by Damien Lewis
A report in the First Responder, a US-based magazine aimed at emergency services personnel, poses the question: ‘Can a terrorist disperse pesticides to get the same effects as nerve agents?’ It continues: ‘Pesticides which inhibit cholinesterase [like methomyl] have very low vapor pressures and are much less toxic than nerve agents. Other toxic chemicals (ammonia, chlorine) may be more attractive to terrorists. This is not to say that pesticides would not be used as a terrorist weapon … The same technologies used in the pesticide industry … to ease dispersal can potentially be used by terrorists to disperse a toxic chemical into a crowd.’ In short, pesticides may offer terrorists the potential to make a poor man’s chemical weapon.
The MV Nisha’s cargo of sugar would need to be mixed with other chemicals, like ammonium nitrate, to make an explosive device. But such improvised explosive devices are incredibly simple to make and largely safe until detonated. Believing the MV Nisha to be carrying such an explosive device, the UK authorities decided at the time that they had no alternative but to act as they did and stop the ship. Despite the lack of terrorist paraphernalia found on board, British authorities still describe the MV Nisha assault as ‘a successful run-out of the counter-terrorism machinery’.
The assault on the MV Nisha remains a textbook special forces seizure of a ship at sea, and the threat from terrorists deploying such dirty bombs remains high. In the spring of 2004, British authorities arrested several terror suspects who were planning to make a poor man’s chemical weapon, using a highly toxic, easily obtainable chemical called osmium tetroxide. Used primarily in laboratory research, osmium tetroxide attacks soft human tissue and can kill anyone who breathes its fumes. Terrorist suspects have also been arrested in the UK while attempting to manufacture a poor man’s biological weapon using ricin, a naturally occurring, but potentially lethal, toxin. Fears concerning a ‘terror fleet’ of merchant ships controlled by al-Qaeda remain very real. A report by RAND, a European policy think tank, concludes: ‘The marine sector – and specifically the container transport sector – remains wide open to the terrorist threat.’
With the capture in November 2002 of al-Qaeda’s maritime strategist, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, US officials began tracking fifteen cargo ships allegedly operated by terrorists under flags of convenience. In August 2002, the captain of the Sara merchant ship sent an SOS message to Italian authorities, as fifteen Pakistani men were threatening his crew with guns. All fifteen had links to al-Qaeda and were arrested on terror conspiracy charges. They were found to be carrying maps of Italian cities, false documents and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. In the spring of 2004, Israeli commandos seized the 4,000-ton Karine A, flying the flag of convenience of the Pacific Islands of Tonga. They discovered fifty tons of weapons on board, mostly manufactured in Iran and bound for the Palestinian conflict.
And what of the Afghan conflict now? Military forces from the International Security Assistance Force have been largely restricted to operating in the north of the country and Kabul – as powerful warlords and the Taliban try to reassert control in the south of Afghanistan. In the winter of 2004, the UK military deployed some 5,000 fresh troops to Afghanistan, to counter the perceived threat of a resurgent al-Qaeda and Taliban. These forces have been spearheaded by the men of the Parachute Regiment. Some 18,000 US and British troops are continuing to hunt for Osama bin Laden and renegade al-Qaeda elements in the hills that border Pakistan. They are being aided in their efforts by British special forces troops – the Special Boat Service and the Special Air Service.
Osama bin Laden – still believed to be at large – succeeded in creating the world’s foremost terrorism university in Afghanistan. He was able to do so because of a unique set of factors: chaos in Afghanistan; a weak set of neighbours; violent Islamist ideology backed by affluent Middle East factions; and a profound lack of interest or engagement in the region by the West. Bin Laden – or any number of bin Laden wannabes – will be able to do so again should the same set of factors reassert themselves. This demonstrates the importance of reconstructing Afghanistan, and building a stable, democratic, accountable regime. A young university student in this region has really only two choices. He can aspire to the so-called glamour and material affluence of the West, while accepting the squalor, lack of jobs and freedoms at home. Or he can embrace the extreme, but empowering, ideology of ‘fascist’ Islam. Destroying bin Laden’s terror university did not destroy the supply of potential students. Only democracy and development has any chance of doing that.
An SBS/SAS operator in CT gear prepares to assault ship – note gas mask, knife inverted on right chest, MP5 submachine gun and Sig Sauer pistol on hip.
SBS/SAS operators fast rope 90 feet from a Chinook MH47 helicopter onto the target in the English Channel, poised to hit the ship like a whirlwind.
SBS/SAS operators fast rope from a Sea King helicopter onto the target ship and rush into their battle positions. Any terrorists on board will be killed or captured.
Smiles all round as SBS/SAS operators pose with beers and an MV Nisha life ring after they have successfully taken down the ship and stopped her reaching London.
SBS operators on exercises in Norway. Arctic warfare is an integral part of the SBS’s intensive training, which rivals that of the SAS.
Having just warned his men to ‘treat the vehicles with a little respect’, SBS CSM Bob Wort drives his OSV over a crevasse, completely wrecking it.
Afghanistan’s national sport, Bushkasi, involves riders fighting to drag a goat around a racetrack on horseback. As with many things in Afghanistan, anything goes.
BoySoldier-NA: Northern Alliance forces fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda included boy soldiers like this one, proudly sporting his pistol and ammo belt.
The hangar at Bagram airbase where SBS, SAS and Delta Force made their headquarters. Wrecked Soviet fighter aircraft lie to the front, a reminder of how past superpowers came to grief in Afghanistan.
Upon arrival in ‘the Stan’, the SBS lads put down thousands of rounds on the ranges, zeroing in their weapons for the fight that was to come.
The Squad Assault Weapon (SAW) Minimi 5.56 mm drum-fed machine gun gets put through its paces on the ranges.
A 40mm grenade scores a direct hit out on the ranges – a devastating weapon of choice for the SBS lads waging war in Afghanistan.
At Bagram airbase SBS lads practise assaulting from a vehicle and ambush, as they prepared to do battle with the terrorists.
SBS on a vehicle patrol. They carry Diemaco 5.56 mm assault rifles with under-slung Hechler & Koch 40 mm grenade launchers. A satellite comms antennae can just be seen on the roof of the vehicle.
British, US, Aussie and New Zealand special forces deployed by Chinook on low level flights. One hit from an enemy stinger and this chopper would be blasted out of the sky.
Flying in line astern, MH47 Chinooks deployed special forces teams deep into hostile Afghan terrain.
A C130 Hercules delivers vital supplies to the SBS lads, as they prepare for their mission to assault ‘the mother of all terror training camps’.
US Delta Force operators head into the Naka Valley with their British SBS brothers-in-arms. A rocky river bed provides the only route in.
The SBS team on the climb into the Naka Valley, location of the ‘mother of all terror training camps’. CIA Bob is second from left, clutching a packet of ‘inedible’ British army ration biscuits!
SBS troopers on climb into Naka OP, carrying 100-pound bergens and with Diemaco assault rifle and Minimi SAW machine gun held at the ready.
SBS soldiers on climb into the Naka Valley hit the snow line. As well as all their cold weather gear, they’re each carrying 500 rounds of ammo, grenades, comms kit, food rations for a week and nine litres of water.
The Naka Valley observation post (OP), at 12,000 feet, overlooking ‘the mother of all terror training camps’. The SBS team spent a week here in freezing conditions, surrounded by the enemy and running out of water.
An SBS operator keeps watch over a ‘terrorist training camp’ in the Naka Valley. A Nikon D1 digital camera is used for close observation work.
Using a Katadyn filter dehydrated SBS soldiers extract life-saving water from a seepage at the foot of the mountain.
Naka Valley elders peer into the vehicles carrying the special forces soldiers – as they befriend the villagers, instead of blasting them into oblivion.
Having been sent in to flatten the ‘terror training camps’ of the Naka Valley, the SBS soldiers realise the valley is full of women and children.
SBS, CIA and Delta Force operators meet the locals. Forty-eight hours earlier they had been poised to bomb their village back into the stone age.
SBS soldiers in cave entrance. They fought their way into caverns in Afghanistan, and found huge caches of Al Qaeda and Taliban weaponry.
Subterranean tunnels were terrorist bases holding huge caches of Al Qaeda and Taliban weapons, which were destroyed by UK special forces.
Hiding their faces with their turbans, the foreign Taliban prisoners arrive at Qala-I-Janghi fortress by the truck-load.
One of the entraceways to Qala-I-Janghi. Its massive mud walls made the ancient fortress all but invulnerable to Allied airpower.
Putting down fire with their Diemaco assault rifles from the fort battlements. 8 SBS soldiers were sent in to quell an uprising in the fort by hundreds of Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners.
Northern Alliance soldiers shelter from the devastating incoming fire as they prepare their weapons for battle.
A Northern Alliance fighter takes aim on enemy positions from the fort battlements with his AK47.
SBS soldier runs across fort battlements, as smoke from the battle rises above the interior of the fort.
As SBS soldier Stevie ‘Ruff’ Pouncer pounds enemy position with his GPMG, fellow SB operator Jamie ‘Bomber’ Brian adds an extra belt of ammo.
SBS soldier Stevie ‘Ruff’ Pouncer pours down fire from his ‘Gimpy’, as he and his SBS mates try to stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda enemy breaking out of fort.
With SBS soldiers ‘malleting’ the enemy positions from the fort battlements, a Toyota pickup bursts into flames as its fuel tank explodes.
British SBS wore civvies, as opposed to the US special forces. A satellite comms device sits atop the fort battlements, to call in airstrikes. Just below the comms aerial is a white dove. When two of these birds flew into battle with the SBS rescue party, it was seen as a sign that they were going to live.
Tracer rounds spark off the battlements as dusk descends over the fort and there is no sign of a let up in the ferocious battle.
At dawn on day two of the fort battle an errant US airstrike targets friendly forces with a 2000-pound JDAM. A T55 tank is blown in two, and dozens of SBS, US special forces and Northern Alliance troops are killed and wounded.
Northern Alliance soldiers survey the scene of devastation where a US airstrike hit friendly forces, blowing up a T55 tank and its crew and killing and wounding dozens of SBS, US and Afghan fighters.
The errant US airstrike by a 2000-pound JDAM reduced the northeastern tower of the fort to ruins, burying scores of SBS, US special forces and Afghan troops beneath the rubble.
As day three of the fort siege dawns, the bloated carcasses of dead horses litter the battlefield, alongside wrecked military equipment. Starving enemy resorted to eating the horse flesh to try to stay alive.
On the morning of day four of the fort siege Northern Alliance forces prepare to drive a Sovietera T55 tank into the southern half of the fort, and assault the enemy stronghold.
At first light on Day 6 the SBS soldiers finally enter the southern end of the fort and the enemy stronghold – keeping to the cover of the trees as they do so.
The fort ammo store had been targeted by a US C130 Spectre gunship, the resulting explosion incinerating the machine guns and crates of ammo.
An SBS soldier inspects mortar rounds in the enemy stronghold. Luckily most were in bad condition and failed to explode when they hit British and US positions.
Blasted remains of the entrance to the enemy stronghold in the basement beneath the fort. Eighty-six enemy soldiers held out down there for seven days.
The fort basement immediately after the enemy have been forced to surrender. Discarded weaponry lies amongst the rubble of airstrikes.
GLOSSARY
AK47 Soviet-designed 7.62mm Kalashnikov assault rifle
APC armoured personnel carrier
AQT al-Qaeda and Taliban forces
AWOL absent without leave, but also used as slang for someone going crazy
bergen army backpack containing mess kit, sleeping bag, etc.
casevac casualty evacuation (by air)
CENTCOM US Central Command, primarily based at MacDill Airforce Base, Tampa, Florida.
Chaff radar-reflecting tinsel and heat-seeking missile confusing flares used by aircraft to deter homing missiles
Chinook CH47 a large, twin-rotor transport helicopter with a lifting capability of ten tons, with door-mounted machine guns
CSMR chemical and biological warfare specialists attached to the SBS/SAS
CO Commanding Officer
COBR Cabinet Office Briefing Room, the national crisis centre from which the British government responds to all types of major crises
CSM Company Sergeant Major
CT Counter-Terrorism
CTR close-target recce
CQB close-quarter battle
danger-close when friendly forces are in dangerous proximity to target
Delta Force supposedly ultra-secret US Special Forces with very similar functions to the SAS
Dushka DShK 12.7mm (50-cal) Soviet heavy machine gun
E&E escape and evasion
EP evacuation point
ERV emergency rendezvous
exfil short for exfiltration, leaving battle scene or area of operations at end of mission
FAC forward air control, the ability to call in air strikes to specific enemy targets
FMB forward mounting base, a forward position from which to prepare for deployment into action
kafir Arabic word meaning an unbeliever
kofr Arabic word meaning disbelief
LTD laser target designators, devices for guiding in airstrikes
Green Slime British soldiers’ slang for British intelligence (MI6)
GPMG general purpose machine gun
HE heavy explosives
heads British military slang for urinals
Hercules (C-130) American-built C-130 transport aircraft, used by British military, commonly known as a ‘Herc’
hexy stove a tiny, collapsible metal stove, which burns solid, paraffin-based fuel blocks
HMG heavy machine gun
humint human intelligence sources
infil short for infiltration
JDAM joint direct attack munition, a 2,000-pound GPS-guided bomb
JSOC Joint Special Operations Command, the US headquarters element in control of US Special Forces
lase military slang for firing a laser at a target to be hit by laser-guided bombs, as in ‘to lase’
LAW light anti-armour weapon, an American-made 66mm or 94mm disposable, one-man-portable rocket system with a 500-metre range
loadie slang for the loadmaster of an aircraft
LOE limit of exploitation, the agreed extent to which a military unit will advance on the battlefield
LTD laser target designator, for guiding laser-guided munitions on to target
Lynx British-built attack helicopter
LZ landing zone
malleting slang for shooting or blowing up the enemy, as in ‘give them a good malleting’
MGRS Military Grid Reference System, a system for identifying targets on a map grid
MH47 a Chinook helicopter extensively modified for special forces use
Mi-17 Soviet bloc transport helicopter
Mi-24 Soviet bloc helicopter gunship
Minimi SAW (squad assault weapon) 5.56mm light machine gun
MP military policeman
MRE meals ready to eat, US Army ration packs
MP5 a Heckler & Koch short machine gun, ideal for special forces use
NAPS nerve agent pre-treatment set
NCO non-commissioned officer
NVG night-vision goggles
OC Officer Commanding
OP observation position, a hidden position from where to spy on enemy movements
op short for operation
Operation Enduring Freedom 2001 US military intervention in Afghanistan
Operation Veritas 2001 British military operations in Afghanistan
opsec short for operational security
Paras the men of the Parachute Regiment
PE plastic explosives
PJHQ Permanent Joint Headquarters, the UK military tri-service command centre
plasticuffs strips of tough plastic with a simple ratchet device used for handcuffing prisoners
Predator the RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, a low-flying aircraft armed with missiles