arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)
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SAS plan to blow up Saddam's germ sites by times(posted by Guido) Friday July 12, 2002 at 10:34 PM |
BRITAIN'S special forces are to be used to sabotage Saddam Hussein's plants making weapons of mass destruction in the planned invasion of Iraq next year. The Army will also train special units of a new breed of "shock troops" to serve alongside the SAS and the Royal Marines' Special Boat Service to meet the extra demands on British special forces.
The idea is to train a selected infantry regiment alongside the SAS at Hereford to perform the role for six months or a year and then to hand over to another regiment.
Leaked Pentagon plans indicate that US military chiefs are plotting an invasion of Iraq early next year, using five infantry and armoured divisions and two US Marine Corps divisions.
Britain's special forces would also be key players, alongside the CIA and other intelligence agencies, in helping to create a coup against the Iraqi leader. Both the SAS and the Special Boat Service, both of which operated with considerable success in the 1991 Gulf War, are likely to start training for a possible return to the region.
A senior British military source said that while there was still no formal request for troops for an Iraqi campaign from Washington "there is a general expectation that we are going to be involved in a big event next year".
As part of prudent preparations, the Service chiefs are all engaged in making sure that units, warships and combat aircraft which might be needed for the second Iraqi campaign in 12 years are not going to be tied up elsewhere in the world during the first months of next year.
Traditionally, the role of supporting the SAS and SBS in joint offensive operations has fallen to The Parachute Regiment, as it did in the hostage rescue mission in Sierra Leone in September 2000. More than 100 soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment provided back-up firepower, as special forces troops rescued six British soldiers from the clutches of a local rebel militia called the West Side Boys.
The Parachute Regiment has always been the first choice for supporting the SAS in dangerous missions because so many SAS members come from the Paras.
However, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, has indicated his personal desire to include other regiments in the Army for this type of rapid-reaction role, and the results of a review into availability of troops for high-intensity missions are to be published by the Ministry of Defence in about two weeks.
The review, which has examined the new demands put upon the three Armed Forces since September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, also took into account the type of operations in which Britain will be expected to play a part in the next few years, such as Iraq.
British military sources said that despite the heavy commitments already faced, the intention was to be ready to offer the US a "militarily significant" force subject to Tony Blair winning parliamentary and Cabinet approval for attacking Iraq.
Leaks in Washington indicate that the US expects Britain to provide 25,000 troops for a total land force of about 250,000 soldiers. British special forces, as well as armoured and infantry units, would operate from Kuwait.