyone was asking was is it taking so long, they were in country and already setting things up! Tommy (much to my surprise) was not thought of highly from the Green Beret because they thought he has the 'old army' attitude. You really must read this book, it is fasinating!
You really must read this book, it is fasinating! It is that, but be careful of it. The final version differs in some details from the version that the TF Dagger (5th SF Group) guys saw and approved. Some stuff was added somewhere...
- Almost all the stuff about Keith Idema aka 'Jack' is bogus. He was not on any kind of mission for anyone in USG. He went over ostensibly to work for an NGO and then took off on his own -- running up a huge bill on their satphone, among other things. USSF personnel were warned to avoid him.
- A lot of the stuff about this or that "rear-echelon" guy being unsupportive, is scuttlebutt, arrant nonsense. That kind of thing happens down at the team level, guys piss and moan about the rest of the Army.
- On the other hand, the stuff on some of the ODAs ('555') and ODBs in there is based on very early interviews that Robin did himself with those team members, right at their FOB (Forward Operating Base, where an SF battalion launches its teams from in wartime).
It is an exaggeration to say that SF soldiers disliked Franks. SF soldiers are spring-loaded to distrust any conventional soldier or officer -- and vice versa. In fact the Army from CINC GWB through the SECDEF and acting SECARM down through combatant commander Franks got behind SF considerably and made it happen. Tommy Franks did not push to send large infantry units or tank elements (as the Army Chief of Staff at the time wanted). Franks may not have liked SF at first but a year later he knew who was producing most of his actionable intelligence and changing the zip codes of most of his wanted bad guys.
I was disappointed by the last-minute changes to the book as I think the original version was better. I mentioned it to Robin Moore (yes, I know him) and he changed the subject! One thing the book may not mention (I didn't see it) is that he is 79 and is fighting Parkinson's Disease. So his trip to the war zone, where he interviewed everyone from generals to the newest demo man or medic, was a real display of character from a guy who truly earned the Green Beret (even though he was a journalist at the time).
Robin has just finished his latest book The Hunt for Saddam. He is lively as ever. He was older than his peers by about 10 years when he went to jump and SF school in 1963! And most people don't know this, but he was a college classmate and friend of Robert F. Kennedy.
Another good read is Bush at War. Yeah, it's by Woodward, but it's good. Read that and you will have no questions about the President's leadership!
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F