Inside the Battle at Qala-I-Jangi: How Our Special Forces crushed the Taliban prison revolt

Time.Com ^ | ALEX PERRY

[okimhere]

Thanks! News from inside has been scarce so this is welcome reading, even though brutal. Maybe we should send a few of the protestors over to see if we all just can't get along. It would educate them in a hurry.

[solzhenitsyn]

I'm so proud of "Dave", the CIA guy. So brave and unselfish. The CIA has been Hollywood's favorite bad guy for as long as I can remember, and that's the image we've projected around the world of the CIA. "Dave" and Mike Spann are the reality.

[YaYa123]

This will be hard on Spann's family to read, but they will deal with it. Better Americans understand the brutality of war, and how a brave man met his death. With guns blazing.

Everyday of our lives, we should be grateful our country still produces men like this.

[Carolinamom]

Thanks for the ping. This vivid account needs to be bumped all day so that everyone can read it.

[YaYa123]

didn't want you to miss this read.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

still cant get over the guy with the harley davidson hat..

Harley Bike Bump!!!!!

[Capt. Jake]

Don't forget-the a-holes at Democraticunderground.commies think this was a US-coordinated execution of captured Taliban forces. They hate their own country more than we could ever imagine.

[Dick Vomer]

Move along ....nothing here to see.(as he puts 8 used grenade pins in the recycling container)

Nope...we've got the most powerful hand grenades known to man... One of them can kill 86 people..."Holy Shi'ite!!!!"

[B4Ranch]

Alliance forces were so confident of victory that at one frontline position, three shared a powerful joint of hashish.

What a stupid way to celebrate! Did they forget they are in a combat zone?

[B4Ranch]

. One of the 86 told Alliance fighters he was an American. The 20-year old, who had been wounded in the leg, said he was from Washington DC. He would not give his name, but said that he was a convert to Islam who had come to Afghanistan — after a spell at a madrassa in Pakistan — to help the Taliban build a perfect Islamic government.

How many left Washington for another American city and are waiting for the right moment to kill a group of Americans? Or is your neighbor one of them? Keep your eyes and ears open!

[rstevens]

This Rambo guy named Dave pops up alot in many stories of this battle. He should be awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage and selfless dedication at the risk of his own life. I am going to contact my congressman and have him look into this man's heroic acts and see if the US Army can put him in for the MOH.

This Dave is undoubtedly a soldiers soldier and must be the talk of all at Fort Bragg, NC.

[GretchenEE]

Can't imagine living through it. The telling of it is gruesome enough. The article portrays very well the resolve and deviousness of the enemy. In war, enemies are supposed to be devious ... but there's something about American culture which flows in my veins that makes me draw back in horror at the way the al Qaida mindset works. No wonder the military has to train soldiers to kill and be vicious about it when the need arises. It doesn't come naturally to a civilized people.

[VA Advogado]

I am going to contact my congressman and have him look into this man's heroic acts and see if the US Army can put him in for the MOH.

These guys are so much more than any soldier I've ever met. They seem exactly out of central casting. Cool, calm, collected and ruthless. As dangerous as it is, I have to believe these guys feel they have the greatest job in the entire world.

[VA Advogado]

No wonder the military has to train soldiers to kill and be vicious about it when the need arises. It doesn't come naturally to a civilized people.

You make a very good point. You would be suprised at what you could do if you had to. Its a gene in all of us, but yes, our side needs the military training to turn it on and hone it. Thats why we get upset when we lose just one soldier.

[GretchenEE]

Thats why we get upset when we lose just one soldier.

Your comment reminds me of Laura Bush quoting the four-year-old in Pennsylvania who didn't understand why the terrorists were blowing up Americans, and said that maybe we should just tell them our names. Does this not perfectly exemplify the American value on life, when a four-year-old sees this as a way to get people to stop killing our citizens? If she grasps at age four the intrinsic value of one human life, then she is grasping the basic value of America. It also puts in the starkest contrast the difference between the USA and the twisted mindset of the terrorists, because the value we put on human life is meaningless to them.

[GretchenEE]

When I read, above, about the American male who left the US to go fight against Americans in this war, I wondered if he is the same Muslim dude whose mother was killed by ObL's boys in the WTC airplane attack and then he bragged about how he was going to Afghanistan to fight.

[B4Ranch]

The other guy was from New York. I hope this guy gets killed or charged with Treason.

[VA Advogado]

If she grasps at age four the intrinsic value of one human life, then she is grasping the basic value of America. It also puts in the starkest contrast the difference between the USA and the twisted mindset of the terrorists, because the value we put on human life is meaningless to them.

Thats a wondeful example. Very touching. Notice she's pre-school aged. Not yet addled by the public school system.

[xinga]

Here’s some more information on the American Abdul Hamid Tale of an American Taliban

Here’s a quote from the article “When asked if he supported the September 11 attacks …”Yes, I supported it.”

[Colt .45]

'In a ditch on the main parade ground, a young Taliban fighter, lying sprawled on his side, was still breathing. An Alliance soldier dropped a rock on his head.'

Now that has a particularly homey touch of class to it. ;^) Winning a war means killing the enemy, by whatever method you must.