Details of failed rescue attempt emerge
We talked a bit yesterday about the failed rescue attempt of Ryan Somers, and now, as time passes we get some of the details of the raid. Chief Tango sends us a link from ABC News which tells us the raiding party, which included Yemeni government troops, was fairly large;
In the dead of night, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs landed a little more than six miles away from a compound in the Shabwah province of Yemen where U.S. officials believed an affiliate of al Qaeda was holding American journalist Luke Somers captive.
About 110 yards away, after making their way through the rugged terrain on foot, the team of 40 was spotted and the al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters began firing wildly at the SEALs, according to a military official. One of the AQAP fighters ran into the compound as the firefight continued outside, then quickly came back out.
When the SEALs secured and entered the compound, they found Somers, 33, and another captive, South African Pierre Korkie, had been shot.
Forty was about four times larger than I would have thought the force would number. Fox News says that the South Africans had successfully negotiated for the release of Pierre Korkie, who was being held with Somers;
“A team of Abyan (Yemeni) leaders met in Aden [Saturday] morning and were preparing the final security and logistical arrangements, related to hostage release mechanisms, to bring Pierre to safety and freedom,” Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers. “It is even more tragic that the words we used in a conversation with Yolande at 5:59 [Saturday] morning was: ‘The wait is almost over.'”
The Associated Press, citing sources close to the negotiations, reported that the militants had initially demanded a $3 million ransom for Korkie’s release. Although that demand was dropped, the kidnappers did insist on the “facilitation fee,” according to the aid group. The undisclosed amount was raised by Korkie’s family and friends, according to the South African Press Agency.
Like someone said in the comments yesterday, I think I’d rather be summarily shot than to have my gruesome death filmed for propaganda, but then I wouldn’t be captured anyway. Always save one bullet for yourself – or at least don’t get yourself in the position where you’re the star of an al Qaeda film. Stay home and watch the war on TV, because as this makes it obvious, the government can’t always help.
Category: Terror War
Well, damn it, they tried. If I was a hostage I think it’d be better to go out with a bullet rather than be decapitated for jihadi murder porn. Thank you for putting yourself on the line to try and get these guys out.
Precisely. As I said yesterday, however many hostages there are, they are doomed anyway. Reports are that the South African was to be bought freedom and that the deal was all but closed. Yeah, maybe. Or maybe not. Either way, buying freedom is not wise. The money is used to support more terrorism and what’s worked in the past to generate funding will always be pursued in the future. And that’s why that SOB obama screwed up in trading terrorists for Bergdahl. Even if we were all to agree that Bergdahl is not a traitor, the deal means that he lives but another mother’s son dies at the hands of those freed. Negotiating with the bastards is not good policy but it seems to be ours now.
IIRC, we didn’t tell anyone in Afghanistan that we were sending a team to Pakistan to attack Bin Laden. One wonders if the US operators on this mission wanted the Yemenis on this one.
A few years ago, one of my bosses wanted something done. Based on being in that particular business for about 25 years, I predicted that a specific bad thing would happen. He said, “If you cannot convince me that it will certainly happen then we are better and your old-timer experience doesn’t matter and we are going to do it anyway”. That is the power of positive thinking. By the way, it did happen and I got the blame because, with all my experience, I didn’t prevent it. Is anyone blaming the operators yet?
I’m thinking that Hillary is blaming them for not “empathizing” with the enemy and “resepcting” them.
She won’t necessarily say it publicly, but she’s thinking it.
CBS on Friday claimed that the good guys were on the ground but it took Obummer (my gay brother in law hates it when i call him that) until Sun to give the go ahead for the rescue attempt. It would seem to me that the on scene personnel should be able to call their own shots seeing as how our government had OK’ed this attempt in the first place.
Without me having to wade thu various conservatives/liberals websites giving conflicting stories, can any of this sites readers point me in the proper direction.? Appreciation to all. BZ
Re: “my gay brother in law”
Huh? Splain please 🙂
Wife’s brother?
Oh, yeah. Too early.
No military strategist here, but am thinking that if this had just been OUR guys, the headlines would have been very different today..
And no, Richard, they better NOT start blaming our operators.
These types of operations are high risk from the outset. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need to send SEALs, Delta, etc to accomplish them. Sometimes, they don’t happen as planned. Nature of the business. It seems obvious to me that the AQAP had orders to kill the prisoners at first contact with any opposing force. Unfortunately, they were successful in that.
“Forty was about four times larger than I would have thought the force would number.” I know I’m Monday morning quarterbacking here but I wish the SEAL team had gone in alone and left the Yemeni troops at the LZ. I just believe their lack of skills compared to our SEAL forces could have been a deterrent to a successful outcome. Forty troops are a lot to keep quiet and organized in an op like that. Think of moving a Platoon size force in for a stealth operation. I know it was Yemen’s call and I am sure they insisted their troops go. I believe we should have said sure guys, it’s a go in three days and then we, go in tomorrow. Not saying the outcome would have been different. But knowing what I know of other SEAL missions, they always do better on their own, with their own or with other U.S. Special Ops teams.
All you military folks have educated me well on the whole OpSec thing, so I was surprised to read the details yesterday, little more than a day after the mission. Shouldn’t it have just been left at “we tried to rescue him and the terrorists murdered him? Do we really need to know that they were flown in on a Osprey, dropped 6 miles away, a drone attacked at the same time, etc., etc., etc.?
Good points all. And the answer, of course, is no, those details were unnecessary. One can only hope that some were bullshit–but this administration seems to delight in sharing intel to help our enemies prep for future action. The sources are unnamed but you can bet they were quietly okayed to divulge particulars about the operation. Too bad the administration is not nearly as open about its illegal and wrongful acts as it is about those things that have the potential to get our service members killed.
And before anyone outside operational circles tries to blame the death of the non-american hostage on us (“he was being freed the next day”), the Yemen govt was well aware of those negotiations without informing the Yemeni soldiers who were with the SEALs too. This was NOT a commo breakdown on OUR part.
Monday morning news pricks will be blaming us, just wait and see.
God Bless all good men involved and the departed.
A shit sandwich … But yes, we were there.
To: SJ AND AW1Ed
Ya, my wife’s youngest brother. A liberal and Nancy P. is his representative. Nuf said.
He and I get into it via skype and E-mail. As him a card carrying gay liberal and me a 22 year vet, our politics are very different. So I often send him a Email that says FUCK YOU – strong message to follow. This usually ends the discussion until next time. Loads of fun at Christmas. BZ
Chief, I am SO stealing that! Priceless.
What, you’d never heard that expression before? Hell, it’s at least 30 years old.
“Everything old is new again…”
News is being scrubbed, now they are saying that there was no Yemeni troop participation.
This may be too simplistic a view, but what I see, or think I see, is when American troops alone stage the raid, the mission gets accomplished. When any of the locals are involved, the mission goes sideways.
Is this just my bias showing?