thedrifter
10-04-07, 08:58 AM
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
“We want to fight Al Qaeda!” [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
The Tank
BROUMANA SPECIAL FORCES CAMP — Nestled here deep in the mountains beyond east Beirut — between the summer village of Broumana and Mar Shaaya, a Maronite Christian monastery — is a rugged tract of land where the Lebanese Army is training to fight Al Qaeda.
Lebanese special forces — including a Ranger regiment, a Marine Commando regiment, and an air-assault regiment — all come under the Lebanese Army (that will soon change, and I'll explain it in greater detail here at NRO).
As I watch the young commandos battling their way from room to room in a roofless killing-house constructed of stacks of old tires, their commander, Lt. Col. Marwan Issa tells me, “Our soldiers — because they come from the mountains — are tougher in many ways than other countries' special forces soldiers.”
They have to be.
Training here is severe: Each volunteer — whether for the Rangers or the Marines — must go through a three-week test to determine if they have what it takes to endure the three-and-a-half months of special forces training (air-assault training is only six weeks). There is no sleep for the first week. During the next two weeks, only one hour of sleep is permitted per night, maybe.
Once the men get through the three-week test, they are told to go home for 24 hours. Then they return here to Broumana and the real training begins.
Issa tells me only 30 men out of 300 will become Lebanese Rangers or Marine Commandos. But of those 30, every man will fight to the death if necessary. “Without a doubt, even if he knows he will probably die, he will fight,” says1st Lt. Nizam Bou Fakereddine, who fought against Fatah al Islam at Nahr al-Bared.
At one point, I stood with a group of these young men and asked them if they were afraid to fight Al Qaeda.
“No!” they shouted in unison.
“Never,” another said, “We want to fight Al Qaeda!”
Ellie
“We want to fight Al Qaeda!” [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
The Tank
BROUMANA SPECIAL FORCES CAMP — Nestled here deep in the mountains beyond east Beirut — between the summer village of Broumana and Mar Shaaya, a Maronite Christian monastery — is a rugged tract of land where the Lebanese Army is training to fight Al Qaeda.
Lebanese special forces — including a Ranger regiment, a Marine Commando regiment, and an air-assault regiment — all come under the Lebanese Army (that will soon change, and I'll explain it in greater detail here at NRO).
As I watch the young commandos battling their way from room to room in a roofless killing-house constructed of stacks of old tires, their commander, Lt. Col. Marwan Issa tells me, “Our soldiers — because they come from the mountains — are tougher in many ways than other countries' special forces soldiers.”
They have to be.
Training here is severe: Each volunteer — whether for the Rangers or the Marines — must go through a three-week test to determine if they have what it takes to endure the three-and-a-half months of special forces training (air-assault training is only six weeks). There is no sleep for the first week. During the next two weeks, only one hour of sleep is permitted per night, maybe.
Once the men get through the three-week test, they are told to go home for 24 hours. Then they return here to Broumana and the real training begins.
Issa tells me only 30 men out of 300 will become Lebanese Rangers or Marine Commandos. But of those 30, every man will fight to the death if necessary. “Without a doubt, even if he knows he will probably die, he will fight,” says1st Lt. Nizam Bou Fakereddine, who fought against Fatah al Islam at Nahr al-Bared.
At one point, I stood with a group of these young men and asked them if they were afraid to fight Al Qaeda.
“No!” they shouted in unison.
“Never,” another said, “We want to fight Al Qaeda!”
Ellie