Posted on 04/21/2003 5:51:13 AM PDT by el_texicano
I was reading the new book just out by Robin Moore entitled, "The Hunt for Bin Laden" and came across some excerpts that I wanted to cite in honor of my NY friends. This book has been hard to put down and parts of it are simply hilarious. So, with the setting in Afghanistan early on in the conflict...quoting from pages 74-75 and 99:
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Like it's Vietnam predecessor, "Puff the Magic Dragon," the Spectre is easily described by Special Forces troops on the ground as "raining death." With Chain guns, and autoloading 105mm cannon, a 25mm Gatling gun and a Bofors 40mm cannon, the Spectre can cover a battlefield with more rounds per squarefoot than any other combat platform in the world, and the USAF Spectre crews live up to their motto - "Death Waits in the Dark."
The Spectre circles the batlefield in varying orbits that elude enemy antiaircraft fire. Spectre's crews quickly observed that enemy antiaircraft weapons were not a problem. The Taliban and AQ (al Queda) did not have the night-vision devices needed to spot the elusive, low-flying weapons platform. "You could see the Taliban down below as we would fly over them," one of the Spectre's crew recalled, "but they would just shoot at the sounds of our engine, which makes a low droning sound that's hard to place. You could see through their body movements that they had no idea where the ammunition was coming from. When we would open up on them, the would just scatter like ants in every direction."
The Spectre's weapons release officer was a woman, a stunning USAF captain named Allison. "Ally"'s voice on the plane's intercom and over the radio, as she coordinated the deadly 105mm and 40mm explosive rounds, seemed to flow like poetry as the Taliban bodies stacked up, resulting in her being nicknamed "the Angel of Death."
Ally and the rest of her crew would watch the taliban fighters on the ground through the Spectre's thermal optics, and after a bit of studying, felt they could predict their movements. "The Taliban would be all grouped up in, say, the corner of a filed, and we'd open fire, and they would scatter, only to group up again in another spot. So after a few minutes, we would just hold our fire and wait until they grouped up again. That saved on ammunition, and we wanted every shot to count," she recalled. Allison, originally from New York, was proud that she was able to "bring some justice" to the people who were responsible for striking out at the United States on September 11.
General Dostum (the Afghan commander) was utterly amazed when he heard of Ally. He immediately called his Taliban foes on the appropriate frequency, and then asked for Allison to speak on the U.S. radio. Dostum first announced in Dari to the Taliban leader that "the United States has so little respect for you that they are using their WOMEN to fight you!" Then Dostum held his handset up and Allison would talk over the frequency, announcing that she had heard how badly the Taliban treated women, and she was here to give them a little payback. This was also translated to the enemy over their frequencies. The extreme gravity of the insult to an Islamic fundamentalist "holy warrior" cannot be translated.
(From pg. 99 in another part of Afghanistan) Dabbling in psychological operations, the (Special Forces) team asked TASK FORCE DAGGER to give them an AC-130 gunship for a few nights. Once again, the weapons release officer was the efficient and attractive Air Force captain named Allison. When the bird came overhead, TIGER 01 would announce to the Taliban in Dari and Arabic that the "Angel of Death" had arrived and she had something to give them. Ally would then follow on the Taliban's command frequency, speaking with her soft, sensuous voice in English, calmly explaining to the enemy that she knew how they treated women, so it was only fair that she get an opportunity to repay their kindness. More than a few SF operators got a woody listening to her sultry description of the havoc that was about to be unleashed. Then, Ally voice would abruptly disappear as the Spectre's 105mm cannons and mini-guns would let loose, wreaking death and destruction of biblical proportions on the Taliban's trench lines.
This is one advantage to having women in the service- fighting against knuckle-walkers...Not only will we get to kill them, we kill them with great shame, we take their pride, and that of their families-
OUR GIRLS KICKED YOUR ASS
Yes, it is great to be on the winning side in this endeavor, but I get a caution light in my mind when I sense the boasting about it. Grinding their noses in their shame only lessens the possibility that they can ever be converted to become friendly as a nation to us.
All it would take is for another democRAT administration to give these guys some of these gunships like X42 gave away our satellite guidance codes to the chineeeeeeze and we could see ourselves attacked with the same aplomb as this story depicts us doing to them.
I hope nobody posts a picture of Captain Allison. Somebody might take the trouble to track her down. This is why the IDF (and increasingly the US military) never show pictures of their pilots, and always refer to them with aliases or "call signs."
I can understand your concerns, I really do.
Regarding another x42, God forbid that this nation every loses sight of what that traitor did to us. May his legacy be forever fixed in peoples minds and that legacy is symbolized, realized in that huge hole where the World Trade Center towers stood. May we never forget.
I believe in my heart of hearts that 9/11 has forever changed the political dynamics of this nation.
I'll just be satisfied with my imagination. 8->
I'm superstitious. I'm knocking on wood for you. ( If you didn't do it yourself. )
Hooooo boy, will she ever. A true Amazon.
Not in a million years. They're only useful if you have air superiority, otherwise they get swatted like flies.
that's the thing-aside from ballistic missiles, all the rest of the military gear saddam bought didn't really help, because their military couldn't use it as a whole. They had some reasonably sophisticated aircraft, some nice artillery...but they lacked incidividual and command level skills to use their kit effectively.
re: "rubbing their faces in it." I had in mind the Taliban/Al-Qaeda guys- the religious nut cases. I think seeing them publicly humilitated will lessen their support.
I would not suggest we do that with the Iraqis, whose "hearts and minds" we're trying to win.
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