Latest / NO FILTER / Operation Viking Hammer_ Black Ops Mission To Take Down Militants In Iraq _ Special Forces

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Operation Viking Hammer_ Black Ops Mission To Take Down Militants In Iraq _ Special Forces · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: A deadly group of terrorists has set up a base
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: deep inside Iraq. They have been cooking up chemical weapons
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and need to be taken out. So an elite special
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: forces unit, the Green Berets, are sent in.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: It's something I think EVERYSF guy aspirestream. You want to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: be at the very tipulus spirit of me in the
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: front element.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They have to work with a group of local guerrilla fighters.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: We were like, oh wow, all right, now it's on.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: We got some hardened fighters.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: In challenging mountainous terrain.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: They knew this was going to be a very difficult fight.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: This is the inside story of Operation Viking Hammer. How
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a small group of men to fight the odds in
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: pursuit of one of the most important counter terrorism missions
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: of the Iraq War. It's the first hours of Operation
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Iraqi Freedom. In Baghdad. Sadam Hussein's regime is being hit
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: with a devastating shock and awe bombardment. The Iraqi capital
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: is pummeled for hours by multi million dollar high tech weaponry.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: What few Americans realize is their military planners are also
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: targeting a different problem. That is hundreds of miles to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the north. It is in a mountainous area known as
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Iraqi Kurdistan, close to the Iranian border. The enemy are
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: not Saddam's soldiers, but a hardcore group of Islamist terrorists
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and Sir al Islam, the fighters of Islam. They have
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: close links to the most wanted terrorist network in the world,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: al Qaeda, responsible for some of the most notorious atrocities
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of recent times.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: They suspected that they had major Al Qaeda connections, that
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: there were a range of foreign.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Jahadas among its eight hundred members are battle hardened veterans
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of the war in Afghanistan.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: They were well armed with RPGs and mortars and machine
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: guns the Soviet style and Iranian and Iraqi weaponry.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: It is also rumored they have a chemical weapons lab
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: manufacturing ricin, a poison made from casta beans. The problem
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: facing the US military is the terrorists a deep inside
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: enemy territory.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Answer all liz Islam was nested in an area called
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: the Halabja Salient in the eastern part of Iraq, right
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: on the border with Iran.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: They were along the mountainous ridge line that formed the
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: Iraqi border with Iran. They dominated the key terrain in
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: that area.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: It's time to call in a unit that's skilled in
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: operating behind enemy lines and which is perfect for this mission.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: The Green Berets.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Their entire mission and operation revolves around the conduct of
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: unconventional warfare.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Green Berets were
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: set up over sixty years ago.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: The Green Berets were officially established in June of nineteen
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: fifty two.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: They first came to prominence in the Vietnam War.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: They were increased greatly in size during the Vietnam War
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: and sent there to do a number of missions.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Like many special forces, they are highly trained and multi skilled.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: They are able to use a variety of deadly weapons systems.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Entry requirements are rigorous.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: They must be airborne qualified, so they have to go
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: to airborne school and then they go through a very
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: arduous selection process for the special forces. The great majority
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: of those applicants do not make it through the training.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: What makes the Green Berets different to other special forces
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: is that they are specialists in fighting alongside local troops
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: deep behind enemy lines.
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: The Green Berets are the Armies unconventional warfare experts. They
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: are trained to work with most nation or indigenous forces.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: The Green Berets have to have all of the technical
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: soldiering skills, but they're also expected to be experts in
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: the languages, cultures, and politics of the regions that they
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: go to. They're expected to act as diplomats to engage
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: with the people on the ground.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: The aim is that the Green Berets mental local indigenous
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: forces and supplement their firepower American know how. This is
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: what's known as force multiplication.
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: The force multiply aspect early are two parts. One is
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: the ability to organize, train, motivate and lead these indigenous
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: forces and also to bring in and employ the different
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: larger weapons systems, air operations, close air support, those kind
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: of things that are available.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: If there is one man perfect for the mission against
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Ansar Ali's Lamb, it's Lieutenant Colonel Kenva. He typifies the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Green Berets. He's a highly experienced operator and commander of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the Green Berets third Battalion.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: Ken Tovo is a very polished individual. He really did
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: personify kind of the diplomat warrior.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Here's the man chosen to lead what will become known
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: as Operation Viking Hammer. What makes Tovo especially valuable is
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that he has previous experience of Kurdistan from the nineteen
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: ninety one Gulf War. Tovo has already identified which local
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: force he will work with. Tobo's aim is to harness
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the firepower of thousands of local fighters, the Kurdish guerrilla
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: forces known as the Peshmerger. The Kurds are a different
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: ethnic group from Iraqi Arabs. The Peshmerger have been fighting
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: a war of resistance against Saddam Hussein for years. They
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: occupy a small enclave in northern Iraq since the First
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Gulf War. It is protected by a no fly zone
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: enforced by American and Allied jets.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: The partners in this case were the p uk Or
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was the Kurdish entity and
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: the Kurdish armed forces that Tovo was partnering with, and
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: the job of Opera Operation Vikingham and their Kurdish Peshmerger
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: partners was to go down this valley, into this mountainous
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: area and route out Ansarl Islam.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Tovo's plan is that a small group of Green Berets
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: will lead the Kurdish attack. They will operate in small,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: flexible teams of up to twelve men called oda's Operational
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Detachment's ALPHA or a teams. One team is chosen to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: spearhead the whole Operation ODA zero eight one. It is
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: led by Brian Rawer, a young captain at the time.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: My role during the mission was the detachment commander. Operation
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Viking Hammer was my first deployment, my first combat deployment
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: as a Special Forces team leader. I had just graduated
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the qualification course about a year prior and was assigned
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to ODA zero A one as the team leader.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Alongside him are a number of veteran and CEOs.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I had a great group of NCOs. They were all
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: very much more experience than I. They're all senior sergeants
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: with years and years of experience.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Among them is Senior Sergeant Great.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: He was about seven years older than me, about thirty
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: six at the time. I believe he had a lot
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: of experience, really brought a sense of competency to the team.
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: And then you had the specialties.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I had two weapons sergeants, both incredibly skilled snipers, both
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: sergeants first class, both very competent medical sergeant, and an
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: engineering sergeant.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: The communications man is Blake Kramer.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: I was the senior communication stargeant. Most people would probably
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: look at being shot at as not being okay. It
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: was something that was expected and I was okay with it.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: But first Tovo and his Green Berets arranged to meet
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the PUK leadership. They have to win them over if
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Operation Viking Hammer is to have any chance of success.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Within hours of arriving in northern Iraq, Ken Tovo and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: his Green Berets traveled to the PUK headquarters in the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: town of Halabja.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: We were focused on linking up with our partners, the PUK,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: specifically the Pesh Murder leadership.
• 11:52
  Speaker 6: We were excited we were part of that lead element.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Getting in there and getting to be one of the
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: first out of the ground was something I think every
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: SF guy a spire Streek.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: The Kurds have a long history of opposing Sadam Hussein.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty eight, he infamously gassed the Kurdish population
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of Halabja, the town where Tovo is heading to meet
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the Kurdish leaders. More recently, Halabja and the Kurdish outposts
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: have been the victim of suicide bombings and regular mortar
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: attacks from the Ansar Ali's lamp positions. So the CIA
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: has been trying to make sure the Americans will be
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: welcomed with open arms by the locals. For twelve months,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the agency has sent bundles of cash and what it
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: calls lethal aid, guns and ammunition. But when Tovo meets
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: the Kurds, he finds they will needs waiting.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: So they met up in Halabja and began to plan
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: how they were going to take on and Sar al Islam.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: The first problem Tova faces is cultural. The Kurds are
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: a warrior people. Their name Peshmerga means he who faces death.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: The Kurds sport mustaches and view any clean shaven outsider
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: as an inexperienced child, while the Americans must maintain strict
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: grooming standards at all times.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: There really was a warrior culture within the Kurdish people.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: Most young men felt compelled to do their duty fighting
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: and would enlist or join for periods of time in
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: the pesh Murgat really is a badge of honor in
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: that culture.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: The Kurds have even deeper reasons to distrust the Americans.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Ten years earlier, after the First Gulf War, the Kurds
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: rose up in revolution and had expected America to send
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: troops to help them, but they didn't. Instead, Saddam Hussein
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: led a ruthless fight back, slaughtering the pesh Murger and
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: thousands of civilians for their part. The Americans view the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: pesh Murger with similar caution. They are not professional soldiers
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and lack military discipline compared to the Americans. For Brian Rawan,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the first impressions are not great.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: They're not what you would expect from an American soldier perspective.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: They're typically wearing baggy clothes. I think we call him
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: mc hammer pants, tennis shoes, maybe an AK forty seven
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: or some other weapon. They were able to get a big,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: bushy mustache almost invariably, and then a head run.
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: They didn't have radios. Maybe they'd have a little handheld
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: or a cell phone.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: And that was it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Both sides must win each other's respect. The Green Berets
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: have a plan that will show the Kurds that they
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: mean business. Ken Tovo will do it all with a
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: simple click of a mouse. On the night of the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: twenty first of March two thousand and three, Tovo and
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: his team head towards a lookout near the terrorists mountain base.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: The Green Berets and the Kurds take up position. The
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: laptop and satcombs are set up, mysterious numbers are typed
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: in the codes, then waits an anxious fifteen minutes for
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: something to happen.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: The Special Forces Group provided the targets, provided the coordinates.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: So you're sitting there, you're watching, you know that the
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: missiles have been launched.
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: You're waiting and alsen.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: You hear this, and they fly over, and it's just
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: one after another, and you just hear them all flying
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: right over your head, which is amazing in a little
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: bit terrifying at the same time. You just hope that
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: one doesn't fall short. But these things all fly over
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: and they hit.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: They've just watched as the night sky lit up.
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: It was cool.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: The first Tomahawk missiles flatten the base, killing several terrorists
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: in just a few minutes. American technology and air power
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: wins the Kord's respect.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: I'd think that our resolve was a little in question,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: but at that point, definitely, when the Tomahawks started coming in,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: they definitely knew we were there. We were going to
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: be by their sides, and it wasn't just all talk.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: However, the missiles cause a new problem. The ANSAR fighters
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: retreat from their positions. They know they cannot take on
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the tomahawks, so they simply pull back.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: As soon as the missiles began to impact.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: The teams could.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: See the AAI loading up on trucks and abandoning their positions.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: They were smart enough to get out of them and
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: move away.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: They had a series of defensive positions that they were
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: able to fall back to.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: The Ansar fighters moved back to other defensive positions around
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the nearby village of Sargant. There they start to dig in.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: God was the main stronghold of Anserau Islam. It was
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: down in the valley, but it was ringed by mountains.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: The terrorists have built trench systems and bunkers in the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: hills and mountains overlooking the area.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: It's very very mountainous, very rocky. Little vegetation in the area,
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: very few accessible road networks.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: The Ansar terrorists are well supplied with heavy weapons. These
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: include heavy caliber Russian machine guns called Dushkas, as well
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: as mortars and heavy cannon. It looks like they're determined
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to fight to the death. A ground assault could be
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a blood bath. This is something that concerns the Kurdish leader,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: a Talibani. He suddenly decides to pull out of the
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: whole operation.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Talibani got cold feet right before they launched this attack
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: and Tovo left to go visit him at his headquarters.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: With the operation in the balance, Keent Tovo and the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Green Berets have to explain how they will do it
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and avoid Kurdish casualties. He uses a detailed terrain model
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to outline every aspect and talk through the risks and
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the battle plan. The Green Berets will work closely with
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: a force of seven thousand Peshmerga. Because the enemy occupy
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: multiple positions, each covering the other. The Green Berets and
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Kurds have to strike in a simultaneous, multi pronged attack,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: so he puts forward a plan to spread the Green
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Berets between the Peshmerga to coordinate the attack. The Green
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Berets use cards to plot out exactly how the mission
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: will work. The plan is that six different prongs will
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: move through the area. Each prong has a color black, orange, red,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and so on. Yellow prong will be the main thrust
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: moving along the valley floor.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: Yellow Prong was the main effort that was going straight
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: up the valley into Gulp and then on to Sargot.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Green prong will clear the ridge lines overlooking the valley.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: The Green prong was going to split off and go
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: up on the high ground, up on the mountain ridge,
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: and their role was to provide cover for the force
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: proceeding down the valley floor into Sargot.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: With the entire mission in doubt, all eyes are on
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as he takes it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: All in Tovah. Reassured him that they had done all
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: of the reconnaissance, that they were prepared to fight in
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: an effective way. So Talibani said, okay, I believe you,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: I trust you, go ahead and launch the attack.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Six Green Beret odas will be involved in the attack,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: but the task of spearheading it falls Toda zero eight one.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: It's a nervous time for Sergeant Blake Kramer.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: I remember not getting much sleep at all the night prior,
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: just had, you know, tons of things running through my mind,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: all the what ifs, all the contingencies.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Despite having only ten men in his team, Captain Rowan
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: divides them between the main Yellow prong, whose objective is
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the village of Sagat, and Green Prong, who are heading
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: into the hills.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: We actually split the team where six of us went
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: with the yellow prong and three went with the green prong,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: and that's pretty typical for an odia.
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: You're designed again to be able.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: To cope with uncertain situations because you're essentially like a
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: multi tool. You can reconfigure as necessary, and you bring
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: to bear all the skills you need.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Brian Rowan will have with him two important Kurds, a
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: general Sheikh Jaffer in charge of the peshmerger, and the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: son of the p Uk leader, Baffle Talabani, who will
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: act as their interpreter. On the twenty eighth of March,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: everyone is set. For some of the Green Berets. It's
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the first time they have met the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Many of the Americans have changed their appearance and grown
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: mustaches to blend in and gain more respect from their
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Kurdish allies.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: We met on the battlefield that morning. You look up
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and there's seven thousand Peshmerga and all the Special Forces
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: guys standing around waiting to mass up and link up
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: with our elements.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: It's also the first chance for the Green Berets to
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: comprehend the task ahead.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: When the sun comes up and you see the mountains
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: with snow, and just the sheer magnitude of them. It
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: makes you realize just what a dangerous place you're about
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: to go into.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: The terrain was just very steam rocky mountains with a
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: little bit of green scrub on it. You had the snow,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: you had the ice melt. It was very muddy, slippery.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And that really brought out the reality of how tough
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: this was going to be, particularly given that their positions,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: the onsarrow Slam positions were in depth going up the mountain,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: so anything we were doing was going to be attacking
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: uphill in mountainous terrain that was incredibly rugged and cold.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Before the column moves off, Ken Tovo heads back to
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the command center to coordinate the operation from there. The
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: operation is so complex that radio communication is the only
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: way that Tovo and his officers can keep track of
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: all the different prones. They must keep in regular contact
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: with all the green berets to monitor their positions and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: avoid friendly fire accidents so called blue on blue casualties.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Once the teams are in position and away from danger,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: he gets stuck in by ordering a preliminary bombardment by
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: jets and fighter bombs to soften up the Ansar positions.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: The ground assault column moves off and the Green Berets
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: head towards Sargat with the Peshmerger. The main thrust Yellow
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Prone must first capture a village called Gulp.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: The town of Gulp was a small little checkpoint area
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: that was at the foot of the valley, but the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: enemy was As the Kurdish four started moving up the
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: hill into Gulp, they came under some pretty heavy fire.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: You could hear the guns buying, and then you would
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: see in a little bit of rounds impacting around. You
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: would hear some bullets whizen by. It started getting a
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: little bit more intense, more accurate. It was enough to
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: get you on your toes and realize that you were
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: in the game.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And my particular prong I had a general called Shake
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Joffer and he was the one who was giving the
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: orders to the Kurds.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: The goods suddenly stop.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Shake Jefford basically says, you know what are we going
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: to do? You saw all the curs force literally squat
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: down and stop.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: The pesh Murga had come under fire from the Anser
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: all Islam forces and stopped cold in their tracks.
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: This is not good.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: We need to maintain the momentum. We need to, you know,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: keep moving forward. How are we going to do this.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: To turn the situation around. Captain Rowan calls on back
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: up and summons an strike.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: They got on the radio, they called for help and
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: the Navy F eighteen replied with five pound j dams.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: That was probably the sweetest sound we had ever heard.
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: You could just tell.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: It just sent this wave of euphoria or confidence that
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: they had, you know, this huge force behind them.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: That was enough to rally the pesh Murger. They pushed
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: on into gold.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Inside gulp. The Pesche Murger fight house to house to
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: clear it. It is now that the local forces impressed
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the Green Berets. Kurtish fighters are armed only with Ak
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: forty seven's and a few magazines of ammunition, but that
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: bravery is astonishing.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: There is a guy occurred assaulting with a cane. You know,
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: he'd sling his weapon, he'd grab his cane and he'd
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: get to the next rock wall, he'd lay down.
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: He'd turn to look at me and give me a
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: thumbs up.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Lay there, unsling his AK forty seven, roll back over
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: and start shooting.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Compared to the Green Berets, their tactics are simple. They're
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: always on the attack, never pausing so as not to
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: lose momentum. If a Curd is wounded, he is expected
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: to make his own way to medical treatment. The pesh
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Murger soon overrun and capture Gulp. It has taken just
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: over an hour, but Objective one has been secured. With
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the mission running ahead of schedule, the Kurds hold a team.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Took shake Joffer, pulled them all in and talked to
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: him about how they had done very well fighting this far,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: and essentially gave him this this motivational speech, you know,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: talking through about the importance of fighting bravely, living up
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: to their heritage. We're known as warriors. This is our
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: chance to fight with our American brethren.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: But the Green Berets soon realized that Gop is the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: easy bit. They are about to enter the hole in
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: its nest.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Sagat, I think that's when it really hit me. We
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: had the translator with us and he was letting us
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: know what shak Joffer was talking to him about him Kurdish,
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: and it was really hitting home with me that we
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: are getting ready to enter the crux of the battle.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: The Green Berets move on again, but the problem with
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Sagat is the terrain as holds the high clown.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: They were shooting down. It was onmost like shooting down
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: in the fish in a barrel. It was the absolute
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: worst place, in the wrong place to be.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: It was a horseshoe shape, and all along that top
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: of the horseshoe was sporadic fighting position that were heavily
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: dug in and fortified and they were mutually supporting. And
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: then they all had some type of cruise serve weapon,
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: mortar tube or some type type of heavy gun that
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: could rain down fire on.
• 33:03
  Speaker 7: Us, and all of a sudden we started taking a
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: whole lot of fire, heavy fire.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: And when you hear the dishkas and the peak am
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: rounds hit and the mud that was around us, it's
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: just just thickening for fukuk walk talk and it starts
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: hitting all around us.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: We were within range of countless targets, are countless positions,
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: and it was just, uh, it was unreal.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: This time. Captain Rowan can't summon an ass strike, calling
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: an acippach risks blowing up his own men and his
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Kurdish allies. The Green Berets will have to seize control
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: and fight their way out.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: They were going to have to deal with this problem themselves.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Captain Rowan comes up with a plan.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: The snipers that I had with me are the weapon sergeant.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: He immediately started putting precision fire on some of the positions.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: The weapons sergeants use an eight two barret fifty Cow,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: a heavy, long range sniper rifle that can take out
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: a target nearly two kilometers away. Using the rifle, they
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: pick off the enemy one man's time. Thanks to the snipers,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: the Green Berets can move on. Next up is the
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: village of Sarga. The fighting is even more intense.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: The battle for Sargat was extremely ferocious.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: It was enough person to do that. We didn't need
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: to stay there. These weren't rounds that were flying well
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: over our head. They were within feet.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: Just tracer fire and bullets hitting all around on the
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: road rocks disintegrating from bullet fire impacts. We could hear
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: them start launching mortars at us.
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: Captain Rowan wound up in the front of the force.
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: As they entered Sargat.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Rowan and his men bogged down Grit and another weapons
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: sergeant decide they need more firepower, so they grabbed the
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: heavy machine.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Gun Fortunately in the truck we had with as still
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: are fifty heavy machine gun, so the team sergeant and
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: some of the other servants were able to get that out.
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: They had to get a good sightline against the answer
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: our Islam positions. Fifty caliber machine gun, very heavy weapon,
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: fired about seven hundred rounds to neutralize one of the
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: main positions that was firing down on them.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Blake Kramer is laying down suppressing fire with a
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: light machine gun.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: We just opened up with a machine gun shooting at
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: different enemy targets and positions, trying to kind of generate
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: that camaraderie and hey, I'm in it with you and
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: let's do this. Combined with a fifty and RB machine gun,
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: we were able to rally those guys up and start
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: moving into the valley.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: The Green Berets also get the goods to bring up
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: their own heavy guns.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: They had one flatbed truck that had a dual barrel
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: twenty three millimeter gun on it.
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: I think it was huge, and the.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Truck would drive up a kind of park sideways, They'd
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: shoot the gun and the truck would rock way back
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: as they shoot the thing. Incredibly inaccurate, but scary as heck.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Now back in the village of Sagat, Captain Rowan leads
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: from the front.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Captain Rowan, meanwhile, was down on the ground literally leading
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: the charge. He later found out that he'd forgotten to
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: put the back plate in his armored vest, so he
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: was really kind of a sitting duck.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: It was a miracle that we didn't get hit. We've
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: got gunfire mortars all around us. And a look over
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: at our interpreter that was with us, and he's on
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: his cell phone and he's calling back talking to I
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: believe it was his cousin, and he was letting him
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: know that we were in it. Are you serious? Are
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: you're on the phone right now? Get off the phone.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: We're in the middle of all this. I thought that
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: that was quite comical at the time.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: These soldiers fought incredibly valiantly. The Americans are really out there,
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: outgunned and having to fight from the low ground to
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: the high ground.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Finally, after four hours, they enter Sagat. As they search
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the village, the Americans find passports from foreign fighters from Sudan, Yemen, Amman,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: and Saudi Arabia.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: After we went in, you know, we identified you know,
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: there was chemical suits there are some athropine injectors, other
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: things that were a bit unusual.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Critically, the Americans also find some evidence of chemical weapons manufacture,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: residues of ricin the poison made from casta beans.
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: They found a number of other indications that Anserl Islam
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: had actually been trying to develop some chemical weapons capability.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: There it is the first serious evidence anywhere in Iraq
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: of a link between Al Qaeder and weapons of mass destruction.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: The US forces orchestrate a press conference and tell the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: world all about the raid and the incriminating evidence they
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: have found, but no mention is made of the role
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the Green Berets played in the discovery.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: At that time, no one knew what a ferocious battle
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: had been waged up the valley to get to Sargot,
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: so this full story of the battle only came out
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: years later.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Now the Peshmerger and Special Forces eighteens are functioning well.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: They have earned each other's respect. The Gorillas also know
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: that they're in their heavily armed pickups, are a formidable unit.
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: And morale is pretty high.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Because now they're in Sargat, this is the home of
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: answer al Islam.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: The battle seems almost over, so for now. The Kurds
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: and Green Berets halt their advance. As darkness falls, however,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: the remnants of the Ansar fighters withdraw again their destination
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the caves above Sargat. Here they plant to lay a
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: trap for the Americans and the Peshmerga. They will use
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the caves as fortified bunkers. As dawn breaks, the Ansar
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Al Islam fighters settle into their positions in and around
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: the caves.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: The next morning, we continued on with our push. There
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: were huge cave complexes, I mean there was just multiple
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: multiple caves.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: As they approached, the Green Berets come under fire.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: We received some gunfire back and we were like, oh wow,
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: all right, now it's on again. You know, we got
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: we got some hardened fighters. We've been firing h fully
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: automatic into these caves and we couldn't drive these guys out,
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: and they were continually shooting at us.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: The Green Berets and the Alli has become pinned down.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Realizing they have to do something, they come up with
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: a plan to flush the enemy out of their stronghold.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: We just secured the front of the cave, made sure
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: nobody could get out, and I sent one guy back
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: for anti tank round put it into action, and we
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: backed off from the cave a little bit. We just
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: collapsed it.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: In seventy Ansar fighters are killed that day. The last
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: diehards are taken down. Three days after the operation began,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the Green Berets watched the final stragglers of An Sara
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Ali's Lamb retreat across the border into Iran. The terrorists
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: have been neutralized at Sara Ali's Lamb is defeated. For now.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: At least only a handful survive. The onslaught, with their
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: heavy weapons lost and their infrastructure and rice and lab
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: dealt to death blow. There is little left of the
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: threat first targeted days earlier. After just eight days of
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: intense action in Kurdistan, the Green Berets have completed their
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: counter terrorism mission.
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: In the end, one was awarded three Silver Stars and
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: six Bronze Stars, and this was without doubt, the the
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: most ferocious battle the special forces had fought since Vietnam.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: In the next few days, they link up with other
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: forces and target Iraqi units in northern Iraq. In early April,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the city of Kirkuk falls to Tovo's men. The conventional
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Iraqi units there didn't even put up a fight in
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: conjunction with other American forces. Northern Iraq is secured and
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the way is opened for tanks to move into Baghdad
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: three weeks after hostilities began. Two years later, the PUK
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: leader who worked with tovo jalal Talabani is elected the
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: first Kurdish President of Iraq. Operation Viking Hammer will go
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: down as a classic Green Berets.
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: Operation Viking Hammer could be looked at as a textbook application.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: Of the training.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: At its heart was the doctrine of persuading local forces
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: to fight alongside small American teams, bringing in devastating air
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: power and fighting deep behind the lines.
• 46:37
  Speaker 5: To fight a battle uphill in a mountainous area with
• 46:40
  Speaker 5: indigenous forces as your main body. To come out of
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: that with no casualties and very very few problems is
• 46:48
  Speaker 5: a remarkable achievement.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: I think the operation overall was a success in many ways.
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: We took absolutely no cowslies, and for the.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Small, close knit teams fighting in the northern sector of Iraq,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: they may not have received as much media coverage, but
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: it's still a source of immense product.
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: I was just fortunate not to be a part of it,
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: and every guy on that team played a huge, huge
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: part of that.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Dad.
• 47:25
  Speaker 6: It's something I'll never ever forget.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: And moments like that, when you've got five other guys
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: on your left right flank, I couldn't have been blessed
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: with a better group of men to have the fortune
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: lead during combat.
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: Operation Viking Hammer was really the opening act of many
• 47:41
  Speaker 4: incredible battles that the Special Forces fought, not only in
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: two thousand and three, but for the next ten years
• 47:50
  Speaker 4: they have really been engaged in numerous incredible firefights and
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: battle So what you have now is the US Army
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: Special Operations Forces are absolutely the most battle tested force
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: in US history.