Retired Green Beret, Mark Grdovic shares the largely untold story of what came to be known as "Operation Viking Hammer", a 2003 U.S. Army Special Forces mission in northern Iraq that targeted the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam prior to the main invasion. Working alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, 10th Special Forces Group conducted a coordinated assault on entrenched enemy positions in mountainous terrain near Halabja, following Tomahawk strikes. The operation dismantled Ansar al-Islam’s stronghold and secured the Kurdish region, enabling follow-on coalition operations deeper into Iraq.

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