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2007-08-21 Afghanistan
I call bullshit on TIME: Taking Aim At the Taliban
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Posted by Brett 2007-08-21 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ]  Top

#1 In solidarity Brett I call Bullshit too..

now I'll read it... worser than Cod Oil in the morning!
Posted by RD">RD  2007-08-21 01:33||   2007-08-21 01:33|| Front Page Top

#2 PURE FU*CKING LIES, pure politics woven through @ through the whole fricken thing... my blood a boiling... damn I wish I hadn't read that..

I would personally love to beat the c*rap outta this POS and its editor.---> ARYN BAKER
Posted by RD">RD  2007-08-21 01:41||   2007-08-21 01:41|| Front Page Top

#3 The escape rate, the equivalent of going AWOL in the U.S., is an ongoing headache for both the American and Afghan commanders. After a grueling tour in eastern Afghanistan, Waris sent his men home for a month's holiday. Six weeks later, they were still trickling back to their base near Kabul.

This is their culture speaking. It's perfectly acceptable behavior there, and they think western forces are too anal about these things.

I also understand that these guys get out of bed whenever they are darned good and ready. Left to their own devices, they would probably only fight when they felt like it, and not when the weather wasn't to their liking. If true then this probably hampers the overall effort, too. Lots to overcome here.
Posted by gorb 2007-08-21 02:22||   2007-08-21 02:22|| Front Page Top

#4 It si good to have an army of warriors, eager to fight but it is not enough. You also need people who kepa awake and alert when they are on guard duty even if their replacement has been delayed, peopple who don't bicker when tey have to dig trenches, peole who can refrain from firing or retreat when ordered even when they thrashing their direct opponents. That is an army of soldiers and these beat armies of warriors 9 times out of ten.

But of course the best is when an army is both an army of warriors and soldiers at the same time.
Posted by JFM">JFM  2007-08-21 04:39||   2007-08-21 04:39|| Front Page Top

#5 A key element in this effort is the new national military academy. Creating professional officers out of tribal members and forging a new Afghan identity that transcends tribal ties.

It's low profile in the press, but a lot of effort is going into this & it will pay off over time.
Posted by lotp 2007-08-21 06:19||   2007-08-21 06:19|| Front Page Top

#6 I was geographically disoriented. "Neighbors to the east", Fred - you refer to the southeast, not their friends to the west, who also would like to see anarchy on their border, as opposed to an islamo-democracy.
Posted by Bobby 2007-08-21 06:43||   2007-08-21 06:43|| Front Page Top

#7 Let's get a meter reading on this agenda-driven tripe.


Just what I thought.
Posted by doc 2007-08-21 08:22||   2007-08-21 08:22|| Front Page Top

#8 "The hardest lesson is getting through the idea of 'one target, one shot.' They tend to go blacko on ammo." Other military trainers call it the "spray and pray" school of target practice.

Not so much cultural as doctrinal. The Soviets favored spray-and-pray tactics, and the AK-series rifles are optimized for this style of shooting. The Afghan communist government's army was trained by the Soviets to Soviet doctrine, and most of the rebels copied it. (However, do see the chapter on Afghanistan in the 1985 edition of James Dunnigan's Quick & Dirty Guide to War, in which he describes Afghan tribsemen conducting a goat-shooting contest at 500+ yards with .303 Lee-Enfields.)
Posted by Mike 2007-08-21 08:43||   2007-08-21 08:43|| Front Page Top

#9 JFM:
At the risk of stating something you know better than I, there's a difference between Warriors and Soldiers. Think of the Zulu, Sioux, or Apache, all of whom were brave and superb fighters, yet would have gone home after an hour at Gettysburg.
Posted by Gary and the Samoyeds">Gary and the Samoyeds  2007-08-21 09:10|| http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]  2007-08-21 09:10|| Front Page Top

#10 Time Magazine = liberal bullshit propaganda.

'nuff said.
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-08-21 09:24||   2007-08-21 09:24|| Front Page Top

#11 I feel like I need a bath after wading through that... Time has hit bottom and still floundering. A large part of the problem is who owns it.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2007-08-21 11:29|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2007-08-21 11:29|| Front Page Top

#12 I would suggest that the writers of this "fact" based article are certainly unfamiliar with Joghn Keegan's "The Face of Battle" or his Chapter entitled "Any mother's son will do" on basic training, from Roman times til now. Military history, and the study thereof, are anathema to the modern day press. Sighhhh.
Posted by Total War 2007-08-21 11:39||   2007-08-21 11:39|| Front Page Top

#13 Oh she's certainly qualified to offer expert opinions on the subject...

Aryn Baker is the associate editor at the Asian edition of Time Magazine, based in Hong Kong. Since joining Time in 2001, she has worked as a reporter, editor and correspondent, covering everything from the first Tibetan beauty pageant to Iran’s Paralympics volleyball team, Afghanistan’s first female Olympian and Pakistan's polio eradication program. Prior to moving to Asia, Baker earned her M.A. in Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where her focus was on radio and international reporting. While in the United States she wrote freelance articles for the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, the East Bay Express, the Asia Wall Street Journal and the Village Voice. She also produced a weekly news radio program for KALX in Berkeley, and interned at KQED in San Francisco. Journalism is a second career for Baker, who worked as a pastry chef in Paris for several years after earning a B.A. in Anthropology at Sarah Lawrence College.
Posted by tu3031 2007-08-21 12:06||   2007-08-21 12:06|| Front Page Top

#14 re#12 My apologies. I just fact checked myself. The Chapter "Every mother's son will do" was from Gwynne Dyer's T.V. series/book called "War". Despite having been written by a Canadian and premiering on PBS, it is still a great piece of writing and worth a read/watch.
Posted by Total War 2007-08-21 12:17||   2007-08-21 12:17|| Front Page Top

#15 At a time when U.S. and NATO forces have come under scathing criticism for civilian casualties - figures compiled by Taliban and talibunnie threats media groups and human-rights organizations indicate that since the beginning of the year, the number of civilians killed by Western forces is on a par with those killed by militants - putting an Afghan face on the war has become an essential part of regaining the faith of the public.

Scathing criticism by who? The same groups and media hacks who distort these figures in the first place, or the mindless bleeding-heart dweebs who swallow their traitorous pablum whole? You caught the big fish, Brett. What a stinker.
If the Talibs pack what we're shooting at with women and children it's not a shortcoming on our part, it's a war crime on their part. But I don't hear the critics going on at length about the daily war crimes being committed by the head choppers.

This remains the central issue. The media's adamant refusal to indict our Islamic foes for near-constant war crimes is beginning to resemble aid and comfort to the enemy. They remain just as silent on how Islam itself is a standing violation of human rights.

Much like how after a while Moderate Muslim™ silence is no longer consent but, instead, becomes a lie: So it is with the media's silence regarding Islam's horrific catalog of war crimes and human rights abuses. The West must walk on eggshells while anything goes our barbaric foes. This is treason writ large.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-08-21 12:39||   2007-08-21 12:39|| Front Page Top

#16 The West must walk on eggshells while anything goes for our barbaric foes.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-08-21 12:41||   2007-08-21 12:41|| Front Page Top

#17 "The hardest lesson is getting through the idea of 'one target, one shot.' They tend to go blacko on ammo."

Would it help to train them on M-1s?
Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-08-21 15:07||   2007-08-21 15:07|| Front Page Top

#18 Does Time produce anything but BS?
Posted by Unutle McGurque8861 2007-08-21 16:18||   2007-08-21 16:18|| Front Page Top

23:41 SteveS
23:36 SteveS
23:02 N Guard
22:56 N Guard
22:56 trailing wife
22:52 Silentbrick
22:42 Red Dawg
22:37 Silentbrick
22:16 Red Dawg
22:08 Sgt. Mom
22:07 Barbara Skolaut
22:06 Justrand
21:31 twobyfour
21:27 BA
21:25 Cyber Sarge
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21:15 JosephMendiola
21:02 BA
20:58 Frank G
20:55 BA
20:55 lotp
20:53 Zenster
20:49 Jame_Retief
20:46 Zenster









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