Quotes from the fight in Afghanistan
From a British soldier in Afghanistan,
And from the British commander there,
And, of course, "NATO members have failed to respond to a call from military commanders for reinforcements to try to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said."
"We are flattening places we have already flattened, but the attacks have kept coming. We have killed them by the dozens, but more keep coming, either locally or from across the border," one said. "We have used B1 bombers, Harriers, F16s and Mirage 2000s. We have dropped 500lb, 1,000lb and even 2,000lb bombs. At one point our Apaches [helicopter gunships] ran out of missiles they have fired so many. Almost any movement on the ground gets ambushed. We need an entire battle group to move things. Yet they will not give us the helicopters we have been asking for."
And from the British commander there,
"We did not expect the ferocity of the engagements. We also expected the Taliban to carry out hit and run raids. Instead we have often been fighting toe to toe, endless close-quarters combat. It has been exhausting. I remember when we had to extract a Danish recce group which was getting attacked on all sides; it was bedlam. We have greater firepower, so we tend to win, but, of course, they can take their losses while our casualties will invariably lead to concern back home.You also have to think that each time we kill one, how many more enemies we are creating. And, of course, the lack of security means hardly any reconstruction is taking place now, so we are not exactly winning hearts and minds."
And, of course, "NATO members have failed to respond to a call from military commanders for reinforcements to try to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said."
posted by mikevotes at
8:47 AM
2 Comments:
We can demonize and damn the Taliban all we want. The fact is, however violent and repressive they are, they are fighting for their homeland. We are the the foreign occupiers, we are the invaders with our ranks of peach-fuzzed young men and middle-aged women (and men).
Who is more committed to this battle? Who is willing to bleed more for the scraps or rock and dirt?
I'm not romanticizing the Taliban, I'm just saying that at the end of the day when Afghanis see the death rolls, they see dead Afghanis first and Talibani second. The more we slaughter them, the more they are sympathized by the work-a-day locals... and the uglier we and our mission of "freedom" and "democracy" become.
As a broader observation, do you notice who we profess to be champions of democracy but we seem to really hate self-determination?
By
-epm, at 3:57 PM
They are certainly willing to bleed more. Just look at the casualty stats over the last two weeks, but the equation isn't equal because of the difference in firepower.
I'm more impressed by their willingness to launch stand up battles, and after massive casualties(25-30%), to regroup and counterattack. Those are committed fighters.
And on self determination, you hit the magic word. I've been saying that for awhile. It's the greatest misconception that will doom us to failure.
"
What this administration doesn't seem to accept, at least rhetorically, is that the middle easterners have a freedom agenda of their own. For them, freedom is not so much freedom as enshrined in our Bill of Rights, but instead a freedom from tyrannical rulers supported by the West.
We want them to be at the stage of the Bill of Rights, but in actuality, they are fighting for the freedom described in our Declaration of Independence.
They are not fighting for freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, but instead fighting for the right of self determination.
And that's what we're trying to prevent.
"
http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/2006/08/middle-east-and-their-freedom-agenda.html
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 6:13 PM
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