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  1. #1
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    Default The British SAS catch all

    BRITISH special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Al-Quds special forces, defence sources have disclosed.
    Complete Times article here:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...SS&attr=797084
    "Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen." - Jeff Cooper

  2. #2
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    Default The Undeclared War

    Whatever may or may not be the case with cross-border fighting, this more or less officially confirms what at least one British commander in Iraq stated publicly a year or two ago, than an undeclared war between Britain and Iran was underway. It would certainly be possible that British troops fighting weapons smugglers and IRGC Al-Quds Force troops along the border might find themselves in hot pursuits situations. I've also noticed that the Iranians have not attempted to capture British troops in recent months like they have done at a few times in the past.

  3. #3
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    Default Motives involved in this story?

    I find exposes like The Times article very odd. Why was this published and who "leaked" the information? There is no way a journalist did normal reporting in Iraq to discover this. Yes, compiling rumours and snippets from a safe place, guarded by UK troops.

    Am I the only person who wonders whether Rupert Murdoch, who owns The Times, has encouraged such a story? Using such a story as some advocate war on Iran to indicate the UK will join in.

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    Default Making Mischief In The Still of The Night

    Such doings are as old as mankind as we all well know and without collaberation, the Public focus on such a report on a scale from 1 - 100 comes in probably around .6 at best. It makes good filler for credentialed sock puppets on the televison to wag their tongues over and pontificate but more than anything, it probably enhances sales of violent video games for pimple-faced teens.

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    Default SAS war hero (not) jailed after 'betrayal'

    Political correctness to the extreme is threatening UK as much as the US. This is simply unacceptable, the British people need to mobilize and put pressure on the idiots that made this decision.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9669...-betrayal.html

    Lt Col Richard Williams, who won a Military Cross in Afghanistan in 2001 and was Sgt Nightingale’s commanding officer in Iraq, said the sentence “clearly needed to be overturned immediately”.

    He said: “His military career has been ruined and his wife and children face being evicted from their home — this is a total betrayal of a man who dedicated his life to the service of his country.”

  6. #6
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default SAS man released by Court Martial Court of Appeal

    An SAS sniper has been released after his 18 month sentence for illegally possessing a pistol was cut and suspended by the Court of Appeal. Sgt Danny Nightingale, from Crewe, admitted possessing the 9mm Glock pistol and 338 rounds of ammunition at a court martial earlier this month. The judges heard Nightingale had forgotten he had the gun and cut his sentence to 12 months and suspended it.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20547557

    A slightly unexpected result, partly as the Sgt had admitted the offences, but widely considered outside the military as an injustice. Several e-petitions started and just maybe the court listened. The court being a civilian court and this is the first time its existence has come to the fore.
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    Default Judicial "Nullification",

    similar to Jury "Nullification".

    Our Ayala case (PMC shot prisoner he had cuffed, where prisoner killed the HTS gal that the PMC was guarding) had a similar result - probation (comments on result, here, here and here).

    Army Times article reporting sentencing.

    This result met strong disapproval from Zero Antropology, Whitewashing a U.S. War Crime in Afghanistan: The Trial of Don Ayala, “Human Terrain” Mercenary.

    Regards

    Mike

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    Default

    JMM, it seems a huge stretch to compare a contractor who killed a handcuffed person with a soldier who tried (whether intentional or not) to bring a weapon back home from the war zone, which at one time not that long ago wouldn't even considered an offense.

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    Default Bill:

    The comparison is to two examples of judicial nullification, not an argument that the crimes were equivalent. Obviously, murder (the original charge in Ayala, a capital crime) and illegal possession of a weapon (18 months) are not the same. Do you think I'm so stupid as to contend they are ?

    The judicial decisions in both cases, however, ended up with the same result - both defendants were freed. I don't have any problem with either result. The person who wrote the Zero Antropology article obviously would have held for the murder charge against Ayala - or, if forced by the plea, the maximum sentence for manslaughter. Freedom or detention depends on who your judge (or jury) is.

    Regards

    Mike

  10. #10
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Band of brothers: remembering the fallen soldiers of the SAS

    France maybe the focus here, then you read this:
    During its five-year cycle of remembrance, the regiment lays 371 wreaths at memorials and individual graves in 20 countries, commemorating 493 casualties sustained during the Second World War and in post-war operations. There are 100 casualties commemorated in France, and monuments adorn places as distant as Sarawak in northern Borneo and the Silent Valley of South Yemen.
    Living up to their motto 'Who Dares Wins' after D-Day:
    he squadron did not parachute their way into Occupied France, as the men involved in Loyton did, but simply drove their 20 Jeeps through enemy lines in darkness as the Battle of Normandy raged about them. For 250 miles they journeyed, in British uniform, through the heart of enemy territory, often in broad daylight.
    Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/w...f-the-SAS.html
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  11. #11
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    Default Moderator at work

    I have merged three small threads, each had a different theme, but all concern the British Special Air Service Regiment, commonly known as the SAS. One thread referred to the campaign in Iraq, which is now historical.

    The thread title has been changed to The British SAS (merged thread).
    davidbfpo

  12. #12
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    Default The SAS and LRDG Roll of Honour 1941-47

    Prompted by a full review (the second link) of this newly published volume set here is the author's explanation:
    A seminal project that brings together the moving stories of every Special Air Service and Long Range Desert Group casualty of the Second World War. Meticulously and passionately researched over 13 years, this exhaustive work is a unique combination of operational reports, personal service records and medal citations, all given colour and depth through correspondence with next of kin and the recollections of those that were there. Lavishly illustrated, with many photographs published for the first time, it celebrates the extraordinary and largely unreported bravery of 374 casualties now commemorated in seventeen countries.
    Link:http://www.sas-lrdg-roh.com/index.html

    The review article starts with some history of their first mission:
    Exhausted and filthy, the soldiers of the newly-formed SAS stand side-by-side in the desert. Hours earlier, an abortive raid had seen more than half their comrades either killed or captured, but the men of the soon-to-be-famous force still manage to raise a grin. The newly-discovered photograph from 1941 is the only known picture of the elite unit’s first ever raid, carried out by founder members known as the Originals.
    Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...th-of-the-sas/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 08-28-2016 at 01:16 PM. Reason: 11,920v
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  13. #13
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    Default Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS

    A NYT review of Ben McIntyre's book 'Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS', which covers their birth in WW2:
    ...this volume features an ensemble of eccentrics, mavericks and malcontents. And, in this case, one visionary, David Stirling, who invented an elite commando unit that would become the prototype for a new kind of modern warfare...
    Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/bo...acintyre.html?

    The book awaits attention here, so one day my review.

    In those days there were the true experts, Michael Sadler and his navigation skills, so necessary to get the SAS in their initial airbase raiding mode across the desert.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 10-10-2016 at 07:31 AM. Reason: 14,157v
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