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  • Special Forces chief tries to block new Iraq book

    • Special Forces chief tries to block new Iraq book

    Date: 09/02/2010
    A new book on the Iraq war by BBC journalist Mark Urban, which has been held up for months by legal wrangling between the author's publisher and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has been dealt another blow.

    Task Force Black has now come up against opposition from the head of Britain's Special Forces, who claims the book may have a negative effect on the regiment's operational effectiveness.

    Speaking to The Times, an insider close to the Special Forces director (DSF) - who is responsible for the SAS, the Special Boat Service, the Special Forces Support Group and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment - said: 'As far as DSF is concerned, when he saw the manuscript, all he wanted to survive was about three lines.'

    'All DSFs would prefer nothing to be written about the SAS. In fact their ideal situation would be if neither the word "special" nor "forces" ever appeared in print,' the unnamed source added.

    The DSF, who cannot be named for national security reasons, is hoping to prevent Urban's book, which describes missions in Baghdad and Basra and features exclusive interviews with former SAS members, from reaching bookshop shelves.

    Task Force Black is scheduled to be published on Thursday February 18th by the Little, Brown Book Group.ADNFCR-2557-ID-19604589-ADNFCR
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