| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <paul@********.demon.co.uk> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Killing in Shadowrun... |
| Date: | Wed, 22 May 1996 22:06:33 +0100 |
<Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> writes
>At 0:38 Uhr 22.05.96, Paul J. Adam wrote:
>>Can the British Army expect to send the SAS into corporate turf at whim?
>>Somehow I doubt it. Would we let them do that here? Not on your life.
>
>Best example may be the British Army in North Ireland/Eire. Heck, I suppose
>they ARE well trained, so there should be no problem at all to take out those
>IRA 'terrorists', right? Following TopCat's argumentaion, at least.
>Go, tell 'em.
Spot on, Sasha, I should have thought of that: it's an almost exact
parallel.
It's not as bad as it was, but it used to reach the point that, in
certain areas, if anyone spotted a soldier or policeman, everyone living
there would be outside beating dustbin lids, making as much noise as
humanly possible to warn "our boys" to make like good little terrorists,
or get out of Dodge.
Undercover work? In areas like that? Not a hope. You want a passable
example of what it was like in the 1970s, read "Harry's Game" by Gerald
Seymour: the story is of a British intelligence officer sent undercover
to assassinate a key player. Another very appropriate Seymour is "At
Close Quarters", where an Israeli sniper and his assistant have to kill
a Palestinian terrorist in the Bekaa Valley. Shows the flip side of
operating in hostile territory, where you may individually outgun and
out-skill every opponent... but your mission depends on not alerting the
target.
"There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy."
Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
