'Voices in the Storm'

And now, 'Voices in the Storm' the second in our special series of flashbacks to mark the fifth anniversary of the Gulf War.
Guy Smith presents "Against all Odds"--the true story of an American commando patrol trapped behind enemy lines.

Actuality
George Bush
Just two hours ago, allied air forced began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

Three, two one. [sound of firing and bombs and people screaming]

General Schwarzkopf
Now. I'm going to show you a picture of the luckiest man in Iraq.

Woman
Why? We are re human, like you. Why? [chanting, singing]

Soldiers
One, two, three, four, United States Marine corps, Hurrah, hurrah...

George Bush
Tonight, a battle has been joined.

Narrator
For thirty-eight days and nights, the might of allied air power had wreaked havoc and destruction on Iraq, but Saddam Hussein remained defiant and refused to withdraw his army from Kuwait. To liberate the Gulf state, American soldiers would have to attac k on the ground, encircling the enemy forces in southern Iraq. But before they could do that, they needed to have eyes and ears behind enemy lines, feeding back intelligence on troop movements and positions. In a top secret operation, Green Beret commando s were sent into Iraq. Their mission--to hide out in foxholes in the desert and radio back reports on Iraqi military activity. They called these patrols, 'the human trip wires.'

[Music]


Narrator
One of these patrols was code named, Alpha Five Two Five, commanded by Chad Balwanz. His eight man team was to observe Highway Seven, one of the main routes south from Baghdad, through the Euphrates valley. But their mission went disastrously wrong, beca use of a terrible miscalculation. The planners thought that the area where Alpha Five Two Five was to hide, would be unpopulated. It turned to be anything but.

[Helicopter sounds]


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl.../voices/2.html


Sempers,

Roger

Bump

Ellie