AUSTRALIAN Special Air Service forces were now almost certainly operating in Iraq, military analysts said last night. Posted on 03/18/2003 9:34:08 AM PST by yankeedame
SAS force 'already in Iraq'
By John Kerin
19mar03
AUSTRALIAN Special Air Service forces were now almost certainly operating in Iraq, military analysts said last night.
"Commanders may have been waiting for the green light from the Prime Minister. It's fair to say that if they (the SAS) weren't there, they are in there now," Australian National University defence analyst Alan Dupont told The Australian. "They are almost certainly operating in either the northern or southern no-fly zones doing the job they are trained to do," he said.
"The 48-to-96-hour window before a war is precisely the time when special forces are particularly effective," another defence analyst, Allan Behm, said.
But no official confirmation was forthcoming. A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Robert Hill said that now a commitment to using Australian forces had been made, movements were a matter of "operational security".
Mr Behm said the SAS was likely to have been inserted into Iraq in small bands to conduct reconnaissance missions and identify targets ahead of the air bombardment.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute director Hugh White said he would not be surprised if the SAS were now in Iraq.
"This would be the typical time for them to insert the SAS into Iraq in the 48 hours or so before the main invasion starts, though it's not their only role," he said.
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