US general: Afghan civilians wounded at bomb site
September 5th, 2009 . by TexasFredUS general: Afghan civilians wounded at bomb site
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AP) - The top NATO commander confirmed Saturday that civilians were wounded by a devastating airstrike targeting insurgents in northern Afghanistan, a major test of his policy to curb airpower to reduce civilian casualties and win over Afghans to the war against the Taliban.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal waded through a knee-deep river to inspect the charred remains of two fuel tankers destroyed in the Friday attack, which Afghan officials say killed about 70 people. It was unclear how many were Taliban and how many were villagers who rushed to the scene to siphon fuel from the stolen trucks.
McChrystal visited the site about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Kabul as European leaders already nervous about the escalating war demanded answers. Some called the airstrike - requested by the Germans and carried out by U.S. jets - “a tragedy” and “a big mistake” that must be investigated.
The bombing also sent shock waves through Germany ahead of national elections Sept. 27. Opposition politicians called for a thorough investigation, even as the defense minister insisted all the dead were militants.
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US general: Afghan civilians wounded at bomb site
My response to this is quite simple, and it will offend the bleeding heart libbers, the uber-PC Repubs and a lot of other people that remain uncategorized simply because they are too difficult and too confusing to define.
What we are engaged in, within the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a few other yet to be publicized areas is, for lack of a better word, supposed to be called WAR!
WAR: –noun
1. a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air.
2. a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations: The two nations were at war with each other.
3. a contest carried on by force of arms, as in a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812.
4. active hostility or contention; conflict; contest: a war of words.
5. aggressive business conflict, as through severe price cutting in the same industry or any other means of undermining competitors: a fare war among airlines; a trade war between nations.
6. a struggle: a war for men’s minds; a war against poverty.
7. armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict: War is the soldier’s business.
SOURCE: Dictionary.com
I post that definition simply because I am becoming more convinced, every day, that our leaders have no idea what a WAR really is any more.
Some called the airstrike - requested by the Germans and carried out by U.S. jets - “a tragedy” and “a big mistake” that must be investigated.
Excuse me?? But weren’t these tankers stolen? The article doesn’t say stolen from whom, but it does state that they were stolen. Is it not a fair assumption that they were stolen by the Taliban? Is the Taliban not the enemy in Afghanistan? Why then does an act of WAR need to be investigated? Why are the deaths of our sworn enemies “a tragedy” and “a big mistake”?
I am not a lover of WAR. As a matter of fact, I HATE WAR! It is a nasty and evil business. It is dangerous, it’s bloody, people DIE, that is the nature of the business. But that is the fact of the matter regarding what we call WAR!
You don’t win a WAR by playing nice, you don’t win a WAR by being politically correct as you worry about world opinion regarding your actions. WAR is NOT for the faint of heart, it’s is NOT for the weak or those that don’t possess the absolute resolve to wage WAR in anything less than a 100% effort designed to do nothing other than WIN that WAR in the shortest possible time while inflicting as many casualties upon your enemy as possible. WAR can’t be conducted by bleeding heart, PC WUSSIES!
“Anytime anybody is hurt it is something that gives pause to everybody, particularly when they’re young people, still children. And so you take it very seriously,” McChrystal said. “So I take this entire effort as something that is a responsibility of our command, and a responsibility of mine, to try to protect Afghans.”
Civilian casualties have dogged the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. When McChrystal took command in June, he immediately issued orders aimed at reducing such deaths, and asked his troops to concentrate on protecting and understanding Afghan villagers.
I am of the opinion that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is either a wuss or is doing the bidding OF the wussies in the Dept. of Defense. And if McChrystal is having his strings pulled, and dancing to the tune of the DoD piper, he is as complicit in this PC WAR as is anyone else above him in the chain of command!
As long as this WAR continues, American troops will continue to die. Expedience is of the utmost importance in WAR. The USA had no hesitation in using the most devastating weapon ever unleashed on the human race when we dropped The Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but in doing so, we SAVED an estimated 1 MILLION American lives.
I am of the opinion that immediately after that event, the USA lost it’s will to ever WIN a WAR again.
Sure, we get involved. There’s Korea, and we’re still involved. There was Vietnam, a so-called WAR that lasted for such a long time that in some cases, 3 generations of American fighting men from the same families fought there. And we still came out in 2nd place.
Collateral damage is a hazard of WAR. Civilians die. It’s NOT what anyone wants, it is NOT the explicit desire of those that fight wars, but regretfully, it happens all too often. And in a place like Afghanistan, where there is NO uniformed enemy, where we are fighting an insurgency, it is sometimes nearly impossible to tell exactly who is the enemy fighter and who is the shop keeper. And as I have pointed out quite graphically in the past, the shop keeper may very well have been the enemy fighter that was trying to kill you only a few seconds prior to him disposing of the AK-47 or RPG launcher.
These are some of the hazards of WAR. If our uber-PC government isn’t going to allow our troops to wage WAR in a manner specifically designed to bring about a swift and definitive victory, bring those troops home and suffer the consequences of a 2nd place finish at the hands of a disorganized insurgent rabble again.
I want to make this point very clear, when we went to Afghanistan following 9-11, I was all for it. We went in and were kicking ass and taking names, in other words, we were winning. Then Bush 43 got it in his head that we really needed to go kick Saddam’s ass since we were kinda, sorta in the neighborhood.
It was at that time that we lost our focus on Afghanistan and it reverted to a hotbed of Taliban activity and they were able to strengthen and rebuild.
I don’t blame this ALL on Barack Obama, but he’s the man in charge! This is now HIS war, and it’s time for him to either loose the dogs of war or put them on the porch and let em piss like a frightened puppy!
Oh Lord, here goes HAM.
Why would the Taliban steal fuel tankers? It isn’t like they drive war vehicles around in the rugged terrain they frequent. In all likelihood they were probably going to be used to fuel a bomb for a suicide attack, similar to the one recently that killed over 170 people, mostly Afghans, in Kabul.
People who gather close to stolen contraband during time of WAR (as TF’s definition states clearly what that means), for the purpose of stealing contraband are taking a risk and doing something illegal. Stuff happens. I guess they are so used to making profit from doing things that are illegal to international interests, such as selling cocaine and heroin (their most profitable crops) that perhaps they didn’t think anything of it.
The moonbats of the International stage show their inability to think critically every time the show outrage because it is always directed at the “Mr. Obvious” cause. If they only had a brain and some common sense, they could figure it out.
There never has been a war where civilians have not been wounded or killed. That is one of the unintended consequences. When the military’s day to day operations are directed by the political hacks and their left leaning media pundants instead of the professional military, the war is eventually lost.
War needs to be declared, of course. But when that is done, then the military must be allowed to plan and do their job without the politicians constantly sticking their noses into the day to day operations. Vietnam was lost, for example, in Washington, DC. LBJ could not keep his big nose out of the day to day operations.
The problem with both the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war is that we have been trying to fight too compassionate of a war. In an effort to go out of our way to appear politically correct we have hurt our chances for total victory. Civilian casualties during a war, while sad, is a part of war, they are inevitable. If we are not in it for total victory than we should just leave now.
1. You hang out with the Taliban, you die with the Taliban. Don’t feel sorry for these so called civilians, they’re part of the problem. 2. Obama is not fighting a war; he’s using the military like cops with the same rules and restrictions. 3. Most General Officers 3 star and above are political animals; thats how they attained their rank. They have forgotten the world of the Cpts and Ltcs with what it takes to do the day to day fighting. If Obama says jump, they ask how high whether there is validity to the policy or not. Would like to see one of these guys be willing to fall on their sword and do whats right for their troops. McChrystal, Jones and most of the joint Cheifs fall into that category; more interested in furthering their careers than anything else.
Yep…there’s a time for talking and a time for fighting. Our PC government had it’s time for talking and that failed…so the fighting started. Now those talkers need to shut the hell up and get out of the way so the fighters can finish what was started….so either “shit or get off the pot.”
Let our troops do what they are trained to do…WIN this war(s) and come home. If you are not going to let them fight…then bring them home with no shame on their heads, but on those PC wimps in D.C.
When one thinks about it, the Taliban got both tankers stuck. So a large number of “villagers” who live pretty primitively are scuttling to siphon gas??? For what??? To give to their camels and horses??? A thinking person has to wonder. The Taliban get stuck in the mud/river bed with stolen tankers. I think they were there to help the Taliban get as much fuel as they could before the troops arrived to take back the tankers. Obviously not counting on an air strike. They had no real reason to be doing that as if they were residents of California, trying to get a $1.00 a gallon, one day only, gas special.
When you have a loved one in Afghanistan, and somebody keeps shooting at his sweet 20yr old head, then it’s WAR. If they don’t want civilians to get killed, then maybe Afghans should get brains and join the 21st century, support the US troops and help get rid of the Taliban.
My thoughts were; Nice shooting Zoomie. If those supposed civilians would have stayed the hell in the village this would not be international news.