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| Afghanistan |
| The Big Lie Still Works |
| 2008-09-09 |
| One thing that really irritates U.S. and NATO commanders in Afghanistan is the ability of the Taliban to constantly make false claims about foreign troops killing civilians, and getting away with it. The problem is that the Taliban can make claims of civilian casualties in some remote part of the country, and many Moslem media outlets will immediately accept it without question. Then many Western mass media outlets will also pick it up, often citing the media in Moslem countries as a source. Many of the Moslem, and non-Moslem editors know they are being played, because nearly all these claims eventually turn out to be false. But bad news is news and retractions are buried in the back of the paper (and rarely make it onto radio or TV news at all). The Taliban deliberately try to spend the night among civilians, and store weapons and supplies in residential areas. And when the civilians try to flee, the Taliban will keep them around by force (well, just by pointing their guns in the right direction). This doesn't get much publicity, and the Taliban get away with claiming their dead were actually innocent civilians. All this is particularly troublesome for the Afghan government, which is constantly forced to go along with the false claims, because most Afghans are illiterate, and all they hear are the initial false claims. So the government is forced to go along with the false claims, even when they know that, in most cases, they are simply being played by the Islamic terrorists. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #2 First Brits and Frenchies, and most recently agz German troops. MILPOL DIALECTICISM > besides playing wid EURO sensitivities over involvment in Afghani-Pakland, I SUSPECT THEY'RE ALSO NOW TRYING TO FRUSTRATE SSSSSHHHHHH RUSS-DESIRED, US-NATO/EU MIL PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA, i.e. PDENIABLE US-NATO/EU DEFENSE OF ANTI-US-NATO/EU RUSS's BORDERS. *RUSSIA > THE THIRD WORLD = DEVELOPING WORLD [Cold War US-Soviet Areas of International Confrontation/Conflict] IS NOW ON RUSSIA'S BORDERS, and nominally even O-T-B[Border] INSIDE RUSSIA VEE UNSTABLE MUSLIM-MAJORITY INTERN ENCLAVE(S). NOT COUNTING NUCLEAR PAKISTAN, NUKE-AMBITIOUS IRAN, CENTASIAN FORMER SSRS [Iran-influenced], RUSS OWN POPUL TURNING MUSLIM BY 2050, and of course "LIVING SPACE" + SUPERPOWER-AMBITIOUS NUCLEAR CHINA [Islamist-troubled] + GENERAL ISLAMIST THREAT TO NORTH ASIA, SOUTH-SE ASIA, + PHILIPINES. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-09-09 21:04 |
| #1 For some reason I can't manage to feel any sympathy for NATO. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-09-09 12:43 |