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Who the **** are you, asked the man from special forces
The Sunday Telegraph ^ | April 6, 2003 | Olga Craig

Posted on 04/05/2003 3:47:36 PM PST by MadIvan

On a bridge into Basra, Olga Craig bumped into the SAS as it was gathering intelligence from Iraqis fleeing the mortar shells of Saddam's militia

As a greeting, it was neither conventional nor civilised - but then neither were the circumstances. I was in retreat, he was advancing.

It was 4pm one afternoon last week on the bridge into Basra, and Saddam Hussein's elite militia were sending a rain of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades from the city.

In the smoke and the confusion and the deafening noise, I ran straight into him, my left arm colliding with his assault rifle. "Who the f*** are you?" he asked incredulously, surprised to see a British woman. "Who are you?" was my instinctive response.

Dressed in civvies - cargo trousers and a T-shirt - he didn't look like a soldier. On the other hand, he was obviously British, and he did have an impressive telescopic sight atop his rifle. "You don't need to know," he said ominously. Realisation dawned: he was a member of the special forces.

I showed my press ID and, for the first time, he seemed to relax. "Do you understand what is happening here?" he barked. "It is important people at home understand what is going on."

Mortars fired by the Iraqis, who didn't care that they were wounding scores of civilians attempting to cross the bridge, were landing on either side of the canal bank. He didn't flinch. He didn't seem to notice. "Tell me," I said.

His colleague intervened. "This isn't safe," he said. "We need to go back." Reluctantly, it seemed, the man retreated. I trotted along behind. At the entrance to the 7th Armoured Brigade's camp, soldiers stood back in deference to him, but blocked my path. "They're with me, let them in," he said over his shoulder. The soldiers obeyed, no questions asked. Inside, we sat down on a canvas portrait of Saddam that had been torn down and tossed on top of a pile of rubble.

As he spoke, a stream of colleagues passed coded messages. "You could say we are special forces in support of 1 UK Armoured Division," he said, when I asked how I should describe him.

The popular image of special forces is of secretive men wearing black balaclavas, sent on undercover missions in the dead of night. You do not expect to encounter them operating in broad daylight alongside civilians. But his job, he said, was to gather intelligence from a network of Iraqis inside Basra.

"In there," he said, pointing towards Basra, "the Ba'ath Party has a grip of the city. The people are scared of us but they are more scared of them. The Ba'athists are trying to stop them from leaving. They have mortars mounted on civilian vehicles. They drive out, fire on the crowds trying to get across the bridge out of Basra, then drive back in again."

Special forces were also trying to pinpoint the whereabouts of Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali", a cousin of Saddam who organised the gassing of the Kurds in 1986 and who had been in command of the Iraqi army in the south. He is believed to have taken refuge in civilian houses and yesterday, tipped off by "a reliable source on the ground", the British attacked a building that Chemical Ali had been seen entering.

"There are some very brave people in there," said the soldier. "People who are getting information to us about what is happening. They are taking an enormous risk. The militia are holding meetings in civilian homes, holding families at gunpoint and moving all the time. We realise that at home, people cannot understand why we are not being greeted as liberators, but the situation is much more complicated than that."

His message communicated, he stopped talking. His departure was as unconventional as his greeting. He simply stalked off.

A few days later, back temporarily in Kuwait City, I watched the bombing of the bridge continue on a television in the lobby of the hotel where I was staying.

Suddenly, without my being aware of his approach, a man appeared at my shoulder. "The last time we met was on that bridge," he said, pointing up at the TV screen. I took my eyes off him for a moment and he did it again. He just disappeared.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: basra; blair; bridge; bush; chemicalali; embeddedreport; iraq; iraqifreedom; liberators; olgacraig; romance; saddam; sas; specialforces; uk; us; war; warlist; warromance
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To: MadIvan
You're correct in assuming what swear word was used.

Ah, ok, a bit more in common than I realized. Reading the comments from some of the British soldiers, they use a whole bunch of great words that we in the US dont. Things like Bloody, Gobsmacked, etc.. very cool..

41 posted on 04/05/2003 6:16:00 PM PST by Paradox
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To: sarasmom
A green beret is just a hat, the man who stands beneath it is the one who believes in the motto : "De Oppresso Liber"
(To Free the Oppressed)
It is not just some words it is a firm belief.

The best way to fight that oppression is to take the battle to the enemy. As with demolition of a building. You take down a regime from within. Implosion is an art. US ARMY Special Forces, Navy S.E.A.L.'s, and British and Australian S.A.S are the charges placed inside the structure then one by one they go BOOOM!
42 posted on 04/05/2003 6:29:11 PM PST by Michael121
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To: sarasmom
I sometimes wish I had whatever it took to attract a man like that. OTOH, perhaps it is better for me not to know. God bless them.

That has to be the quote of the day! Would that quote embody a larger allegory of western women once again being wooed by real men and not the lip-biting, sensitive, dnc types that currently haunt the cultural elite.

Regards,

TS

43 posted on 04/05/2003 6:38:06 PM PST by The Shrew
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Perhps he was upset he did NOT know who she was, when he should have been aware of any Brit citizens in that section of town from his intel.
44 posted on 04/05/2003 6:41:08 PM PST by bvw
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To: MadIvan
I was somewhere in London, can't remember where... I saw an old church with regiment flags hung from the walls. Some where barely in one piece anymore, 200 years old.
45 posted on 04/05/2003 6:49:43 PM PST by KneelBeforeZod (Deus Lo Volt!)
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To: jaysgal
"That sounds like the beginning to a great love story! :)"

"She: Do you remember the very first words you spoke to me when we met on the bridge on that fateful day"?

LOL!

46 posted on 04/05/2003 7:01:03 PM PST by Exit148
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To: aculeus
Interesting description after the Iraqis whining that our folks are dressing in civilian clothes as though it were the same thing as their weasels doing it to hide behind civilians and con our people into shooting civilians.
47 posted on 04/05/2003 7:37:32 PM PST by DED (Liberals Never Learn. *LNL*)
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To: xm177e2
Must be the "ISTS" sticking together....
48 posted on 04/05/2003 7:39:24 PM PST by DED (Liberals Never Learn. *LNL*)
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To: MHGinTN
#30..Yes indeed, I've seen that movie!
...Loved it!
49 posted on 04/05/2003 7:40:31 PM PST by Guenevere (...STAY THE COURSE!!)
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To: jaysgal
I was thinking the same thing!
50 posted on 04/05/2003 7:41:41 PM PST by Aggie Mama
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To: Paradox
That's only the half of it. NO ONE is as nasty with their language as the Brits when they really get going! I have occasion to work with a lot of them and believe me, I hear them say stuff that you absolutely won't hear from anyone else!
51 posted on 04/05/2003 7:42:19 PM PST by DED (Liberals Never Learn. *LNL*)
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To: Exit148
#46..Oh, now you're getting us to the swooning stage....LOL
52 posted on 04/05/2003 7:43:31 PM PST by Guenevere (...STAY THE COURSE!!)
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To: bvw
#44....Oh, that's waaaay too practical!

In our romance novels, we've met this 'type' of man many times!!!

Hard as nails, well respected by his men....and the women just melt!

53 posted on 04/05/2003 7:46:04 PM PST by Guenevere (...STAY THE COURSE!!)
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To: The Shrew
I think that there is a hunger out there for men like that. Traditional romance novels make up 50% of the paperback market. The stories sell b/c women like strong (read: alpha)men, regardless of what Calvin Klein is pushing.

This story gave me goosebumps.
54 posted on 04/05/2003 7:46:24 PM PST by Aggie Mama
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To: MadIvan
Why do I have a scene of them in bed, lying there smoking a cigarette after.... you know the rest.
55 posted on 04/05/2003 7:57:10 PM PST by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and there is the face of Islam!)
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To: MadIvan; Thinkin' Gal; Light Speed



.
56 posted on 04/05/2003 7:57:25 PM PST by Jeremiah Jr
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To: The Shrew
It is no secret that most women desire an alpha male for a life mate.
The secret is, that there are very few alpha males,and a surplus of alpha females.
We beta females are very much aware of this fact.
Most Beta males, OTOH, seek to mate with Alpha females.
They get really upset when Alpha females logically reject them, and Beta females also eschew them for letting their mouthes overload their asses.
I really hate short, French men.
57 posted on 04/05/2003 8:13:09 PM PST by sarasmom
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To: Paradox; MadIvan
If the guy were American, I would assume it was the "F" word.
Ah yes, the old acronym "fornicator under carnal knowledge"...today's "word" in common usage came from Britian to begin with is my understanding.

Cool story Ivan.

58 posted on 04/05/2003 8:33:07 PM PST by philman_36
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To: JusPasenThru
To Special Forces: Thank You!
59 posted on 04/05/2003 8:42:01 PM PST by maxwellp (Pray for American P.O.W.'s - We must get them back!)
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To: sarasmom
I really hate short, French men.

Thank God I'm not French!

So, why do American females both Alpha and Beta reject men that are shorter than they are regardless of the males identity as Alpha or Beta? It's a logical fallacy because they are rejecting a significant percentage of the Alpha Male population for an erroneous assumption - height carries with it personality profile of Alpha or Beta. The story provides no indication of the SAS man's stature - only his manner and authority.

Essentially, because growing up their fathers are taller than they are they are letting their child self's image of masculinity carry into their mate selection. Hopefully, Sara is being more carefully instructed. It is also my hope that the allegory I discussed above will carry a greater meaning in that women will start evaluating men based on substance instead of minor characteristics.

;-)

Regards,

TS

60 posted on 04/05/2003 8:50:22 PM PST by The Shrew
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