12 U.S. DELTA MEMBERS WOUNDED ON RAID OF OMAR

Drudge ^ | 11/3/01

[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.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Excellent post ! Perhaps that will seperate alot of the bs on this thread , the silly double posting etc . Should serve as an excellent tool for a quick education to others . Again , my hat is off to you .

[lawdog]

You sir are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you .

[Ben Bolt]

Major bump , colonel !

[The Raven]

Are the Dems secretly fighting another war (Congressional elections) with their favorite weapon - the media??

Why doesn't Seymour investigate the Democratic party? Now that would be a book.

[LaineyDee]

I'd love to hear a body count.

I agree. I become enraged when I hear the news media or the liberal pantywaist columnists give the Afghan (Taliban) "civilian" body counts... trying to shame Americans for their retribution... or make our boys look like ill-trained buffoons.

I'd love to see how Hersh would react to an ambush. Sit in the corner, thumb in his mouth... cryin' for Mama to take the bad men away? That'd be my guess. Grrrrrr.

[Bombard]

Everyone should consider the source. This man has a very questionable track record.

[defenderSD]

"Although the special ops team met with an unsuspected heavy resistence, during the engagement hundreds of taliban soldiers are thought to have died."

The day after the raid, Pakistani sources said "the Taliban were mauled, with more than 20 soldiers killed." Now that I believe. Pakistan has close ties with the Taliban and the Pakistani media knows what's happening in Afghanistan. But the Taliban are fairly smart, experienced warriors, and I wouldn't be surprised if they used some deception and camoflouge to make it look like Omar's house was lightly defended. This deception could have been a ploy to draw us into a raid on his house, after which they planned to launch a fierce counter-attack. Let's just look at the bright side: we probably gained some extremely valuable intelligence about the Taliban and only suffered light casualties. Next time we'll bring even more firepower.

[sugar_puddin]

My friend's son is a Major in the Delta Force and he would NEVER talk. I pray to God that he's not seriously wounded. His dad is gone from home right now as he is training airport security personnel, so I sure hope he doesn't read this. This has been one of my worst fears. I have been praying for this man ever since he got orders. I'm going to see his dad on the 12th and I sure hope he doesn't have bad news.

[Kay Soze]

Author of peice has received over 90,000 USD from two different Muslim relief aganecies since US operations started in Afghanistan.

I would be comprimising my position by telling you how I cam by this information.

[Diogenesis]

"Why doesn't Seymour investigate the Democratic party? Now that would be a book."

So true.

[scannell]

I believe Hersh was the author of the false story that George Bush (41) flew to Paris and negotiated with Iran to keep the hostages in custody during the 1980 campaign.

Wrong Guy

[Kanell]

Thank you for taking the time to write this.

I also want to thank you for your service to our country.

[Constitution Scholar]

12 U.S. DELTA MEMBERS WOUNDED
big loss? no deaths, what do they expect our guys to be invincibal?

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Happy anniversary...yep, I don't buy the bit, either. Light arms, RPG and mortar fire...not the most accurate type of assault, and it would've shown up real good to the boys in the AC-130. I don't doubt they would take casualties but this makes no sense.

[jonascord]

One other thing that everyone seems to miss. Every war has it's learning curve. The people who are in command at the start of a war are seldom the ones in at the end. The USMC was still teaching troops to charge into an ambush in '70, and were still using LAAW rockets, although only one in three would actually fire...

There are tricks of the trade that will keep you alive. The problem is that each of these tricks and bits of knowledge comes at the cost of the lives of your buddies. The ones that worked in I Corps back in '69 won't work in Kandahar 30 years later. Some times they live, most times they don't.

The people on the ground now are at the start of theat learning curve.

One other thing. The trooper who is not frightened the first time they hear that 'WHACK' sound when a bullet goes by is a sociopath.

[The Wizard]

no offense, but I don't believe this "crying" is from our boys....these guys are hard as any Afghanis and this report is shit.....

[Map Kernow]

Let's assume for a moment that the report is true. It sounds like our boys were given Mullah Omar as "bait" and then ambushed when they came out of his dirt hovel. That smells to high heaven of a set-up by a person or persons unknown in the ISI, the intelligence service of our "ally," Pakistan. And if the report is true, that, plus the ambush and death of Abdul Haq, plus the confirmed reports of resupply convoys going every night out of Pakistan to the Taleban, makes me wonder just how much we can depend on Pakistan in this conflict. A word to the wise.

[Ben Bolt]

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain !

[SSN558]

Getting inserted behind enemy lines is the riskyest mission of all. They will learn, adapt, and improve the next operation.

The rear end MFer's have little to fear. If life was fair the media that is reporting operational details would have everything to fear.