Posted on 04/25/2011 7:18:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Hundreds of prisoners escaped from a prison in Afghanistan's south on Monday through a tunnel dug by Taliban insurgents, officials said, a "disaster" for the Afghan government and a setback for foreign forces planning to start a gradual withdrawal within months.Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman said the incident, in which many Taliban commanders were said to have escaped, exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Afghan government.
"This is a blow, it is something that should not have happened ... We are looking into finding out ... what exactly happened and what is being done to compensate for the disaster that happened in the prison," spokesman Waheed Omer told a news conference.
"It shows a great vulnerability in the Afghan government."
Tooryalai Wesa, governor of volatile southern Kandahar province, told Reuters 478 prisoners escaped due to the negligence of Afghan security forces at the province's main jail. He said the start of the tunnel had been traced to a house near the prison.
The Steve McQueen movie - The Great Escape - was a dramatized account of allied POW's digging a tunnel to freedom for 76 men - most of whom were eventually recaptured (50 escapees were murdered by the Gestapo.) The Taliban had considerably more success and few of the prisoners will probably be recaptured.
It is even money that the prisoners had help from some in the Afghan army who were guarding them. That kind of corruption is common place in a country that continues to show it is unworthy of the expenditure of treasure and blood by the US military.
And due to the incompetence of our Usurper-in-Chief.
There’s an old quote about looking, first, to incompetence.
Not in this case.
I have a hard time believing their muzzy guards weren’t in on it.
Breadcrumbs.
You kill your enemies. If they are not killed and instead captured, you broker their release for something of value. Warehousing them in a western concept jail is like holding a wallet with no money in it.
In Islam you kill your enemies, take their stuff, sell their wives and daughters to slave traffickers, shoot their sons, and squeeze all that between five prayers a day.
“In Islam you kill your enemies, take their stuff, sell their wives and daughters to slave traffickers, shoot their sons, and squeeze all that between five prayers a day. “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PQ6335puOc
It is time to leave Afghanistan, for the most part. These people can not be helped.
Leave some troops behind to raid whenever needed, and be sure that various factions are armed well enough to 1) keep the Taliban out, 2) that they do enough fighting among themselves to keep everyone weak.
3) Napalm the poppy fields so nobody can make any money off of them anymore.
Why were they alive?
Remind me “WHY?” we take prisoners in the first place?
Next time, don’t “capture” them.
“Remind me “WHY?” we take prisoners in the first place?”
What, you dont believe in rehabilitation? You don’t believe that once the enemy has seen that we treat them kindly and with respect for their beliefs that they will see the error of their ways? Me neither.
Enemy combatants caught out of uniform are spies. Interrogate harshly, shoot, recycle.
“Shoot, shovel, shut up,” always works for me.
They steal the copper every night after international NGO's hang utility lines each day, selling it for scrap. They rip up the water lines as fast as the NGO's can bury them, selling the metal for scrap. They sell their arrid dessert lands to the jews, which are without roads or improvements, and want them back after sewage, irrigation, utilities, and highways are constructed. Out of fear of the powerful female libido, they slice off their daughters humpy bumpy parts as though that "fixed" something. They wrap up women in black funeral colors, fearing a glimpse of a buttocks might result in a spontaneous crowd pleasing spunk shot if seen. They blow up any school which might teach women to read. They arrange for 70 year old men to buy and marry five year old girls. They worship a faith which mandates lies, deception, and abuse to those who don't share the same.
Perhaps Churchill said it best........
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men." "Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome." -- Winston Churchill
“Shoot, shovel, shut up,” always works for me.”
I see no reason to keep these actions quiet. We would be following the Geneva conventions and this might induce the enemy to start wearing uniforms. It would help protect the non-combatant population which is something to be proud of.
The tunnel was for appearances sake, as you suggest. The current Afghan government will not survive our departure by more than a very few months. Karzi will take his wealth and escape the fall if the Taliban honor the deal they likely have with him, a few officials who move too slowly will be executed and the Taliban will settle in without having to worry about any “Northern Alliance”. JMO
541 escaped of which 106 were considered "commanders".
The prison was divided into criminal and "political" sections, with the captured Taliban were considered to be "political prisoners" by the Karzai government.
5 months ago they started digging a 1200 foot tunnel from a residential compound just outside the fence. Last night, for four and a half hours, 2300 pm until 0330. They made their escape and were ferried away by truck.
No alarm was raised until the 0700 call to prayer when no one showed up.
You can hear the sounds of laughter all over Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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.