Posted on 11/03/2001 6:04:22 AM PST by Diogenesis
MAG: 12 U.S. DELTA MEMBERS WOUNDED ON RAID OF OMAR'S COMPLEX, THREE SERIOUSLY; PENTAGON RETHINKS 'SPECIAL FORCES OPERATIONS'
Seymour Hersh has filed yet another controversial report for coming editons of the NEW YORKER, publishing sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
In ESCAPE AND EVASION, Hersh claims: In the wake of a near-disaster during the assault on Mullah Omar's complex during the early morning of October 20th, the Pentagon has been rethinking future Special Forces operations inside Afghanistan.
Delta Force, which prides itself on stealth, had been counterattacked by the Taliban, and some of the Americans had had to fight their way to safety. Hersh has filed his report for the November 12, 2001 issue of the NEW YORKER, on sale Monday.
Twelve Delta members were wounded, three of them seriously.
The intensity and ferocity of the Taliban response "scared the crap out of everyone," a senior military officer tells Hersh.
The Delta team stormed Mullah Omar's complex, but found little of value, Hersh reports, and then, "as they came out of the house, the shit hit the fan," one senior officer says. "It was like an ambush. The Taliban were fighting with light arms and either [rocket-propelled grenades] or mortars." The team immediately began taking casualties and evacuated.
"The Delta team was forced to abandon one of its objectives: the insertion of an undercover team into the area and the stay-behind soldiers fled to a previously determined rendezvous point, using a contingency plan known as an E. & E., for escape and evasion," Hersh writes.
Actually, Russia had the Taliban almost beaten, when we stepped in and armed them and trained them on how to beat the Russians.
On the other hand, if you take the Taliban lightly, you can guaranty causalities.
Never underestimate the enemy.
Actually, Russia had the Taliban almost beaten, when we stepped in and armed them and trained them on how to beat the Russians.
All this is garbage. The Taliban didn't arise until AFTER the Russians left!!!
The people who gave the Russians hell are now in the Northern Alliance.
I cut my teeth getting Reagan elected and I remember my disbelief at the Iran-Contra affair.
Loyalty is a virtue, but blind loyalty is a fault.
Those who say this is war are right. We are going to take casualties and there are going to be some serious screw-ups.
Let's keep pushing foward, fix what is wrong, and win this war. We don't have any other options.
They did exist, just under a different name, the mujahidin.
Oh, PUH-LEEEEZE. The idea of the DELTA FORCE being surprised, much less scared, much less having the crap scared out of it, because the enemy fights back is completely looney tunes. Every word of this "report" is a lie, including "a" and "the."
Dittos!
It's weekly. Not that that makes it any more credible.
"Delta Force, which prides itself on stealth"...if it was an assault or raid, it wasn't quiet, so what was it?" had been counterattacked by the Taliban" I doubt in the time on sight that the enemy had time to rally from the initial assault and fightback. Furthermore any goups of enemy forming in any land feature for any attack would of become target No. 1 for site area security teams and supporting aircraft. Bunk again. , "and some of the Americans had had to fight their way to safety." And pray tell where was that? All those Special Opps craft and their supporting gunships, AC-130's, ect??? Triple Boob Bunk. Hersh has filed his report for the November 12, 2001 issue of the NEW YORKER, on sale Monday. Twelve Delta members were wounded, three of them seriously. The intensity and ferocity of the Taliban response "scared the crap out of "everyone,"Everyone? Everyone? Most? Some? Two out of three? What, was there a survey? Maybe some shrinks for the boys? I bet a bunch of the guys were high as a kite, excited, thrilled. What bunk. a senior military officer( like some Delta NCO gives a rats ass and would even tell a paperpushing general the time of day.) tells Hersh. The Delta team stormed Mullah Omar's complex, but found little of value, Hersh reports, and then(scary music insert here), "as they came out of the house("Hey, help me with this t.v., boys, Oh, look! Coppers!), the shit hit the fan," one senior officer says. "It was like an ambush. The Taliban were fighting with light arms and either [rocket-propelled grenades] or mortars."(Proved lie right here, big difference in the sounds and effects of rpg's vs. mortars. Even a straight leg private know the difference. Also, again, the supporting security units, ground and air, must of been on break, maybe watching the stars twinkle.) The team immediately began taking casualties and evacuated. "The Delta team was forced to abandon one of its objectives:(Why? A fight is good cover for insertions. But then again, this is a stinky pile of wordy pap) the insertion of an undercover team into the area and the stay-behind soldiers fled (I can see it now, throw down your weapons, run fer da hill boys, they're on to us but good! Ya,right.)to a previously determined rendezvous point, using a contingency plan known as an E. & E., for escape and evasion," Hersh writes.
1-I don't think the Taliban existed (as a unit) during the Russian War, they came together after (I could be wrong)
2-Russia actually had defeated the rebels and won this war ... until we interviened later
3-The Reagan Administration provided stinger missles, that allowed the rebels to go back and defeat the Russian infrastructure that, just previously, defeated them.
4-Russia was having severe economic and political problems at home, which played a major part in their pullout, making this their 'vietnam' ... i.e. Their homefront had a larger effect on thier "defeat" than the rebels.
About half went to the Taliban and half to the North.
Please provide a link to a SINGLE source in which Rumsfeld "supports the article." You are full of crap.
Just because a source happens to be a liberal source, does not mean it is wrong. The New Yorker is a liberal, sometimes disgustingly biased magazine. It also happens to be a serious and well written magazine. Conservatives have nothing like it, alas.
Not long before 9-11, the New Yorker published two articles which were brilliantly written and memorable, altho I have thrown out my copies and cannot recount them exactly. But the gist of the first one was, the brutality and hypocrisy of Islamic clerics. The second one was, how Clinton refused to act on unquestionable information regarding the death of our soldiers at Khobar; that article pretty much called him a coward and a liar.
Free Republic conservatives constantly reflect a shallowness which makes conservatism look ridiculous. Why do you think that both Drudge and Rush have dissed you, and foresaken you? Because they are liberals? Or because they are rational?
I admire Jim Robinson, and am in awe of him. He has done something I could never dream of doing. But the constant ass-kissing of him, and his apparent acceptance of it, degrades this site and makes it look cult-like. If that is what this site is about, so be it, but then it is not about conservatism.
For conservatives to question the good faith of Seymour Hersh for saying our special forces were scared, or some were injured, demonstrates the shallowness of those conservatives. Have they ever been scared before? I see no inconsistency with bravery, courage, duty, honor, and being scared. Nor do I think it out of the realm of possibility that some of our soldiers have been injured by the enemy.
Hersh may be wrong. But if I were a 22 year old special forces soldier, I would not be insulted if someone suggested I was scared. Nor would I consider it un-American.
This website has seen many people driven away from here, because ridicule and imputations of bad faith were freely thrown. This website has had the potential to be extraordinarily influential ... but many many folks, supposed conservatives, seem more interested in pulling out their FR credentials and tinning their way to satisfaction.
I am glad this guy is not on Spec Ops. Look Familiar? It is the man that invented the internet. Algore
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