An interesting side story followed this battle.
The officer in charge subsequently died in an SAS training exercise (or did he ?). A former SAS member Ranulph Fiennes who also fought in Oman subsequently wrote a book called The Feather Men.
The book tells the story of four British Army soldiers, including two members of the Special Air Service (ie officer who died in training) , who are assassinated by a hit squad known as "The Clinic". The murders are carried out over a 17-year period, on the orders of a Dubai sheikh whose son was killed by British forces in Oman during a battle with Communist guerrillas.
Fiennes claimed that he himself was targeted by the group, but was saved by a group of vigilantes calling themselves the "Feather Men".
The novel caused considerable controversy over the claim that it was based on real events. Publisher Bloomsbury described it as a "true adventure" when it was published in 1991. Fiennes claimed that the Feather Men had shown him detailed dossiers on the assassins and their victims, and requested that he write an "authorised" history of the group. A source in the Ministry of Defence told The Daily Telegraph:
Many events Fiennes describes simply never took place. Frankly, it's just another example of the Special Forces' reputation being exploited for commercial gain.
Fiennes himself remained vague on the story's veracity, asserting that it was up to the reader to decide whether it was fact or fiction, and suggested journalists subject events and people described in the book to "forensic examination", and to draw their own conclusions.[2] Fiennes describes his novels as "factional", meaning a blend of fact and fiction. The hardcover editions had the words "Fact or fiction?" printed on the covers, and contained an index, maps and photographs as a non-fiction book would. The paperback editions, however, presented the book as purely fiction and omitted the index and illustrations.[3]
However, there is a paperback copy of The Feather Men which includes photographs of the victims and other real life characters, a map (Oman in 1976) and other illustrations (e.g. a block diagram of the modification of the BMW car brake system to incorporate remote radio control) and an index and seems, by its back cover blurb, to claim the book to be a factual account. It was published by Signet in 1992 - ISBN 0 45 11.7455 0
In June 2010, Alice Clarke, the daughter of SAS soldier Major Mike Kealy whose death is depicted in The Feather Men at the hands of The Clinic, spoke out, saying that her father had died during an endurance exercise in the Brecon Beacons in 1979. Describing Fiennes' claims as "disgraceful", she stated that her mother had confronted the author at the Hay Festival, and he had admitted to her that the story was a work of fiction
A film adaptation of the book is currently underway, entitled Killer Elite. Filming took place in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia and South Wales, UK. The film is directed by Gary McKendry and stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski and Dominic Purcell.It is scheduled to be released in September 2011
Fiennes himself has an interesting background, ex SAS and is a well known explorer and was even shortlisted as Bond when Roger Moore got the job.
This 2010 article also interesting (family of the officer not happy with Fiennes)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cel...-Sir-Ranulph-Fiennes-over-Hollywood-film.html
Note how the movie release date 23 SEPT in USA is being promoted
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1448755/
Based on a true story, Killer Elite pits two of the worlds' most elite operatives - Danny, an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) and Hunter, his longtime mentor (Robert De Niro) - against the cunning leader of a secret military society ('Clive Owen' ). Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse - where the predators become the prey. Written by Anonymous
Regards
Brett
