Countering Terrorism Today

Actions by counter-terrorist units in 16 different states are portrayed in this book.

If you are interested in how different countries act against terrorists, there is a new book out by Austrian investigative journalist and author Judith Grohmann. Her book Fighting the War on Terror: Global Counter-terrorist Units and their Actions provides insights into selected actions of counter-terrorism (CT) units in 16 countries.

The IS-terrorists may have lost most of their territory, but terrorism has always adapted and transformed itself. Thus the specialized CT units around the globe will hardly be disbanded anytime soon - and it is interesting to compare where these units stand today. As the book´s author is Austrian the book quite logically begins with an action of the Austrian Einsatzkommando Cobra. What the author does is to immediately make clear how many preparations are necessary to make sure a major VIP visit ends the way it should. There is, naturally, much more safety work behind these visits than you can imagine. Well, this book makes it possible to imagine a bit more.

Equipment and insignia are not so much the focus of this book (I will be reviewing such a book in the near future), but rather some of the major actions of CT units of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Israel, Austria and eleven more states. There is also an interesting part about the European police tactical unit network called ATLAS, that has evolved since 2001, i.e. after the September 11 attacks. Too bad this exchange of proven CT practices and procedures between nations didn't start right after the catastrophe of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. The number of units within ATLAS is currently no less than 36. The major Swedish CT unit, NI, is not really featured in this book but yours truly can here add that NI is a part of ATLAS.

Interestingly, the UK focus of the book is the Specialist Firearms Command, SCO19. The main Israeli unit featured is Yamam. The Russian chapter, focused on SOBR, is of little interest and there is only one SOBR photo. The chapters about CT units in smaller states provide more valuable information.

The copy of Fighting the War on Terror that I have reviewed is an English one but the book has also appeared or will appear in German, Polish, French, Romanian and other languages.

Skorzeny, Mossad & Sweden

Otto Skorzeny in Nuremberg in late 1945. Photo: NARA

Waffen-SS special operations commander Otto Skorzeny, at one point known as the most dangerous man in Europe, became one of the Israeli Mossad’s "most valuable assets". That is the assertion in the most amazing WWII story to be published in a serious newspaper in a long, long time.

The article "The Strange Case of a Nazi Who Became an Israeli Hitman" was published yesterday in Haaretz and reads almost like a Hollywood script. The newspaper and writers behind the article force one to take the story seriously in spite of how unlikely it sounds. But, what should the next steps be? Because, considering just who Skorzeny was, more commentary is necessary, and then some documents. Who to call? Well, aside from German historians I would recommend the Swedish author and journalist Niclas Sennerteg. He has recently written a most impressive book about Third Reich officers and scientists in the service of postwar Egypt: Hakkorset & halvmånen, in English it would be "The Swastika & The Crescent". My first take is that what Sennerteg has written about the disappearance of the German rocket scientist Heinz Krug and also about Skorzeny make parts of the new story not that hard to accept, but I would especially like to see more about Skorzeny himself shooting Krug.

My interest in Skorzeny goes back many years. Right here and now I will reveal that in a coming book of mine (out next year, I reckon) there will be a chapter about a Swede who opposed Skorzeny´s unit during the Battle of the Bulge.

Hitler News of 2013

Wartime newsreel showing Hitler meeting Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelic. The latter made it to Argentina, hardly the former.

The well-established Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post on Saturday wrote about a coming Israeli documentary film, "Revealed: Hitler in Argentina". The film will no doubt result in more articles about it during 2013. Here is my take.

"Revealed: Hitler in Argentina" is inspired by the book Hitler’s Escape by Patrick Burnside, but the Israeli filmmakers have added research of their own, all according to the Jerusalem Post article. However, as I have read the book Grey Wolf (2011) by the British authors Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams, I am struck by the similarities with that book. From the JP article and the trailer it links to it seems quite clear to me that "Revealed: Hitler in Argentina" and the coming book by Burnside differ not that much from Grey Wolf.

One does get a thousand or so facts from reading the sometimes exciting Grey Wolf but, ultimately, it is a mystery to me why the authors, one of whom (Simon Dunstan) has written a long list of serious books on military history, chose to release this book as a serious book and not semi-fiction. Because aside from facts and some sane conclusions the book contains a long row of unbelievable statements and conspiracy theories. Simply put unconvincing when it comes to the most important parts, the escape via Denmark (remember, there is always a Nordic connection!) and Argentinian aftermath.

What is highly interesting is how and why Argentina and other South American states actually did harbour so many Third Reich mass murderers, not least Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann and Croatia's own Hitler, Ante Pavelic. Grey Wolf contains some passages about these as well as the less known SS-general Ludolf von Alvensleben. However, these and some Berlin 1945 parts can't save the book.

As I see no indication of the coming film and book doing a better job than Grey Wolf in presenting basically the same story, I have grave doubts about them.