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| Afghanistan | |
| Serbian troops to Afghanistan | |
| 2003-10-03 | |
| This is kind of strange.. The last time Serbian soldiers saw combat, they were being bombed out of Kosovo by U.S. missiles. Now they’re set to fight alongside their former foes. Following an offer from Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic to send up to 1,000 troops to aid U.S. forces in Afghanistan or Iraq, a Serbian battalion is being readied for Kandahar, where it will hunt al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban guerrillas. The Serbs’ choice of leader for the force, General Goran Radosavljevic, could be controversial. During the Kosovo war, he led a cluster of anti-guerrilla teams that, human-rights groups claim, committed atrocities against civilians. Human Rights Watch alleges they killed 41 ethnic Albanians in the village of Cuska in May 1999; Radosavljevic was never indicted. A New York court is also considering charges that he and other police officials are responsible for the execution of three Albanian-Americans. A senior Serbian security official tells TIME the general, who denies the allegations, "insists that he command the unit."
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| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #18 Yes, the muslim extremists will use this as propaganda in Afghanistan. But, how much "thanks" did they give the US for helping opressed muslims in the Balkans? NONE. Their response was to send Iranian extremists to the Balkans who started putting booby-traps in children's toys. It doesn't matter who is sent to Afghan/Iraq, the muslim extremists hate them all. This is war. Pick a side or get the hell off the battlefield. |
| Posted by: Some Old Guy 2003-10-6 10:12:59 AM |
| #17 Old Patriot, thanks for the in-depth comment on what you saw in 'Nam concerning the ROK Marines. And more importantly, thanks for serving. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-3 10:44:56 PM |
| #16 I made friends with a ROK Marine in Nam. He was a senior NCO, part of a unit that did cleanup work around Tan Son Nhut and the river portion of Saigon. Tough as nails, meaner than a junkyard dog after three weeks of beatings, and better at EVERYTHING than the VC or NVA. His favorite tactic was to wait at night near the flightline, hoping to catch an infiltrator (there was a pretty good size VC unit on Tan Son Nhut). He'd cut their hamstrings, fill their eyes with salt, and leave them there. If any of their buddies came to rescue them, he'd slit their throats. I went out with him a couple of times in the daytime (I grew up in Louisiana, and was pretty much feeling at home in 'Nam). They could walk across a trail, and tell you what had passed by in the last three days, and how many. Incredible! I value MSgt Han's friendship very highly - it's one reason I'm able to comment here tonight. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-3 10:25:00 PM |
| #15 Interesting about the FLN situation......did not know that. I'm w/you on the torture bit for scumbags though. Extreme times call for extreme measures. I met some guys who were in the Foreign Legion in Africa. Pretty good group of fellas. They had similar stories of how to deal w/insurgents. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-3 2:37:20 PM |
| #14 This reminds me the French paras in Algeria. They came from Vietnam with the idea that you had to fight communists with their own methods. And this included torture (they had suffered it when in captivity, at times at the hands of French communists) but also political methods
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| Posted by: JFM 2003-10-3 12:23:25 PM |
| #13 ROKs were very effective handling the NVA & VC in their AORs (areas of responsibility). Maybe because their ROEs were different then ours & also because of their aggression, use of scorched earth tactics, and extremely high discipline. According to some of my 'Nam Vet brethren, they developed a reputation as ferocious fighters and even toed the line with Geneva convention violations. I.E. enemy prisoners often cooperated under highly effective interrogation techniques. The NVA would sometimes avoid ROK units if possible. I got a chance to see some ROK units train back in 99' in SKor. Pretty impressive individuals. They take a serious no b.s. approach to warfighting. Corporal punishment still openly goes on at their boot camps. Glad they're on our side. Again, a lot of this info maybe available on the web if you're interested. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-3 11:43:57 AM |
| #12 I am not familiar with 'Nam. What did the ROK troops there? |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-10-3 11:21:18 AM |
| #11 JFM I am familiar with that which you mention.....I think you may have confused my dry humour.....I DO THINK THE SERBS ARE THE RIGHT TROOPS FOR THIS OP. I think they could bring about real results akin to ROK tactics in 'Nam. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-3 10:11:30 AM |
| #10 Jarhead The Serbs are great at massacres, genocides and pilliaging of people who have done the same thing to them. You should read a bit about WWII in the Balkans, about the Oustachi or about the SS division Hanschar (one of whose members became the first president of Bosnia). |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-10-3 9:55:06 AM |
| #9 Point taken Ptah. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-10-3 9:36:00 AM |
| #8 The Serbs...great at massacres, genocides and pillaging. Sounds like a perfect fit for Afghanistan and Iraq. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-3 8:45:30 AM |
| #7 *shakes head* This is going to be juuuust fine: The Muslims the Serbs were killing had been written off by the Wahabbis as "degenerate", so there was no Muslim outcry on behalf of their "brothers" when they were getting slaughtered. Their architecture was more European than Arabic, and they love a good dance and drink. Moreover, they were GRATEFUL to the United States and Clinton for saving their asses from the Serbs: One of their leaders called the United States the "Crown of the World", and said that, in the last Judgement, when Allah demanded what good the world ever did, THEY would be nominating the United States of America. (Sorry, no link.) When the Soddies offered to rebuild their bombed mosques, but wanted them done in the Arabic, domed style, instead of being faithfully reproduced in their original form, they told the soddies to take a hike. In short, the Serbs killed the kinds of Muslims we wish were in the vast majority: SANE ones. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-10-3 8:30:12 AM |
| #6 Jeez Louise! Serbs! Whatever else you say about them they do know how to fight turbans.... how about another couple of battlions for Tikrit? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-10-3 7:26:57 AM |
| #5 She had plenty of securit and press with her, and I think she just went to a Chechen refugee camp and met some of it's inhabitants. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-10-3 6:17:05 AM |
| #4 She visited Chechnya??? And she wasn't kidnapped or anything??? |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-10-3 5:36:25 AM |
| #3 Yeah, and you know that Anjelina Jolie, the good will mbassador of UNHR visited Kosovo and chechnya to put the attention to the problem. I think it's important. You can find the notes from that visit at news sites! |
| Posted by: Ginger 2003-10-3 5:28:32 AM |
| #2 Belguim must not have put him on trial because he was European. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-10-3 1:59:08 AM |
| #1 Human Rights Watch alleges they killed 41 ethnic Albanians in the village of Cuska in May 1999; Radosavljevic was never indicted. So....what's up with this? Was Belgium sleeping or something? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-3 1:14:37 AM |