Posted on 09/30/2012 9:30:35 AM PDT by yoe
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A firefight broke out between U.S. forces and their Afghan army allies in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Americans and three Afghan soldiers and pushing the number of U.S. troops killed in the long-running war 2,000.
The fighting started Saturday when what is believed to have been a mortar fired by insurgents struck a checkpoint set up by U.S. forces in Wardak province, said Shahidullah Shahid, a provincial government spokesman. He said the Americans thought they were under attack from a nearby Afghan army checkpoint and fired on it, prompting the Afghan soldiers to return fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Earlier today, I was thumbing through some GK Chesterton quotes from the early 20th century. Most of them were remarkably appropriate for today...
Thanks yoe.
The real number of dead is 2126 over in Afghanistan.
Plus the 22 SEALs.
And an unknown number of contractors.
For the 1st time in a long time, in thinking of our guys, I got a bit choked up reading that.
0bama and the DoD could unleash hell on that place. Why no one will I will never know.
THis aches to the bones.
I’d take many of the ARVN troops in Nam and match them up against our best. They fought a superior NVA force to a standstill in 1972 without much American help, and many died in “no surrender” defenses of their positions. My friends who were US advisors at that time had nothing but praise for those ARVN who fought the NVA in the Easter Offensive and decimated whole divisions which greatly outnumbered them.
Afghanistan is much more open to Taliban infiltration because we really lack an good internal security intelligence system to weed out the bad guys. As the VC Infrastructure collapsed in much of SVN after the Tet 68 and Spring 69 offensives, ARVN counterintelligence (and the US equivalent, usually CIA), began to destroy most remaining VC bases and command centers.
The NVN spies who had embedded themselves deeply in the Govt from early on, however, did a great deal of damage to the South.
I had to trust my life to both ARVN and Foreign Ministry personnel when I was there, and I never ran into any trouble.
Not all wars are the same.
There were trustworthy Vietnamese, some of whom cme to this country. My dad hired some of them. Salt of the Earth people.
“He said the Americans thought they were under attack from a nearby Afghan army checkpoint and fired on it, prompting the Afghan soldiers to return fire.”
Yeah, the checkpoint was probably just spotting for them.
So where do they get the money to “help” you get re-elected? Stop donating to the RNC or any of it’s affiliates. We donate directly to conservative candidates.
Take the money away and they lose the power to “not help you get reelected.”
What’s happened in Afghanistan are a series of self-imposed handicaps that just benefit the enemy. Not the least of which is Obama’s public declarations of our eventual withdrawal. This, to an area that is landlocked and surrounded by potential adversaries, not to mention that “Afghanistan” as a nation is a foreign notion to its own people, is the equivalent of declaring a free fire zone. You better get your power in position before your major ally flees.
Yes, indeed. Clearly stated. The more orthodox the population, the more control it requires.
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