Posted on 11/26/2010 6:31:13 PM PST by Leisler
.....Andrew Wiltshire, 25, one of the Paras in the advance described it like a scene from the wartime drama Band of Brothers. "The blokes were ducking down behind the Mastiffs with rounds coming in hitting the sides. We were trudging through fields trying to keep up with the vehicles with mud clogging our boots. You certainly got an idea what it was like for an infantryman to be following a tank while under fire in World War Two. Either you stay behind it or you get shot."
With the Mastiffs ahead of him Lt Whitlam, 25, had to lead his men for 100 yard slog across an open field. As they got to a muddy patch in the middle a Taliban machine gun team opened up a short distance away to their left.....
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The A-10 is fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iz5MwPsfyo&feature=related
And the AC-130
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkSnui9nopo
“Dead Taliban. The only good kind.”
I agree. I like a story with a happy ending.
(( ping ))
Thanks for the great post.
I found a video of a terrorist that I like the way he operates. I wish more were like him.
check it out I think you will like his methods:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPXMkA09tw0&feature=related
Our soldiers are very brave and very skilled.
But I don’t think we can ever really win this war without converting the Afghans to another religion.
Six months after we leave Afghanistan it will return to what it was before we came.
The Old Western Civilization would send missionaries with the soldiers. But now its unPC to do that. One of our fatal weaknesses, IMHO.
My favorite part!
The two fundamental problems are the terrain and Pakistan. The Taliban can flee when the resistance becomes hot. The terrain reduces the effectiveness of our military assets. We do not have a vast army to completely overun the enemy. I am not sure that we have the villagers on our side. The corrupt and ineffective Karzai government has not provided national unity against the Taliban.
I am not Afghanistan is winnable. Sooner or later, we will eclipse our resources and will to continue. If Afghanistan erupts in chaos, we will need to take selected action if the ruling group harbors terrorists.
I really like that part.
I suspect it turned them into Taliban pudding.
And you can have a bowl, if you're really patient with a stick and a spoon.
How many Taliban were there? Why so little air bombardment before the infantry attack and fight? Did we take any casualties? How many did they take?
An F15, and they fought on. 2 A10's 600 rounds ... sounds more like a job for helicopters. And what about artillery?
As an arm-chair tactical commander with absolutely no experience, I would prefer to have seen a great deal more softening up before committing the infantry and positioning of a blocking force.
“The Taliban are barely literate mountain dwellers armed with little more than Soviet era Kalasnikovs and home-made bombs.”
Have you ever fought the Taliban? I'm thinking...probably not. Any advantage a trooper in the field can utilize is paramount to survival and success. In a perfect operation the types of assets mentioned in the above article blow the enemy position into oblivion, and the infantry just picks through the ruble with their bayonets assessing battle damage. That's in a perfect world. Unfortunately, the Taliban “barely literate mountain dwellers” have proven to be a much more deadly foe than you appear to give them credit. I say take any advantage, and thank God for it.
We fought delusional Indians in the US for almost 400 years. In some respects WWII was a continuation of WWI( which ended not with the defeat of Germany, but an Armistice.) So, whats that thirty years? Korea is still at armistice. Then there was the Cold War, fifty years.
If the enemy is brave, determined, dug in with a MG and clear field of fire, what difference does it matter they can’t read? The basic infantry problem set remains. Same with the village itself. Some one has to approach it over open ground, enter it and clear it.
Humans are smart. If they want to fight and die, they are going to make it hard on you. Given enough time in the village, they can intuitively figure out the best way to defend it. I don’t see reading literature making much difference.
Yes, I like stories with a ending. Four pass by Warthog, definitely ends things.
( Odd that a pork hating religion is getting whacked so well by a plane long before named after a wild pig? Kind of like, poetic.)
“Do you have a suggestion?”
Yes, we fundamentally re-examine the entire purpose of the war in Afghanistan, unless you simply propose another year, five years, ten years, twenty years whatever, of endless “victories” like this one without any prospect of actually winning the damned war.
Why are the Allies in Afghanistan? To free that country from fundamentalist Islam, to liberate the women and homosexuals? Good luck with that! And why stick with Afghanistan if that’s your aim, why not hit our dear friends Saudi Arabia if that’s the purpose of the war? By the way don’t hold your breath waiting for Germaine Greer or Rosie O’Donnell to lend you their support.
No, that’s not why we’re in Afghanistan, we are there because the Taliban government had allowed the Al Qaeda terrorist network to plan their attacks on the US from there. Well my guess is that the Taliban have learned their lesson and are sorry they ever got mixed up in that deal.
So my suggestion is tell the Taliban they can have the place if they can beat Karzai (we will continue to arm him if we like but no more US and Nato boots on the ground). It’s no skin off our nose who rules the godforsaken place.
If, however, and it’s a bloody BIG if, if for one split second there is even the slightest hint of the Taliban getting involved with terrorists or allowing terrorists to operate in their territory then Kabul and Kandahar will be reduced to a smouldering nuclear wasteland in an afternoon. My guess is you’d never hear a cheep from Afghanistan ever again and the natives can go back to hating each other like they’ve been doing for the past couple of millennia before we got involved.
One other thing, you might loathe the insurgents, you might hate their religion but could we at least concede that if foreign troops from Asia were occupying the US there might be more than a few American patriots who were prepared to fight the foreigners in exactly the same way the Taliban are?
Thank you, I will think on it.
Ken
Well-trained and heavily armed Taliban withdraw from the village but were tracked by powerful aerial surveillance systems tracked them for an hour until two American A10 ground attack aircraft moved in. The aircraft made four passes sending 600 rounds into the Taliban leaving no survivors. Since the attack two weeks ago, there has been no sightings of the Taliban in the area.Hey, very nice! Thanks Red_Devil 232.
Given the circumstances I think we should use a small tactical nuke on Marjah on our way out. Just to make sure they get the point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.