Posted on 04/21/2003 5:51:13 AM PDT by el_texicano
I was reading the new book just out by Robin Moore entitled, "The Hunt for Bin Laden" and came across some excerpts that I wanted to cite in honor of my NY friends. This book has been hard to put down and parts of it are simply hilarious. So, with the setting in Afghanistan early on in the conflict...quoting from pages 74-75 and 99:
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Like it's Vietnam predecessor, "Puff the Magic Dragon," the Spectre is easily described by Special Forces troops on the ground as "raining death." With Chain guns, and autoloading 105mm cannon, a 25mm Gatling gun and a Bofors 40mm cannon, the Spectre can cover a battlefield with more rounds per squarefoot than any other combat platform in the world, and the USAF Spectre crews live up to their motto - "Death Waits in the Dark."
The Spectre circles the batlefield in varying orbits that elude enemy antiaircraft fire. Spectre's crews quickly observed that enemy antiaircraft weapons were not a problem. The Taliban and AQ (al Queda) did not have the night-vision devices needed to spot the elusive, low-flying weapons platform. "You could see the Taliban down below as we would fly over them," one of the Spectre's crew recalled, "but they would just shoot at the sounds of our engine, which makes a low droning sound that's hard to place. You could see through their body movements that they had no idea where the ammunition was coming from. When we would open up on them, the would just scatter like ants in every direction."
The Spectre's weapons release officer was a woman, a stunning USAF captain named Allison. "Ally"'s voice on the plane's intercom and over the radio, as she coordinated the deadly 105mm and 40mm explosive rounds, seemed to flow like poetry as the Taliban bodies stacked up, resulting in her being nicknamed "the Angel of Death."
Ally and the rest of her crew would watch the taliban fighters on the ground through the Spectre's thermal optics, and after a bit of studying, felt they could predict their movements. "The Taliban would be all grouped up in, say, the corner of a filed, and we'd open fire, and they would scatter, only to group up again in another spot. So after a few minutes, we would just hold our fire and wait until they grouped up again. That saved on ammunition, and we wanted every shot to count," she recalled. Allison, originally from New York, was proud that she was able to "bring some justice" to the people who were responsible for striking out at the United States on September 11.
General Dostum (the Afghan commander) was utterly amazed when he heard of Ally. He immediately called his Taliban foes on the appropriate frequency, and then asked for Allison to speak on the U.S. radio. Dostum first announced in Dari to the Taliban leader that "the United States has so little respect for you that they are using their WOMEN to fight you!" Then Dostum held his handset up and Allison would talk over the frequency, announcing that she had heard how badly the Taliban treated women, and she was here to give them a little payback. This was also translated to the enemy over their frequencies. The extreme gravity of the insult to an Islamic fundamentalist "holy warrior" cannot be translated.
(From pg. 99 in another part of Afghanistan) Dabbling in psychological operations, the (Special Forces) team asked TASK FORCE DAGGER to give them an AC-130 gunship for a few nights. Once again, the weapons release officer was the efficient and attractive Air Force captain named Allison. When the bird came overhead, TIGER 01 would announce to the Taliban in Dari and Arabic that the "Angel of Death" had arrived and she had something to give them. Ally would then follow on the Taliban's command frequency, speaking with her soft, sensuous voice in English, calmly explaining to the enemy that she knew how they treated women, so it was only fair that she get an opportunity to repay their kindness. More than a few SF operators got a woody listening to her sultry description of the havoc that was about to be unleashed. Then, Ally voice would abruptly disappear as the Spectre's 105mm cannons and mini-guns would let loose, wreaking death and destruction of biblical proportions on the Taliban's trench lines.
On the contrary -- these people have to "hit bottom" before they'll give up their illusions.
Or they have to die. Whichever; it's entirely up to them.
I can see your point, but that means that the war really is against islam, just as I have been afraid of from the first.
Well, with that kind of attitude, why would they even bother with reticence - why not just terrorist nuke us now, if that's the feelings Americans will have towards them anyway?
Carrot and the stick. You need to read some Sun Tzu.
Why did you ever doubt it? Islamists have been terrorist since day one. The only 'good' moslem is a terrorist. All other moslems are not obeying their own scriptures.
Until the islamic cult dies the world is not safe from terrorism
I know. I've been saying that myself.
It's just that It sort of shivers my timbers to consider that one billion people want the demise of America and we let them into our country just as if they are kind and peaceful by nature.
I'd like to relate another tale of payback with a personal touch. I was told the story of an ambush in Afghaniland by a gent who knows many of those involved on the US side. It seems that the US got hard intel on an al Qaeda/Taliban convoy heading for the Paki border. A team of hard lads was dispatched to "reshape the battlespace" of the Islamofascists, and that's just what happened. The convoy was made combat ineffective in a direct and violent fashion.
Before the team exfilled, they slapped FDNY stickers on all the vehicles in the (destroyed) convoy.
I have to admit...I got a little misty.
I wouldn't mind seeing Arafat captured, stripped naked, and then forced to run to the Pali-controlled area with a couple of buxom, masked women wearing dominatrix outfits whipping his sorry butt the whole way. (I have odd fantasies, don't I?)
I think the Bible says it just fine in some places, "Smite the scorner that the simple may beware." Prov. 19:25. Plus even Jesus had a bit of warning to give, "I come not to bring peace but a sword." Matt. 10:34. And even for those who had made up their minds in Heaven, "And there was war in Heaven..." Even God will wage war when it becomes necessary.
"Attitude"??? Well, after 9/11 and researching the Islamic beliefs, I well think that maybe we should develop and attitude.
Any people who would strap a bomb vest on their kids and send them out to destroy themselves and others, any people such as that I dare say are beyond sanity. And no amount of kindness will change their minds.
The Eastern mindset in many cases look upon kindness from those they regard as enemies as weakness and it only emboldens them to work your destruction. If they think for a moment that you are reticent to use force (and that destructive force), they will attack to kill. This is how they think, how they have been taught from their cradle up.
Why do you think that whold nations were destroyed in the Bible? Because they had passed the point of no return and God used nations to punish nations.
I'm betting she was already married, just like "Thumper" the F-16 pilot from San Antonio. But y'all can still dream.
Not all of Islam is like the Al_Qeasies and Talibunnies. It's the Jihadies, that the war is against.
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