SAS out of the shadows

BY JON STEPHENSON

WHEN NEW Zealand SAS commandos were sent to Kabul six months ago they knew they would come under fire, but the last thing they expected was to get stabbed in the back by the people they serve and defend.

"Every country has men in the shadows doing hard and dangerous work," says Mike, an SAS veteran who's in regular contact with serving SAS men. "But at least they are not sold out by their own media organisations and governments," he says, referring to photos published here recently of Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata and SAS troopers in action.

Mike and his comrades are also annoyed with defence force chiefs in Wellington for not fighting Prime Minister John Key's openness policy regarding SAS activities, and for allowing attention to focus on whether Apiata should have been wearing his helmet instead of whether the photographs should have been published.

"As you can imagine," he told The Sunday Star-Times, "the lads are absolutely pissed by this whole fiasco."

For a unit used to operating below the radar, the SAS's latest Afghanistan assignment did not get off to a great start. There was controversy last August when Prime Minister John Key announced the SAS would be redeployed to a conflict many see as unjust and others as unwinnable.

In September, Key raised eyebrows when he broke with convention by confirming the unit's arrival in the war-torn nation. Critics accused him of telegraphing the Taliban.

Later that month, Norway's defence chief revealed a secret that Key did want to keep: the location of the SAS contingent and the work they would be doing. General Sverre Diesen told an Oslo-based newspaper the SAS was replacing Norwegian special forces in Kabul, where the Norwegians had been training commandos from Afghanistan's Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and going on high-risk missions with them.

Key was forced to confirm this, but things have only gotten worse. Twice this year, SAS men have been captured on camera in the heart of Afghanistan's capital. In January came photos of a New Zealand commando striding from a firefight with beard but sans helmet, looking like a cross between a modern-day Jesus and the sort of man you would not want to mess with. Asked by reporters, Key confirmed it was Apiata.

At a later press conference, the prime minister announced a policy of greater openness about the activities of the country's special forces in Afghanistan. Where possible, he said, "New Zealanders deserve to know what our forces are doing overseas."

Many in the military are still fuming. Mike, the SAS veteran, says his mates feel betrayed. "Do the US public know what [their special forces] are up to? No. Does their government expose them? No! Do the US press expose them? No!" The same goes, says Mike, for the British, the Canadians, the Australians, and the Germans.

This past week, more images of SAS men – taken in the wake of close quarter battle between the commandos and insurgents – have been on TV screens and front pages around the nation. At least this time the faces have been blurred, say some in the special forces community.

"Having their identities concealed like that helps diffuse a bit of anger," says "Chris", a former SAS member. Like others, however, he worries that the media coverage is an unnecessary distraction for soldiers the government and defence chiefs have asked to fight insurgents.

"That's their job. They're trained for that, and they expect all the things that come with it. But, having that [media] exposure, it does put added stress on them and their families back here."

In the hard and close-knit world of the SAS – where a trooper's life often depends on his comrades – trust and loyalty are prized above all else except honour. Wives of special forces men will tell you there is no greater love than that between soldiers.

Few troopers have much love for journalists and politicians – or the politicians-in-uniform that run the defence force – yet they are loyal to "the system", and expect a degree of loyalty in return. That expectation, say SAS men, has been badly dented these past few weeks.

THE NORWEGIAN special forces describe the Crisis Response Unit (CRU) as "a diamond", and the people they wanted to look after that diamond and polish it were New Zealand SAS men. However, polishing a diamond in the middle of Kabul is bound to attract attention.

This fact will not have escaped the rank-and-file in the SAS. Questions will have been asked about their political and military masters' decision to send them to the Afghan capital – a city full of media just waiting to record the action.

A Norwegian defence correspondent and author of a book on his country's special forces says the Norwegian soldiers specifically asked for the NZ SAS to take over the CRU, a unit that they had selected, trained and mentored. Tom Bakkeli told the Star-Times the Norwegians – who knew the New Zealanders from a previous deployment in Afghanistan – respected the SAS men personally and professionally.

"They thought they were very nice guys," says Bakkeli. "They had similar ideas and training and capabilities. They really admired them."

The work of the CRU – and of its SAS mentors – is central to the US military's strategy of "Afghanisation", or putting an Afghan face on counter-insurgency operations. Bakkeli says the CRU commandos impressed the Norwegians with their commitment and skill. "They are very good soldiers."

They will need to be. Among their targets are suicide bombers, Taliban leaders, and narco-traffickers. A Nato television report last year said the CRU "will respond to all kinds of events throughout Afghanistan", tackling "terrorist groups" that threaten the [Afghanistan] government. "This unit will try to disrupt these networks and their cells all over the country."

The report said the Norwegians were giving the CRU "the best training possible". That training is now being given by men like Willie Apiata.

It is, says Bakkeli, extremely dangerous work. A Norwegian commando was killed during a mission with the CRU in Logar Province, south of Kabul. One CRU member told the Nato reporter: "We are fighting against people who often consider themselves already dead, with nothing to lose."

The big question is: has the media coverage in New Zealand of Apiata and his SAS colleagues put the men in any more danger than they already were? Auckland University political scientist Paul Buchanan says that it will. Buchanan, whose resume includes risk analysis and work for US intelligence agencies, says the attack SAS men were caught up in last month "has all the hallmarks of a `bait and switch' event", where a bomb is exploded and the counter-terrorist units that arrive are ambushed.

"The Taliban are very inventive and flexible in their tactics, and learning [because of intense media coverage] that the SAS accompanying the CRU provides them with a target of opportunity in the form of a killed or captured SAS member."

Buchanan says the PR value for the Taliban of capturing an SAS trooper would be invaluable. It could force the New Zealand government to withdraw the contingent in the face of public demands for that to happen – even if the SAS or defence chiefs wanted to stay.

Media managers who published the photos of Apiata say he was on a public street, undisguised, and the defence force had disclosed his identity when he was awarded the Victoria Cross. The military had courted publicity for Apiata, and could not expect to pick and choose when his image could be shown [See Willie Apiata, above].

In the SAS community there has been cynicism about this. Most, like Mike, say the media were driven by profit, not principle. If they were serious about journalism they would send people to Afghanistan to report on the war, not just buy photos from foreign journos in Kabul.

What does seem clear is that New Zealand media coverage of the Afghanistan conflict has for years been superficial rather than substantive. Ironically, while SAS members have been more visible to the world than ever before, much of their mission remains unobserved.

Officially, the special forces contingent is "authorised to conduct special reconnaissance, direct action, training and liaison and other national tasks as directed". However, its work with the CRU is not the only thing the SAS has been doing. As one defence expert put it: There are 70 SAS men in Kabul, and it does not take 70 men to train the CRU.

Defence chiefs are on more shaky ground when it comes to kicking up a fuss over the media publicising Apiata's identity. That said, while his photo may have adorned the military's website, his presence in Kabul had not exactly been advertised.

In any case, some say, the media cannot justify a decision to publish on the basis of a decision by the brass to use Apiata as a poster boy for the defence force. Why should Apiata and the unit suffer when they had no real say in that process?

AT THE same time, there is a deep unease within the SAS community that the Kabul "fiasco" has been an accident waiting to happen. The past few years has seen a spate of publicity about the unit that has created deep divisions between those in favour of it and those against – publicity generated in large part by Apiata's Victoria Cross award.

In addition to a documentary about Apiata and a book about his life, New Zealanders have been treated to a documentary and a book about the SAS itself and a raft of print and television interviews. "Chris" is one of many who concede that "the unit's opened itself up a bit".

Much of this was driven by Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Blackwell, the unit's commanding officer when Apiata got his gong.

But there is debate about the merit of opening up the unit to such publicity. Some say Blackwell was doing what he could to promote the interests of a unit that for years had been under-funded by politicians and neglected by the brass in Wellington – that the SAS have never been resourced the way they should be. The unit hasn't been beefed up since 9/11, say insiders: their boats were unseaworthy for five years until 2007, their battlefield training facility is out of date. When they hosted visiting officers, the unit had to do a whip around for drinks.

Blackwell, they say, thought the publicity would enhance the reputation of the unit, encourage the government to commit more money and equipment and help attract new much-needed recruits.

If Blackwell believed he could play the media and win, he was badly mistaken. After the Apiata VC extravaganza had subsided he acknowledged to a journalist that his soldiers were uncomfortable in the limelight and "want to get back to the shadows".

Trouble is, once you unleash the media genie, it is not so easy to put it back in the bottle. "You can't stop it," says "Chris", of recent media interest.

But the door is already closing. One SAS member said of his buddies: "They will lock down and completely shut the unit off from the press. Any communication that was once there has gone."

 

TimelineAugust 2, 2009:

"Elite NZ troops in war crimes row" and "Rules of engagement" by Jon Stephenson

A two-year investigation into allegations that the NZ SAS handed over prisoners of war to the US detention centre at Kandahar, where detainees were mistreated and tortured.

A US human rights lawyer said the NZ government should have been aware of what was happening as early as February 2002 when President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed that al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were not entitled to prisoner-of-war status or the protections of the Geneva Convention.

August 9, 2009:

"Key to send SAS on new tour of duty" by Anthony Hubbard and Jon Stephenson Amnesty International warned New Zealand that it could breach international law if SAS troops hand over prisoners in Afghanistan to Afghan authorities due to continued reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by Afghan authorities. A verbal prisoner-treatment agreement between the two countries in place since 2006 would not absolve New Zealand of their international legal obligations. New Zealand was expected to oblige a personal request from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to send SAS troops for another tour of duty with John Key saying: "I do think it's important that New Zealand plays its role, and plays its part in trying to get on top of what is a terrorist hotspot."

September 27, 2009:

"SAS troops uneasy at high-risk mission" by Jon Stephenson Members of the SAS expressed concern about the dangers of the mission they were given in their latest deployment to Afghanistan. The mission, approved by John Key, would have SAS fighting in close-quarter battles in urban areas.

October 4, 2009:

"SAS Afghan location revealed" by Jon Stephenson Norway's defence chief revealed the NZ SAS's location and potential missions by saying the SAS would replace the Norwegian contingent in Kabul.

October 25, 2009:

"Battle fatigue" by Jon Stephenson John Key stated that the decision to send the SAS back was linked to the need to stop it becoming "an even bigger hotbed for global terrorism". A high-level Afghan official said he couldn't understand Key's decision to wind down New Zealand's Bamiyan team and re-deploy the SAS.

January 24, 2010:

"Key `broke pledge' on Kiwis in battle" by Jon Stephenson and Anthony Hubbard John Key was accused of breaking a pledge made in October that taking over training of the Crisis Response Unit, also known as Task Force 24, from Norwegian forces would not mean fighting alongside them because it was "particularly dangerous". Key said the SAS involvement in a firefight in Kabul after which Victoria Cross-winner Willie Apiata was photographed and identified, was "limited", while Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said the SAS and CRU were not directly involved in the action.

January 31, 2010:

"Barrage from Amnesty over SAS actions" by Jon Stephenson Amnesty International called for the SAS in Afghanistan to refuse to hand over prisoners to the Afghan authorities until there was no risk of them being tortured or ill-treated. The SAS was confirmed as working with Afghanistan's CRU in a "direct support" training and liaison role.

February 28, 2010:

"Key in fix over SAS questions" by Jon Stephenson Amnesty International criticised the NZ government for failing to release details on prisoners taken by the SAS, following John Key's promise, in January, for more openness.

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