That's work finished and sleep over with, so on with the replies!
First up, the way the US went after Bin Laden. Any type of mission is fraught with danger and these types are ranked quite highly in the list. From start to finish numerous things can go wrong (the helicopter going down didn't help for a start). No matter how much tactical info the assault teams have, it will never be enough.
The soldier who entered the room Bin Laden was in had to instantly take in the situation of all potential threats in the room and decide which is the most dangerous to himself and the mission. For instance, someone holding a pistol is less dangerous to someone holding a submachine gun. What direction they are facing (take into account lighting, flickering telly, smoke, etc....) and if they are raising the weapon to attack.
Then you have the possibility of a Dead Man switch, is someone reaching for what could be a device like that, which would bring the building down. As we've seen, certain people don't mind killing themselves, so long as it takes down more of the enemy. It's a different mind set.
There are other things to take into account but in the end, it all boils down to the person who went through that door putting his life on the line to capture or terminate, we will never truly know, so all we can do is speculate. If it had been me and I saw any threat to myself or the team I would not hesitate to take down the threat, no matter what it was!
Sadly too many people have seen too many films and think everything happens like what is shown in them.
If you want to see tactical fire and movement, then watch the bank robbery in Heat as that is perfect.
If you want to watch British soldiers moaning constantly while they are on exercise, then watch the first part of Dog Soldiers, as that was spot on.
If you want to watch absolute bollocks the watch something like Hurt Locker as nobody would be allowed in a Bomb Disposal unit behaving like that. I was in such a unit for about 4 years and the shit would hit the fan if anyone behaved like that.
Now on to the laws and whys and wherefores. The leaders give out the orders and the people below follow those orders (obviously not in a Nazi sort of way) but this conflict was and is classed as a war. We could go into a massive debate on if these are illegal or not but if that's above the pay scale of the people on the ground.
As for the civilian deaths, I can assure you that the British military don't just go shooting streets up to take down a target but sadly during a war innocent lives are lost. I wonder what the breakdown is of deaths by suicide bombs in market places, mosques, etc... is compared to allied actions. The British military go out of it's way to not inflict civilian casualties.
Another point was mentioned about a General saying that the army should stage a coup if old JC got into power. I can assure you that the British military would never do such a thing. You have to remember that all 'squaddies' are civilians first and they do a job for the country, even if you don't believe in the military, they will, if needs be lay down their lives defending the UK.
Looking back at all my mates, I couldn't see anyone ever thinking it would be right for the UK to be run by a military dictator.
One final thing. As daft as it seems, none of my mates looked forward to going into a conflict zone. We would watch the news and hope that it would be resolved peacefully but if you volunteer to sign up then if you are ordered to do your job, then off you go. It's a job (can become a way of life for some, who then cannot adjust back to civilian life) and the better trained you are the better you become at the job. The amount of training takes you so far and if the shit hits the fan, then relying on your skills and teamwork helps a lot.
That last paragraph is a bit mixed up but the point is in there somewhere!
I think that about covers it all. I must dash as I'm about to watch my copy of 10 Years of 2000 AD
First up, the way the US went after Bin Laden. Any type of mission is fraught with danger and these types are ranked quite highly in the list. From start to finish numerous things can go wrong (the helicopter going down didn't help for a start). No matter how much tactical info the assault teams have, it will never be enough.
The soldier who entered the room Bin Laden was in had to instantly take in the situation of all potential threats in the room and decide which is the most dangerous to himself and the mission. For instance, someone holding a pistol is less dangerous to someone holding a submachine gun. What direction they are facing (take into account lighting, flickering telly, smoke, etc....) and if they are raising the weapon to attack.
Then you have the possibility of a Dead Man switch, is someone reaching for what could be a device like that, which would bring the building down. As we've seen, certain people don't mind killing themselves, so long as it takes down more of the enemy. It's a different mind set.
There are other things to take into account but in the end, it all boils down to the person who went through that door putting his life on the line to capture or terminate, we will never truly know, so all we can do is speculate. If it had been me and I saw any threat to myself or the team I would not hesitate to take down the threat, no matter what it was!
Sadly too many people have seen too many films and think everything happens like what is shown in them.
If you want to see tactical fire and movement, then watch the bank robbery in Heat as that is perfect.
If you want to watch British soldiers moaning constantly while they are on exercise, then watch the first part of Dog Soldiers, as that was spot on.
If you want to watch absolute bollocks the watch something like Hurt Locker as nobody would be allowed in a Bomb Disposal unit behaving like that. I was in such a unit for about 4 years and the shit would hit the fan if anyone behaved like that.
Now on to the laws and whys and wherefores. The leaders give out the orders and the people below follow those orders (obviously not in a Nazi sort of way) but this conflict was and is classed as a war. We could go into a massive debate on if these are illegal or not but if that's above the pay scale of the people on the ground.
As for the civilian deaths, I can assure you that the British military don't just go shooting streets up to take down a target but sadly during a war innocent lives are lost. I wonder what the breakdown is of deaths by suicide bombs in market places, mosques, etc... is compared to allied actions. The British military go out of it's way to not inflict civilian casualties.
Another point was mentioned about a General saying that the army should stage a coup if old JC got into power. I can assure you that the British military would never do such a thing. You have to remember that all 'squaddies' are civilians first and they do a job for the country, even if you don't believe in the military, they will, if needs be lay down their lives defending the UK.
Looking back at all my mates, I couldn't see anyone ever thinking it would be right for the UK to be run by a military dictator.
One final thing. As daft as it seems, none of my mates looked forward to going into a conflict zone. We would watch the news and hope that it would be resolved peacefully but if you volunteer to sign up then if you are ordered to do your job, then off you go. It's a job (can become a way of life for some, who then cannot adjust back to civilian life) and the better trained you are the better you become at the job. The amount of training takes you so far and if the shit hits the fan, then relying on your skills and teamwork helps a lot.
That last paragraph is a bit mixed up but the point is in there somewhere!
I think that about covers it all. I must dash as I'm about to watch my copy of 10 Years of 2000 AD
