The mission to save American hostage Luke Somers was a failure before it even started. U.S. commandos got within 100 yards of the Yemeni compound before their cover was blown. It was night, but something, possibly a dog s bark, possibly something else, alerted al Qaeda militants inside the compound where Somers was held. A gunfight erupted. And 30 minutes later, when the team departed the compound, carrying Somers and a wounded South African, it was too late. Both were soon dead.
What the mission lost when that dog started barking was the element of surprise. And in the business of rescuing hostages, one of the least successful kinds of special operation missions, surprise is everything.