[Ramonchito]

The resilience and tenacity of the Iraqi rebels is expected. What the press failed to emphasize is that the uprising has not reached national proportions. Apparently, the majority of Iraqis support the new government and seem to be happy that the Americans came to liberate them. During the Afghanistan war, millions of Afghans lost their lives yet the rebellion against the Russians continued. The Russians were hated by the Afghans and the Russians knew it. This is the reason why the radical Taliban rose to power. The Afghans didn't like the Russians and they were willing to support any government that could effectively kick out the Russians from their soil. In Iraq you don't hear of large battles being fought by American troops or the Iraqi military against the Iraqi insurgents. In Afghanistan, that was almost a daily occurrence in spite of the enormous causalities suffered by the Afghan rebels. The Russians tried every thing to break the will of the Afghans to fight. They resorted to genocide. They tried to destroy the food supply of the Afghan people. But the Afghans were not at all discouraged. They fought tenaciously against all impossible odds.

[smoothsailing]

You have done some solid research.

I see both the Afghanis and Iraqis as proud and determined people, and as time passes, staunch allies.

Thanks for the post, Ramonchito, this thread has taught me a great deal.

Now about those paragraphs....:^)