Those raids in Africa
Details of those raids in Africa this weekend are making their way to the public, NBC reports that the SEAL raid in Somalia was foiled by a guy taking a smoke break and the arrival of children on the scene of the resulting firefight forced the SEALs to withdraw;
Then a lone al Shabaab fighter walked out into plain view, smoked a cigarette, and went back inside, one source familiar with the details of the raid said. The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the SEALs. But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle.
Soon the American commandos were under siege from the warlord’s well-armed fighters. Gunfire swept toward their positions and grenades began to rain down, multiple military sources said.
Several of the SEALs could see Ikrima through the windows of the compound, but couldn’t get to him. The SEALs continued to take fire while trying to find a way to get closer to their target.
And then the children came into the pictures on their scopes.
The suspect was barricaded and heavily protected by armed men, and now children were intermingled among the fighters and in danger of dying. Then the whole town of Barawe began to erupt and more armed fighters were seen heading for Ikrima’s compound. Soon there would be fewer than two dozen Americans against hundreds of Somalis.
The snatch in Libya of Al-Libi was just wrong says the man’s son. He’s just an innocent pizza chef, he’s no terrorist, according to the UK’s Telegraph, but I’m not sure that Richard Spencer who wrote the article knows what he’s talking about;
Al-Libi, whose real name is Nazih Abdulhamad al-Ruqaie, was seized in a dawn raid outside his home in Tripoli suburb on Saturday. US officials said the raid was led by special operations Delta Force marines, but the family and Libyan officials say what they call the “kidnappers” included men speaking a local Arabic dialect.
Are they sure it wasn’t Air Force SEALs instead? Or Navy Rangers, mayhaps?
His wife told CNN that her husband was kidnapped by Libyans not Americans;
Category: Terror War
Gawd…in 1973 I had been out of the Army for three years and married for two!
The closest I ever came to anyone in the hush-hush special forces was in JBLM at the mob center (I was assigned to help since I did such a great job with the demob of my unit when they returned). I was checking ID cards and handing out mob paperwork when a group came through in civilian clothing. Each one had a beard and their ID card at the same shirt they were wearing when they handed them to me. Oh, and each CAC card was listed as an E-1. I didn’t ask any questions, checked off each name on the sheet in front of me, and handed them their paperwork.