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| Afghanistan |
| Attackers in US uniforms hit 2 Afghan bases |
| 2010-08-28 |
| KABUL - Insurgents disguised as American soldiers attacked two U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday morning and managed to breach the perimeter of one of them before being repelled, according to NATO and Afghan officials. The assault began at about 4 a.m., when dozens of Taliban fighters, some wearing U.S. military uniforms, launched simultaneous attacks on Forward Operating Base Salerno, in Khost province. They fired mortars or rockets, along with grenades and guns, and two insurgents entered FOB Salerno by cutting a hole in a fence, NATO officials said. No Afghan or U.S. troops died in the assault, but four NATO troops and an Afghan policeman were wounded, and a 12-year-old Afghan boy was killed, according to Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, the police chief in Khost. The response to the attack was swift and deadly. Afghan security forces, along with U.S. troops, killed about 15 insurgents at FOB Salerno and six more at FOB Chapman, while three others, including a Taliban commander, were killed by an airstrike after they were spotted fleeing the scene of the attacks, NATO said. Five were captured, it said. Captured in US uniforms? That should get you one behind the ear. So 24 dead, 5 captured? Sounds like a helluva "strategy"... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #17 The picture is not clear enough to be absolutely certain, but the boots look like the 3rd World knockoffs of the old French light tropical boot : canvas uppers and lowers, with a rubber tread heel and sole. At least 7 different countries make them, with notable differences in quality, but they are cheap and available anywhere. The Israeli versions are quite nice and well-built, by the way. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-08-28 20:53 |
| #16 Add footware inspection to ROE. Good idea. |
| Posted by: George Casey 2010-08-28 20:02 |
| #15 Looks like the uniforms are easily acquired... The dead were wearing U.S. Army uniforms, which can be easily purchased in shops in Kabul and other cities, possibly pilfered from military warehouses. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-28 19:31 |
| #14 We really really should make an example to discourage this type of thing. Like field executions. All we need is some deaders dressed as U.S. Army committing some monstrosity and the media will be all over it like flies on cowpies. (1) See Haditha. Which is precisely why OBumble will insist on them being giving full geneva convention protections. (1) apologies to any sh*t eating flies for the comparison with the LSM. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-08-28 17:41 |
| #13 It seems to me that when you are in a firefight, the last thing you look at are the attacker's footwear. As for the German infiltration effort, Americans used to ask people things that were unique to American culture - baseball questions, "who is Mickey Mouse's girlfriend?" - things that someone who learned English in school would be unlikely to know. Of course, if Obama and Holder were in charge then, these guys could not even be questioned until they had been read their Miranda rights, and the worst we could do to them would be to speak harshly. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-08-28 17:27 |
| #12 but the footwear on the deader in the picture looks like the same stuff the J&K fighters wear. Now that I look, the footwear looks like knock-off Converse high-top sneakers. (I don't see the circular logo on the ankle.) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-08-28 16:37 |
| #11 3. Iran 4. Red China When I said sources I meant where the uniforms may have come from. Perhaps better terms would have been stolen or counterfeit (both of which the 'bazaars' in that region are quite capable of supplying). Iran? Possible, It's the wrong part of the country (eastern A'stan), unless the IRGC has moved into the northwestern part of Pakistan. That in itself would be disturbing. China is possible, both as a sponsor and uniform-source. Most likely would be ISI or "retired" Pak military. john frum is right on the tactics and uniforms. He can correct me, but the footwear on the deader in the picture looks like the same stuff the J&K fighters wear. Still, I wouldn't discount Haqqani buying it all on the open market, with donated funds. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-08-28 16:22 |
| #10 Skorzeny's boys at the Battle of the Bulge... The Einheit Stielau commando unit had been assembled from the brigade's best English speakers, but few of them had much if any experience of undercover operations or sabotage. There was little time to train them properly, but they were given short courses in demolition and radio skills, studied the organization of the US Army and its badges of rank and drill, and some were even sent to POW camps at Küstrin and Limburg to refresh their language skills through contact with US POWs. Dressed in US Army uniforms (the highest US Army rank used was that of Colonel), armed with US weapons and using jeeps, the commandos were to execute three missions: Demolition squads of 5 or 6 men were to destroy bridges, ammunition dumps, and fuel stores. So great was the confusion caused by Operation Greif that the US Army saw spies and saboteurs everywhere. Perhaps the largest panic was created when a commando team was captured near Aywaille on 17 December. Comprising Unteroffizier Manfred Pernass, Oberfähnrich Günther Billing, and Gefreiter Wilhelm Schmidt, they were captured when they failed to give the correct password. It was Schmidt who gave credence to a rumour that Skorzeny intended to capture General Eisenhower and his staff.[8] A document outlining Operation Greif's elements of deception (though not its objectives) had earlier been captured by the US 106th Infantry Division near Heckhuscheid, and because Skorzeny was already well-known for rescuing Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (Operation Oak or Unternehmen Eiche) and Operation Panzerfaust, the Americans were more than willing to believe this story and Eisenhower was reportedly unamused by having to spend Christmas 1944 isolated for security reasons. Pernass, Billing, and Schmidt were given a military trial at Henri-Chapelle, sentenced to death, and executed by a firing squad on 23 December. Thirteen other men were tried and shot at either Henri-Chapelle or Huy. That's SIX whole days, folks. Today, they'd die of old age. Probably at home... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-28 15:25 |
| #9 One of the new martyrs... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-28 15:00 |
| #8 The precedent of wearing US uniforms in WWII was found to be determental to long term health by Germans. It's treated as operating under false colors qualifying the individuals as spies and not covered by the Geneva Convention. Not that the latter point would deter Justice Kennedy from demanding they get the full Miranda treatment and civil due process if captured. He'll create his own precedent. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-28 14:54 |
| #7 From the ISI playbook? There have been a number of attacks in Kashmir by Pakistani jihadis dressed in Indian army and paramilitary uniforms. The next step will be an attack on civilians. |
| Posted by: john frum 2010-08-28 14:08 |
| #6 3. Iran 4. Red China |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-08-28 13:11 |
| #5 Dead insurgents were seen wearing camouflage jackets and pants seemingly identical to those worn by U.S. soldiers. Possible sources: 1. Hijacked convoys from Pakistain to Afghanistan. 2. You'd be surprised at what you can get at the bazaars in that part of the world. P.J. O'Rourke was once able to get a box of Cuban cigars within 24 hours at one. This is the more likely source. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-08-28 13:08 |
| #4 No doubt Obama would want them tried in a court so that his administration can dismiss the charges. It's not like he hasn't done it before. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-08-28 12:36 |
| #3 More... Afghan police said about 50 insurgents attacked using rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were driven off, said Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.“Given the size of the enemy’s force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it,” he said. Small-arms fire continued through the morning, while NATO helicopters patrolled overhead. NATO said two insurgents had managed to breach Salerno’s perimeter, but were observed cutting the fence and killed immediately. Dead insurgents were seen wearing camouflage jackets and pants seemingly identical to those worn by U.S. soldiers. Police captured a pickup truck laden with ammunition along with a light truck packed with explosives that had become stuck in deep mud, according to Maj. Wazir Pacha of the provincial police headquarters. Bomb specialists later destroyed the truck and its cargo, according to the Interior Ministry. NATO said the dead insurgents were members of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated group with deep ties to al-Qaida that is accused of launching frequent raids across the border from neighboring Pakistan. An airstrike on a truck in which insurgents were fleeing killed Mudasir, a senior Haqqani explosives expert suspected of arranging suicide bomb attacks, along with two other militants, NATO said. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-28 12:33 |
| #2 G2, FBI and CIA will be all over those fake uniforms to determine their source. No sense of humor about that shiat. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-28 12:32 |
| #1 Captured in US uniforms? IIRC, according to the Geneva Convention that is grounds for a battlefield execution. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-08-28 12:30 |
