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SAS reveal the war they fought

By Tom Allard, with the 1st SAS regiment in Iraq
April 25 2003

Australian soldiers from the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando) patrol and clear buildings at a major Iraqi airbase in western Iraq. Photo: Courtesy ADF

An Australian flag now flies over al-Asad air base. Once home of the Iraqi air force, its capture last week effectively marks the end of what were probably the most intense operations in the history of this SAS regiment. And also, the Australians say, a new beginning for Iraq.

The 57 Soviet-made MiGs, helicopters, anti-aircraft batteries, helicopters and 7.9 million kilograms of munitions and ordnance captured will form the basis of the "free Iraq air force" and it is a matter of considerable pride for men who never doubted the value of their mission.

According to the regiment's operational commander, who cannot be named or photographed and is surprisingly young, probably in his late 20s or early 30s, "we are very, very proud we have made Iraq a viable nation state".

Whether Iraq emerges from this war as a stronger state will depend very much on whether the United States-led reconstruction team can unite the country's fractious components but there is little doubt about the contribution of the 150-strong regiment to the swift military victory.

Within an hour of crossing into Iraq, the regiment was engaged in its first firefight. In the first 48 hours there were two more big battles but no sleep.

The SAS may specialise in reconnaissance and stealth but in this war they took on a new dimension. It was not simply a matter of calling in air strikes or other forces to deal with an identified enemy: the SAS took on that task themselves, initiating numerous conflicts.

Their targets were suspected sites for weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles from which troops of neighbouring states could be attacked. Using rocket-propelled grenades, machine-guns mounted on their long-range patrol vehicles or shoulder-mounted Javelin anti-tank missiles, they destroyed many in the opening days of the conflict.

Along the way they encountered Iraqi forces trained especially to counter US, British and Australian special forces teams. They used modified utilities carrying heavy weaponry and often they disguised themselves as civilians or Bedouin tribesmen.

One of the Iraqis' tactics was for a vehicle to surrender, encouraging the SAS to continue forward. Then their compatriots would hit the SAS patrol vehicles in an ambush.

They were, the commander says, "very experienced, very aggressive and very good at what they did".

"I have no doubt they thought we were a much larger force." The SAS were outnumbered, but surprise and stealth and superior weaponry enabled them to "poke out their eyes" and "crush their spirit and will" to force the enemy to "run or surrender".

SAS patrols have also intercepted a number of convoys with fleeing Iraqi regime leaders on their way out of Iraq, and caught Arab fighters answering Saddam Hussein's call for a jihad coming the other way.

In their final act of the campaign, the entire squadron - who usually operate in patrols of five of six members that are widely dispersed - came together with commandos from the 4RAR battalion to take the al-Asad airfield.

Australian F/A18 bombers helped with air support. "It was nice to listen to an Aussie voice on the other end of the radio," the commander says. "It was even better when they told us we had won the World Cup."




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