Eight SAS men in undercover mission are seized in Libya - by the rebel forces they went to help | Mail Online
8 SAS and UK diplomat 'detained' in Libya by rebel forces...
Details are slowly emerging about the incident on Sky news, The Sunday Times has an article on their website but you need a subscription to read it. Oh dear what a massive balls up!
"An eight-man SAS team was being held by Libyan rebel forces last night after being captured as they accompanied a junior British diplomat on an undercover mission which ended in embarrassment.
The elite troops had been escorting the diplomat through rebel-held territory in the east of Libya as he tried to make contact with opponents of Colonel Gaddafi.
The diplomat had intended to pave the way for a more senior British official to establish diplomatic relations with rebel forces. But last night the young Foreign Office employee and his armed SAS escorts were locked up inside a military base in Benghazi, the largest city held by opponents of Col Gaddafi.
It is understood the SAS incursion into rebel-held territory infuriated opposition politicians, one of whom told them to warn David Cameron’s Government that it should recognise the opposition as Libya’s legitimate leaders before attempting to open negotiations.
Sources admitted last night that there was huge embarrassment in Whitehall that the SAS mission had backfired.
But there was confidence that the SAS team and the diplomat would be released unharmed within 24 hours after the rebels had made their point. There were no plans last night for a second SAS team to be sent in to secure the release of their colleagues."
Yeah... Some Foreign office drones decided to play at "Gertrude Bell, T. E. Lawrence, and the ignorant Arabs", and send off a junior minion with a few "dirty tricks blokes" to whisper in the ears of the desert tribesmen.... after all, it worked in 1917-19, why shouldn't it work in 2011?
And the college-educated, internet-savvy, modern leaders of the revolt slapped them in a cell, and called up Hague to tell him in no uncertain terms that the days of Imperialist Vaziers pulling the strings of wandering tribesmen were over... and if he wanted the ear of the Libyan rebels he had bloody well better formally recognize them in front of the UN as the legitimate government of Libya first!