“…the white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh”
On the day of President Obama’s glorious Nobel Appease Prize victory, a Taliban henchman gloats in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Kamdesh siege:
Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the U.S. bombarded the outpost with airstrikes after leaving, as well as the local police headquarters.
“This means they are not coming back,” Mujahid said. “This is another victory for Taliban. We have control of another district in eastern Afghanistan.”
“Right now Kamdesh is under our control, and the white flag of the Taliban is raised above Kamdesh,” Mujahid said.
A senior official of the Nuristan provincial government confirmed Taliban forces were in control of the village and Afghan police and soldiers had withdrawn from the district. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Provincial police chief, Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangulbagh, said the pullout “has had a direct affect on the morale of Afghan forces.”
“If Afghan soldiers are losing support, how can they stay there?” he asked. “We need the coalition to send their forces back. We need more police, more soldiers.”
The battle marked the largest loss of U.S. life in a single skirmish in more than a year. Besides the eight Americans slain, three Afghan soldiers and an estimated 100 insurgents died, according to NATO.
Via Breitbart/AP.
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Heckofa job obama!!!
He take another award…
No, Obamah left it behind. In fact, the white flag is the international symbol of the Democrats.
And so, the Vietnamization of Afghanistan begins in earnest…
Way to go President Zippy, give yourself a nice slap on the back.
Yeah, no airstrikes on the enemy, only on empty buildings.
The families of those soldiers should send the blood-stained clothes of their children, husbands, fathers, boyfriends, and brothers to Obama and tell him that this is what his Nobel cost!
I just hope Michelle Obama goes to Afghanistan to help put those uppity women in their place. Then we can bomb all the empty women’s schools.
That must be the Piece that Obama and the Norwegian Nobel Committee wants.
Haha, I just realized I was so mad I misspelled his name with an H, sort of like Mullah. Maybe from now on I will spell it Obamah.
Leave it to an uneducated, barbaric, neanderthal to get things mixed up. The memory of a bunch of thugs waving a white flag, claiming it as their own, is the very reason to deny all immigration from that total waste of dirt! I’d just flatten it rather than send in our troops again.
Wow. George Bush had us in Afghanistan for 7 years without anything to show for it (and with ZERO protest from the right) and now the Vietnamization begins?
wonder what prize the chosen one will get next for selling out our men and women in uniform???
I think this slime bag that is our so-called president, deliberately put off responding to McChrystal so as to not to appear in conflict with the “peace” prize.
The scum of the earth liberals are willing to see our sons and daughters die in a foriegn land. So that this piece of #### Obama can get a meaningless award!!
I’m so disgusted that I can’t find words to describe it!!!
Don’t worry, he’s OK with them taking over:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6866894.ece
Another military victory for the religion of Peace.
The fact is we were pulling out of there anyway, but as I said a few days ago no matter whether we left on our own or not, the fact that they coordinated an attack with our withdrawal would give them a big propaganda win. We can pooh pooh it, but we aren’t the target audience. Young, illiterate, religious zealots to fill their ranks are.
Something confuses me.
As I understand, the camp was in a valley surrounded closely by mountains where the enemy was, and where they were able to fire down at the camp from above.
Why would commanders have set up a camp in a valley, giving up the high ground to the enemy?
Red State Skeptic said:
Say, why aren’t you joining up to help YOUR president in this war???
Good question. I have been wondering that for days.
No, it begins when cowards and self-absorbed egotists assume positions of authority in government. As others have said, Obamah will soon incorporate the Taliban into negotiations, verbally threaten Al Qaida, declare an honorable victory, and bug out. Then Congress can commission a medal in his honor for delivering such an elegant “solution”.
Arclight Kamdesh
Excellent point. He undoubtedly was given advance notice of his gift.
Side bar: Funny how the science side of the committee awards their prizes decades after the honorees’ work is done.
RSS refer to the history of logistics priorities in WWII for your answer.
METT-T unfortunately.
Did they at least leave a few “surprises” behind?
What bureaucrat gave orders for US forces to withdraw? Clearly the CIC himself. Wow.
Nothing to show for it? Free elections and freedom for women? I realize that for liberlas, both are nothing.
“liberals”
It matters who the Commander in Chief is. The people chose unwisely.
Our enemies there on the ground now know for a certainty our leader lacks the will to win.
Get. Out. Now.
no sshhhiiiitttteeee
Nobel peace prize in our time!
God have mercy on our fine men and women over there. I weep for you.
You cannot fight a war with Leftists and Democrats in charge. Cowardice, incompetence, and hunger for the remains of the domestic economic carcass are their badges of dishonor.
This was predictable.
matteematt 10
I asked the same question the other day about positioning a base where there is no protection, no where to set up defence positions. They were sitting ducks from what I could see.
Fight to win, or get out.
I could care less about our reputation if it means leaving our soldiers under the rule of our waffling indecisive President.
Also – for the life of me I cannot understand why people are SO DANG LOYAL to Obama. How can his approval numbers still be so high????? I can only figure that it is the sunk cost fallacy. Keep dumping our money in even though we know better, just HOPE for a good outcome.
The RoE in Afghanistan changed in March, under Obama, making any action that could have the slighest hint of risk for civilians off limits.
Hence artillery positions raining shells on Marines could not be fired upon, because children were helping re-supply the Taliban.
US troops were not dying in large numbers in Afghanistan until then.
The Obama’s White House rejection of McChrystal’s requests, plus bizarre statements that Obama is willing to cede territory in Afghanistan to the Taliban, has encouraged the Muslim radicals.
BTW, big “FAIL” for White House attempts to differentiate between al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden are each other’s son in law.
Not an Arkansas joke, they married each other’s daughter. Kind of how royal families of different nations would cement alliances…
On October 9th, 2009 at 3:17 pm, sonofdy said:
Why would commanders have set up a camp in a valley, giving up the high ground to the enemy?
Good question. I have been wondering that for days.
because there was a road running through it i would assume…
(could be wrong tho).
Our enemies are so much more “reasonable” after we surrender to them. The “new civility”. Standing up for freedom and democracy is now “uncivilized”. They don’t give Nobel Peace Prizes for that.
On October 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pm, Ed Mahmoud abu al-Kahoul said:
Then I guess the Obama girls should be quaking in their boots right about now.
I wonder what kind of matches Barack has planned for them………..
Looks like it’s time to appoint a DEFENSE CZAR.
Phht.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Why give up the high ground? Because just as in Beruit in 83, we are not there to kill the enemy, but to protect the populace.
Villagers don’t live on the ridges and peaks… they live in the much more comfortable valleys.
So, the troops were in the valley, because we did not have enough troops there to Man both the valley, and the Ridges…
Its what happens when your military is there to play Cop, instead of Soldier.
Pakistan is the problem. Specifically the Wazeristan area. Until Pakistan is forced to step up to the plate and deal with that area with extreme prejudice, then nothing in Afghanistan will change. We will simply continue to fight for a people who couldn’t care less about us. Our soldiers know this and that is why morale is so low these days. Why fight for a people who really hate you anyway? The Taliban did not bring down the Twin Towers. Islamic extremists…who we let into our country under the guise of being students…brought down the Towers. Out of control immigration policies and political correctness brought down the towers. On top of that….15 of the 19 were from Saudi Arabia but we aren’t bombing them are we? And…our State Dept. continues to bring these people over here by the thousands! What kind of sense does that make? Our own government is where we need to fight and root out the enemies of this country whose policies have brought this on us to begin with. IMHO.
Roger that, Surveyor.
If you consider his history and friends, like Bill Ayers and his common law wife, suspected cop killer Bernadine Dohrn, his communist typical white grandparents, his Marxist Mom, his Communist pedophile mentor, it seems quite likely that Obama is indeed ‘The Siberian Canadidate’, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers”, and he wants America to lose and American troops to die.
His motto:
Embolden our Enemies
Betray our Friends
Diminish The Country.
amen surveyor; but in the meantime, we lost vietnam because of a-holes in congress who were too politically correct to fight a war like ww2, bomb germany into the rubble age, nuke japan, and kill anyone who stands up in the firefight zone. if we are too weak kneed to use these moab bombs on these terrorists, why are we spending money on them? why are we fighting to lose or worse yet, to tie? n. korea is a tie.
There was, however they could have put the base on the hilltop and shuttled down to the road check point.
No this was a real DUH moment when they put it there.
On October 9th, 2009 at 3:38 pm, Cadman said:
Fight to
Also – for the life of me I cannot understand why people are SO DANG LOYAL to Obama. How can his approval numbers still be so high?????
That’s an easy one Cad, it’s because the morons who voted for him are predominantly self-centered narcissistic clods who would never admit any mistake on their part — no way ho how.
Many also suffer from “Nobodycantellmenuttinitis”
Ya know, I think the Afghan people have had eight long years to make their choice. Our military gave them the opportunity to choose between the stone age and modern life. They have chosen the stone age. I say, based on current circumstances, bring our troops home and let the subhumans in Afghanistan kill each other off. The world will be better off without them.
If they harbor more terrorists in the future, AND THEY WILL, bomb ‘em ALL from 40,000 feet. I don’t give a rat’s a$$ about collateral damage.
Insensitive of me? Tough S&%t! I’ve had it with that stinkin’ excuse of a death cult they call islam.
On October 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm, RedDog said:
On October 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm, Red State Skeptic said:
No outside force has ever been able to achieve a military victory in Afghanistan. We booted the Taliban from its de jure status of leading the country in ’01 (with help from Iran!) but trying to keep them from having control is next to impossible.
Regardless, the fact that the right is all of a sudden concerned with a country whose significance it ignored for years, when all of a sudden there’s a Democratic president to condemn, is the height of hypocrisy.
On October 9th, 2009 at 4:22 pm, jjmurphy said:
i’m with Murph…
Wow, yourself- the left has been trying to make Iraq and Afghanistan into Vietnam for those same seven years. (remember the announcements that we had already lost Iraq before the surge proved them wrong?) Too bad we had a president with enough backbone to stand up to the weak-kneed and listen and trust his commander on the ground. When Obama actually grows a spine, let us know.
And since you are clueless anyway, read up on Vietnam- we were winning- had won that war before the left made us crawl home in defeat. Don’t take my word for it, the Commander of troops for the NVA said this. Funny what you can learn when you remove your head from your anal orifice.
Red State Bigot:
No outside force has ever been able to achieve a military victory in Afghanistan.
———-
This statement is actualy not true. It used to be a vacation spot for the british. Read history.
BTW when are you enlisting to fight for obama? Need the recrutiers number?
RSB: The Second british invasion meant that the British remained in control of Afghanistan from 1880-1919. Before that they were conquered by the mongouls, the persians etc etc…
Since the One is so enamored of the Europeans, maybe he and his advisors should have paid attention to a little place called Dien Bien Phu. The French Foreign Legion found out that it is unwise to place your strong point in a valley surrounded by high elevations where the enemy can emplace artillery.
Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.
What is best in life?
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.”
Actualy the veitnamization begain when obama changed the roe then made them public.
ROE are usualy classified.
On October 9th, 2009 at 4:39 pm, sonofdy said:
RSB: The Second british invasion meant that the British remained in control of Afghanistan from 1880-1919. Before that they were conquered by the mongouls, the persians etc etc…
here’s the proof!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVjLYfehIBA
What’s the difference between Obama and Chamberlain?. Good question….
Oh yeah… Neville Chamberlain actually did something.
yep it’s Odopo’s Vietnam now… this time the demonstrators will be right wing bible thumpers, clinging to their guns advocating more soldiers to fight this world wide tyranny. What a reversal of rolls…our world is upside down.
I do pray and hope we put far less emphasis on THE AFGHAN-Kabul Army-and more on supporting the Tribes who can and will resist the Taliban and their Arab allies. Some will disparagingly call those tribes “militias” but they are the people who stopped the Russians from winning. The Russians probably won almost every battle and yet they could not win- the tribes would not quit.
IF the Afghan wants a central government and Army they can build one-we need to support the people who will not fight now and NOT in years, and it takes years to build a western style army.
Nation building is a loser-Afghanistan never has been a nation in the western mode. Let the tribes defend their valleys and mountains-they know what the Taliban is. If they have wars between themselves but are not a threat to us then mind our own business.
Be quick and be gone-we have been there too long now. We fight for a hill, we win, we leave. A Shau Valley? We won.
When comedian Pat Paulsen ran a satirical campaign for President during the Vietnam War he said, “Some people say we should go all out and win a military victory. Others say we should just get out. I say neither; we should just keep messing around.” Unfortunately his facetious suggestion turned out to be the policy we actually followed. We are at that stage in Afghanistan now. One option is to use massive force to destroy Al-Queda and the Taliban and insure that the country is never again a terrorist safe haven. The other is to just get out. If we are going to eventually say, “We can’t win militarily so we’re withdrawing and will bomb any new terror bases as the need arises,” then why wait years and do it after we’ve lost thousands more troops? Are we going to allow ourselves to be slowly bled to death there? Fight to win or withdraw. It’s time to choose.
The Afghans did not harbor the Taliban; the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
While I hate to see us pull out of Afghanistan, I also don’t want to see us languish over there. Now may be the time to get out and let the cards fall where they may. And none of this Nixonian “Peace with honor” stuff either. We either come home or beat the stuffing out of the Taliban. I don’t see the latter happening with this administration; all they want to do is love them and understand them!
RSB:
http://www.goarmy.com/
What are you waiting for??? join today!!!
Support obama!!!
Errah, maybe in a month the administration will get around to having a position on this. I guess Mujahid and the Taliban don’t believe Axlerod’s Astroturf will grow well on foreign soil. Perhaps they’re just not listening to the One close enough. We are looking to open a dialog with them you know.
RedStateSlug: The left has been saying all along Afghanistan is where we should be fighting, but now that they are in charge, they seem to have lost the urge (also spelled s.p.i.n.e.) to do just that. Instead, they do the typical liberal thing when it comes to a fight “turn tail and run!”
I ask you the same question sonofdy has asked, “When are YOU meeting with the recruiters?”
And just think Obama wants to let the Taliban have a seat at the table….Yeah way to look out for our troops.
RSB:
Here is an army MOS for you!!!!
http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=191
True. I don’t know the layout, but the military camp was probably set up to protect the village. Setting up on a peak and shuttling down would invite ambush. But, much like Khe Sanh, if you have control of the air, you can make it very expensive to hold the top of a hill/mountain. Unfortunately, we are back in “Vietnam” again, with the liberals in control. We have the ability to blast anyone tempted to fire off of a hill, but not the means. At least we don’t have the casualties yet, like we did in ‘Nam. 8 KIA would have been considered a very quiet day. We need, just like ‘Nam, to either win this war, or get the heck out. I don’t want to see helicopters ferrying people out, from our Embassy again, in humiliation. We have a “peace” president now. My thoughts and prayers are with the military and their families.
If you are going to win a war, then you are going to have to obliterate the enemy and those who aid them. Machiavelli had it right. When you kill someone, you had better kill their wives, children, brothers, sisters, and every member of the family. If you leave one, then you leave the future seed of your own destruction. Modern warfare has become much too surgical and much to nice, while the barbarians who practice the true ancient art of warfare care nothing about being surgical or being nice.
Afghanistan is a bleak country based on tribal loyalties. This is little different than the American Southwest. The answer then and the answer now is obliteration, or to use modern terminology, genocidal warfare.
I remember back when we were’nt allowed to “question their patriotism.” Now the slightest deviation from Obama-worship, even if just mild humor, is equated to treason. Times are looking bad.
RSB:
Not for you?
Okay
http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=156
Here is another… Be all you can be or something…
RSB:
Come on!!! Join up!!! Support obama!!!
http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=148
high point easy target….
Low point easier target. Plus you have more cover being on the high ground.
Tactics 101.
Red State Skeptic said:
Crap, The liberal vermin have been harping about Bushes war for 8 years. At the same time saying Afganistan is the real war and Iraq was just a side line. Now that the Clownact and Chief is Pres – first its mothing off about how Afganistan is the real war and blah blah and now??
Hell, RSS and his ilk couldn’t burn the crap barrel on a bet let alone offer assistance.
Ah…that’s what I call a target-rich environment then. Let’s do what the Israelis do…drop leaflets warning non-combatants to get out, then bomb them back to the Stone Age…oops, most are illiterate, so warning them in writing wouldn’t work, and they’re already living in the Stone
Age, so how would one assess damage?
Well, that leaves only one option, pull out and let them be all they can be. Allah will provide for them.
Cannot disagree.
As one of our sons and I had discussed several years ago, our policy should be one that (to paraphrase Bob Newhart) goes something like this:
1) Have nothing – nothing – to do with muslim nations.
We must be energy-independent, and thus let the muslims drink their oil and eat their sand.
2) Do what must be done to keep the muslims within their current lands; and to prevent them from erupting from, oozing from, or sneaking out of their current lands to cause any more damage to humanity, civilization and the world, than they already have done in the past 1400 years.
And warn them clearly of the consequences if they should sneak out and cause mischief.
3) If they should manage to sneak out and blow something up in The West, for example…then, obliterate a muslim city.
If we can identify which country it was from which the barbarians had issued, then the target city would be in that country.
Otherwise, any muslim city would do.
Why not, say, Mecca?
The muslims consider themselves a worldwide people, the ummah.
And, they are attacking us as “The West”.
So, let’s play by their rules, which is the only way they will be stopped.
We are in an existential war of survival, of civilization versus savage barbarism.
Let’s act like it; act like we want to be the ones that win; act like we want to be the ones that survive.
Granite #821066 – DITTO!
Wait a minute, I thought the white flag was the French battle flag?
I’m confused.
true but being a wing nut, the missle gets to a higher target a tad bit faster…
Bingo! My nephew would never stop telling me how we should pull out of Iraq and put those forces in Afganistan, because there was no proof of any connection between bin Laden and Iraq.
The B.O. already has one. Unofficially, of course.
Haven’t read all the comments yet, so excuse me if someone else has made this point (too hot about the news to delay…).
When I was in Fallujah, the Bn had an outpost in the middle of the city in order to observe and exert control over a key part of the city. After a series of attacks it was suggested that the post be abandoned. I protested vigorously, even though I did not control that post (We had a series of our own to look out for, along with other commitments, that kept us tapped out).
The point is this(especially in a counterinsurgency where perception, security, and local support are essential): never show weakness (the perception of military ineffectiveness) and hand the enemy a huge propaganda victory. That path leads to the invitation of more attacks.
All that being said, I’m not on the ground there and maybe there is some other plan to move to a better position, clear and hold the area, etc. I hope to God that there is – for the sake of the Soldiers who fought there.
SupportandDefend: They were going to move it anyway, if you did even a map recon you would see why. You could see the entire base from the ridges surrounding it. The entire interior of the base was covered by taliban fire. It should never have been put there. If the taliban were even half way trained, they would have destroyed the entire base before air power got there.
read the comments; I stand corrected
That piece of sh*t Cronkite is rotting in his 6 foot hole where he belongs. His horse sh*t reporting was buried with the liberal anti-freedom, “Viet Nam war is lost” agenda. It’s up to us Conservatives to vocalize our stance against Obama’s identical defeat mentality. We will NOT be silenced. We will NOT allow the fringe-stream-media to dictate the news. We will NOT allow our HEROES spilled blood to be taken in vain. I will be on peacenik Hussein Obama’s case every chance I get. The Democrats will find any way to de-fund and demoralize our military presence. 2010 is the year of Democrat defeat. Every Conservative needs to speak openly, defeating every liberal talking point, whether they be your neighbor or family member.
RedStateSkeptic – Just so you know: When Bush was President and winning the War on Terror, particularly in Iraq, we didn’t see much from the Taliban in Afghanistan, did we? I wonder why? You, RedStateSkeptic, say that Mr. Bush had zero accomplishments, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. When President Bush was in office, the War on Terror was being WON. The Surge worked, and the Taliban saw this, knowing that if such a Surge Strategy could work in Iraq, it could certainly work in Afghanistan (and would have had Mr. Bush been given the chance). however, the Taliban played it smart. They watched the US News and Media Outlets. They could read the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. They were astute enough to see how CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS were calling for “change” in the White House. They oculd see that the libs were about to take the White House, and when they did, and President O. was elected, they revamped their “insurgency” in Afghanistan just as Al Qaida has in Iraq. Now that we have a “cut-and-run” Democrat in office, who’s not willing to do anything that’d tarnish his ego, the Taliban and Al Qaida know that it won’t be long until they have sent the US Military packing. So long as President Bush was in office, they knew all bets were off (similarly to how the Iranians treated the hostages, releasing them when Reagan was sworn in)…..but once Obama was elected and then sworn in, they knew their moment of victory was easily in sight.
So please, RedStateSkeptic, let’s give credit where it is due: President Bush’s policies on the ground were winning the War on Terror; Mr. Obama’s policies will have the USA facing a Nuclear 9/11 precisely because of emboldened terrorists who defeated us abroad…
He’s too busy trying to find an “awards and prizes” czar, first.
Pray for Whirled Peas
ABC reports the number of attackers at 200 to 350. These are reports from Apache pilots who should be able to linger on-station over the target for some time.
So several companies of Taliban assault a position held by a platoon of US soldiers and an unknown number of Afghan Army troops.
The enemy suffers 100 to 150 KIA and an unknown of WIA but generally speaking the WIA number 2 to 3 times the KIA.
But if there are 100 to 150 confirmed KIA then the attacking force would have had to be much larger than 200 to 300. Or that means these Taliban kept up an assault on a fortified position after sustaining 50% to 75% KIA and that all casualties were KIA and none were WIA. The numbers don’t add up.
In modern warfare, except for OP/LPs, you only want to be able to be seen as far as you can shoot.
On a hill make sit vulnerable to mortar and rocket attacks from any direction. In a narrow valley means the enemy has to come very close to get an accurate attack in… which makes them vulnerable to counterattack.
This strategy requires aggressive patrolling and OP/LPs on the high ground to deny it to the enemy. That MAY be what went wrong here, the enemy apparently was able to close and attack the main outpost directly. Either the patrolling wasn’t aggressive enough or the patrols and OP/LPs were overrun.
It looks like the camp was being evacuated and that somebody did get caught with their pants down. With only a platoon of US soldiers I doubt they were aggressively patrolling. And it looks like if they had an OP on the hills around the camp they were drawn into the perimeter pretty quickly which would be normal in the event of a large attacking force.
The question is why somebody thought it was safe to leave a platoon exposed in the valley for as long as they did. It is almost like they were dangling out there as bait. If you are going to withdraw then get out of an area not worth defending. Don’t leave soldiers hanging in the wind like this!
If the whole story ever comes out I suspect somebody up the chain of command is going to look really bad. And the Battalion S2 will probably get some tough questions too. Soldiers have bad days. But when they do other soldiers die…
ANDY MC CARTHY:
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YmIwMWYzMWI5ZjgyYTJhMWVmNjJhNWE2ZDFiM2E0OTE=
Pray for all of our fighting men and women. Pray.
Has anyone noticed since Reagan American troops are always only sacrificing and dying to help Muslims?
In Bosnia. Smashing Serbia for the KLA in Kosovo. Throwing Saddam out of Kuwait. Dying in Somalia. Helping Muslims in Indonesia. Democratizing Iraq. And now they are dying to protect Afghanistan civilians, whether or not those civilians are Taliban enablers.
The only time we fight Muslims we are doing it for other Muslims. We’re doing it for the Saudi King.
Think about it. We can’t criticize Islam or we are responsible for the people killed by Muslims in response. Outside of America it is considered ‘hate speech,’ and that madness will be here soon.
They have already won. We are already dhimmis. We pay them a fortune every day for the black goo in their ground because we aren’t allowed to drill our own.
And the Muslims aren’t even 10% of the population in the West yet. Just imagine what things will look like when 20% of the young men in the West are Muslim. That isn’t very far away.
9/11 wasn’t violent enough or graphic enough to wake us up. What will?
I beleive that his numbers are much lower in reality or based on the way things are going, will be their soon. When the job losses continue, many, but sadly not all libs will see the picture.
On October 9th, 2009 at 3:13 pm, mattymatt10 said: in post #820899
In Afghanistan villages are usually placed on crests of mountains for a number of good reasons. Many US bases are placed in river valleys and just off of roads for reasons that aren’t as good. The bases are no longer constructed and haven’t been constructed by military engineers since the Bill Clinton was President. One of the major changes in how the military is structured was to put most of the Combat Support and Combat Service Support units into the Army reserve. This means that there are limits set forth in Title X of the US Code on deploying these forces. Moreover, under Secretaries of Defense, Les Aspin through Rumsfeld and continuing with Robert Gates what used to be built by Army Engineers with Army personnel is built by civilian contractors. These contractors will build in places that they can marshall the resources to build them. Thus the location of a US base overseas is limited to wherever a wheeled vehicle can go. In Afghanistan this almost always means ceding the high ground or even defensible ground to the enemy. The rationale used by the Pentagon is that we can use our airpower to make up for the altitudinally challenged location of our defenses. This proved quite wrong both at Wanat and Kamdesh and in many other places. Essentially US forces are limited to making Rally Points, Observation Posts, Listening Posts, Patrol Bases and other temporary positions on defensible ground. Otherwise, they must hope that the road or valley end in a defensible area.
FOB Keating was a particularly onerous location because the village that it was supposed to observe and protect was several thousand feet above on a peak that stood somewhere around 9,200 meters above mean sea level. When I was there a patrol went out each day camped out in one location and then in the dark moved to a higher elevation to maintain an OP on the village. My understanding is that Keating was being abandoned as part of a new “hunker down and wait near population centers” strategy (essentially preparing for a Vietnam like withdrawal while preserving the force as opposed to counter insurgency warfare which tends to be a strategy of attrition and politico-economic warfare).
If you want to be able to truly fight a war anywhere. Combat Service and Combat Service Support needs to be a part of the Regular (Active Component) forces. This is expensive. But what’s the life of a trooper or a hundred worth to you?
Hooray!!!! Another victory for our Nobel Peace Prize Winning Glorious Leader!!!!
Bringing the world peace through total and complete capitulation and appeasement. Yes, someone this nation can truly be proud of…the smartest man ever to sit in the Oval Office and someone we can all hold up for our children to emulate. Yes, truly he is The One as prophesied from long ago. Soon, even Israel and all the Jews will no longer be searching for their Messiah as he proves time and again in word and deed that he is the one they have been waiting for all these thousands of years, and even the Muslims will come to see him as the Mahdi they look for.
Peace in our time!!!! Peace in our time!!!!
Anyone else beginning to give serious thought to who the third person was that Nostradamus predicted?
Ssnark, sortof like the old firebases and S&D missions, we had in ‘Nam, passing the initiative to the enemy. Not a good sign.
And how many people in that area that supported the coalition will now die? The Taliban are brutal killers that will exact revenge.
Where will the Red Cross and Amnesty International, and liberal Democrats be while these people are tortured and slaughtered like animals. No worrries I guess.
They will have eternal peace. Thanks Barack the Great.