Just more convincing than McNabb's or Ryan's accounts.
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Having served in the Army, I'm suspicious of accounts like this, even one by a Para and SAS veteran like Michael Asher. But to be honest, I was already suspicious of the previous accounts by B20 partol members McNabb and Ryan. So I bought this book, and overall, I'm glad I did, though saddened by some of what Asher seems to have found.
Ex SAS officer General Sir Peter de la Billiere's Gulf War memoir has a concise account of the B20 mission, concentrating on Ryan's tremendous escape. Funny thing is, "DLB" left out the most dramatic single epsode in Ryan's later book, where, now alone, the latter turns at bay and engages and smashes up 2 jeep-loads of pursuers, at night. There's no convincing security, military or other reason why "DLB" would leave this out. It's hard to avoid concluding that Ryan must have made it up later.
This book now leaves it hard to avoid the conclusion that the patrol members' books did a lot more "sexing up" of their already-dramatic stories, for publication.
Main weakness of this book, I think, is that Asher sets out with an agenda - to prove that patrol member Sgt Phillips didn't merit Ryan's unfavourable portrayal - even tho it's a noble agenda, starting with one can cloud judgement. Also I reckon Asher sets just a bit too much stock in differences between the other accounts - complete agreement is not going to happen, even with professionals. Others criticise him, despite Asher being alert to just this point, for being rather too ready to take the word of Arab civilians and policemen in Saddam's Iraq - who basically say that the tales of shootouts are either exaggerated or just invented.
But the point is, that the Arab/Bedouin accounts just ring more true. The more so, because they don't in any way denigrate the performance of the patrol on the ground, or your admiration for their utter tenacity. In fact, at one point, his Bedouin hosts seriously slag off Asher's Iraqi army minder when he puts down the patrol, the Arabs saying they were brave men and good soldiers. Amen to that. Some who doubt the reliability of the Arab witnesses speak of the unliklihood that 3 armed civilians could put the patrol to flight from the original location, but they didn't, the mission had already gone wrong and the patrol executed a pretty textbook bug-out, just as they should have, in the later stages under fire from the 3 Arabs who included 2 very experienced Iran-Iraq war vets. No shame there, just good, solid soldiering, concluding with a successful "break contact". No need to make up a tale of a massive firefight with APCs taken out and vanloads of Iraqi soldiers going down in a hail of gunfire. But it seems likely that's what they did - they made it up. Or McNabb did, and others followed.
Like Napoleon said, the most important quality for a soldier is not courage, it's endurance - a particular form of courage to be sure. The B20 guys were exceptional soldiers and showed true courage, in all its forms, as this book makes clear. Regardless of the fact that some mistakes may have been made, in mission prep or elsewhere. Hard to fault them, later on, for trying to eke out their livlihoods after leaving the service by telling their stories. Especially after their rather better paid former boss, General "DLB", did much the same. It's just rather sad that they seem to have been unable just to tell it like it was, which was heroic enough, and in Ryan's case apparently, selling short the memory of a dead comrade.
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The Truth
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Poor, poor Michael Asher. Bless his cotton socks! What was he thinking?
Of course the Iraq police, army inteligence and local milita didn't torture the Reg lads. NO! Some nice scran, a lovely brew, and tea cakes were the order of the day.
Oh! And putting '(The Truth) Behind Bravo Two Zero.' On your front cover, well..ermm. It must be true then, eh mate?
James.
Ps. If you have some money to waste, buy this book. There's always the winter fire if your running low on logs.
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Dont just accept what is said
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I have read both Brave Two Zero and The Real Brave two zero.
What I would say is, read the books and make up your own mind, It might be difficult to accept, but at the end of the day, We can only go on the words of the authors, so one book can not be said to more 'true' than the other.
Yet when Michael Asher, just through simple deduction, can put holes in McNab's story it seems to question the likly hood of the BTZ story.
Yet As always, Hind Sight is always 20-20, plus BTZ was behind enamy lines, under that kind of stress i think even the best might make mistakes.
Plus the events which McNab is reacalling at the breafing, was after his term as a Pow, thats a long time to have rememberd details such as distances walked and so on. Is it not possible he simply recalled incorrectly? yet could it simply be that McNab was right, Ryan Wrong, and Asher has simply been lied too.
Therefore I would say that from only using the books, its impossible to say who is correct. Read them take from what you will but just remember, none can be shown to totaly certain so dont take sides but view with an open mind.
Cheers
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What a waste of money!
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Trying to disprove the SAS soldiers real account of what happened 10 years later is a bit far fetched in my eyes, stories have a tendancy to get changed as they get passed on!
It also strikes me as odd that someone would write a book like this depending solely on the word of the very people who were trying to capture the SAS soldiers??
I would not recommend this book. Read the REAL account by the soldiers who were actually there.
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A fairy tale
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Michael Asher travels through Iraq speaking to Bedouins and Iraqi Police officers and government officials looking to debunk Andy McNabs and Chris Ryans accounts.
Having read Bravo Two Zero, The One That Got Away and Soldier 5 you realise that it seems Andy McNab and Chris Ryan used a bit of artistic licence. But you also realise that Ryans and Coburns accounts are quite similiar in a lot of the events described.
Not being an expert on Bedouin customs I beleive most of what they say. But Asher further asks the reader to beleive what Iraqi Polie officers and Government officials say when asked about the contacts and if the SAS soldiers were tortured or beaten. Now these Police Officers and Government officials who now are behaving so kindly and light handed in Iraq just now (lets forget the police death squads and torture units who are killing scores of ordinary Iraqis daily because of there religion) are stating they never beat the SAS soldiers or tortured them. Lets not forget they were Special Forces from the Devil west but they still weren't beaten or tortured. Absolute nonsense.
The Iraq Police and Security Forces in general seem to be corrupt and brutal, you just have to watch the daily news or documentaries about the Police death squads to see that.
Ryans and Coburns accounts of the initial compromise and contact are almost identical describing the contact with the Bediuons aswell as a small force of Iraqi soldiers.
McNabs and Coburns accounts of being beaten as they were captured is also very similiar.
The question is who do you beleive? British SAS soldiers or Iraqi Police officers and Government Officials? The SAS soldiers accounts or Ashers? I know who I beleive.
Ashers account seems to me to be a chance for the Iraqis to have some propoganda. Thats why they insist the SAS patrol had almost no impact and that they didn't beat or torture them.
Some may argue that McNabs and Ryans accounts are part fiction, that is also true of Ashers.
To be avoided.
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