14
Surprise means being able to use creativity and agility, not just violence and
explosiveness. Take for example Operation WINTER HARVEST—the
rescue of
Brigadier General James Dozier
19
in January of 1982. After nearly a month of captivity,
a U.S. surveillance team reported the exact location and guard patterns of the Red
Brigade terrorists that were guarding the General to Italian authorities. A team of ten
men from the Italian Carabinieri was on alert, waiting for the
right opportunity to enter
the apartment and conduct a rescue. When there were only two guards from the Red
Brigade guarding the General, the Italians simply walked up to the apartment and
knocked on the front door. As soon as one of the guards opened the door, ten Carabinieri
stormed
the room, subduing the two terrorists and safely rescuing General Dozier
(Harclerode, 2001, p. 432).
In
The Principles of War for the Information Age
, Bob Leonard divides the
element of surprise into technical and tactical, and describes any force at war as
perpetually unready to fight (p. 193). This concept directly applies to
the hostage rescue
crisis; the rescue force must take full advantage of the technical and tactical means to
achieve complete surprise prior to the assault. In a hostage rescue situation, a few
seconds can mean the difference between success and failure; a terrorist can shoot a
hostage or can detonate an explosive device inside the target area.
Absolute surprise is
necessary to allow the assault force those critical seconds to neutralize the threat. The
loss of surprise will almost automatically mean aborting the plan. Rescue forces must
rely heavily on the element of surprise to gain relative superiority
20
. The element of
surprise is closely dependent on a good deception plan, excellent timing,
and exploiting
the enemy’s weaknesses.
Dostları ilə paylaş: