British troops 'in peril' as net closes on bin Laden

The Observer ^ | November 18, 2001 | Kamal Ahmed in London and Chris Stephen in Kabul

[CommiesOut]

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[Don Myers]

"'It sounds pretty dangerous,' Hoon said in an interview with The Observer . "

I think I understand now. The Brits thought they were going to another tea party.

[CommiesOut]

Oops, forgot about you, guys.

[CommiesOut]

Atilla Not So Hoon.

[Harp]

The British bulldog can handle it. Covering the airport for the sake of military and humanitarian reasons would be the perfect answer to the big speech Blair gave in September.

[AGAviator]

In a series of developments which showed that the war in Afghanistan was in danger of slipping into diplomatic and military chaos, Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, told The Observer that the situation on the ground was 'pretty grim' and that a contingent of 6,000 British troops may now not be deployed in Kabul

Duh. Looks like some people are belatedly figuring out that while America and England were busy figurining out how to use the NA, the NA was figuring out how to use them.

The Nothern Alliance's Cruel History

And the false logic that this is OK because they're just means to an end, will not be lost on any potential pseudo-allies.

Expect pseudo-allies to be a lot harder to come by in the weeks and months ahead.

[CommiesOut]

At least we'll have more books and TV programs about: "Why don't they like us?"

[paul544]

Frankly I don't care if the whole country swirls down the crapper. As long as we kill who we went there to kill, I'll be happy.

[McGavin999]

Then, the answer to the Northern Alliance is that THEY must repair the airport and secure it in order to bring in the aid that the people so desperately need.

All this should have been worked out before a move was made. By not having a meeting with all the commanders, it ended up being an insult. If they would have discussed the reasons, there probably would have been no trouble.

[Harp]

"And the false logic that this is OK . . ."

I'm guessing that our military planners would call it a calculated risk, not false logic. There's bound to be a downside to whichever means were chosen to respond to 9-11.

Obviously the worst choice would have been to do nothing. Are you making the argument that America should have invaded with all of it's own people and blocking the Alliance from taking any part?

[madrussian]

The "liberator" stuff is for public consumption only. It's on the same level of intelligence as "they hate us because we are good" and is designed to make the sheeple feel good.

[MissAmericanPie]

Don't fuel air bombs work just as well on the Northern Alliance as they do Taliban? I fail to see a serious problem here somehow.

[CommiesOut]

Miss, even barbarians know that Empire is not too strong.

[col kurz]

Can't be that dangerous, the French are finally sending troops..LOL

[MissAmericanPie]

Empire? It seems to me we can do just about any thing we want to. If it takes killing a few tribal warriors or leaders to get the point across that we are running this show the way we want to then we should do just that.

Power and brute force is all they understand or respect, they are going to do it our way or the highway to Allah, it won't take many examples before they fall into line.

[CommiesOut]

Tony Blair is growing increasingly frustrated with the administration of President George W Bush for not pursuing diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives more vigorously. A cabinet minister said: "The Americans are interested only in trying to get Bin Laden and push the Taliban further back. Tony's view is that now is the moment to get in there, both in terms of humanitarian aid and the diplomatic front."

More

[CommiesOut]

Let's roll then.

[MissAmericanPie]

It just seems to me, that if we are going to do this, there should be no question that to the victor goes the decisions, no political dancing or we could be there for the next century. Besides, other nations are watching very closely to see our resolve and how far we are willing to go to win this. We cannot blow it by becoming entangled in unending diplomacy. So yes "Let's Roll" over anyone standing in the way of our goals, because our goals are righteous, no one is going to come up with better goals for the lives of the individuals in these nations.