Post by PMP Webmaster on May 26, 2005 10:49:48 GMT -5
I've read Col. Charles Beckwith's memoirs of his creation of Delta Force a while back, and Eric Haney's book, "Inside Delta Force", makes and excellent counterpoint. Written a good 20 years after Beckwith's book, Haney's work provides a much more "ground level" analysis of both the organization, the disaster at Desert One, and the operations (or what he can talk about them, that is) that followed. Haney left Delta service before the First Gulf War, but his experiences during the 80's are very eye-opening, as I think many Americans aren't all that aware of all the "Dirty Wars" that were going on all over the world at that time.
Beyond that, Haney's book also gives a more cynical reader the impression that the sort of "left hand ignorant of the right hand's actions" cliches of Hollywood thrillers isn't all fiction. It appears that on numerous occasions, Haney is either involved in or privy to operations that, in some way, must involve factions of the US government with different agendas pitting their proxy forces against each other. The most gut-wrenching example of this occurs when...
SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Haney is fighting against some insurgents in Central America and gets the enemy force trapped on top of a hill. Surrounded, the opposition is cut to pieces in a vicious firefight. Haney discovers he has killed the enemy leader, and that amazingly, the man was one of the soldiers Haney tried out for Delta force with a decade earlier. Haney believes, as he wrote the book, that the man died while still under the direction of the US government.
At any rate, this book is a very interesting look at the lives and missions (those that can be talked about, at least) of America's "Top Dog" counter-terror fighting unit.
And, as a bit of trivia, Haney was the Technical Advisor for the movie "Spartan" with Val Kilmer. An excellent film, if I do say so myself.
Beyond that, Haney's book also gives a more cynical reader the impression that the sort of "left hand ignorant of the right hand's actions" cliches of Hollywood thrillers isn't all fiction. It appears that on numerous occasions, Haney is either involved in or privy to operations that, in some way, must involve factions of the US government with different agendas pitting their proxy forces against each other. The most gut-wrenching example of this occurs when...
SPOILERS AHEAD!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Haney is fighting against some insurgents in Central America and gets the enemy force trapped on top of a hill. Surrounded, the opposition is cut to pieces in a vicious firefight. Haney discovers he has killed the enemy leader, and that amazingly, the man was one of the soldiers Haney tried out for Delta force with a decade earlier. Haney believes, as he wrote the book, that the man died while still under the direction of the US government.
At any rate, this book is a very interesting look at the lives and missions (those that can be talked about, at least) of America's "Top Dog" counter-terror fighting unit.
And, as a bit of trivia, Haney was the Technical Advisor for the movie "Spartan" with Val Kilmer. An excellent film, if I do say so myself.