Tymp: It was a rumor in wide circulation during and immediately after WW II, among the populace, but NOT at all in the press.
As a forum dedicated to “truth, justice, and the American way”–sort of a SuperForum–which seems to decry rumor and/or innuendo (which are, after all, the only way one can communicate in those states which become heavy in police activities), then I should perhaps withdraw my comment, despite its impeccable accuracy.
Or perhaps in the interests of “political correctness”, I should revise my comment to "The SAS are all a bunch of grown-up choir-boys, dressed up as butterflies (with parachutes instead of wings, of course), and singing "La la la) interminably.
Either way, it’s nearly supper-time and I have many miles to travel before I sleep so . . . .
Oops, Crusoe. Sorry. I almost quit without seeing your post. Somebody (probably) does the job for the Brits. “MI-6” say some; “MI-5” say others. Anyway, I, for one, abandon the terminal before I manage to, yet again, offend somebody.
And that’s how the SAS preferred to operate, and still would, were it not for their highly successful (only one terrorist lived, no hostages died) storming of the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980. The siege had been going on for some time so there were loads of TV cameras there, and to withdraw them would have tipped the terrorists off, so the attacking had to be done live on TV. I remember watching it at the time.
Like most others, I do not know what Sea Sorburst is talking about. The British were once at war with the US, and we will have killed some of your officers, I presume. This was not 50-60 years ago, and certainly not the SAS who were created during WWII. (I don’t remember us being at war with the US during WWII, were we?)
Things may be classified for a very long time indeed, but since the US War of Independence??!
What I’d like to know is how authentic “The Final Option” was about the way the SAS operates. Even if inauthentic, if you want to get some idea of how these teams operate, I’d recommend checking it out from your local video store.
A very interesting plot,Sofa King. Athough your link didn’t tell very much detail about the movie, I get the picture. Veerrrry interesting!
Actually, I confess that I had a different 4-star general in mind. There are many ways to “assassinate” someone other than killing them. In fact, oftentimes simply killing someone turns out to be exceptionally counter-productive to your original aims. Sometimes it produces a “martyr”; other times someone’s death serves as a crystalizer of opinion—as with the tiny crystal used to turn molten, supercooled glass into a solid or the tiny bit of grit that “instantly” freezes a supercooled pond surface.
The highest ranking American general who died during World War II was Leslie McNair, and he was a Lieutenant General (three stars), mistakenly killed by American bombardment during Operation Cobra. The only American 4-star general I can think of who died between V-E day and 1951 was Patton.
Can’t be Pershing either, he was a 5-star and retired to boot, though he did die in '48.
And a very nice snack it was, Danimal. I didn’t know that about L. McNair although I’ve been on Fort McNair and, in fact, for a short while I thought I might be moving there about a year ago.
I did know that the bombers got Brig.Gen. Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., , from reading Bradley’s book A Soldier’s Story
Methinks you got caught with your pants down, so to speak, on a very wishy washy point and now seek to defend yourself with the posture of someone who is in the know dealing with the ignorant masses.
I gotta tell you it isn’t working…not around here. You are merely look foolish to all of the other posters. If you have something relevant or of substance to say then spit it out. Otherwise gloat over your private store of knowledge that no one else in the world is privy to somewhere else (maybe that should be a clue to you). Maybe you are 100% correct about the SAS assassinating US Generals. Maybe Little Green Men live on Mars but you’ll just have to take my word on it.
Several posters, Spiny Norman and glee in particular, have eloquently pointed out where your posts are lacking. Either answer them, get with the question in the OP or go troll somehwere else.
It is my recollection that Roosevelt, Jr., deputy commanding general of the Fourth Infantry Division, died of a heart attack a week or so after the Normandy landings. He was, I think, a brigadier general, and in poor health but unwilling to do anything that might be construed as shirking his duty.
And if the OP wants an example of the psychological damage (besides everything else) the SAS can cause to the enemy by maintaining a ‘discrete’ profile (plus the attached folk-lore), this thread should do it – imagine what the Taliban militia are thinking as night falls in the hills around Kabul.
“What’s that sound ?”…
Almost makes you think that one patrol was detailed to make announce their arrival. Surely not!
I think Sea Sorbust should be able to post whatever he wishes to post, without any cites whatever, under the redefined criteria which apply to this message board.
I must admit, were I a Taliban soldier, I wouldn’t like the thought that, as night falls up in the Afghan mountains, any number of SAS patrols could be closing in on my position right now and the chances are Id never know about it until after I died (assuming there’s an afterlife).
Never mind the fact that the “official” war hasn’t started yet, make no mistake - the SAS are there right now. They’ve been training in the Pakistani hills for a number of years now anyway.
But I think we should send in the French Foreign Legion - those guys are insane. They are even madder than Bin Laden’s boys.
Bin Laden’s boys aren’t afraid to die because they think that they’ll go to paradise. The Foreign Legion aren’t afraid to die either but they don’t give a shit about paradise.
Richard Marcinko, author of Rogue Warrior, was originally a UDT frogman, became a SEAL, earned several bronze stars and a silver star in Nam, later commanded Seal two and formed the covert, anti-terrorist SEAL Team 6. With SEAL Team 6, they trained with a lot of counter parts and he had this to say:
“I respected them all – the British SAS, the French GIGN, the Italian GIS, the Norwegian Special Ops combat swimmers; they were all first-rate. But the unit to which we probably felt closest was Germany’s Grenzschutzgruppe-9 (GSG-9).”
, from reading Bradley’s book A Soldier’s Story