by Don Bendell
The Little Bird was warming up behind them. The MH-6 Little Bird was the only light assault helicopter in the army inventory, and the MH-6J was a newer version that was used by Detachment-Delta. The Little Bird provided assault helicopter support to not only Delta, but also other Special Operations forces, and could be armed with a combination of guns and rockets. It had a range of 288 miles.
Charlie asked Fila if she was familiar with the military square ram-air chute. She chuckled.
You use the square ram-air canopies for HALO free-fall jumping, not normally for static line. With a round or parabellum chute, you can jump with more ammo and equipment, but you hit the ground harder, and the chute is not nearly as maneuverable. The ram-air is more like having a set of wings on. You can steer it wherever you want it to go just about, but you can’t jump with quite as much weight. Of course, you manually deploy the parachute by ripcord on the free-fall jumps instead of it being opened by a fifteen-foot static line attached to the plane or helicopter as in most military jumps. They knew they had to think about the extra weight, but Charlie was thinking about Fila’s chuckle.
“What are you chuckling about?” he asked.
Fila grinned at him. “What unit are we in?”
He said, “First Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta.”
She nodded and added, “That means I am a member of it, too, just like you. And do we not always color outside the lines?”
He said, “You are HALO-qualified, not just a civilian skydiver?”
She said, “My 201 file cannot officially reflect it, but nowhere in the army regs does it say females cannot become HALO/HAHO-qualified. It says you must be a member of a Special Operations unit to attend the school.”
Charlie said, “Did you go to school at Yuma Proving Grounds?”
“Nope, more in-house for us,” she said. “Instructors in Arizona did not have a need-to-know.”
“Us?” he said, surprised. “So more than just you got HALO-qualified? Cool.”
“Look at our mission and our options. The SOCOM regs,” she said, referring to Special Operations Command, “say that SOCOM can provide a waiver for candidates for certain special circumstances. It was meant for medical waivers, but we are specops.”
Charlie said, “How many official jumps you get in training?”
She smiled. “Fourteen, probably just like you did at Yuma Proving Grounds.”
“Wow!” Charlie said. “No wonder they call you ladies the Funny Platoon. A lot of funny business going on we did not know about.”
The two boarded the Little Bird twenty minutes later and took the short flight to St. Mere Eglise. Coon rode shotgun in the front. He spoke on the radio to Custer, who was on the drop zone with a green smoke grenade popped, and he placed a bright orange air panel out for them to use as a target. Charlie and Fila watched out each side of the chopper and gave each other hand signals about separating away from each other on their exit. Coon had already been giving them jump commands.
“Check equipment!” he hollered.
Both checked their harnesses, quick releases, the dummy bags they carried for ballast and bulk, as they would jump that way into Iran. They gave a quick check of each other’s chute.
“Get in the door!” Coon yelled and gave them both a smile and okay sign. They sat in the door with their feet on the skids ready to launch themselves out away from the craft.
Coon looked at the smoke and panel, the pilot gave him a nod, and he yelled, “Go!”
They both dove away from the Little Bird and went into a stable body position almost immediately. Charlie tracked closer to her, and they dropped, occasionally looking at each other and smiling. They had agreed to open higher on the first jump of the day, so they would open at three thousand feet, to ensure they were on the same page. The rest of the jumps they would open between two thousand and one thousand feet. Both wore altimeters anyway, which are required by the army and automatically open parachutes at a thousand feet just in case something bad happens.
The pair repacked their chutes and jumped again and again and once more. After they got back to the compound, they offered to buy lunch for Coon and the chopper jockey. The warrant officer had other plans, but Coon accompanied them to the main NCO club, where the three enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch, then Charlie and Fila returned to the compound. They asked to meet with Weasel, and the two joined him in his office.
“Top,” Charlie said, “we wondered if we could hole up somewhere with the latest intelligence reports on Iran?”
“Sorry, Poke, but the S2 and S3 team are busy working on the intelligence forecasts and then possible operational scenarios to present tomorrow. All the material is being used right now by the team in the briefing room. We have an all-day planning meeting tomorrow, and I think the CG of SOCOM will be here for at least part of it,” the command sergeant major said.
Fila said, “What about other reports?”
Weasel said, “Good idea, Booty. Hang on.”
He pushed his intercom button and a female voice said, “Yes, Sergeant Major?”
He said, “Mary, get me the S2 sergeant major of the Third Herd on the phone.”
“Wilco.”
A minute later the intercom buzzed and Mary’s voice came on. “Line one, Weasel.”
“Thanks.”
He picked up the phone and said, “Howdy, Art. How’s the wife?
“She did! Sorry, I didn’t hear,” Weasel said, after a pause, winking at Charlie and Fila. “Your brother?”
There was another pause. Weasel tried to suppress a laugh. “Both your brothers? At the same time? So, did you shoot them?”
Pause.
“Why not?” Weasel said. “I would have blown their disloyal asses away. Well, anyway, sorry. Listen, I have two operators that need to study the Top Secret Area Study on Iran. Can you help them out?”
Another pause.
“Oh yeah,” Weasel said, “they both have TS clearances. One has a TS Crypto Gamma clearance and both have a definite need-to-know.”
Another short pause.
“Thanks, pal,” the sergeant major said. “I will send an email with their IDs, and you can ID them when they arrive there. Sorry about the old lady and your brothers. Don’t pay her a penny of alimony. Tell your brothers to pay it.”
He got off the phone and chuckled, saying, “Don’t even ask. You two go to the 3rd Group headquarters and find the S2 office. I think it’s on the second floor. Ask for the 2 Shop sergeant major, show him your driver’s licenses, and military IDs, then he will direct you to the S2 shop area studies vault and office. They will give you the TS Area Study for Iran, updated daily, and a desk to study at.”
They studied all afternoon, but what made them take note was not the passages about Iran’s executive or legislative branch, but what they read about Iran’s political parties and political leaders. Under “Political Parties and Leaders,” The CIA World Fact Book—Iran read:
Formal political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Iran and most conservatives still prefer to work through political pressure groups rather than parties, and often political parties or coalitions are formed prior to elections and disbanded soon thereafter; a loose pro-reform coalition called the 2nd Khordad Front, which includes political parties as well as less formal groups and organizations, achieved considerable success at elections to the sixth Majles in early 2000; groups in the coalition include: Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran), Solidarity Party, Islamic Labor Party, Mardom Salari, Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), and Militant Clerics Society (Ruhaniyun); the coalition participated in the seventh Majles elections in early 2004; following his defeat in the 2005 presidential elections, former MCS Secretary General and sixth Majles Speaker Mehdi Karubi formed the National Trust Party; a new conservative group, Islamic Iran Developers Coalition (Abadgaran), took a leading position in the new Majles after winning a majority of the seats in February 2
004; following the 2004 Majles elections, traditional and hardline conservatives have attempted to close ranks under the United Front of Principlists; the IIPF has repeatedly complained that the overwhelming majority of its candidates have been unfairly disqualified from the 2008 elections.
Then under “Political Pressure Groups and Leaders,” the book read:
The Islamic Republic Party (IRP) was Iran’s sole political party until its dissolution in 1987; Iran now has a variety of groups engaged in political activity; some are oriented along political lines or based on an identity group; others are more akin to professional political parties seeking members and recommending candidates for office; some are active participants in the Revolution’s political life while others reject the state; political pressure groups conduct most of Iran’s political activities; groups that generally support the Islamic Republic include Ansar-e Hizballah, Followers of the Line of the Imam and the Leader, Islamic Coalition Party (Motalefeh), Islamic Engineers Society, and Tehran Militant Clergy Association (Ruhaniyat); active pro-reform student groups include the Office of Strengthening Unity (OSU); opposition groups include Freedom Movement of Iran, the National Front, Marz-e Por Gohar, Baluchistan People’s Party (BPP), and various ethnic and Monarchist organizations; armed political groups that have been repressed by the government include Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), Komala, Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO), People’s Fedayeen, Jundallah, and the People’s Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).
Charlie said, “Did you notice there is no mention of Davood Faraz Dabdeh or his organization?”
Fila said, “What is the name of it? I am not even sure I know.”
“J.J.,” Charlie replied, “El Jalil Jahangir.”
The Great Conquerors of the World,” she responded. “Well, at least the jerk knows how to think big.”
She opened the yellow-covered folder of a top secret document and said, “Look. Here is why it is not mentioned in The CIA World Fact Book.”
Charlie read the document, a CIA interagency circular, which read:
According to five current humintel and electronic sources, with high credibility factors, the Jalil Jahangir is an Iranian-backed and centered burgeoning global-oriented terrorist organization, previously listed by this Agency as an al Qaeda-sponsored terrorist cell but which has now blossomed into a terrorist network having grown in such proportions to be regarded as a growing worldwide threat with an extremely high interdictory-necessitation quotient.
El Jalil Jahangir, meaning, the Great Conquerors of the World, was started and is headed by Iranian entrepreneur Davood Faraz Dabdeh, who has been openly critical of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri as “shrinking lions cowering in dens of fear instead of aggressively continuing the global jihad.” Dabdeh has called upon his followers to recruit the “many sons of Muhammad to my side to further Dar el Islam through aggressive mujahidin actions at the four winds and conquer with glory the lands of the infidel and the unclean. In this noble effort we will take the heads of the unclean and toss them into viper’s pits for the pleasure of Allah who reigns victorious. Any measure we choose in this great cause is blessed by Allah.”
Davood Faraz Dabdeh has received hundreds of millions, if not billions, in funding and support from fundamentalist members of the Saudi Royal Family (SRF), as well as the Iranian government, certain members of Hamas, and Egyptian and Syrian benefactors. Our current fiscal estimates place his net worth in excess of $780,000,000(USD). His youthful enthusiasm, funding, and the blessing of many Iranian mullahs have brought countless followers into his fold and are making him a greater attraction than the rapidly dying al Qaeda movement.
His termination with extreme prejudice, but without martyrdom, is of significant import to the free world community. It is in the estimate of this Agency that an operational plan to bring termination of this target has gone far beyond critical prioritization, but is of immediate determination. With each passing week, the Jalil Jahangir membership rolls are accumulating at a 7 percent monthly rate of increase. Newer recruitment tools are being added weekly as well, and as the organization continues to balloon into greater numbers, the estimated rate of recruitment will increase disproportionately.
This Agency has made seven studies, included as addendum 1 through 7 herein, on Davood Faraz Dabdeh’s extensive security network and proactive defensive methodologies. It is this Agency’s estimation that standard target acquisition and elimination stratagems are unwarranted and would be ineffective in the accomplishment of the proposed mission. It is the strong encouragement of this Agency to rapidly perform a Target Destruction Estimate and Operational Plan with immediate haste for the sake of national and even global security.
For organizational and fiscal recruitment, Davood Faraz Dabdeh sometimes operates as a ski instructor, races offshore boats, and often poses as a merchant, or an oil line or operational inspector for the purpose of meeting those with oil monies in covert innocent “bump-ins.”
He is reputed to be a sadist, rapist, and brutal murderer and torturer in the manner of Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, the late eldest son of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He also is reputed to favor homosexuality as his preferred sexual lifestyle, although exposure in fundamentalist Iranian circles could possibly bring disfavor.
Dabdeh is also noted for his tremendous distrust of all around him, thus he defers to few and is considered very ineffective at delegating authority and often carries out some of the most menial of tasks on his own behalf. He owns a palace near Tehran and has luxury suites as well in several locations, including a resort villa outside of Iranian security coverage in the vicinity of Cannes, France.
In his occasional quest to race offshore boats, he frequently cruises various cities where such offshore races are held in a large luxury yacht referred to as el MehrdAd meaning “The Gift of the Sun.”
Subject is further reportedly lactose-intolerant and is thought by some to suffer from classic bipolar disorder and possible schizophrenia. A Level 2-rated humintel source reports that he possesses only one testicle.
Charlie said, “Did you read where he has one testicle and is schizo?”
Fila said, “I sure did.”
Charlie said, “That proves it then.”
“Proves what?”
“He’s half nuts!” Charlie pronounced.
Fila laughed so loud that it made several NCOs working on daily updates of classified Area Studies jump half out of their seats.
“Why didn’t the CIA have him or his group listed in their CIA World Fact Book?” she asked when she stopped laughing.
Charlie said, “Simple. They do not want to acknowledge him and give him more power.”
“Really?”
He walked over to a refrigerator and got them both plastic bottles of water and opened hers.
Charlie said, “My main martial arts instructor was a cool guy. Really cool. He was a grandmaster, and he deserved that title. So a close friend introduced this kung fu guy who had won some national championships, but only within his style in both weapons kata and sparring. Since the friend introduced them and spoke so highly of the kung fu guy, my instructor flew the guy in, put him up, fed him, and let him do a clinic for us on wushu. You know, kung fu.
“Two of my instructor’s black belts, a husband and wife, were kind of wimpy and soft when it came to sparring or grappling. So they got real intrigued with this kung fu guy’s weapons forms. He spotted this, so behind my instructor’s back, they privately went out for coffee together.”
“He stole them away from your instructor?” Fila said.
“Yes,” Charlie replied. “To make that part of the story short. Secret phone calls, manipulations, and he ended up moving to our town and opened a school with them. He had them call all of my grandmaster’s students and say my grandmaster had a felony record. All kinds of vile stuff. They never stole any other students and went out of business in five months. The kung fu guy left town in disgrace.”
She laughed.
Charlie said, “What’s so funny?”
She said, “What does this have to do with the CIA?”
“Sorry, I guess I’m writing a book,” he responded with a chuckle. “Some years passed and a guy called who the grandmaster knew was a student of the kung fu guy in another state. He figured the kung fu instructor was sitting right there with the guy waiting for a good laugh, after pushing the grandmaster’s buttons.”
He swallowed some water and went on. “So the kung fu guy was named Sifu Smith. Original, huh? So the other guy said, ‘Hey I have had some problem with Sifu Smith and would love to see him go to jail.’ ”
Charlie laughed thinking about it.
“ ‘Sifu Smith? Who is that?’ the grandmaster said.
“I was sitting right there and started quietly laughing.
“The guy said, ‘You know, Sifu Smith. He was a competitor of yours.’
“The grandmaster said, ‘Sifu Smith, huh? Name doesn’t ring a bell. If he was called Sifu, he obviously was kung fu. Oh yeah, I think there was a guy who did a clinic here once and opened a school for a month or two and went out of business. Was that the guy’s name, Smith? Guess I forgot.’
“The other guy was frustrated and said, ‘Yeah, but I want to sue the bastard. You want to help me?’
“ ‘No,’ my instructor said real firmly. ‘Why would I do that? I don’t know the guy. He probably isn’t even in the martial arts anymore. I cannot even remember what he looks like.’
“The other guy said, ‘Yeah fine, see you.’
“The grandmaster explained that he totally stole the man’s power, and you have seen the ego in some martial artists. He did not even acknowledge the guy. It must have totally crushed the flake.”
“I love it!” she said. “So by not publicly mentioning Davood Dabdeh or mentioning his group, even though it is growing like crazy, the CIA steals some of the horsepower from his revved-up engine?”