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Posted Jul 19th 2011 at 12:03 am in Open Threads | 30036033 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbiggovernment.com%2Fpublius%2F2011%2F07%2F19%2Ftuesday-open-thread-afghan-edition%2FTuesday+Open+Thread%3A+Afghan+Edition2011-07-19+07%3A03%3A09Publiushttp%3A%2F%2Fbiggovernment.com%2F%3Fp%3D300360
In the two previous blog installments “Part 1: Quid Pro Quo” and “Part 2: Get Out Jail Free Cards” the real-life scandal of government union boss Ron Saathoff is documented. “Part 1” exposes Saathoff’s abuse of his position and taxpayers to reap a special taxpayer-funded retirement increase...







33 Comments
OK, so they got Bin Laden. Bring our kids home already.
Doesn't matter who is in charge over there its time to bring them home. UBL is dead and the ME is a powder keg about to go off. Get our troops out before they get caught in a regional conflict which will become WW3 at the rate we are going.
Furthermore I LOVE and SUPPORT our troops and everyone is going to jump on me when I say this but hear me out first… that war cannot be won. You cannot take conventional soldiers and tactics into a guerrilla warfare theater of operations and think you can fight and win through conventional warfare. Everyone and their grandfather through history has attempted to conquer that land from the Romans, to Alexander the Great, the Russians and now the US for 10yrs (our longest engagement). History… HISTORY PROVES what I am saying is correct when you throw everything you have at a bunch of unorganized unprofessional guerrilla fighters that live in caves are still holding their ground fighting every modern army….. for centuries! Do your homework before you jump on me its true.
"We" are fighting an ideology not men. I'm going to take a page from V for Vendetta to say this because I cant think of any other better way to say it "… We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them… but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it… ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love..". Ideology is the most powerful weapon on the planet as it can go from generation to generation; the Afghans are EXPERTS at this.
Either unleash the full force of the US military, let the commanders on the ground make the decisions and
KILL Al Qaida and the Taliban or bring our troops home NOW; enough is enough.
http://SavingtheRepublic.com
I second the comments of BMartin1776 above. When I first joined the Agency I was amazed to read the cables about how the Mujahideen fought. Their favorite weapon was a .303 Enfield rifle. They had found out that the armor on a Russian BMP (an amored personnel carrier) was very thin in the left front tire well. A .303 armor piercing round would go right through and into the head of the driver. The rest of the crew could not get to the driver from inside and the vehicle would either simply stop or crash and the Mujahideen would take there time killing the rest of the crew.
I read about how the Mujahideen were given SA-7's (Soviet shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles) to combat Russian aircraft. The missiles were heat seekers and you needed to aim slightly behind the aircraft to get a hit. The Mujahideen were great rifle shots and they had been taught as small boys to lead a target…old habits died hard and they never used the SA-7's to their optimum potential. A few years later my youngest daughter's godfather (a large Class 3 dealer) showed me a half dozen Lahti model 39 20 MM's that were being readied for shipment…via cut outs of course…to the Mujahideen. These weapons had been designed before WW II to take out lightly armored tanks. In Afghanistan the Mujahideen's handlers had figured out how to use there skills at long range shooting to take out Soviet Hind 25 helicopters (the Hind's were like flying tanks). A team of two or three Mujahideen would sit up high in the mountains and wait for helos to fly close…after being attracted to the area by a decoy camp site. The helos climbed slowly in the thin air and the Mujahideen would place one well aimed shot in the rotor transmission and scratch one Soviet helicopter and crew. I laughed at the idea that the illiterate peasants were from the middle ages and could not fire a missile accurately but they could use a 40 year old obsolete anti-tank weapon to take out a multi-million dollar helicopter. Illiterate peasants yes…but determined illiterate peasants.
I also laughed at the cables that said the Mujahideen called the Soviets the Great Satan and the US was the Lesser Satan. I did not realize that the followers of the pedophile prophet would come after us as soon as they chased out the Soviets.
We can not win that war playing patty cake and applying an enhanced version of the Geneva Convention and massive doses of political correctness. Either the military should be unleased to do whatever is necessary to crush the sob's into oblivion or we should bring our troops home. We are playing games now and all that will accomplish are more dead Americans and US allies. My heart goes out to the Brits. They have lost a lot of good soldiers…and had many more return home terribly injured. This is not just an American war. The Brits, Aussies, New Zealanders, Canadians, French and many more friends have been fighting and dying along with our troops.
As for Petraeus becoming the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), I have my doubts. The Agency is riddled with liberals. it is almost as bad as the State Department. I think he will find leading the Agency about as difficult as herding cats….they just won't do what you want them to do.
UNION COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP)— An electronic DOT road sign was apparently hacked when a displayed message read "Impeach Obama." http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-story-hacked-depa...
Hahahahahahahahahaha
"The Agency is riddled with liberals." David Horowitz warned of this in a book I do not remember the title of, by him and Peter Collier.
The whole system is like Moscow west.
Be well Ex.
Time for all of our troops, everywhere, to come home.
The US went to Afghanistan. US Generals kissed the Koran and burned some Bibles and Afghani women were denied the miscegenation that would have improved their in-bred bloodlines, all out of respect one supposes, out of stupidity in truth. Afghanistan remains the same third world dung heap that it was before the war. America's mission was reminiscient of the "prime directive" from the old 'Star Trek' TV show, which forbade the 'earthlings' from influencing the other world's 'culture'.
The whole affair was absurd. American Christian civilization is the far superior to Afghanistan and Islam. America should be leaving Afghanistan an improved nation, but that's not the case. Iranian and Pakistani anti-American, Islamic, radical influences will move in after the US is gone.
Well said. It has turned into another Vietnam. The one thing the administration does not realize or possibly does not care about is that we can not win the hearts and minds of the indigenous people. To Afghanistan we are nothing more than infidels who have invaded their land and killed muslims. Oh yes they will smile, wave, and hold out their open palms for money; but their only desire is that we leave on shanks mare or in a box. All we are doing is wasting blood and treasure. It's not that we can't win, but to do so would destroy almost everything in the country and I do not consider that to be an equitable solution.
With Syria receiving rockets, missiles and other arms from Iran to arm the bad guys in Lebanon and the Golan heights and with Egypt and Turkey aligning themselves against Israel, the ME is on a very short fuse; and our troops will get caught in the resulting chaos.
Not only are we still in Iraq, but we are in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and possibly shortly in Somalia. There is something terribly wrong with this picture. It is time to get out and leave the locals to themselves. We don't need their oil. We have plenty if the narcissistic toddler would get off his posterior and let the US develop its reserves of gas, oil, shale oil, and methane ice.
Food for thought. If I had the opportunity to select a country to protect other than Israel, I would help the folks in South Sudan.
The Uniform looks like it hasnt seen a second of battle. Eisenhower was right on the money. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
Continue the war on terror here in the U.S. by setting up active surveillance and investigations of the 2,000 Mosque training camps all across America. Start active deportations of Illegal Islamists that were smuggled in thru Mexico.
Clean out their presence in our Government too. We are completely infiltrated with them.
Use our Military all along the Southern Border in armoured-up hummers.
Also to replace the, almost unionized Govt TSA at all of our Airports. It will decrease the size Govt that Obama's created and there will be efficiency in using the El Al document screening procedures. Plus we trust our Military.
I agree with you 100% B….
As long as we have the types of ROE that an enemy capitalizes on, there will be no victories in the end. I too support our troops and understand their desire to win and their devotion to their missions. But they can't fight a war with the type of restrictions a politically correct society insists. Either fight this war with tenacity and a purpose to destroy an enemy for good, or bring our treasures home…..
God bless America, our troops and their families……
Even Generals use Fatigues in battle, does your mechanic change your oil in a Tux?
This administration desires only to deplete the integrity of our military. Their desire is world governance and what remains of our military is blended within the UN. The ME is boiling and Israel has crosshairs pointed at it from all directions. This will tip likely during the coming fall months. Our military could easily be used for the wrong purposes as well. Initially, it may not seem so. But it will eventually become evident as such….
Keep a focused eye on this administration folks….their purpose does not have America's best interests at heart….
Amen! 100% agreement!
Petraeus is a VERY GOOD General, but I suspect not a bureaucrat.
I don't know enough of his politics, but I do not think this is a "Dream Assignment" and the herding cats of Libtards in Langley will cause high blood pressure I am most certain…
I'm in wait and see mode.
Politically he is a total unknown to me and I hope he is not another McChrystal… Or worse a Colin Powell…
This war was won. Our objective should have been to remove the Taliban from power, to destabilize Al-Qaeda, and to wipe out enemy training camps destroying as many enemy combatants in the process as possible. Through political correctness we have allowed winning to be redefined and feminized.
B:
That's what they were saying about Iraq until General Petraeus came around and showed how it can be done. The difference between Iraq and Afghanistan is that the President was willing to listen to Petraeus in Iraq, but he's not in Afghanistan. Your last paragraph is basically the President not caring.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
This war was won when we removed the Taliban from power. Bush had wisely scaled back operations to hunt and destroy. Obama began his Afghan war redefinition as"a take it to the Taliban in Pakistan war" during the election. That threat destabilizing Pakistan and forced a mostly controllable Musharraf from office. Enemy body counts (Taliban friends and neighbors) have revitalized the Taliban. We ended up on a fracture battle field much like in Vietnam. You can not run COIN while running aggressive air combat.
I am not convinced it is a war of Ideology as a war of home turf. The Taliban took control through violence and oppression. We have succeeded in justifying their violence against their own people once more by staying on as the foreign invader. The french left the Us after the Revolutionary war If they had stayed to nation-build at the point of a gun would we have welcomed it?
The truth is successful nation building Germany ,Japan the Confederacy as examples require total societal breakdown and a total dependency on the aggressor for the stuff of life food, water, shelter. Half measure prolong the resistance
Thank you for your service General Petraeus. Too bad the current President doesn't want to listen to you.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
…and then send the troops to our southern border.
Obama Wars…1984 style.
"Get there firstest with the mostest"
Did the Geneva Convention outlaw this form of warfare,…..?????
We have drones, satellites, hit and run special forces. Get our troops home. Let Iraq and Afgans kill each other for eons. When things get to hairy we just pop a nuke and sleep like babies.
My mentor was one of the people removed as a result of the Church purge…
He saw this coming…
Be certain, one does not earn stars in our post-modern military without a gift for bureaucracy.
(from a retired bird colonel, fighter pilot, USAF)
Actually . . .
The first part would be illegal because it could fall under the principle of waging aggressive war, or waging war without proper notification.
The second part would be illegal because of the asserted principle of "proportional" response.
So I would have to say that yes, by the standard interpretations of the Geneva Convention asserted by people who refuse to read the simple text, it does outlaw that form of warfare.
Sad but true.
Conversely:
"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster."
- William T. Sherman
Sounds good except for fact that the,…….
military does not declare war so ,…….
getting there firstest is after the "Day of Infamy"
and as the secnd,….. the mostest,….
Might determines "proportional response"
For good or ill, the West has no will to do what needs to be done to remove the threat of radical Islam. Bring ours in and let theirs duke it out as they have for centuries.
…or across our southern border. Mexico has oil! Let's reverse the invasion! We should put Canada on notice too!
COL,
Thanks for your service (I was an E5 in the USN and Army Guard).
2nd, Good point.
Be well.
Move in after we are gone hell…they are there now.
I was surprised to find out that Patraeus never saw combat as a junior officer. His first rel combat was as the commanding general of the 101st Air Assualt Division (the Screaming Eagles). The 101 did a great job in Iraq. Patreaus later was a successful header of our anti-terrorism efforts in Iraq. What he lacks in on the ground combat experience the guys seems to make up for with leadership.
He is tough. He was wounded in the chest with an M-16 round during training and was released from the hospital after a very short stay and proving he could still do 50 push ups. He also had a major accident while involved with civilian skydiving.
However, Dear Leader has nominated him top be the DCI. That nomination from Dear Leader is enough to make me think he is a closet lefty. Dear Leader would NEVER put a hard core conservative in charge of anything larger than a latrine.
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