The Real Bravo Two Zero

The Bravo Two Zero mission, in which an eight-man SAS patrol was discovered many miles behind Iraqui lines and had to make a run back for the border and safety, is probably the most famous incident involving British troops in the Gulf War. Two bestselling books--Bravo Two Zero and The One That Got Away--were published and two of the soldiers, using the pseudonyms "Andy McNab" and "Chris Ryan", were launched into new careers as writers. Even the most uncritical reader of the two books would have been aware that some artistic licence had been employed. What Michael Asher claims is the truth about Bravo Two Zero is, however, astonishing. Asher, fluent in Arabic and familiar with the ways of the desert Arabs, travelled to Iraq 10 years after the Gulf War and re-traced the steps of the SAS patrol, finding Bedouin eyewitnesses to events. There is an almost comical disparity between McNab and Ryan's version of the mission and the version Asher reports. According to McNab, when the patrol was discovered, it was by Iraqi soldiers and a furious firefight ensued with the SAS men downing a dozen or more men before fleeing. According to Asher, the mission was "compromised" by three Arab locals, one of them a man in his 70s, and the SAS wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew. According to Ryan, on his lonely journey to the Syrian border, he was obliged to kill two Iraqis, one with his bare hands. According to Asher's sources, he omitted to mention this at his initial de-briefing. One of Asher's aims in his book is to rehabilitate the reputation of Vince Phillips, one of the dead. Most readers of this book and of the tale told by the Arab who discovered Phillips's body will probably decide that he has done so. Yet Asher does not seem motivated by a desire to denigrate the heroism of McNab and Ryan. We get the heroes we want and Asher understands that the Rambo-like exploits they reported were what we, and the media, demanded of them. Their real heroism, respected by both Asher and the Bedouins to whom he spoke, lay in their powers of endurance and determination when utterly isolated and alone, hundreds of miles inside enemy territory. In The Real Bravo Two Zero Asher has written a far better and more humane book than either of the two he deconstructs, but he still seems to understand why McNab and Ryan produced the books they did.--Nick Rennison

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The Truth - Rated
Poor, poor Michael Asher. Bless his cotton socks! What was he thinking?

Of course the Iraq police, army inteligence and local milita didn't torture the Reg lads. NO! Some nice scran, a lovely brew, and tea cakes were the order of the day.

Oh! And putting '(The Truth) Behind Bravo Two Zero.' On your front cover, well..ermm. It must be true then, eh mate?

James.

Ps. If you have some money to waste, buy this book. There's always the winter fire if your running low on logs.

Dont just accept what is said - Rated
I have read both Brave Two Zero and The Real Brave two zero.
What I would say is, read the books and make up your own mind, It might be difficult to accept, but at the end of the day, We can only go on the words of the authors, so one book can not be said to more 'true' than the other.

Yet when Michael Asher, just through simple deduction, can put holes in McNab's story it seems to question the likly hood of the BTZ story.

Yet As always, Hind Sight is always 20-20, plus BTZ was behind enamy lines, under that kind of stress i think even the best might make mistakes.
Plus the events which McNab is reacalling at the breafing, was after his term as a Pow, thats a long time to have rememberd details such as distances walked and so on. Is it not possible he simply recalled incorrectly? yet could it simply be that McNab was right, Ryan Wrong, and Asher has simply been lied too.
Therefore I would say that from only using the books, its impossible to say who is correct. Read them take from what you will but just remember, none can be shown to totaly certain so dont take sides but view with an open mind.

Cheers

What a waste of money! - Rated
Trying to disprove the SAS soldiers real account of what happened 10 years later is a bit far fetched in my eyes, stories have a tendancy to get changed as they get passed on!

It also strikes me as odd that someone would write a book like this depending solely on the word of the very people who were trying to capture the SAS soldiers??

I would not recommend this book. Read the REAL account by the soldiers who were actually there.

A fairy tale - Rated
Michael Asher travels through Iraq speaking to Bedouins and Iraqi Police officers and government officials looking to debunk Andy McNabs and Chris Ryans accounts.

Having read Bravo Two Zero, The One That Got Away and Soldier 5 you realise that it seems Andy McNab and Chris Ryan used a bit of artistic licence. But you also realise that Ryans and Coburns accounts are quite similiar in a lot of the events described.

Not being an expert on Bedouin customs I beleive most of what they say. But Asher further asks the reader to beleive what Iraqi Polie officers and Government officials say when asked about the contacts and if the SAS soldiers were tortured or beaten. Now these Police Officers and Government officials who now are behaving so kindly and light handed in Iraq just now (lets forget the police death squads and torture units who are killing scores of ordinary Iraqis daily because of there religion) are stating they never beat the SAS soldiers or tortured them. Lets not forget they were Special Forces from the Devil west but they still weren't beaten or tortured. Absolute nonsense.

The Iraq Police and Security Forces in general seem to be corrupt and brutal, you just have to watch the daily news or documentaries about the Police death squads to see that.

Ryans and Coburns accounts of the initial compromise and contact are almost identical describing the contact with the Bediuons aswell as a small force of Iraqi soldiers.

McNabs and Coburns accounts of being beaten as they were captured is also very similiar.

The question is who do you beleive? British SAS soldiers or Iraqi Police officers and Government Officials? The SAS soldiers accounts or Ashers? I know who I beleive.

Ashers account seems to me to be a chance for the Iraqis to have some propoganda. Thats why they insist the SAS patrol had almost no impact and that they didn't beat or torture them.

Some may argue that McNabs and Ryans accounts are part fiction, that is also true of Ashers.

To be avoided.

Worth reading - Rated
Having read "Bravo Two Zero" and "The One That Got Away", I was eager to read Michael Asher's book in the hope that it might settle the differences between the two accounts of that fatal missing.
Some of the memories of the witnesses are too good to be true and I think he may miss the object of his exercise.
However, it was an enjoyable read, and well worth looking into.