The 1980s was a time of increased terrorism throughout the world. A number of anti-Western factions from the Middle East chose hi-jacking and hostage taking as a way to get across their particular message. We have since found out that many of these events were state-sponsored and rarely have they ever been successful.

One of these attempts was the overtaking of the Iranian Embassy in London during the first year of the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the years, the Iran and Iraq have been at odds over a section of Iran where most of the oil is produced. This is also an area where the indigenous population was more closely allied with Iraq than with the mainstream of Iranian society. As such, the Iraqis were frequently trying to stir up trouble and felt that the new leadership in Iran would be unable to garner support from other nations. Thus men were hurriedly trained and supplied by Iraq to take over the Iranian Embassy in London and broadcast demands in hopes of further stirring up dissent in southwestern Iran.

The British were one of the first to train and equip a special operations unit called the SAS. This unit was developed during WWII and has been used in several occasions in locations around the world where they were needed. The training of this very small unit is quite grueling and few are able to complete it. These men were gradually trained in the anti-terrorism role to augment the national police when they were needed. Until the events of this book, they had yet to be called into national service. Precision is the key word and they have to provide enough, but not too much force as they are very much under British law while doing these operations. That means they cannot just indeterminately spray bullets and bombs, but have to take care not to kill hostages.

To say the least, this operation was undertaken on short notice and it is due to the superlative training of the men involved and the complete mutual cooperation between the military and civil authorities that allowed the mission to be carried out successfully. Of course, not everything went according to plan, but through the excellent prose of the author, we are taken from the development of the operation through to its conclusion, following every step of the way.

It makes for an exciting and highly informative book that I know you will find every bit as enthralling as did I. It is a book you can buy with confidence.

March 2010

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