Lone Survivor_ The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ( PDFDrive )

sworn by some tribal blood pact to inform the Taliban leaders of anything
suspicious-looking they found in the mountains? And, oh boy, were we
suspicious-looking.
The hard fact was, if these three Afghan scarecrows ran off to find Sharmak
and his men, we were going to be in serious trouble, trapped out here on this
mountain ridge. The military decision was clear: these guys could not leave there
alive. I just stood there, looking at their filthy beards, rough skin, gnarled hands,
and hard, angry faces. These guys did not like us. They showed no aggression,
but neither did they offer or want the hand of friendship.
Axelson was our resident academic as well as our Trivial Pursuit king. And
Mikey asked him what he considered we should do. “I think we should kill them,
because we can’t let them go,” he replied, with the pure, simple logic of the born
intellect.
“And you, Danny?”
“I don’t really give a shit what we do,” he said. “You want me to kill ’em, I’ll
kill ’em. Just give me the word. I only work here.”
“Marcus?”
“Well, until right now I’d assumed killing ’em was our only option. I’d like
to hear what you think, Murph.”
Mikey was thoughtful. “Listen, Marcus. If we kill them, someone will find
their bodies real quick. For a start, these fucking goats are just going to hang
around. And when these guys don’t get home for their dinner, their friends and
relatives are going to head straight out to look for them, especially for this
fourteen-year-old. The main problem is the goats. Because they can’t be hidden,
and that’s where people will look.
“When they find the bodies, the Taliban leaders will sing to the Afghan
media. The media in the U.S.A. will latch on to it and write stuff about the
brutish U.S. Armed Forces. Very shortly after that, we’ll be charged with murder.
The murder of innocent unarmed Afghan farmers.”
I had to admit, I had not really thought about it quite like that. But there was
a terrible reality about Mikey’s words. Was I afraid of these guys? No. Was I
afraid of their possible buddies in the Taliban? No. Was I afraid of the liberal
media back in the U.S.A.? Yes. And I suddenly flashed on the prospect of many,
many years in a U.S. civilian jail alongside murderers and rapists.
And yet...as a highly trained member of the U.S. Special Forces, deep in my
warrior’s soul I knew it was nuts to let these goatherds go. I tried to imagine
what the great military figures of the past would have done. Napoleon? Patton?