Publisher's Synopsis
In Code Name Mel's Choice, we take a hard look on how to destabilise a neighbouring country. There are many ways to do so but the best is to create internal strife and pit one side against the other. If you can then start a civil war and your side wins, you have succeeded. In NATO terms this is called a "Regime Change" and highly illegal under international law. Even if you are unable to trigger a proper war, the internal strife is also good news, your enemy has to turn within to sort out its problems and then it is a lesser threat to you or so the theory goes. This is highly debatable as you may then end up with something like ISIS, a failed result of US foreign policies. This is bread and butter work for spy agencies.Historically, in Afghanistan, in the 1980s, we can recall the CIA efforts against the Soviets which gave rise to the Taliban and the horrors that followed. Why were we so surprised when, in the 1990s, the CIA started bragging about their destabilising attempts even on democratically elected governments, more than 60 at the last count, I don't know. At the end of the day, the question you must ask yourself is not what the CIA and others, they were by no means alone, did, but on whose orders? If the President is not involved, then it is a rogue mission and a dangerous one. As I said, you never know what will happen when you succeed, the situation could even get worse or it creates a bigger mess. Perhaps the rogue missions are not so unexpected either and are quite human. When you first become part of the Great Game, it is magic. You are surrounded by living legends. You heard the rumours and now suddenly you are part of something so secretive, so different and so dangerous that you feel honoured. I say this with some pride despite what happened in 2012 (Code Name VFO565, Angelique's detention and defection), the South African Secret Service too had magic and the events in Code Name Mel's Choice demonstrates why I say so. Included in this book is how weapons and other aid to rebel movements are smuggled in with much denial from the official organs of State. Yet, it happens.Description: Spymaster extraordinaire Angelique Dawson and her team are covertly flying in weapons & ordnance to dissidents in Zimbabwe. They are using a refurbished C-130 Hercules in Rhodesian Air Force camouflage (the Rhodesians never had a C-130 in service) as well as an old Dakota DC-3 (C-47) called "Mel's Choice." The airdrop missions are risky, the Zimbabwean MiG-21s are prowling and looking for the clandestine flights, aiming to shoot the aircraft down and capture Angelique Dawson. If so, she will die a horrible death. Much to her longtime bodyguard and later husband, former Police Special Forces Company Commander, Geoffrey Foxtrot's, chagrin, she is knowingly heading into a trap. Every indication is that she is flying towards misfortune and exposing herself, her aircrew and aircraft to danger. At some stage, she will meet up with either the MiGs or ground-based anti-aircraft fire, yet she does not care, dismissing Foxtrot's concerns. The cargo planes are ill-equipped to escape such an encounter. There must be more behind her actions and there is, she is running another operation. She drops South African Army Special Forces Teams into East Mashonaland, Zimbabwe, to look for a new Chinese Air Base, the largest one in Africa. Her airdrop flights are a diversion and then she takes off with the old Dakota, Mel's Choice, on a doomed flight. Foxtrot's best friend, Geelslang Peter Ndebele, the legendary Special Forces officer, is acting as co-pilot. They are ambushed by ack-ack and the MiGs... If you wish to read about Covert and Special Forces Operations in sub-Saharan Africa, the GMJ Books are the place to start. You will learn about Special Forces techniques and military history not known outside the select few. Code Name Mel's Choice is book 25 of the GMJ Series.
