How last week's extraordinary Special Forces mission to rescue... reporter unfolded

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 12th September 2009 | Richard Kemp

[naturalman1975]

British journalist Stephen Farrell owes his life to a remarkable rescue by Special Forces in Afghanistan – organised last week by Cobra, the crisis committee that sits in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.

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Farrell was a great prize: a British journalist working for an American paper. His death would have been drawn out, probably preceded by a drip feed of videos in which he pleaded for Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for his life.

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But in every volatile and dangerous kidnap situation Cobra will look for a Special Forces rescue option as an alternative to negotiations.

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It was made entirely clear to them that a night rescue mission among Afghan compounds – with helicopters landing on the target against a heavily armed group of Taliban fighters – was one of the most complex and dangerous operations it is possible to conceive.

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But the reason we didn’t see Stephen Farrell on our TV screens in an orange jumpsuit with a knife at his throat was because the Cobra machinery responded to the need for swift and decisive action.

Of course, all of this would have been so much hot air without the supremely professional fighting men of the Special Boat Service and the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, the Special Forces Support Group, acting with the crucial assistance of US forces.

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The risks had been immense, and Corporal John Harrison was tragically killed. He did not think twice about putting his life on the line to save Stephen Farrell.

But Farrell should have thought twice before putting himself in a situation where Cpl Harrison and his comrades had to fight their way in to rescue him.

[Perdogg]

I cannot believe those brave soldiers are risking their lives for those ____heads in the media.

[paul51]

Our mission would have been better served if they had not paid the cost associated with this rescue. If the enemy killed him, violently on video tape, it would have sent the message to other ‘journalist’ about who the enemy is as well as to the world about what we are dealing with. Instead, another brave hero goes down. For this? Bad decision.