Victor Two by Peter Crossland

Author:Peter Crossland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

5

Victor Two and a Leadership Crisis

Saddam Hussein used every trick in the book to force Israel into the conflict. If he could start even a minor air war between Israel and Iraq he knew it would send shock waves throughout the Arab world. Any large-scale Israeli attack would, for example, require massive violation of Jordanian airspace. Israeli officials are acutely aware that any confrontation with Jordan would prompt Syrian intervention, and the death of Coalition forces would follow. The Iraqis even went so far as to report that large numbers of Israeli fighter aircraft had been flown into Saudi air bases. But the Coalition commander realised that, providing the attacks on Israel could be kept to a minimum, America could use its vast political strength to stop them retaliating. But it was a big gamble. Personally, I don’t think the Israelis care about anyone who is not Jewish: if it means protecting their country, they are willing to lead us all into World War III and total oblivion.

Scud missiles had been landing on Israel and Saudi Arabia from the moment we had arrived from the United Arab Emirates. Despite a massive bombing campaign by the Coalition air force, they were still creating havoc. Our new orders were to locate and attack the Scuds. But with that radio message came some bad news. One of the foot patrols, call sign Bravo Two Zero, was missing. We had all discussed the possibility of escape and evasion procedures should the need arise, and I hoped the poor bastards would make it back. If forced to go on foot, my idea was to head for the nearest border, which at best would be some 120 kilometres away. Obviously the best countries to head for would be Syria or Jordan, or those friendly to the Coalition. Mind you, given the Iraqi landscape, unless you actually saw a border crossing point you wouldn’t know if you had reached safety or not. I also considered heading for one of the major rivers and floating downstream to safety. Surviving the enemy was not the only problem; water and shelter were also in short supply, not to mention the freezing weather at that time of year.

In addition to the military radio, we kept in touch by listening to the news. If nothing else it broke the monotony and provided a few lighter moments during the day. For example, Iran radio reported an ayatollah as saying that Iran should not take part in the conflict, but at the same time he believed that any Muslim who killed an American would be forgiven his sins. Iraq radio called on its citizens to help in the search for Coalition pilots who had been ‘downed’ or crashed. The Baghdad government said it would be offering a reward of $30,000 to anyone who captured an enemy pilot. There was no mention of the SAS, so we took it that they had no knowledge of our existence.

On Saturday, 19 January, an American voice gave out

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