The radio hissed before the voice emerged—ragged, breathless, whispering words no one in the Situation Room expected. High in the Zagros Mountains, an American pilot lay bleeding into the rocks, his F-15E smoldering in the darkness below. When he keyed the mic and uttered a three-word phrase resembling Islamic prayer, the President’s advisors froze in horror. Had the enemy captured him? Was this a sophisticated trap to lure rescue forces into an ambush, or… Continue reading…
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