Who dares wins

By Jason Moore IF it wasn't so serious it would be rather funny. Its like a Monty Python sketch. Just what were two Special Air Service troops doing driving around in a civilian car wearing wigs and Arab dress in the middle of Basra? The fact that they were quiet easily spotted is no real surprise. But what concerns me is just what the military commander on the ground was thinking? The British military and secret services have a clear problem, they appear incapable of recruiting people of Arab origin to carry out covert operations of the type seen this week in Basra. While the Who Dares Wins crowd operated effectively in Northern Ireland where they could easily mould into the surroundings, a council estate in Belfast is not the streets of Basra. Although we will never know the full details it was clear that this was a survilliance operation of the type the SAS are thoroughly trained to do. In military terms its called “Mark 1 eyeball” intelligence. While the U.S. forces further north use unmanned survelliance drones the British forces still rely on actual boots on the ground. I have always felt that there is an element of the Boy's Own in some SAS operations. This is nothing new, their founder Colonel Stirling successfully led a number of operations which would fall into this category during the Second World War. But times have changed and as we saw this week in Basra, the consequences if these operations fail can be enormous. Whoever decided to use the SAS in this way should remember that they are highly trained soldiers and not suited for clandestine operations which involve “melting” into the backdrop of an Arab country whatever their training.