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Obama: Ill equipped US Soldiers resort to using Talbian equipment in Afganistan
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/21/debate.transcript/index.html ^

Posted on 02/22/2008 8:01:39 AM PST by HD1200

OBAMA: You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.

OBAMA: And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.

OBAMA: Now, that’s a consequence of bad judgment. And you know, the question is, on the critical issues that we face right now, who’s going to show the judgment to lead? And I think that on every critical issue that we’ve seen in foreign policy over the last several years — going into Iraq originally, I didn’t just oppose it for the sake of opposing it. I said this is going to distract us from Afghanistan; this is going to fan the flames of anti-American sentiment; it’s going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and overstretch our military. And I was right.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; demdebates; obama; oef; soldiers; talbian
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To: RightWingConspirator

YEP. Scum of the highest order.


161 posted on 02/22/2008 12:00:46 PM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Yes, that is true and we saw the results. Thank you for the clarification on the subject matter.

Respectfully,
NSNR


162 posted on 02/22/2008 12:04:22 PM PST by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: HD1200

Here’s more:

The Army captain, a West Point graduate, did a tour in a hot area of eastern Afghanistan from the Summer of 2003 through Spring 2004.

Prior to deployment the Captain — then a Lieutenant — took command of a rifle platoon at Fort Drum. When he took command, the platoon had 39 members, but — in ones and twos — 15 members of the platoon were re-assigned to other units. He knows of 10 of those 15 for sure who went to Iraq, and he suspects the other five did as well.

The platoon was sent to Afghanistan with 24 men.

“We should have deployed with 39,” he told me, “we should have gotten replacements. But we didn’t. And that was pretty consistent across the battalion.”

He adds that maybe a half-dozen of the 15 were replaced by the Fall of 2003, months after they arrived in Afghanistan, but never all 15.

As for the weapons and humvees, there are two distinct periods in this, as he explains — before deployment, and afterwards.

At Fort Drum, in training, “we didn’t have access to heavy weapons or the ammunition for the weapons, or humvees to train before we deployed.”

What ammunition?

40 mm automatic grenade launcher ammunition for the MK-19, and ammunition for the .50 caliber M-2 machine gun (”50 cal.”)

“We weren’t able to train in the way we needed to train,” he says. When the platoon got to Afghanistan they had three days to learn.

They also didn’t have the humvees they were supposed to have both before deployment and once they were in Afghanistan, the Captain says.

“We should have had 4 up-armored humvees,” he said. “We were supposed to. But at most we had three operable humvees, and it was usually just two.”

So what did they do? “To get the rest of the platoon to the fight,” he says, “we would use Toyota Hilux pickup trucks or unarmored flatbed humvees.” Sometimes with sandbags, sometimes without.

Also in Afghanistan they had issues getting parts for their MK-19s and their 50-cals. Getting parts or ammunition for their standard rifles was not a problem.

“It was very difficult to get any parts in theater,” he says, “because parts are prioritized to the theater where they were needed most — so they were going to Iraq not Afghanistan.”

“The purpose of going after the Taliban was not to get their weapons,” he said, but on occasion they used Taliban weapons. Sometimes AK-47s, and they also mounted a Soviet-model DShK (or “Dishka”) on one of their humvees instead of their 50 cal.

The Captain has spoken to Sen. Obama, he says, but this anecdote was relayed to Obama through an Obama staffer.

I find that Obama’s anecdote checks out.

Some are quibbling about whether or not the “commander in chief” can be held responsible for how well our soldiers are being equipped, since Congress provides the funding for the military, but the Pentagon (and ultimately President Bush) are in charge of the funding mechanism.

I might suggest those on the blogosphere upset about this story would be better suited directing their ire at those responsible for this problem, which is certainly not new. That is, if they actually care about the men and women bravely serving our country at home and abroad.

- jpt

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/from-the-fact-3.html


163 posted on 02/22/2008 12:13:09 PM PST by TenthAmendmentChampion (Global warming is to Revelations as the theory of evolution is to Genesis.)
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To: O Neill

OBL is room temperature, and it has zero to do with this issue anyway. Why did you bring it up?

War has many faces. Door-to-door fighting is one of them. Occupying pacified areas is another.

Ronald Reagan loved and respected the troops and they knew it. He got them modern arms,and more importantly, respect. Do you know how much of a military expert he was? He was apparently enough of one to understand the importance of having an effective one.

Nobody gives a RATS ASS about “judgement” in this thread.

This thread is about the propensity of liberals who lie about the military, make up stories about the military, slander the military, all the while knowing absolutely nothing about the military, detesting the military and wishing they could find ways to defund it and steer the money towards ludicrously inept social engineering programs that suck up money with no return on the investment.

Military Industrial Complex? Careers? Profits? What the HELL are you talking about, and how does it relate to the subject at hand?

What you insinuate isn’t Devil’s Advocacy, it’s Moronic Idiocy.


164 posted on 02/22/2008 12:14:10 PM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: No Surrender No Retreat

Sorry if I came on a little strong. I have a major woody about how Clinton let the guys down in Somalia.


165 posted on 02/22/2008 12:32:49 PM PST by mad_as_he$$ (John McCain - The Manchurian Candidate? http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm)
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion

Sounds like a Congressional Investigation is in order. We need to bring this young man in front of Congress and find out just what is going on and what the truth is.........


166 posted on 02/22/2008 12:35:41 PM PST by HD1200
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion

Did I forget to mention this was FOUR YEARS AGO.

Obama spoke of it as IF IT HAPPENED LAST MONTH!!!!

He (Obama)is a manipulator of information and a scoundrel. Can you imagine the (lack) of reaction in the debate if he had bothered to tell us this “story” was from FOUR YEARS AGO!


167 posted on 02/22/2008 12:40:54 PM PST by HD1200
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To: rlmorel
Military Industrial Complex? Careers? Profits? What the HELL are you talking about...

I have nothing but respect for the military. I have seen it abused...that's all...deployed to 'defoliate' Southeast Asia to enhance profits at Dow Chemical Corp. Soldiers ordered NOT to shoot unless shot at first. Enemy (Viet Cong) EMPLOYED on base (Danang) during the day (cutting hair at the base barber shop among other things) then lobbing mortars onto the base at night...Military Police at the perimeter WATCHING them set up the launchers but under orders not to engage. Same with the Ho Chi Minh Trail...

Our troops have performed magnificently in Iraq. I will not stand idly by & watch them eventually deployed to 'foliate' the Middle East desert...planting ivy, then fertilizing & watering same...to enhance the profits of corporations who supply the ivy, fertilizer, and equipment...while the troops are told they're on an endless search for Osama bin Laden.

It took less time for American troops to bring BOTH Hitler's Third Reich & the Empire of Japan to the Surrender Table. Our troops today are just as good (if not better) & definitely better equipped...

For 15 years, I've longed to see the Clintons where they are today: on a gurney being wheeled to the Emergency Room...near political death. There will be plenty of time to deal with Obama (the Mastermind of the Clintonian demise) once Hitlery & Slick Willie have definitely EXPIRED...

168 posted on 02/22/2008 12:45:43 PM PST by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
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To: HD1200

What a POS O’Bama is for leading the American people to believe that this has just happened when infact this happened at the beginning of the war in Iraq when a lot of things were screwed up then...


169 posted on 02/22/2008 12:47:49 PM PST by mystery-ak (gopachy.com)
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To: O Neill

I can agree with you on the Clintons, but the damage they have done to this country is going to extend far past their political careers.

They are all birds of a feather on the Left, and their mistreatment of our military that began in the sixties is still held up as a badge of honor by those in power on the left. That has not changed.

I don’t see our troops being used as a tool to extract profits for big corporations. Are they engaged in humanitarian and pacification operations and not total war? Sure.

But the model of counterinsurgency that has been followed by the US Marines when they weren’t involved in a full blown war is still the best way to go. They wrote the manual on it. We could bomb them into rubble, but it won’t solve anything, and it isn’t the way we work.

Can we do better operationally? Yes. Can we supply our troops better and pay them better? The answer to that is ALWAYS yes.

No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy applies, and it is a microcosm of the USA in general.


170 posted on 02/22/2008 1:02:08 PM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: HD1200

“We need to bring this young man in front of Congress and find out just what is going on and what the truth is.........”

A Congressional investigation to find out the truth about a MSM hatchet job?

WTF are you smoking?


171 posted on 02/22/2008 1:11:30 PM PST by Unrepentant VN Vet (Down with the Kakistocracy)
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To: HD1200
Drinking Coffee "They were actually capturing Taliban weapons..."  Well, if they are good enough to do that without their own weapons, maybe they don't need any.

I'm not going to read the other posts in this thread as I can imagine every form of the term bullshit has been used & quite rightly so.
172 posted on 02/22/2008 1:15:38 PM PST by HawaiianGecko
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To: Unrepentant VN Vet

I was being facetious...


173 posted on 02/22/2008 1:17:26 PM PST by HD1200
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To: HD1200

My apologies for popping off at you.

This whole deal has got on my very d*** last nerve.


174 posted on 02/22/2008 1:37:54 PM PST by Unrepentant VN Vet (Down with the Kakistocracy)
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To: O Neill
"It took less time for American troops to bring BOTH Hitler's Third Reich & the Empire of Japan to the Surrender Table.'

Roosevelt didn't have to fight the MSM, academia and the Republicans during WWII. Those who opposed the war effort disappeared and spent the remainder of the war in mental insituttions.

175 posted on 02/22/2008 1:41:34 PM PST by RightWingConspirator (Redefeat Communism by defeating Hitlary in 2008)
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To: HD1200; All
I could not get enough fire power if I was there. I would bring my own AK...



It is quite wise to use the same firearm as the enemy. Same ammo SAME SOUND....excellent distraction...

This is just to foreign of a concept for any red diaper doper baby to appreciate...
176 posted on 02/22/2008 2:05:58 PM PST by Fred (Looking Forward to Impeaching the other Clinton)
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To: Fred

Of course, I am thinking that might be dangerous in certain situations...someone might fire at the sound of YOUR weapon...:(


177 posted on 02/22/2008 2:30:39 PM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: If the Truth would help them, they would use it.)
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To: HD1200


Official Obama Criticizer Bo Snerdley Demands Proof of Afghanistan Story
178 posted on 02/22/2008 2:32:35 PM PST by Miss Didi ("Good heavens, woman, this is a war not a garden party!" Dr. Meade, Gone with the Wind)
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To: RightWingConspirator
Roosevelt didn't have to fight the MSM, academia and the Republicans during WWII. Those who opposed the war effort disappeared and spent the remainder of the war in mental institutions.

Perhaps that's why, in 1948, I was born in a place called a "Hostpital & Sanitarium", but never told exactly which wing my mother was in...

You're right, it's not a truly fair comparison...and I'm plenty willing to give Gen. Petraeus & the Administration the benefit of the doubt...for awhile. But I know that corporations from Haliburton to Boeing to Martin-Marietta, all the way to those who make the commodes & supply the beef & K-rations, are rooting for another 100 years of extraordinary earnings from sales to DoD.

And JUDGMENT in how those tax dollars are deployed to keep us safe, while maximizing military effectiveness (& minimizing American causlties) will be very important to me in the upcoming election (which I am hoping will feature no one named Clinton). Obama addresses this issue & I'm looking forward to hearing John McCain's position, too...

179 posted on 02/22/2008 2:32:48 PM PST by O Neill (Aye, Katie Scarlett, the ONLY thing that lasts is the land...)
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To: O Neill

You are most welcome.


180 posted on 02/22/2008 5:15:32 PM PST by celtic gal
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