America s shock troops writhe in the Afghan viper's nest

The Sunday Times (U.K.) ^ | 03/10/2002 | Mark Franchetti and Tony Allen-Mills

[Illbay]

Yet the longer American soldiers remain reliant on scheming Afghan warlords, the greater the danger of further tragedy.

One of the few statements of opinion in this article with which I agree.

“The area inside Afghanistan continues to be very messy,” Franks said. He is not the first American commander to find himself presiding over a bloody mess.

Oh, gag me. What a bloody "Euro."

Hey, Limey, the 10th and 101st have just about finished mopping up. Better hurry or you'll miss whatever "writhing" remains to be done (and note that the great preponderance of "writhing" has been on the part of wounded and dying murderers, aka Taliban/al-Qaeda. Their martyrdom, sponsored by the Light-Fighers and "Death From Above").

[Valin]

Eurospin! Mark Franchetti and Tony Allen-Mills a question for you who's side are you on?

[zarf]

One by one....just keep killing these vermin.

[Miss Marple]

Let me see, how many times has Rumsfeld said, "We are entering the most dangerous phase of the war" to those clymers in the press? How many times has he said we are far from done in Afghanistan?

The ONLY people who thought we were done in Afghanistan were the PRESS, who don't listen to anything except their own lies.

[CHQmacer]

Good point but I'm sure you're aware of the many profound differences between this and what the Soviets did. There really is no comparison.

I'm inrtuged buy this statment “suck up pain” and still continue the fight.

Very little pain indeed. At the begining of the war the president was prparing the US public for lots of casualies. I think that's because they thought that it might be necessary to use US forces in conjunction with mercinaries to overthrow the Taliban.

8 deaths is nothing. If it were 80 in this engagment or 800 so far in the entire war then we could say that we were sucking up pain and continuing to fight. We are not yet sucking up pain.

Our biggest mistake. The only mistake that I can think of in this war is that we have paid fortunes to mercinaries to do our fighting for us. They let the enemy go over and over again. We must have a huge presence on the ground if not to do the majority of the fighting then to at least prevent our mercinaries form letting the enemy go.

It's a little to late for that though isn't it ? the enemy has been let go. Now a few of them have come back to test us. It looks like we're passing the test so far.

[Miss Marple]

Which vermin are you describing..Al Qaeda or the Sunday Times?

[Miss Marple]

I don't know that a large ground force would have been any more effective, because the logistics for getting them there would have delayed us and we would have lost the element of surprise. Plus a lot of our ground forces are not prepared for high-altitude fighting, which is where they would have wound up.

Notice also how the Euros can always find a friendly native (who no doubt disappears into the desert once the story is published) who tells them JUST what they want to hear. How convenient.

[boris]

These situations appear to be exactly the ones that neutron bombs were invented for. Well, not exactly. But one neutron special would put an end to the "swarming" in the mountains.

--Boris

[Amelia]

I do think it's time we quit depending on the warlords - we know their loyalties change with the wind.

If we fought like they do, we'd go to those villages where they left their families, capture them, and tell the fighters to surrender or we'd kill them. And follow through.

[Arioch7]

LOL! I for one do not think that they are even that tough. The media insists that every time we have a casualty we are losing the war.

They live on another planet, do they think that the US has invulnerable supermen that can not be killed?

They said we could not fight a war in the mountains at this time of year... BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. The divisions being used can fight in ANY climate. I guarantee that the 10th mountain division can beat ANY force that is up in the mountains.

The lack of military knowledge among the Journalists covering this war is truly astounding. Like I always say, you have to work very hard to be that stupid!

[Chapita]

***************"The lack of military knowledge among the Journalists covering this war is truly astounding. Like I always say, you have to work very hard to be that stupid!"**********************************************

I strongly disagree!

I think that it comes naturally for some journalists.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[krogers58]

They were joined by AC-130 gunships carrying Gatling machineguns that can lay down a blistering curtain of fire at 1,800 rounds a minute

Yep....lightening for all occasions......

[xm177e2]

Oh, gag me. What a bloody "Euro."

I'd rather get good news from a source that hates the US than a source that likes the war on terror.

And if you think it gags YOU, imagine how terrible it must be for the author of this article to have to write about America's undeniable success (even if he wants to pretend we're losing, it's still got to be painful).

[uncbob]

Then they started "mopping up pockets of resistance ".That's when the real war started

Different situation today. USA was supplying and helping against the Soviets. Ain't nobody helping the Taleban. They are isolated

[Bonaparte]

"The lack of military knowledge among the Journalists..."

And of military history. One week goes by, and they moan that this cave combat is going to be endless. It took the 163rd almost two months to clear the Japs out of the caves on Biak. And it took us 5 months to secure Iwo Jima, another island where cave fighting was prominent. No high altitudes, no freezing weather, and it took 5 months. Years after, people were finding Japanese soldiers in these caves. I used to think public school teachers were the stupidest people alive, but I'm going to have to give the honors to these reporters.

[TransOxus]

Not to forget the pockets of resistance to the Russians were backed (armed) by Pakistan through the US. The Vietcong were backed by the commie countries particularly China and we know what happened. Now commie China is pandered to by the US.

The issue here is that the real culprits are the Middle East countries particularly Saudi Arabia and Pakistan but Afghanistan and Iraq seems to be more correct to attack.

[Gladwin]

I believe that Chinooks are quite slow flying helicopters, and probably shouldn't be used for this kind of work unless there is sufficient air support. Maybe someone with military experience can tell me if I am talking out my butt? In Vietnam, weren't UH-1 helicopter used for troop transport escorted by a UH-1 gunships for air support? (Because they were much faster moving and maneuverable than the Chinook)