Posted on 03/31/2004 8:32:22 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A force of 2,000 Marines has begun arriving in Afghanistan as part of a stepped-up mission to crush Taliban-led insurgents and flush out al-Qaida fugitives. The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit will work a specific area of the country in an attempt to improve intelligence on enemy activity, spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said. He declined to give details, citing security concerns. "The plan is to continue to place pressure on al-Qaida and the Taliban throughout the south and east while providing enduring security," Hilferty said. He said they were not part of a troop rotation, but additional troops. The American military is building up its forces for an offensive intended to finish off Taliban and al-Qaida militants whose attacks have prevented reconstruction along the Pakistani border. In the latest operation, troops detained six suspected Taliban members - including a "mid-level" leader - in a raid in southern Afghanistan late Tuesday, Hilferty said. He did not disclose the leader's identity. The Marines will bring the U.S.-led coalition to 15,500, the largest force since the United States decided to oust the Taliban for sheltering al-Qaida in 2001. Based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., the 22nd Marines are skilled in high-technology weapons such as unmanned planes. The stint is the 22nd's second in Afghanistan following a 2002 deployment. Afghan military officials said they had no information on the American troops' destination or mission, but said they were willing to provide support forces. In their sector, the Marines will send forces from one unit to the same villages again and again. "They will conduct operations in one set area of the country to get to know the terrain and the local people," Hilferty said. The military says the approach has helped them uncover weapons caches across the country, but it has yet to net any top militants. The six suspected Taliban detained Tuesday were caught in a nighttime search operation near Deh Rawood, 250 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, in Uruzgan province. "We appear to have surprised the personnel there," Hilferty said. "They did not put up a fight." Troops found weapons and "other material which lead us to believe they are Taliban." The province is considered a Taliban stronghold where some observers believe the hardline Islamic movement's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, could be hiding. Thirteen people were killed in three days of fighting in Uruzgan earlier this month, including two U.S. soldiers and nine suspected militants. At a conference in Berlin on Wednesday, donor nations pledged $4.4 billion over the next year to help rebuild Afghanistan and smooth its transition to post-Taliban democracy, Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani said. The donors promised $8.2 billion in total over the next three years, Ghani said. --
I can't remember for sure, but I think this is the area where our guys were reported to be doing "house-to-house" searches. If that "one-eyed-one-horned-flying-purple-people-eater" is seriously wounded and unable to move, we just may get him.
This is encouraging:
"We appear to have surprised the personnel there ," Hilferty said. "They did not put up a fight." Troops found weapons and "other material which lead us to believe they are Taliban."
Add a little 'Hall of Fame'.....legacy,....
...and 72 virgins,......
...and a deck of Mosque Marytr Cards,....
...and a Orphan Youth Corps,....
bingo,.....the eternal, 'The-Sub-Rosa-Eternal-Brigades',....for drug traffic?
/sarcasm
Losing people because we are waiting for Donald Rumsfeld to get armored vehicles to our troops, is getting thin.
The Humvee is produced by AM General: http://www.amgmil.com/productpage/Product.html
Yet, as you can see in that link, the armored Humvee is produced elsewhere: http://www.ogara-hess.com/military/index.html
If you hit the "Contact" link, that takes you here: http://www.ogara-hess.com/contact/index.html
Ogara-Hess has a sales management office near Cincinnati, Ohio.
Would you guys happen to know who else is a supplier?
Thanks.
The Highest of Value Targets,....are obviously,...all of the 'poppy' fields!
Salt the whole country!!
BTW, here: http://www.amgmil.com/humvee.html
That's the main company that makes the Humvee.
Click on the link that says "United Auto Workers"
Maybe that's part of the trouble?
Germany 1941/1942
The AM General and O'Gara plants are well below capacity. The Army has simply not funded production. It isn't a capacity issue. Combined, they could produce around 500 up-armored vehicles per month and more with time. They are planning to make 220 in May and are well below that now. No new orders have been placed by the Army for these vehicles since November and FY-05 is budgeted to make 818 for the entire year so production will fall beginning in September.
There is a rumor that more funding is forthecoming but it has been over a month since Army Sec. Brownlee made that statement and as yet nothing. The issue is money and it is at Rumsfeld/Zakheim's level. Zakheim by the way will resign in 2 weeks.
There is a money crisis going on at DoD. It will explode later this year. In the meantime, our troops will fight as best they can with inadequate equipment. They deserve better.
There is more a money crisis going on at the White House, in my own humble opinion, in that President Bush has not acted swiftly to close non-essential government services in time of war; pick any on the list leftist causes, in order to free up the money for helping our men and women in the Armed Forces.
The "business as usual" aspect of this war, is so very much like the Vietnam War, it is disgusting.
The rear echelon economy is expected to grow at the expense of a few troops lost here and there in "the new paradigm."
Disgraceful.
The engine of our arsenal of democracy should have been fired up immediately after September 11, 2001, but it is almost entirely idling.
The U.S. Gov't and the President are wasting billions on "interpersonal self-actualizational dynamic self-empowerment you're OK I'm OK diversity reparations sharing the benefits of the exclusive class with the burdened excluded class thought-niks" social "initiatives" and "accomplishment measurements" ...
That are costing us the lives of people who are more dedicated to liberty and this country, than the whole of the socialist self-appeasers burp relief crowd.
What is not happening right now, is largely due him, because he is sitting, listening to lawyers, as if this is some corporate venture.
There is a tremendous amount that the President can discuss with the public, about readiness and preparedness and material support, but he has hardly uttered a word.
We need aircraft; lots more C-17's; but he has almost never even mentioned that, let alone support for increasing production.
Our people in the mid-East can adapt Kevlar sheet to what purposes they require; but who has bothered to just simply get that to them over there?
A friend of mine still waits for the arrival of a C-17 to take pallets to Qatar; 11 months waiting.
The C.O. over there is livid.
"Right now," George Bush is sitting on his butt; and Mr. Rumsfeld is sitting on his butt.
These men are not thinking outside of the box at all.
There's a lot that needs to be done right now, to support our troops, and almost none of it is happening.
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